Just dried up:
Unlike a lot of the Northern Hemisphere we don't get the autumn frosts that transform tender perennials into black mush, or turn leaves wonderful colors. Every five or so years we get some decent color here and there on certain trees, but nothing dramatic. Here, what passes for autumnal ruin is usually flower stems drying out.
Amaryllis belladonna. The rounded bits are seeds, which fall to the ground, sprout and grow easily, without intervention.
The flowers bloomed at the beginning of August. It doesn't take them long to dry.
I like the deep brown and bronze shades of going-dormant Liatris spicata, and leave the dried stems for a while, to simulate the autumn of other climates in one small vignette.
Other than that, the extent of autumnal ruin is limited to roses being so tall they flop over. Much is still growing and blooming.
Salvia 'Black And Blue':
Rosa 'Jude The Obscure':
'Tuscan Sun', with morning dew:
'Snow Goose' is in its "creep" year. Nice to see a bit of rebloom:
And to finish, Agave parryii truncata is pristine in all seasons. No scratches, not a dark spot, mark, insect bite, bird poop, nicks, fungal spotting, or anything else mars its flawless platinum skin. It doesn't seem to even get dusty.
Must be fun to be that good looking.
Unlike a lot of the Northern Hemisphere we don't get the autumn frosts that transform tender perennials into black mush, or turn leaves wonderful colors. Every five or so years we get some decent color here and there on certain trees, but nothing dramatic. Here, what passes for autumnal ruin is usually flower stems drying out.
Amaryllis belladonna. The rounded bits are seeds, which fall to the ground, sprout and grow easily, without intervention.
The flowers bloomed at the beginning of August. It doesn't take them long to dry.
I like the deep brown and bronze shades of going-dormant Liatris spicata, and leave the dried stems for a while, to simulate the autumn of other climates in one small vignette.
Other than that, the extent of autumnal ruin is limited to roses being so tall they flop over. Much is still growing and blooming.
Salvia 'Black And Blue':
Rosa 'Jude The Obscure':
'Tuscan Sun', with morning dew:
'Snow Goose' is in its "creep" year. Nice to see a bit of rebloom:
And to finish, Agave parryii truncata is pristine in all seasons. No scratches, not a dark spot, mark, insect bite, bird poop, nicks, fungal spotting, or anything else mars its flawless platinum skin. It doesn't seem to even get dusty.
Must be fun to be that good looking.
Wow, your Agave parryii truncate seems like the perfect plant, well, if I just had the climate for it! I like leaving dried seedpods and flowers on the stems for a while before cutting them off, I think they look decorative even if they are technically dead. Here in London it is usually the rain that takes them, not the frost, turning them into mush. The frost won’t come for a few more months hopefully! Loved your 'Jude The Obscure', I have seen it before on your blog and loved it back then too :-)
ReplyDeleteRain. We don't get that here, either--at least not very often. There's a beautiful Agave apparently spreading all over Germany (via plant lovers, not invasively) that is super hardy. Germany has somewhat colder winters than you do? If you are ever in Germany...
Deletesee: http://www.xericworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5351
I had to look it up, didn’t know we could grow agaves in UK, but apparently we can. Agave americana grows here, although with some good protection when the plants are young – and they need a full sun spot. But, they grow to final height and spread of 2m, I don’t have room for something like that in my garden! Thanks for the link, Germany has colder winters than us yes, by the way, I am sure the agave on the forum should be called Agave 'Yavapai county’, probably just a typing error. I tried searching for the plant her, no luck, no one sells it here, yet....
DeleteA. americana is a weed, skip it.
DeleteOK, thanks for the tip! Wouldn't have had room for it ayway :-)
Delete