A night of fun

Last evening we went to a pollinator's challenge.  For those of you who don't know, my garden is registered with Penn State as well as the Audubon Society as a "natural" garden. 

For the Audubon Society it's registered as a bird sanctuary.  With Penn State it's registered as Pollinator Friendly.

Basically what this means is that I limit the herbicides and insecticides in the garden which allows a more poison free environment for both birds and insects.  There was a very small fee of about $10 each to register my garden and my garden as also inspected by Penn State Master Gardener's which was no big deal since by then it was already registered with the Audubon Society.

 Last night was the first every Pollinator's Challenge that was put on by the Penn State Master Gardener's at the test gardens in Landisville.  It was very fun and even though I didn't win any of the door prizes, I had such a great time exchanging observations with others of like mind.  There were bee keepers there explaining how the hives were kept and the honey extracted.  There was a honey tasting event and snack that were wonderful!  There was a lecture on the pollinator's garden and what it should be and as usual, the push for more registered gardens.

Above is a picture of an Agastache plant.  In my opinion this is one of the the best plants for bees and butterflies.  This plant will get about 4 feet tall and will spread nicely, creating a wonderful colony of flowers.
Below is the Heliopsis.  Another very lovely large daisy that is a big draw for bees and butterflies.  This plant can get close to 6 feet tall if in the right place and will also create a nice colony of plants as it ages.

After the lecture, we ventured out with the hostess for a tour of the test gardens.  A really lovely place.  We entered through an arbor of honey suckle (below).

We discussed all the native plants that were growing in the test garden.  Did you know that Pennsylvania has it's own native petunia?  Ruellia is the native petunia.  A small plant that will definitely find a spot in my garden.  I love petunias and have them around the house every year.

One of Husband's plants of interest is the Yucca.  I've always tried to discourage them because of the massive root system.  But when they are in flower they are impressive, so I might have to agree to put some back in the meadow garden.  Our hostess was telling us that they are surprisingly sought after by bees and butterflies.

Other plants that I have in the garden and saw peeping from under some of the other natives were the lovely wild violets.  I got six plants several years ago at the Penn State native plant sale usually held around Mother's Day.  They've now spread to just about every flower plot in my garden.  We know these lovelies and won't pull them out as they cover the ground with their lovely purple leaves and deep indigo blue flowers in the spring.

It was a wonderful time altogether.  It was nice to converse with and spend time with people of like mind - who realize what it is to have gardens that are pesticide free.  To grow food and herbs in gardens without pesticides or herbicides and know that when you eat out of it, you are eating food as nature intended. 

This was very last minute for me, but I'm glad I decided not to miss it.

Flowers to take Note of

The white rose across the back of my vegetable garden is City of York, Climber, 1945
Tantau, Germany.
'Professor Gnau' x' Dorothy Perkins'
This is one of a few climbers that I would encourage any Pennsylvania garden to have.  It is vigorous, (mine is only 4 years old), and yes, all the white roses you see across the back of my veggie garden is simply one rose!  It stretches across at least 20 feet of fencing wire.  Even though it does get blackspot, it is so vigorous it will just push past the fungus and keep on looking incredible without being sprayed.  Even when not in flower this rose is stunning.  It does rebloom several times in a season.  And you gotta love that fragrance!  It has a wonderful spicy aroma that makes your mouth water.
My only disappointment with this rose is rooting cuttings.  When I bought this one from Roses Unlimited, I had plans on purchasing another the following year.  When the time came, Roses Unlimited told me that they had had some problems with their mother stock and didn't have the rose available.  I immediately cupped two lovely stock canes.  One of them died within the first three weeks.  But the other continued into the summer, still cupped and finally in October of 2010, six whole months after I first started the cutting, I finally planted it to protect it over the winter.  It had only one ½" long root on it and I seriously didn't think it would make the winter.  It not only did, but started growing slowly in the spring and continued to grow until now, it is about five feet long.  It now has a total of six main canes.  It gave me close to 2 dozen flowers this year and I hope that by next year, this baby will begin to really be as vigorous as it's mother plant.  It takes about 3 years for a rose to establish in my garden but then it usually shows its full potential. 
Below is a close up of these exquisite beauties.

 This is a flower that is so exquisite that I had to comment on it.  It is the flower of the
St. John's Wort.  The variety show below is called 'Brigadoon'.  About 4 years ago, this lovely variety of St. John's Wort was introduced and I thought it was so stunning I wanted to try it in my garden.  Each year for three years I bought three plants from Wayside Gardens and the fourth year they didn't carry it any more.  I was able to get one plant from Kehlm Nurseries, but I didn't see it in their catalog this year either.  So, I wonder what is wrong with it? 

I put all ten plants in the deep dry shade of our maple tree and it flourished wonderfully.  However, until this year it had never bloomed for me.  Could that have been the problem?  I don't know.  But, I do know that they lovely chartreuse colored leaves lend a great color contrast to an otherwise very deep shaded area.  In brighter light the leaves would be more gold but for my purposes, the chartreuse is enough.  The flowers are bright yellow and quite delicate looking.  Also they are much larger than I had anticipated.

I do nothing to it, ever.  Even when autumn comes, I leave the dead, brown leaves there and the new ones come up through in the spring.  It spreads wonderfully in the bed and is covering all the exposed dirt, allowing us at least one bed that doesn't need to be mulched.

"And so," I ask, "Where did these lovelies come from?"  Above are garden hollyhocks that grow in the "Wildflower" weed bed along a fence of other notable roses and elderberries.  One time, when we first move here, I had some wildflowers and black hollyhocks growing along this fence.  Now after several years of not see hollyhocks at all, a bunch of them made an appearance.  Most of them are yellow, but some this year are white.  These beauties will stand up to 7 feet tall and are great for that back fence since they are so easily seen.  These wild babies will be allowed to reseed at will since that's where they came from in the first place.

Below is a butterfly weed.  Curiously, it made an appearance this year in a flower bed at our well.  It is a large plant so it must have been there for several years without being noticed???  I honestly think I would have noticed the bright orange flowers.  But nonetheless, it made an appearance this year and because of the bright orange flowers, it wasn't pulled out.  We made sure that most of the weeds around it were pulled away so it has room to spread.  No, I didn't plant this one at all and am curious as to where it came from.  I did have one about 10 feet away many years ago, but it's been gone for a very long time.  It got here somehow and I'm happy to see it.  I hope to have it grow into a nice colony in the next years.