Out of all the mints commonly found along temperate forest’s edge, when in bloom, this is perhaps the showiest. The upper leaves closest to the true inflorescence will begin to turn a lighter blue color and will be much more densely pubescent than other leaves with snow white hairs, acting as a floral bract. The bracts almost give the appearance that someone may have came by and spray painted the tips of the plant white.
Many members of Lamiaceae are wonderful nectar species, I.E. pretty much any Monarda sp. that you can think of; with that said, you can most likley associate this species with many different butterflies and a good amount of moth species.
Photographed along a no longer used logging right of way near Bison Way Trailhead, Red River Gorge, Kentucky.
THE HISTORIC 16th century GALLICA ROSE, ‘ROSA MUNDI’
Every bloom is different, and this year, there has been some reversion to the mother plant, the ‘Apothecary’s Rose’, which is all pink with golden anthers, and was found in every monastic herb garden. It is true the leaves are subject to mildew in a closed situation like our front garden but the rough foliage and tissue thin flowers of this rose are so enchanting..
This is a glorious myrrh scented rose with pale pink circular blooms held above dark green shiny foliage. It has ‘Iceberg’ in its ‘blood’ so it is extremely healthy, with few thorns. The roses are clustered on the ends of rather rangy stems which hang with the weight of the flowers. Our bush always grows to about one and a half metres no matter how hard I cut it back in winter. David Austin always claimed this rose to be one of the best he ever bred. I am certainly glad I chose it for our garden. In fact I wish I had planted two as it goes well with the ‘Fantin-Latour’ fence roses.
Oxalis flava bloomed while indoors for the freeze! We’ve been moving plants back out all day. In spring everything gets arranged to protect it from summer’s heat and sun, but in winter it’s more about making it quick and easy to move the tender ones indoors.
It didn’t get too far below freezing, but it was enough to kill some stuff back. Some observations of plants left outside:
– The tomatoes are probably complete toast. Need to cut them back and see if there’s anything left. Some peppers suffered damage at the tips but might come back from lower down. The most frostproof? Trinidad Scorpion, suffering mild damage so far.
– All 3 of the florist mums I left out are fine. They might not survive an arctic blast, but for now they’re chugging along.
– I left my large citrus seedlings out, and only a few suffered damage. Very interested to see how the rest do as winter progresses. I only want trees that will be reliably hardy here in zone 8b.
I miiiiight have enough time this weekend to do a follow-up on the echeveria project. I’ve gotten the Amorphophallus corms lifted and stored; the summer-dormant bulbs (including O. flava) all sprang back to life with amazing vigor. I have dead and underperforming plants to get rid of, but at least we were able to sweep off the patio, finally. Fingers crossed that we don’t get too much rain next week! I might be able to get this all done by Thanksgiving.
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