Digital Flower Pictures.com Almost daily informative blog about plants, gardening and photography. Written by a professional Estate Gardener from Connecticut. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 112 10076 143 7496

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Brown Sugar Canna (Canna x generalis ‘Brown Sugar’) 2007-07-04 05:37:00 Brown Sugar CannaCanna x generalis ‘Brown Sugar’Happy Fourth of July to all the Americans out there, and to others too, but it is just another summer Wednesday to you. I am posting before going off to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden today. I am really excited as I haven’t been down there in a couple of years and the last couple of visits have been during the way off-season. I hope to get some pictures to share with you. The Canna pictured today is ‘Brown Sugar’. It really has a dark leaf and while they haven’t come out yet a pink flower. It is suppose to get to 3 to 4 feet, which to me is a short or dwarf Canna. I didn’t actually order these they were sent as a substitution and I am happy that I got them. On the other side of the spectrum here is a silver colored ground cover called ‘Silver Brocade’ (Artemisia stelleriana). It has been fairly compact in the garden (12 to 15 inches tall). It has yellow flowers but I find them of little value and pinch them off. It needs ...

Magnolia ‘Porcelain Dove’ 2007-07-03 04:40:00 Magnolia ‘Porcelain Dove’This picture was taken in Greenwich at a private garden I visited a few weeks ago. It has a great collection of plants and a lot of tropicals. Here is a blurb I found on the net about ‘Porcelain Dove’:magnoliasociety.org“[M. globosa, M. virginiana var. australis], cv. (Callaway, Dorothy J. The World of Magnolias, p. 225, 1994). ‘This hybrid was created by the late D. Todd Gresham in 1965 at his home, Hill of Doves, in Santa Cruz, California. ... ‘Procelain Dove’ was selected and named by Tom and Bill Dodd from hybrids Gresham shipped to their nursery in Semmes, Alabama. The leaves are much like those of M. virginiana and are semievergreen (Gresham must have used M. virginiana var. australis in his cross, although he did not list it as such). The flowers also resemble those of M. virginiana but are larger and quite fragrant. This hybrid received its name for its porcelain-white flower color and in honor of Todd Gresham's home, Hill of Doves. Nam ...

Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata) 2007-07-02 04:44:00 Pickerel WeedPontederia cordata(pon-te-DARE-ee-uh) (kor-DAY-tuh)PontederiaceaeI think I like the other common name for this plant better, Pickerel Rush. There seems to be another plant that goes by Pickerel Weed called Monochoria vaginalis. That is the problem with referring to plants by their common names. This flower was blooming on the side of the pond I took the water lily pictures on Saturday. I did find a website that said the young leaves are edible, as are the seeds. I don’t think I would try eating it. This is a close up of Nymphaea odorata water lily.It has been sounding like a war zone around my house the last couple of nights with all the fireworks going off. It has been scaring the heck out of my Border Collie and believe me she doesn’t need to be anymore neurotic than she already is during the rest of the year. The Siberian Husky on the other hand doesn’t seem to be bothered. I am going to plant my 50 1-gallon Pachysandra plants today. I might need a few other plant ...

Fragrant Water lily (Nymphaea odorata) 2007-07-01 07:12:00 Fragrant Water lilyNymphaea odorata(NIM-fee-uh) (oh-dor-AY-tuh)NymphaeaceaeI went out yesterday determined to take a landscape shot. I had passed this pond on the way to the nursery on Friday and when I went to get my Green Sheen Pachysandra on Saturday I decided to try and take a few snapshots of the water lilies. There must have been 100’s of thousands of them. Of course I went at midday so the sun was hard to manage but I brought my tripod and tried anyway. That what trying to be an artist is all about to me. Continually getting out of my comfort zone (macros) and trying to do something new. I did okay, I thought, on my landscape type of pictures on Long Island but want to keep trying to get better at it. The water lilies were beautiful and the pond was a buzz with all types of life. After parking and scurrying down the bank I ran into a deer. I was maybe 8 feet from her. I am not sure who was more startled. I didn’t have time to raise my camera before she went crashing through ...

Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet') 2007-06-30 06:30:00 Virginia SweetspireItea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'(eye-TEE-uh) (vir-JIN-ih-kuh)GrossulariaceaeThis plant has performed well for me. It can grow in a moist semi-shady location, which is always a plus. The flowers are fragrant and the red branches offset the green foliage nicely. It can spread a little too much if it is happy but I don’t find removing the suckers to be a problem. The fall color is the real show in my opinion as it is a wonderful kind of brick red color with some variations to purple as it goes through the autumn season. Great for the woodland garden and hardy to USDA Zone 5.Today I am going to buy a few more plants. I have to get 50-60 Green Sheen Pachysandra and a few low perennials for along a new garage/barn that one of my customers built in Pound Ridge. I have been going back and adding titles to some of my other posts as well as correcting my lousy grammar and spelling. I hope I haven’t confused anyone with publishing old posts. I just couldn’t figure out a ...

Unknown Rose 2007-06-29 04:34:00 This is probably my last post from my trip to Long Island. I thought I had taken a picture of the sign for this rose but apparently I didn’t. So it will have to go into the great ‘unknown cultivar’ bin. This is the house at Old Westbury Gardens. ...

Unusual Flowers from Long Island 2007-06-28 04:57:00 Unusual Flowers from Long IslandI understand that some of the flowers are not as unusual for some people but it shows a couple of the botanical oddities I saw on Long Island last weekend. The first is Cymbidium finlaysonianum and I saw this at Planting Fields. It was strange because of the long pendulous flower spike. I hadn’t seen it before and I couldn’t find a lot of information on it except that it is an epiphyte that occurs in Southeast Asia. This next one is a Double Shasta Daisy. You don’t see it too often but it is becoming a bit more popular. They are cool because there are all sorts of variations of the doubles available. This Yellow Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia flava) was growing in a whole group of different Pitcher Plants that were crammed together in a cold frame with about an inch of water in the bottom. I hadn’t seen that before. I actually grew some Pitcher Plants here in Connecticut for several years but then we had a couple of bad winters and I lost them. I wish ...

Rose Arbors at Planting Fields 2007-06-27 04:56:00 Rose Arbors at Planting FieldsOyster Bay, New Yorkhttp://www.plantingfields.orgOn Saturday I also visited Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, NY. I have been there many times before usually when I am visiting the wholesale nurseries on Long Island. It is quite a collection of plants and history and I think just about anybody could find something of botanical interest amongst the gardens. Although I have noticed that the maintenance and planting schemes seem to have fallen off a bit in the last couple of years. Please don’t take this wrong it is still beautiful place and well worth visiting. I was just looking at it with a very critical eye and comparing it to previous tours. One of the highlights of my visit on Saturday was seeing the Rose Arbors in full bloom. Now that was a world-class display and probably one of the best rose plantings I have seen (and I have seen a couple of good ones). I tried to figure out a way to photograph the roses but only came up with these meager s ...

Old Westbury David Austin Roses 2007-06-26 04:36:00 As I said yesterday Old Westbury Gardens had some interesting David Austin Roses. This was one of them. It doesn’t really show it in this picture but ‘Benjamin Britten’ is a real deep red with a touch of orange as the flower ages. It shows the red but not really the orange highlights. This rose has a great fragrance and a flower that has a deep cup. The plants had nice foliage and were in heavy bloom. Introduced in 2001 by David Austin with a varietal name of AUSencart. Named after the famous English composer, conductor and pianist Benjamin Britten.This one is Graham Thomas. Named after the British hortculturist Graham Stuart Thomas. It is one of the nicest yellow roses I have ever seen. It has such a deep and warm color when in bud. It can be used as a climber but these were being grown as a shrub rose. Again the plant was loaded with blooms and the flowers had a strong tea fragrance. It appeared to be a vigorous plant with deep green foliage. It was bred by David Austin from Ch ...

Old Westbury Gardens 2007-06-25 05:01:00 Old Westbury Gardens71 Old Westbury RdOld Westbury, NY 11568http://www.oldwestburygardens.org/On Saturday I went over to Long Island and visited a two gardens. Now I remember why I usually take the Bridgeport to Port Jefferson Ferry as the traffic was a nightmare. I must have been in 10 different slowdowns and 2 or 3 major jams. When I finally got onto the island and made to Old Westbury Gardens all was forgotten. From the moment I pulled off the road I was amazed at the huge Linden Tree allée (it is the driveway, which is slightly curved to give an infinite look) and things just got better after that. I spent most of the afternoon wandering around shooting pictures and enjoying the beautiful day. I would have to give this place a 9 on a scale of 10. The only reason I wouldn’t give it a 10 was it was a little lacking in the shrub and perennial collection. The other thing is I don’t think it had an irrigation system (I might be wrong about that) and it lacked a certain lushness tha ...

Giant Japanese Butterbur (Petasites japonicus) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Giant Japanese Butterbur Petasites japonicus var. giganteus(pet-uh-SY-tees)Asteraceae (ass-ter-AY-see-ay)This isn?t a plant for faint-hearted gardeners or small gardens. I happen to have gotten some about 10 years ago at an aquatic plant nursery. I really didn?t know too much about it but luckily I sited it along a stream that has only a little soil and a lot of ledge rock. This has slowed the spreading as this plant is completely invasive. My patch has nowhere to go so it has been a nice addition to the garden. These flowers come out very early, sometimes when there is still a little snow on the ground. They die back making room for the real show, the giant leaves. All parts of this plant are toxic. The leaves can sometimes get 3 feet across and grow to a height of about 5 feet. That is why you need a lot of room. My patch has spread to about 15 feet long and 4 feet wide and that is all the room it has. It occasionally tries to grow across the small stream it borders but it is easily ...

Haller's Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla halleri) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Haller's Pasque FlowerPulsatilla halleri(pul-sa-TIL-uh) (HAL-ler-ee)Ranunculaceae (ra-nun-kew-LAY-see-ay)I saw a post on the Pale Pasque Flower on a photography forum a couple of years ago and the poster was from Denmark and he said that it was one of the rarest wildflowers in Denmark, something like ?only 11 plants? are in the whole country. So it was fun when I was with a small group in the NYBG last year and we saw this little beauty I was able to say with authority that it?s relative was ?the rarest flower in Denmark? and people were impressed :lol: . This I believe is a more common flower but I haven?t seen it too many other places. It looks like a very nice plant for the rock or alpine garden. I have included a larger picture to show the cool looking silver hairs on the buds. It going to be a rain day here today. I have a couple of meetings to attend but hope this isn?t a precursor of a lot of rain days this season as I already feel I am behind out in the garden. At least they c ...

Spring Pheasant's Eye (Adonis vernalis) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Spring Pheasant's EyeAdonis vernalis(ad-ON-iss) (ver-NAH-liss)Ranunculaceae (ra-nun-kew-LAY-see-ay)This picture is from the NYBG. There was a little patch growing in the Ladies Border and it had survived the late season snowstorm we had. The foliage is fantastic, very finely cut and a nice shade of green. The flower is nice too, a very bright yellow that reminded of a little sun. I had planted one of these that I received as a gift and it bloomed great for two years but I haven?t seen it this year and think that it may have expired. All parts are considered poisonous but this plant is useful in the treatment of heart ailments.Synonyms: Pheasant's Eye, Yellow Pheasant's Eye and False Hellebore ...

Italian Pansy (Viola x wittrockiana 'Bolero') 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Italian PansyViola x wittrockiana ?Bolero?(vee-OH-luh) (wit-rok-ee-AH-nuh)Violaceae (vee-oh-LAY-see-ay)This Pansy is new to me. I must say it had a wonderful appearance. Just different enough to pique my interest but not off the wall or garishly different. There was an assortment of colors planted at my local nursery. I looked it up on the Internet and didn?t really find too many references to this plant. The Park Seed Co.has several types and colors but most seem to come as mixes and the plants I saw were in more blocks of color shades. In general, I was amazed at the selection of colors, flower sizes, and heights of the Pansies that were available. Things have come such a long way.I have been planting Pansies for years and it occurred to me that I really didn?t know that much about them. According to Wikipedia:Most of the garden types of Pansy are:?derived from the wildflower called the Heartsease or Johnny Jump Up (Viola tricolor)?, and: ?Pansies are technically biennials that norma ...

February Daphne (Daphne mezereum 'Alba') 1969-12-31 17:59:59 February DaphneDaphne mezereum 'Alba'(DAF-nee)ThymelaeaceaeIt?s hard to believe a plant that looks this nice and benign could be so toxic. I am glad I didn?t brush up against while photographing it. I have always thought that Daphnes as kind of weak growing but wonderful looking plant. This one was blooming last week despite the crummy weather we have been having. I know sometimes I forget what the weather was like in each month over the years but it seems like this is one of the worst Aprils I have experienced around here in a long time. It seems to me that looking back over the weather averages is not very helpful as April could finish very warm and would appear to be average when it has been cold. The forecast for Connecticut isn?t looking up much as they are forecasting subfreezing temperatures at night and highs only in the low 40s (F). I have probably said this before but for a multitude of reason I am desperate for spring to arrive in its usual way. I saw a Cherry Tree out in ...