Who's Surviving, Who's Thriving, and Who's Still Dead

As we head into the long weekend that marks the unofficial beginning of summer, I thought I'd walk you through the plants and how they're doing.

First, let's talk about the winterberry hollies, both of which appear to be thriving.   Jim Dandy, the male winterberry, is even blooming.

Ideally, he and Red Sprite should bloom at the same time, so that his blossoms can pollinate hers.   (Or, as my friend Mal recently described it, "plant sex.")  Unfortunately, Red Sprite seems to be a little behind schedule.  She's got buds, but they aren't blooming yet.

 

If she doesn't hurry up and bloom, there will be no berries this winter.  That would be sad.

About a month ago, all my hostas in the Jim Dandy pot were approximately the same size.  You can see how Victory has flourished.  It's going to need its own pot very soon.  I've bought the pot, but haven't gotten around to transplanting yet.

The Raspberry Sundae hosta has a couple of leaves that don't look so hot.

Too much watering?  That's my best guess, but if anyone can name that plant malady, let me know.

The New Guinea impatiens and the astilbes (one from my friend Liz, three bought online) are definitely thriving.  Mr. Bowling Ball (the arborvitae), not so much.

Not enough sun???  I'm going to give him a good pruning and see if that helps.

The paprika heuchera went through a rough patch, with most of its initial foliage browning up and dying, but there's been plenty of new growth, and a couple of the new leaves have that nice red coloring that makes "paprika" an appropriate name.

Upright Japanese Yew: surviving.  A little browning around a few needle tips.  The fern is thriving.

 

Serviceberry and hydrangeas: surviving.  There's been no sign that the hydrangeas are thinking about blooming.  Creeping Jenny: thriving.  Happily creeping in all directions.

 

Japanese maple and Blue Mouse Ears hostas: thriving.  The Japanese Maple is very leafy.  Two of the four hostas have buds that will turn into flowers.  Hostas are really known more as foliage plants than as flowering plants, but they do flower.

The darker green Japanese Maple leaves came before the frost this spring; the lighter ones came after.

Guess who's still dead.

But the European ginger and the hens-and-chicks seem to be thriving.

 

The plants from Jenn (hellebore and bleeding heart) are also thriving.  The bleeding heart seems to create new leaves on almost a daily basis!

And finally, a bit of good news: the Forever Purple heucheras have been shipped!  Hooray!

In Which Liz Arrives Bearing Plants

I actually want to start off tonight by showing off my new macro lens.  Let's take a look at my Jim Dandy winterberry holly, which is about to bloom.

All those little spherical objects are buds that will soon be tiny holly blossoms.

The English holly down the street is already blooming.

However, having only my male holly bloom does no good.  The male and the female holly both have to bloom at the same time for pollination to occur.  Fortunately, Jim Dandy is not only an early bloomer but a long bloomer, so Red Sprite has a little while to catch up.  Which is a good thing, because though I stare intently at her every day, so far there's no budding action.  I occasionally hallucinate a single bud at the center of a group of leaves, but I think it's probably just more leaves.

If Red Sprite doesn't bloom, I'll get no berries this year, and berries are pretty much the whole point of winterberry holly.

Now I want to tell you about the plants my friend Liz brought me last night.  Liz has a house in Connecticut where she can grow plants in the ground like a normal person.  She very kindly brought me three shade-loving perennials for my collection.

First is the lamium (Lamium maculatum),  One website describes it as a "tough yet showy perennial groundcover."  Sounds like my kind of plant.

 

I planted the lamium with Red Sprite, though it may get a little crowded in there.

As you can see, I moved Red Sprite closer to Jim Dandy in the hope that pollination will eventually occur.

Second is the European Ginger (Asarum Europaeum).  It too will spread to become a ground cover.

I put it under the Dwarf Alberta Spruce.

As Liz pointed out, it's a bit leggy.  "Leggy" as applied to plants is a term I've learned only recently - basically, it means that the stem is longer than you'd want it to be.

Finally, the Astilbe (Astilbe).  There are 18 different species of Astilbe, and I have no idea which of these species this one belongs to.

Astilbe is one of the few flowering plants that really love shade.  I'll be looking forward to seeing what color this one turns out to be.

It's moved in with Mr. Bowling Ball and the New Guinea impatiens.

I am definitely running out of room.  Fortunately, there's only one plant that still hasn't arrived.