An Iowa Garden

Sunday, May 25, 2008

The Mouse Plant (Or, Who Ate The Cheese?)

Arisarum is a small, obscure genus of aroids, containing only three species. One of these species, Arisarum proscideum, is the mouse plant, native to Italy and Spain. It is a little creeper, with thick clumps of shiny, arrowhead-shaped leaves and wee jack in the pulpit-like floral structures that hide under the leaves, with the long "tails" of the spathes, poking up through the foliage. When you part the leaves, you see these little jacks with maroon tops and white bottoms; the effect is like a covey of little mice burrowing down into the plants, with their tails waving in the air. This small plant, while not really invasive, does fairly readily form a thick, expanding clump, so I have the plant surrounded by a black plastic barrier, which you can see in the middle of the top picture. When I think about it, this might be the cutest plant in the whole garden.

// posted by IBOY @ 6:15 AM 0 comments

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Come For A Walk...

Come for a little garden walk with me...

// posted by IBOY @ 6:21 AM 7 comments

Friday, May 23, 2008

Primrose Hunk

Flower catalogs tend to be, shall we say, generous in describing the size of flowers and the vigor and other attributes of the plants themselves... rather like some proud parents touting their seemingly fairly average offspring. However, when Ellen of Seneca Hills Perennials describes Primula sieboldii 'Seneca Star' as having large flowers (with white stars) and vigorous foliage, she's almost understating. This is either a primrose on steroids or a tetraploid. It's just big; the petal substance is very thick, and the foliage is very large and much darker green and heavy compared to my other sieboldii cultivars. I will say the foliage of this plant might even be a bit coarse, but that's a quibble. I suspect this plant is going to form a large clump very rapidly (it's already giving a nudge to the cute little Japanese maple its growing under). It should be fairly spectacular.

// posted by IBOY @ 5:11 AM 6 comments

Thursday, May 22, 2008

The K Mart Fine Nursery

Most of our tree peonies in the garden have no name tags, for they were purchased at the end of the gardening season closeout sale at K Mart, each overgrown, straggly plant struggling to still stay upright in its cheap cardboard box, simply labeled "Tree Peony", and bearing the handsome price of $4.00 (this was a few years ago). I suppose I could put some fanciful name on them, like "Waves Breaking Over Red Heron", but heck, I just call them all "K Mart Special".

// posted by IBOY @ 6:23 AM 6 comments

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Iffy Ipheions?

If you read the mainstream garden catalogs, ipheions (starflowers) are hardy to zone 4 or 5... to this, I say HA! The truth about ipheion's hardiness is somewhat different, as you'd expect from a bulb that is native to the highlands of the southern part of South America. Like many other gardeners, on the recommendation of the catalogs I've planted a few bulbs of the lovely blue Ipheion 'Rolf Fiedler', which disappeared from the garden faster than you can say "tender bulb". A more authoritative source pegs the actual hardiness of plain Ipheion uniflorum at zone 7 and the alluring blue 'Rolf Fiedler' at zone 8.
Yet, I'm showing you a picture of an ipheion blooming in our zone 5a garden this spring. This is Ipheion 'Alberto Castillo'. Jose Alberto Castillo is from Buenos Aires, and apparently rather well known in the flower bulb circles. He found this ipheion locally, and introduced it to commerce. It is distinctive for its large flowers and heavy-substanced, gray-green foliage; some think it may be a new species. I had thought it was going to have violet colored flowers, but instead it is supposed to smell like violets... oh. Actually it doesn't even smell like violets to me... maybe more like a peony? Still, the blooms are quite lovely; large, with faint green mid-ribs on the petals, and it blooms for quite a while. The original blooms have been open two weeks, and it is bringing on new sets of flowers. I can't think of another early spring bulb we can grow that has successive blooming like this. It's only gone through one winter here (though it was a particularly foul one), so you might check back next spring and see if I have another picture of it... or of a little empty space in the garden.

// posted by IBOY @ 6:09 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Don't Wake This Robin!

Trillium foetidissimum is native to a small region of the deep south; rich, old forests on either side of the lower Mississippi River in the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is called the Mississipppi River trillium or stinking wake robin. It's a beautiful thing, with deeply silvered, mottled leaves and a dark maroon flower.
In spite of its ominous name, I'd never smelled a thing, so the other day I stuck my nose right down in the flower... WOOF! Imagine a dead mouse wearing unwashed gym socks.

// posted by IBOY @ 6:24 AM 4 comments

Monday, May 19, 2008

Well, They Were Almost Free

Considering my recently chronicled difficulties in growing columbines in this garden, I'd not want to waste money buying any more. However, I was just given a twenty dollar gift certificate to a local nursery. I picked out two large heucheras at $10.99 each. On my way back to the checkout counter, these two columbines: Winkie Double 'Red And White' and Winkie Double 'Dark Blue And White' caught my eye, and I just had to take them along (no mean feat since I now had to carry four plants in my arms). I figured I could use my gift certificate to pay for the columbines, and I'd pay for the heucheras out of my pocket; thus the columbines were essentially free. Besides... I think they winked at me.

// posted by IBOY @ 6:12 AM 7 comments