This weekend is the official summer kickoff long weekend. The Indy 500 will provide the big televised drama. It is the busiest travel weekend, so I am glad to say I will be off the highways and avoiding the airports.
It is consistently hot every day now and the nights are warm. The plants are loving it. We could use some rain but that will be the refrain until summer’s end.
I have some hydrangea photos today from Aldridge Gardens nearby. The garden features hydrangeas and a visit there this week was spectacular. I also have a photo from the Birmingham Botanical Gardens show a special agave plant.
I will be joining the Six on Saturday group tomorrow morning. Gardeners from around the world will be posting 6 photos from their garden. Come join us. Post 6 of your own and become a fellow SOS participant. The link is https://gardenruminations.co.uk/.
Here are two of the photos from Aldridge Gardens. The lace cap is a Hydrangea macrophylla with a spectacular blue/violet coloring.
The Snowflake is a patented hydrangea. Notice the double blooms. It was found in a backyard in an adjoining suburb. No other native plant is known to exist. Cuttings were taken for propagation. By accident, the cuttings were discarded by a worker. Fortunately, the error was discovered and the cuttings were retrieved in time. One survived and is the parent.
I volunteer at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens every week. I have something unusual for you today. This is an Agave americana sometimes known as the century plant. The tall stalk you see is the flowering stalk which is almost 25 feet high. The plant flowers every 10 to 30 years and then it dies. It leaves little “pup” plants nearby which can be transplanted and will grow.
The lily on the left is a Lilium regale or Royal lily. I planted the bulbs last year so this is the first blooming and it looks great.
The fruit on the right is a Japanese persimmon (Diaspyros kaki). I obtained it 7 years ago in a gallon sized container. It grew slowly for several years but made a big leap last year. It dropped all the buds last year but it is motoring on this year.
My last photo is a regular visitor, Bandit, the raccoon. I surprised him rooting around under my camellias and he quickly climbed into a nearby Southern magnolia. He was not completely scared away since he sat and stared at me for several minutes while I captured his picture. He is a brute.
I wish you a safe weekend if you are in America and traveling this weekend. To all my fellow horticulture devotees, Happy Gardening!
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Nice pics. Love th
Thanks. This spring is spectacular.
It’s a long weekend in the UK too, with the Whitsun or Spring Bank holiday Monday followed by four more days of half term for the school children. Our roads will be busy too. Saturday is predicted to be the best of the three days, so I am off to help my parents with their garden. Sunday and Monday look like rain which I know the gardens and farmers need, so it doesn’t bother me.
Wow lucky you to see the Agave, that’s almost a once in a lifetime plant.
Safe travels. Working in the garden always reminds me of my parents. In Canada where I was raised, this was Victoria Day weekend.
This lace cap is with blue/violet coloring is a success. The mix of colors is really interesting. Concerning the khaki: bravo for the patience!
The hydrangeas span the spectrum of visible color. I am anticipating the taste of a fresh persimmon.
That blue Hydrangea is a beauty. I always think of that 1980s films “The Great Outdoors” when I see a racoon.
This is a special year for hydrangeas.
When the century plant is first putting on the flower spike, it looks like giant asparagus.
Raccoons are so fearless! In Seattle there was often on in my backyard and my cat was itching to be let out to do battle. No way! said I. Not a battle you are likely to win. We had a racoon superhighway back there. Be careful if you come across a racoon “latrine” they can carry a roundworm that can kill a human as the larvae migrate in the human body and can kill you.
Thanks for the warning. Raccoons are bandits here. They rob bird feeders and pet bowls. They will also raid trash bins that are not properly closed.
Yeah, in Seattle, we had bins that latched shut to keep the critters out. Raccoons are badass. They don’t care if you think you are in an urban area. They were there first! I had one stare me down when I was weeding the upper level of the back yard. I felt like I was being watched and he was sitting on the fence waiting for me to get out of his way. He resisted my yelling at him and waving my arms around.
A very interesting story about the Hydrangea Snowflake. The flowering stalk of the Agave americana is amazing – what a privilege to be able to see it. Enjoy the remainder of your Memorial Day Weekend!
An interesting six this week- the agave flower is amazing! And the raccoon is something we don’t see here too. Hope you have persimmon to harvest this year.