Posts Tagged ‘summer’

in Gardens

August 31, 2009

The Dog Days of Summer

Robust, heat-tolerant plants thrive in late summer's swelter. Crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica), the medium sized, multi-stemmed small trees that dot the landscape, are heavy with blossoms in a range of colors from white to pink to purple. Although late 18th-century introductions, no Southern landscape is complete without them.

The favorite shrub of many of our grandmothers, the rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriaca), blooms in shades of white, pink, red, and blue, in single and double forms. Another traditional perennial you will see in flower is the Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum).

The Governor’s Palace always offers the flower-curious visitor vestiges of summer color. The perennial beds that outline the center annual beds still bear a multitude of summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), and bits of obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana).

At the Colonial Nursery, pots near the cistern bear tall, white flowered bulbs: the tuberoses (Polyanthus tuberosa).

Historical research has shown that 18th-century Williamsburg residents planted these in their gardens, storing the non-hardy bulbs in their basements.

Also in the Colonial Nursery, expect to see a Tuberose Polyanthus tuberosawide collection of winter vegetables: purple-top turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, parsnips, mustard, kale, spinach and salsify.

in Gardens

July 30, 2009

What’s Blooming: August

This month, daylilies, hemerocallis fulva, and lantana, lantana species, join the riot of blooms at the Governor’s Palace.

At the Colonial Nursery, opposite Bruton Parish Church, see the unusual Devil’s Claw, harpagophytum procumbens. This South African plant is named for the curious hooked fruit that follows a beautiful cream and purple orchid-like flower. Several types of squash are ripening, such as cymbling, yellow crookneck, and cushaw.

In other gardens, trumpet vine, campsis radicans, and virgin’s bower, clematis virginiana, climb the fences, and swamp rose mallow, hibiscus moscheutos, peeks over them.

August’s generous sun coaxes traditional perennials into flower: Stoke’s aster, stokesia laevis, New England aster, smphyotrichum novae-angliae, and New York aster, ymphyotrichum novi-belgii.

in Gardens

July 15, 2009

Summer harvest

Gardeners are beginning to see the fruits of their labor with the ripening of fruits and vegetables in the Historic Area. Cucumbers are coming in by the basket full, potatoes are ready for digging, beets are nearly ready and the onions have just been harvested.

For the first time we are growing the Bull Nose Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum) in addition to the cayenne peppers. Grown at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson, it has been described as one of the best pickled peppers because of their mildness and their thick, fleshy, and tender rind. The pepper matures from green to scarlet, getting sweeter over time. They are crunchy and good to eat raw or pickled.

By the 18th century, peppers, particularly of the bell type, are often pickled. Richard Bradley, writing in Dictionarium botanicum (1728) observes: “These make a very good Shew in a Garden and are two ways useful, the green Pods make an excellent Pickle, and when the pods are full ripe, the Seed within them being clean’d and pounded in a Mortar is very good to put into Sauces, but ‘tis very hot, so that a little of it goes a great way; the long Pods are the best for pickling, and the ripe Seeds also of the long Pods are best for Sauces.”

Also ripening are the yellow egg plums (Prunus domesticus “Yellow Egg.”) This is a small European plum that,Rosinweed Silphium trifoliatum in Wesley Greene’s opinion, is the best flavored plum of all.

Dead-heading the perennials is a full time task. As one flower fades another one steals the show. Bee balm (Monarda didyma) is the number one asked about plant in the garden by our guests and is a favorite with hummingbirds as well.

The tall, stately Rosinweed (Silphium trifoliatum) is an easy perennial that most gardeners do not know. It is currently blooming at the Colonial Nursery at about 8’ tall.

in Gardens

June 8, 2009

What’s Blooming: June

June brings the first onset of really warm temperatures, driving the early flowering trees, shrubs and perennials from the landscape.

The perennial beds at the Governor's Palace are an abundant mixture of summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana), Carolina lupine (Thermopsis villosa), daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) and the Yorktown onion (Allium ampeloprasum).

The front edge of the perennial bed is planted in an heirloom mixture of colors of the globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa), a plant known to have been grown by John Custis in Williamsburg ca. 1735. The permutations of saturated purple, soft pink and dusky white offer a rippling pattern to the front of the perennial beds.

The boxwood garden to the west of the ballroom is planted in a two-toned yellow and pink lantana, whose soft colors and naturally floppy habit give this garden a sense of serenity. To the east of the Palace, in the yellow-berried holly garden, balsam (Impatiens balsamina) has been installed because of the heavy shade on this side of the building. Balsam of this kind can often reach four feet tall and have stems more than two inches in diameter. Their tendency to seed widely and profusely can be troublesome, but they are stout in the heat and floriferous throughout the hot growing year in Williamsburg.

MagnoliaThe Colonial Nursery, opposite Bruton Parish Church, is a treasure trove of flowering plants, especially in June. Expect to see sweet bay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) along with oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) and smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens), the latter of which presents flowers ranging from a flat flower panicle to a more fully spheroid flower head.

In June some traditional perennial herbs are coming into flower or will still be in flower: valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium), were both essential healing herbs in antiquity. The yarrows (Achillea millefolium) and (A. fillapendula), the common white and the familiar yellow, have been common in perennial borders for centuries. Both yarrows perform well in the South because of their drought tolerance.

CardoonAlso expect to see the artichoke-like cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) in bloom as well as a slew of other herbaceous plants such as blattaria, or moth mullein (Verbascum Blattaria), common mullein (Verbascum Thapsus) bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), Stoke's aster (Stokesia laevis), pink root (Spigelia marilandica), flowering tobacco (Nicotiana syvestris), wormwood (Artemesia Absinthium), and lovage (Levisticum officinale), a celery-like vegetable.

While at the Colonial Nursery , see the tall yellow silphium (Silphium astericus), the sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa), the sea holly (Erygium amethystinum), and the familiar orange butterfly weed (Aesclepias tuberosa).

In addition, look for the familiar rose campion (Lychnis coronaria), clary sage (Salvia sclarea), money plant (Lunaria annua), acanthus (Acanthus mollis) Turk's cap lily (Lilium martagon) and Madonna lily (Lilium candidum), and the regular and Spanish lavenders (Lavandula angustifolia & L. Stoechas).

HollyhocksIn other gardens, such as the Geddy House on Palace Green, look for hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) peeking over the fence. In the oval garden at the Orlando Jones House, the annual bed is planted with a traditional combination of orange marigold and dwarf ageratum.

The great southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) will bloom in June, and no sight of the 10-inch flowers is complete without a whiff of its fragrance: like butter, sugar and lemon folded into cake batter. The prominent catalpa trees (Catalpa bignonioides) on Palace Green bear their huge panicles of flowers in June, and tender their 12-inch seeds pods later in the fall. Don’t miss the bright flowered pomegranates , (Punica granatum) prominent at the Prentis Garden as well as a white ruffled variety at the colonial nursery.

in Gardens

May 27, 2009

June’s heat-loving annuals

Plants in profusion and variety, both native and imported, grow in and around the Historic Area of Williamsburg. To provide the majority of the color in our gardens throughout the seasons, Colonial Williamsburg’s landscape staff and volunteers plant a combination of annuals, biennials and perennials.

In June, we will have just completed planting heat-loving annuals in the flower beds. These annuals will stay in the beds until the fall when they are replaced with bulbs and cold-hardy annuals.

Two summer annuals that you will see throughout the Historic Area are the marigold and globe amaranth. Like many of the plants grown in the Historic Area, they were introduced to the New World before 1800.

The 17th-century nurseryman, Thomas Fairchild, recommended both French (Tagetes patula) and African (T. erecta) marigolds for ornamental London gardens. Native to Mexico, both species are tough annuals that produce an abundance of flowers from midsummer to fall in a variety of colors and forms. Some marigolds of note include the double African marigold and the “striped French Marygold” that was bought by Sir Peyton Skipwith in 1793.

Native to Central America, the globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) tolerates heat, humidity and drought. The purple, pink or white clover-like flowers bloom from summer until frost. They are some of the best flowers you can grow for dried arrangements, so we use it in many of Colonial Williamsburg’s Christmas decorations. We know from historic documents that colonists also used globe amaranth in dried arrangements.

Globe AmaranthIn 1742, English botanist Peter Collinson wrote to Williamsburg garden enthusiast John Custis that the globe amaranth “. . . is a Real and I may say perpetual Beauty. If the flowers are gather’d in perfection and hung up with their Heads Downwards in a Dry shady Room, they will keep thear Colours for years and will make a pleasant Ornament to Adorn the Windows of your parlor or study all the Winter. I Dry great quantities for that purpose and putt them in flower potts and China basons and they make a fine show all the Winter.”