Sep 21, 2008

My Flowers 2: Heuchera americana "Dale's Strain"

Botanical Name: Heuchera americana 'Dale's Strain'
Common Name: Alumroot
Finnish Name: Keijunkukka


Heuchera americana "Dale's Strain"
Originally uploaded by Taiga the Fox





This Heuchera has amazingly green foliage heavily veined with silver and bronze. Selected by Dale Hendricks from a wild population he found in the mountains of North Carolina. The small blooms are white, but are hardly visible because of the striking marbled foliage.

I got mine as a really small seedling from some lovely person I met through a garden chat 4 years ago.
It has taken some time to grow, but during this summer the plant finally was big enough making a lovely combination with Heuchera 'Palace Purple'.



Exposure: Very shade and drought tolerant
Hardiness: Hardy in USDA zones 4-7
Noteworthy characteristics: Attracts bees.

Sep 17, 2008

My flowers 1. Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan'



Botanical Name: Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan' Common Name: White coneflower
Finnish Name: Valkoinen punahattu
This cultivar of coneflower has white, daisy-like flowers. In my garden it started blooming around the end of July and is still flowering. It has bronze-green cones, which are surrounded by large white petals. Or they are supposed to be white, but this one was more like raw green swan when I took this photo.



I've only got one plant anymore, sadly. I have sown it from seed, which I got from a friend. I had about 6 seeds, but the propagation went somewhat wrong and I got only two seedlings. The other one died, but this one has been growing for two years now. I should probably buy some more, because it's quite attractive.

Noteworthy characteristics: Medicinal. Butterflies and bees love it.

Exposure: Full sun, Partial shade
Hardiness: Hardy in USDA zones 4-8
Height: 60cm
Spread: 45cm

Sep 15, 2008

Apple time

...and time to start posting something here, finally, I quess.




The old apple trees surprised me this year. The nearly-dead-but-so-beautifully-chekhovian-tree gave us some surprisingly sweet gifts. I kind of knew that already in May when I took the photos of these rose blossoms.








Even the youngest member of my apple family, Tallinn Pear-apple (Tallinnan päärynäomena) had five small, sweet and so red apples.





Now I just don't know what to do with all those fruits...
Maybe I'll start with an apple pie.