What's Blooming Now - August 18, 2011
Long Season Bloomers Make a Comeback

Cooler temperatures and a little bit of rain have helped to liven some of our tired plants here at the White River Gardens.  The weather has even encouraged some re-bloom on some of our collection.  One of these re-blooms is occurring on the Efroymson Wedding Garden roses, having been aided by some regular deadheading. The flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata) in the Sun Garden took a brief hiatus from blooming, but is back in full force thanks to the more favorable conditions as well. 

Another long season bloomer in the Virginia Fairbanks Sun Garden is the False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides).  We may have mentioned this plant in a previous What’s Blooming Now, but if you missed it the first time, it is still going…which is one of the great features about this plant.  False sunflower will start blooming mid-summer and continue to do so for at least two months!   We only caution the use of this plant because it can reseed easily and take over a garden if not managed.

Our Hydrangea paniculata varieties are still putting on a show as well.  The ‘Limelight’ hydrangea that was just starting to bloom a few segments ago, is at its peak.  You can find this variety in the Asymmetry Garden as well as along the backside of the stream pool along the Sun Garden walk.  Another of our paniculata species named ‘Pink Diamond’ is located in the Wedding Garden and is currently demonstrating how it got its name.  This variety has cloud white blooms that are currently fading to a pretty pink color…perfect for those September weddings coming up!

Another one of our white bloomers is at peak in the North Cutting Bed, Calamintha nepeta ‘White Cloud’.  While many of the purple blooming varieties have bloomed earlier and have possibly been cut back and re-bloomed, this is the first bloom for ‘White Cloud’. 

You may be surprised to see some of our hostas just starting to bloom here at the Gardens.  We encourage you to get close to these flowers and take a good “sniff”.  These late blooming hostas are very fragrant, unlike the earlier blooming varieties that have long passed.   The Ruth Lilly Shade Garden is a great place to find them as well as the planting at the very end of the Sun Garden near the back Wedding Garden gate. 

The last flower we want to mention in this segment is Scadoxus multiflorus...a  flower that might make you scratch your head.  Scadoxus or blood flower looks a lot like an ornamental onion with a pink, red bloom.  You can find them blooming in the Oasis Garden.  You may also see their plain green leaves in the same planting.  The leaves come up AFTER the bloom has faded.  Scadoxus is NOT hardy to this zone, but can be dug up and stored…we think it’s well worth the trouble.