I haven't taken a photo yet, but my standout plant for this week is actually a pair - I have a Ville de Lyon clematis (pinky red fading to lighter in petal center) growing through an Endless Summer hydrangea. Since they are both planted in a bed of well-rotted horse manure (and so I'm presuming the pH of the soil is slightly higher than neutral,) the hydrangea is pink and just looks lovely with the darker color of the clematis. It's an accident based on my slowness in getting other support for the clematis, and I think I won't be able to do it again since the clematis will get much larger than the hydrangea (which dies back each winter,) but I sure am enjoying it for now!

nhbabs,
That sounds lovely, with this drought I have been seriously regretting planting new clematis with shrubs. The clem's haven't had a chance.

This is a photo of the bee action happening on every blossom on my Magnolia 'Braken Brown Beauty' I am not sure what is going on do these (stamen?) fall naturally on to the cup shaped petal when the blossom opens or are the bees or other insects moving them there?

My standout plant of the week is the daylily, 'Little Grapette'. Saw this in a magazine some years ago and put it on my want list. I finally happened upon it at Lake St. about six weeks ago and bought two. I am amazed that they are both blooming the first year and so soon after planting. They are two fans each. The color is a deep purple and they are small and dainty, as the name indicates. It's nice when a new plant lives up to your expectations. They should be outstanding in a few years.

For the most accurate photo of Little Grapette, Google 'Little Grapette'. The third hit down today is hortnet.com/gallery. Their image shows it as it is in my garden. A lot of the others are wildly off-base. I'm so sorry I have no digital camera.

Ginny, thanks for remainder to go out and make a picture of my LG I got last fall swap from Sue.
Should I call it Sue's Grapette?

I vote for 'Little Grapette a la Sue'. C'est tres bon!

Actually, I was just thinking of you, George. I just came in from planting three hollies I bought at Home Depot. I would never have bought a shrub there, for several reasons, but you have mentioned having some good luck so I took the plunge. Two Blue Princess and a Blue Prince to replace the wretched China Girl and Boy which never did a thing for me but die slowly and hideously, a la Camille.

ginny,
does this image accurately show it?
Emily

Here is a link that might be useful:

I always forget to appreciate this plant, because it's poorly sited in front of some shrubs. When anyone comes into my garden when it's in bloom, though, they point and ask its name, and then I remember what a standout plant Filipendula rubra really is.

Mskee--Actually it is a brighter, more glowing and jewel-like purple. Guess it's hard to capture with a camera.

DTD--That is such a beautiful plant. It's perfect with your hydrangea. I have a nice clump in quite a lot of shade yet it still blossoms well, tho not as well as yours. Very moist area helps. And no staking, despite the height.

Nan, Ginny,
How argessive is F.rubra?
I want mine in the area where I'll have little to no control of its spread and I was told to plant it in 5G container with rim above the soil level. So it went and still live there, but I don't see it be specificly vigorous in such leg-cuffs situation. Should I keep it that way?
Another possible place where it could be as wild as she wish to is a deer's and woodchack's land and they didn't let it grow for more than a 5" off the ground.

In my fairly shady conditions, in rich, moist soil, it does spread but not so much as to be a serious problem like gooseneck loosestrife, for example. And I find it easily yanks out when it strays too far. So it's a spreader but not a terribly aggressive one, at least for me.

It's worth noting that I first planted this many years ago in sun but dry soil. Not only did it not spread, it barely survived--maybe a foot tall and no flowers, year after year. I moved it after ten years of such abuse and it has rejoiced ever since.

Mine has spread, but not aggressively. It's in a fairly dry, very hot, sunny spot; maybe the dryness keeps it from spreading more. The down side of this situation is that it has some die- back of lower leaves, but I just trim them off if they become unsightly. I've dug up a few runners, or seedlings, not sure which, but not many in the 10 or so years since I planted this.

Thanks, ladies.
I'll leave it 'as is' for one more season and see how it will do.

Back to the topic.
Not just one standout plant, but standout grouping.

Nothing fancy there: platycodon 'Sentimental Blue', lysimachia num. 'GoldiÂ, hosta 'Janet' and juniper squamata 'Blue Star', but it glows in a sun, shade and especialy in a moonlight.

Thats a nice grouping George.

I don't have a single standout this week either, but some honorarable mentions.

The President is quite late blooming this year. Its all new wood growth. For some reason (I have a hunch why), it died to the ground this year and had no old wood to bloom early.

Wendy, is that a Gloria Purpurea astilbe in a first picture?
Who is blooming thru Ivory Halo?

That first astilbe is 'Hennie Graafland'. The clem is Purpurea Plena Elegans. I've had PPE on it for a few years, and it finally started to be noticeable last year, so I just added 2 more this year. It is still not showy, but its enjoyable.

Shoot, how didn't I recognise Hennie...I have it and I love it.
Gloria is similar, also A.simplicifolia, but taller and has a paler flowers, so I was thinking that you have a 'bright' Gloria.
I love your pathway. Could you show it at lenghts?

Wish I would learn how to operate a digital camera and upload photos...

For those of you who have "Little Grapette" daylily -- what a treat! We sell it at the nursery center where I work, and when it started blooming the table was a sea of those lovely purple flowers.

This week's plant is sunflowers. My "hellstrip" by the road is dotted with 'em through no great effort by me. I use wild birdseed with sunflower seeds as scratch feed for my chickens, and when I sweep up the barn and barnyard, the sweepings go in the compost heap. I just pick out some sunflower seedlings that popped up and stuck them in the roadside soil. Now there are lots of 4' tall, multi-flowered stems. The neat thing is I never know what the flowers will look like -- they interpollinate, and the next generation of seeds that comes up is a surprise.

Re: Little Grapette.
It's indeed hard to capture the color of it, especialy in a sun where it make it more russet-burgundy than a purple.
However, when I went yesterday to photograph it I discovered full advantage of Dee's 'way of gardening'.
When I brought a Pandora's Box (still in a pot from God knows when) next to it, both plants become more showy as PB is an almost reverse of LG.
Still not a good picture, but you'll have an idea

This sounds like a fabulous daylily never having seen H. 'Little Grapette', I have a question. I noticed the other day with a critical eye my H. 'Siloam Double Classic' have matured into a plant that the leaves are taller than the blossoms. Now I grant you it is still a beautiful daylily but I wonder if this is a malady with the smaller Hemerocallis. Here is another purple with a velvet textureÂStrutters BallÂ.

Not very thrilling, but can't resist posting photos now that I know how! Rozanne growing thru a butterfly bush:

Mixed bed of lilies look great this week:

Also, Im loving everyones daylilies this week....

Nice lillies sunshineboy I don't think I have ever seen that color before.
Although this Eremurus Himalaicus bloomed at the end of June this was a bulb recommended to me by Ego that I am thrilled I planted. I do however need to move them to a more suitable spot. Does anyone know if it would that be best to wait until the fall or can I do that now? Kt

Wow, that's some bulb. How tall is it? And what color?

I'd wait, but admit I have no experience with this plant. Do you (Katy, Geo, or anyone) happen to know the difference between E. himalaicus and E. robustus? I'm looking at these on the Scheepers web site, and they look very similar, though Robustus is taller.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scheepers Eremurus

LOL, George, yes, there are definite advantages to "my way of gardening"! The best one is that you can make combinations in a split second, and no hole-digging required. Just move the pot!

Also, when something is done blooming, to the back of the driveway it goes, and another plant, ready to bloom, comes to the forefront!

My favorite thing this weekend is my lilies (and these particular ones ARE in the ground, lol!)

:)
Dee

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Planted these 3 stems of Lilium 'Shocking' in '05. They were pretty last year; but this season they've grown well over 6' tall & have over a dozen blooms per stem with stems the size of small trees. The western sun was a little harsh when we took these pictures yesterday. The color of the outer petal is a clear yellow. Each stem has about a dozen flowers & that haunting Orienetal lily fragrance. They're one of the Orienpets & have definitely won my Award of Excellence this week.

Tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Lilium 'Shocking'

Tricia,
WOW now that is one beautiful monster of a lily, I love how the lily colors work perfectly with the color of your home. If you want to add your photo directly in your post, after you have uploaded your photo into tiny pics look to the right hand side of the page and push the blue copy button for the Html for websights line then paste that line directly into the body of your post here on GW.

Wow! Wow! That's one aptly named plant. Did I say ... Wow?

New tab ... google... " Lilium 'Shocking' " +buy

I guess Shocking and Touching are very similar-looking.
Here is Touching growing thru/between two PJMs

Dee, what variety is that, do you know? It's not shocking, but it certainly is stunning. I've been shying away from lilies, and actually composted a few because of lily beetles. Time to rethink that. Do you lily-growers have to spray for beetles, or is that not so much of a problem with certain varieties?

On another standout plant thread, Mayalena posted a pic of another standout lily, but without a variety. Is it by ancy chance an Orienpet, American Flame?

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DtD,

I don't spray for the beetles. Last year, I about half a dozen which I just hand-picked. This year, I've not seen one beetle. We don't have many pests here on the penninsula. Unless one of us brings them in on new plant material I don't think we'll ever have them as badly as the mainland. (hoping)

Tricia

Not as exotic as many postings, but I have to say that this rudbeckia variety ("Indian Summer"), in its second year in the garden, has proved to be a real workhorse -- it's been blooming with big, 4-6" diameter blossoms for a full month now, and shows no sign of slowing down. (You can tell a little of its size -- both bloom and height -- by the shasta daisies behind it.) The blooms last for weeks on the plant (I've only deadheaded one blossom since it started blooming in early June -- what you see here have been open for weeks.) Wasn't sure, when I bought it last year, whether it would behave as a perennial or an annual (advice differed) -- but it came back beautifully this spring and is a joy.

Hi DTD.
The lily I posted is 'Oriana', an "orienpet" that I got from WFF a couple of years ago. It is deliciously fragrant. I am dooming myself by saying this, but we didn't have red lily leaf beetles this year.... Why on earth not? I only hand-picked last year, so I thought this year I'd face an onslaught. I guess the onslaught will come next year? Here's another copy of that pic....