Another beautiful thing about the Beautyberries, aside from their name  (Callicarpa to be botanical) is not only are their pendulous  branches beautiful to our eyes, but the birds just go mad for them…especially these red-breasted robins.  The great thing is the abundant  berries provide plenty for them to eat and for us
to swoon over…

A GORGEOUS DAY

What began as another dreary, grey, gloomy day suddenly took
on autumn splendor around 2 in the afternoon. 
Suddenly too warm for a sweathshirt (yes, I have two beloved
old Issey Miyake sweatshirts) but perfect for the rigors of digging in.  After three days of rain the earth yields to making holes and is pliable
enough to welcome weeding – all this corresponding with the
arrival of Spring Bulbs – can anything be better?

First to go in the ground are the premium tubers from
Odyssey Bulbs. They are deservedly more expensive because
they are fatter and more alive with roots and growth tips
than any of the others.
Look at these Arum pictum I planted last year –

So luscious.
These glossy leaves have just appeared -
exactly when you need something fresh.
So, this year I am planting Arum discoridis
to grow nearby.

Plus this year I am giddy with several new colors of Corydalis and
an Erythronium called ‘Purple King’.

You see, Odyssey has the odd specie and color unavailable
anywhere else ( that I’m aware of) and the owner
Russell Stafford converses with you personally
(which I adore – even when he tells me he is sold out).
There are a few pictures on line, but the descriptions are very visual.

And speaking of bulb sources – it only
makes sense to go with the best.
Here is proof:

These are Anemone coronaria tubers.  The three fat ones
on the left are from John Scheepers  - the three puny
scrawny withered ones on the right are from another source.
It shall go nameless, but it begins with B and they
send millions of catalogues.
Get your bulbs from the good guys:

Brentandbeckysbulbs.com
John Scheepers and VanEngelen (for quantities of 50, 100 like that)
McClure & Zimmerman
And Odyssey, of course


Don’t forget to plant the fleshy tuberous things first as well as the more fragile Fritillaria...and lilies .  Oh yes, and do soak those funny looking anemones overnight before planting – I think it makes
all the difference.


A LILY  PHENOMENA

An Easter Lily is absolutely the paradigmatic
essence of spring, is it not?
Here is one is blooming like mad from the beginning of September! 

That calls for an exclamation point.

Our congregation is invited to take the potted lilies from the altar on the Sunday after Easter, which is what this happens to be.
Of course, I looked for the plumpest tallest one and immediately
came home and planted it in an unlikely spot where I never expected
it to flourish…you never know when the next little miracle might occur.

And today - the 17th of October -
there are 2 big fat new buds !

ANOTHER SORT OF PHENOMENA

This is a fantastic Lily squagmira, and although I have never had
much luck with them -   at LongHouse they are flourishing.

As is the gargantuan and divine Tropical Garden installed by Dennis Schrader of the great LandCraft Environments.
You cannot appreciate these pictures without understanding the scale…This dark banana leaf is probably 10 feet tall.

This Colocasia ‘Thailand Giant’ may be 7 or 8 feet across,

 

with color nuances that are divine:
Look at the way the Purply shine of the Strobilanthes picks
up the purple in the thorns of that crazy jagged-edge chartreuse
thing. Wild. …and to think at the beginning of June it looked like, well…nothing.
Oh, the jungle is a powerful place...
think of how it almost devoured all of those Mayan temples.

And for the first time ever -
everyone is invited to watch the spectacular season change
at LongHouse

Now open every Saturday from
12 - 3:30  PM 

To read the full text of this latest version of DIRTIER, Click HERE!

AND WHAT ABOUT THE CALLA LILIES?

Just leave them in the ground?

Our country is now enduring it’s warmest year on record and the
13 warmest years for the ENTIRE PLANET have occurred 

since 1998. That is 13 out of 14 years.  And this according to the

NYTimes based on data gathered since 1880....

Thank God Wind Power and Solar Energy are getting cheaper
 and renewable energy use is rising…but
in the meantime  -
What are we gardeners to do?

We're already getting used to
adapting to the new seasonal calendar,
but should we just consider the Eucomis eternal?
I mean,  leave the all Pineapple Lilies in the ground?
Here see an over-wintered one bursting forth and full blown.

 Do I dare expect another so-mild-you-can-hardly-call-it-winter?

What to think?  Because on this very day
(it is September 3rd as I write)
I have just spotted THREE HELLEBORE BUDS!

Lespedeza and Beauty berry in nearly full flush –
Pinky Winky already High-autumn pink –

Isn’t it unimageinable?  What happened to autumn?

SO TIME IS FLYING

I like to chitchat with you every month but as one month slurs into
the next -- who can keep up?  Though last month was exceptionally eventful – starting with a grand birthday party
for Jack Larsen at LongHouse -
Seating 75 people  in the amphitheatre
was, of course, his idea...

and it was wonderful...

Punctuated by 2 very different weddings:

My stepdaughter Wendy’s wonderful wedding on a Sonoma
precipice at twilight.

This is just a little taste of the Australian civil ceremony,
the real thing in the next issue.
Hold your breath...

In her brothers’, Marc & Charles, gorgeous sprawling garden
that put on a special show for the event:

Hairy cactus.

Cactus about to bloom.
Cactus in full bloom.

A towering yucca stalk.

And subtle modulated desert colors...
Blues that are really blue

and color combinations
that are too chic for words.

Peach trees.

And gorgeous tomatoes, this black one
called Indigo Rose.

Bountiful and wonderful.

Then a few weeks later were the nuptials of
Rufus Wainwright + Jorn Weisbrodt
right here on Long Island in their Montauk garden.

These big events mixed in with Lobster Bakes and Circus
Parties ( Big Apple Circus is the circus that gives back -
to schools, to hospitals)- and a trip to Baltimore to
celebrate dramatic old friends in new times - some
more theatrical than others.

So, I am a little late in getting
this summer's end DIRTIER
out to you...

To read the full text of this issue of DIRTIER click HERE.

There  Are  Painted  Ferns And then there are really Painted Ferns.

This one is particularly white, it is amazing  how they stay pure and white in this intensely Hot Summer Heat . 

It’s called ‘Ghost’ and it came from Plant Delights.

Though most are already finished, there are still

some Clematis scrambling,

and Calla Lilies

and my Voodoo Lilies.

Note that the ganesha (Remover of all Obstacles)is almost 3 feet

tall, so you can easily calculate the towering stature of the

Voodoo Lily that umbrellas him/or is it her/I think

maybe it’s an ‘it’.

The gorgeous leafhead of Arisaema consanguinem.

The significant tripartite leaves of other Arisaema:

The lower one is Arisaema costatum, the bigger one – I think – is Arisaema griffithii var Pradhani – the bronze bird was once an andiron.

The reason I don’t know exactly which one it

is – well…. just guess…. because I didn’t use my

Plant Markers!

And the seed pod of Arisaema sikokianum.

CORFU

The next stop was Corfu.  Now, of course, the idea of any Greek 
island seems much more familiar, but this was not your typical  
whitewashed houses perched under searingly blue skies scenario.

This island started out as a fortress (fending off those greedy 
Turks with the help of the Venetians)
and is  grander in that special sort of Greek way
(destined to be classic, you know), more urban in a small town,
old world way…and plenty of tourists…but charming.

The hats, I must let you know, are not Greek or even European,
but made in Bali and sold in America by Foxglovesinc.com.

LEECE...WHO KNEW?

I’m sure that many of you, like me, have been looking at Oleander growing unappealingly in the south of Europe for decades.
It has always bothered me --- in the south of France especially,
that this is the best thing they can come up with --- scraggly,
shrubby and dull.  It wasn’t until we saw an Oleander allee – limbed
up and pruned - in the gorgeous city of Lecce, Italy that I ever
really appreciated it.  First time for everything.
Lecce is in the very heel of Italy and is one of those
breathtaking places that has – unimaginably – not
made it on the ‘everybody must see’ itinerary.
And how delightful that is…

Our guide was named Fabbio and he was very proud.

This guy stands guard.

The town or city is made of a certain slightly yellowed kind of limestone that must have been the perfect stone beckoning carvers and artists and all lovers of beauty, giving it its cognomen of
"The Florence of the South".

Everywhere there are baroque and rococco flourishes
wrought in iron and stone and marble.

Extraordinary churches overflow with gilt, lambs, saints
and because the city is not inundated by tourists, you can
still take pictures like these.

We love Churches so this was right up our alley…

Skye was enchanted by the laundry lines strung up everywhere.

And the Italianess of it all.