U S National Arboretum June 8, 2012 morning

It was pleasant this morning; the air was clear the sky was cloudless, and, because there was no traffic, I arrived just after 7"00. I drove around and tried to relax and enjoy the scenery!

Tricyrtis puberula fighting its way through Asarum splendens

I like this Tricyrtis but I can't remember if it flowered this early in previous years. It's clearly a tough plant thriving in fairly heavy deciduous shade in the middle of a colony of Chinese wild ginger. The double-decker toadlilies are cool. T. macropoda lives across the path. Plant Delights offers this uncommon species for sale and gives it a common name: Down Toad Lily. The leaves are pleasantly distinctive.

Iris ensata 'Ashton's Dawn' ....Japanese iris continue to be the stars of the garden

I photographed this today and it makes sense to me that a plant that has this tiny hint of pink suffusing white petals might have been named 'Ashton's Dawn'. The Ashton part I get because Dr. Ackerman, the breeder who produced and named it, lived in Ashton, Maryland. The dawn seems self evident. The only problem is that I find no reference to the selection online save a flickr photo from the Arboretum that bears no resemblance to this plant? More research is required.

Apropos of nothing, I just  realized today, that I'm still in love with plants. I always have been, only I forget from time to time. Life distracts me. Age, arthritis, work....there are so many distractions. I love my family and my various gardens, but it's about the plants. They're miracles of color, texture, structure, form....and there are endless numbers of them. And they change daily and yearly. And they grow.

All right, be that way. I'll just take my ball and go home.....Pisaurina brevipes

Katie found this spider with egg sac today while we were hauling broken Tulip tree branches. Which we spent all day doing. Apparently there were high winds associated with the violent rainstorms of this past Friday night. Truckloads of debris we hauled, Katie more than me. I stuck it out all morning but missed an hour in the pm. She just kept hauling though.

The rain was more than welcome; I think it's the first time this year the garden has had more water than it needed. We've had a number of small events, ~half an inch or a bit more, and once we had over an inch, but that came just in time to rehydrate things before they began to suffer. There was no extra there, but this one.....things are looking pretty good.

Pavonia multiflora?, P. x Gledhillii?, Triplochlamys multiflora?, or Brazilian Candles

this must be where they get the wax....just kidding. I bought this plant at the Philadelphia Flower Show this spring. I don't remember ever seeing it before, though a little online research suggests that it's maybe uncommon but not rare in the warmer parts of the world. It's mostly labelled a USDA Zone 10 so I probably can't grow it even in the Florida garden, but I love the color of the bracts, the stamens, and the complex architecture of the flowers so I'll keep it a few years here as a house plant. Currently it's living in a large mixed bowl on the front deck and seems happy. I couldn't wait for the flowers to expand so I dissected this one, vivisected actually, to see the colorful private parts.