Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Japanese tea garden 2

In the morning I often take my first tea here. In front of it and behind it, to the east and to the west there are high trees, thus before foliation and after the fall of the leaves it is a sunny place, but in the summer it is shadowy and fresh almost all the day.

To the left I see the forest.

Here I can still catch a glimpse of the rising sun among the crowns of the trees.

In front of us there is also the forest and our part-shadow garden.

Daylilies seen from near.

And from even nearer (Hemerocallis 'Victorian Fantasy'.)

Hemerocallis 'Victorian Fantasy'To the right, in the middle, another part-shadow parcel. In the middle of the picture, one of my favorites: Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon'.

Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon'To the right the part-shadow garden continues.

The young catalpa seen in the previous picture, now nearer to us. Its flowers are very fragrant.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sunday morning

Monday, June 16, 2008

Verticillium wilt

This Japanese maple unfortunately has already died. The same happened to three other ones as well. I did not understand why, for we did all our best. We planted it in the right soil, in part-shadow, and watered it abundantly.

By this spring almost all our magnolias were damaged, too. They started to display signs of sickness in the second part of last summer. They looked as if they got some kind of mycosis, or as if they suffered of some deficiency. They suddenly displayed symptoms of chlorosis and a very spectacular degradation. We watered them much more than usual and sprayed them with all kinds of plant-protecting agents, but in vain.

I was desperately searching the internet for a specialist who could help us. I found one, an assistant professor of the chair of pathology of the Budapest university of horticulture, and she was willing to come out. She immediately told that the soil is certainly bad, that we do not water them and do not care them enough, and so on. I tried to convince her that the reality is quite the contrary, but she did not seem to be interested in reality. Incidentally she also mentioned that there exists a kind of mycosis, but it never attacks magnolia.

I browsed through the web again. I started to systematically search for the diseases of magnolia. Soon it turned out that in fact there is a fungus living in the soil that also attacks magnolia. The symptoms corresponded to those displayed by our plants. It is called Verticillium wilt, and indeed there is no effective protecting agent against it. Nevertheless, there is a small chance that the plant itself will win it. The only thing one can do is to give strength to the plant by foliar fertilizing. (As I understood, our magnolia had already overcome this infection some years ago when I started to apply on it a foliar fertilizer called Wuxal.)

Not only magnolia, but other kinds of plants are sensitive to it as well. Wherever this fungus once occurred in the garden, you should better not plant them.

Plants threatened by verticillium wilt:

ash, azalea, Japanese barberry, Corean box, American (wild) chestnut, catalpa, cherry and other stone-fruits, currant, gooseberry, some sorts of cornel, elder, elm, honeysuckle, syringa, some sorts of lime, maple, magnolia, some sorts of oak, plum, some sorts of rose, some sorts of sorb, sumac, spirea, fustet, haw.

All the plants in the above list that we had in our garden, either displayed symptoms of deficiency, or died, in spite of all our care and efforts.

There are, however, some sorts that are resistant to verticillium wilt:

apple, Western arbor vitae, beech, birch, some sorts of cornel, Scotch fir, ginkgo, Western swape, thornapple, honeylocust, juniper, redwood, mulberry, some sorts of oak, some sorts of lime, pear, poplar, some sorts of sorb, spruce, chestnut, willow.

Some web pages for more information about verticillium wilt:

- Online gardener
- Univerisity of Minnesota
- Elm care
- RHS

Friday, June 13, 2008

Bouquet, June 13, 2008

From the left to the right: A purple-leaved basil, a purple-leaved fennel (Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum'), a catmint (Nepeta × fassenii 'Six Hills Giant'). The red one is a Penstemon barbatus 'Coccineus', both to the left and to the right. Some Hostas. The large one is a marsh spurge (Euphorbia palustris), the smaller ones wood spurges (Euphorbia amygdaloides 'Purpurea'). Near to it, the Heuchera received of my mother-in-law. One wine-red Dahlia. Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabella'. The purple leaf almost visible behind it is a Persicaria 'Red Dragon'. One fern I received of my neighbor, so I do not know its name, but it is the most beautiful fern I have ever seen. The tousled one in the background is a Heuchera americana.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Monday, June 9, 2008

Bouquet, June 9, 2008

The big blue and white ones are campanulas (Campanula persicifolia). The little blue one to the left is Campanula rotundifolia. The purple one under it is Geranium 'Patricia', above it to the left some Salvia verticillata 'Purple Rain' (unfortunately the photo does not render how beautiful it is in life).

The two wine-red ponpons near to it are a brook thistle (Cirsium rivulare). Below, a hydrangea is about to bloom (Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabella'). In the middle, below, a Hosta (to the right there are two more Hosta flowers as well). Behind it the wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides 'Purpurea') that is still blooming.

Beside it, a handful of Heuchera coming from the garden of my mother-in-law, of which I do not know the exact name. To the right, a Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum multiflorum 'Variegatum'). And finally, two decorative bulbs: a big purple Allium atropurpureum (uncorrectly called Allium atropureum on its paper-bag), while the two tousled ones are Allium vineale 'Hair' (spelled uncorrectly again as Allium 'Fineale Hair' on their bags).

Friday, June 6, 2008

Amelia - Violacea: fence of historical roses, 2008

Amelia

Blush Hip

Cardinal de Richelieu - Violacea - Sissinghurst Castle - Amelia - Hippolyte

Cardinal de Richelieu

Charles de Mills (the light pink one to the right: Amelia)

The simple one: Complicata; the full-flowered: Hippolyte.

Empress Josephine

Empress Josephine - Amelia - Charles de Mills

Erinnerung an Brod

Hippolyte

In the forefront: Hippolyte. In the background, to the left: Rosa gallica officinalis. In the background, to the right: Rosa Mundi.

Indigo

In the forefront: unknown rose (it was mixed up in the nursery and I do not know its name). In the background: Erinnerung an Brod.

In the forefront: La Sancta. Behind it: Trigintipetala

Sissinghurst Castle

Trigintipetala

Violacea