Wild Bergamot

I almost missed the soft lavender flowers of Monarda fistulosa.  I happened to spot it early one morning this week on the way into the office.  The sense of smell is strongly linked to memories, and this plant conjures up vivid memories of a summer in my teen years spent marking trees at a timber sale near Englewood, South Dakota.  At the foot of the hill that we were logging was a meadow full of an array of flowers, and the strong fragrance of this plant was dominant in their combined aroma.

It's not plagued by powdery mildew to the same extent as its close relative, Oswego tea, Monarda didyma. But most of the cultivars available are Monarda didyma. I understand some are hybrids between the two species, but it seems like this species could be used to create some new cultivars.  White forms do exist.    

Weed Wednesday: Willowleaf Lettuce

Not the kind that you would want to eat. Lactuca saligna is a weed, and either it's more abundant this year than in years past or I'm just noticing it more.  It's like prickly lettuce but with narrower leaves.  I've grown lettuce for ornament quite often; in container gardens and perennial borders mostly.  It's hard to harvest the leaves sometimes so I usually just end up taking out a single plant if I need some. 

I lament that I didn't plant any this year.  And I didn't get a large container planted with clarkia seeds in time to enjoy the crepe-textured flowers by early summer.  Sigh.  It's that time of year when I begin to lament that I didn't get time to do things that can't be done now that really warm weather is scheduled to make itself known this weekend.  Soon the frantic days of spring will transition into the slower pace of summer.  That's probably a good thing.

Psychedelic Gloxinina

Gloxinias used to be more common.  Now they are somewhat hard to find.  There are no sources for the tubers, and you used to be able to get them in most any garden center.  Once in a while, you can find seed-grown plants, and you can order small plants from gesneriad dealers on the internet.

This one is Sinningia 'Bristol's Watermelon Whip'.  I got the plant last fall from The Violet Barn and I've grown it under my plant lights through the winter and spring.  It grew, but did not really grow rapidly until most of the plants moved out for the season and it got put near the south facing window with all the other gesneriads.  I did give it a shot of fertilizer, and that may have been the trigger along with more natural sunlight.  Anyway, it's been spectacular.  I seem to be attracted to plants with petals that have islands of pigment saturation surrounded by lighter areas and dark spots in the throat like this.  I've always been a foxglove fan for that reason.  No two flowers have identical patterns.