Tag: Bluebeard

It’s Alive!

First, the good news. As a result of frequent applications of the Stare of Life, several of the plants on the winter death watch have broken dormancy. Specifically: both my two year old fringe trees (Chionanthus virginicus), the bluebeard (Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Longwood Blue’}, the ‘Blue Adonis’ compact butterflybush (Buddleia), and the ‘Conca D’Or’ orienpet …

Bring Out Your Dead?

I have been working very hard at not jumping to conclusions about which plants got killed off during our brutal winter. However, I am becoming increasingly fretful. Here’s the situation as of today. Gone forever After two seasons in my back garden, my flowering dogwood (Cornus florida ‘Appalachian Spring’) is pretty clearly a goner. No …

Mo’ Better Blue (Flowers)

Recently I wrote about five favorite blue flowers, limiting myself to natives of the American Midwest. The comments that followed revealed that I am far from alone in having a soft spot for blooms of blue. And so I found myself inspired to do another post on the topic, this time not limiting myself to …

Bluebeard and Red Poppies, Plus Other Plant Combinations from the Chicago Botanic Garden

Looking at photos from a summer outing to the Chicago Botanic Garden, I was particularly struck by three of the plant combinations Judy took pictures of. (UPDATE: As Alison and Alberto point out in comments, the blue flower below is a tall variety of Nepeta, not Bluebeard. Sorry for the error!) First, Bluebeard (Caryopteris) and …

Sending for Reinforcements: New Plants for Spring and Favorite Catalogs

Yesterday the letter carrier brought tidings of great joy: two of my favorite gardening catalogs, Prairie Nursery and Forestfarm. Their arrival, along with several others of their kind, means that it is time to put in my orders for spring. And so  here’s my intended line-up – it’s easy to tell I am focusing on butterfly …