While there, of course, I had to visit them amazing Lurie Garden in Millennium park, designed by the great Piet Oudolf. It is a revelation -- now I have absolutely no excuse for letting my garden break down into nothingness by November. I've always been skeptical about ornamental seed heads and such, but no longer. The browns of the grasses, almost black rudbeckia seed heads, and rich yellow amsonia... amazing.
Who knew November could be so lovely?
9 comments:
You have a great informative blog..love the illustrations to Carol's post!
Thanks Darla! Glad you enjoy it. I'm having fun!
Wonderful photos... Oh to have a garden designed by Piet...
You said it Liz! I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate some of his dramatic design ideas into my much smaller garden. Or... maybe I'll just have to make my garden a little bigger!
You commented over at Hocking Hill's Garden blog: "By the way, most variegated african violets can't be propagated from leaves -- they'll come up all green.
The variegated varieties are chimeras -- they're actually a combination of two genetically different cell types, one white, one green. But when you grow from leaf cuttings, the new plants develop from just one single cell -- if that cell is the white type, they die (no green, can't photosynthesize) and if it is a green type, they're solid green."
That's not true - unless I'm missing something? Variegated AV leaves are propagated all the time by just planting a leaf as usual.
I'm confused!
I've just separated PowWow, Witch Doctor and Ramblin' Sunshine and they are quite variegated. I've never seen Variegated referred to as Chimera; pinwheel blossoms/ leaves yes. Hmmm! I don't think your advice was correct. Pat Hancock sells leaves and hybridizes the Buckeye series.
I'm a member of the online forum Violet Voice and invite further discussion/clarification at
http://violetvoice.yuku.com/directory
Lurie, you may be right, I made a mistake! Most leaf variegation in plants are chimeras, and I just assumed african violets were too. Big mistake -- never assume anything about plants! Sorry for creating the confusion...
It's gorgeous...I have seen the Lurie in spring, summer, late summer but not like this! My son is in grad school(PHD) and is an evolutionary biologist! So I am the mom of an EB;)
gail
Oh those Amsonias!!! We were there in May when the blue Salvias stole the show. I love seeing it in fall, not one bit of a disappointment. Thanks! I am a true Pietaholic too. :-)
Frances
You were quite right about the perennial pepper being Solanum capsicastrum, thanks!
Lovely! I saw the Lurie at the end of May when it was a big swathe of purple with accents of yellow, I wondered how it would look in the fall.
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