Sunday, August 27, 2017

Dog Day Survivors


Thank Heaven for the afternoon thermal thunderstorm that usually crosses the river from the west to give us some relief from the dog days of August.

Dog Day Flowers

Some plants that manage to put on a show in the midst of the summer heat are these guys:
Lantana
Few plants are tougher than Lantana. You'll see them planted right by the beach at Kure, in little more than sand. You'll see them naturalized, especially the yellow variety, up and down the Carolina coast. Lantana doesn't have a fragrance, but it's a surefire bloomer throughout summer, and many of the varieties come in deep, rich combinations of colors, like red, orange, and yellow or pink and yellow. They seem to never mind a drink, but they'll readily share a container without completely dominating.
 
Red Hot Poker

The Red Hot Poker or Kniphofia or torch lily blooms in July, along with the daylilies. A native of Africa very closely related to the aloe, it's a tall plant with lots of gangling foliage, so make your life easy and don't plant it too near other plants. It's great to accent a corner or island, and the spike of orange and yellow flowers can add a lot to a large floral arrangement. No scent to speak of but called a tough-as-nails sun-lover, so it's perfect for this area. 

It's a perennial, so all you really have to do is stick it in the ground, water it until its roots get comfortable, then throw some food on it in the spring and watch the show in summer. Since it blooms over the 4th of July, it's like having a fireworks display in your yard.  

I told a white lie: actually my cousin Julie, who really likes this plant, has been known to come over and fuss with the red hot poker, so it's not entirely without TLC...just not often from me. So, yeah, cousin-power.


Everybody who has made a trip to the beach knows this little guy, Gaillardia, or blanket flower.
Gaillardia
For most of my life, I knew this flower as the Carolina Beach Daisy because that's what my grandmother always called it. As you can see, it has a fuzzy button in the center, and the petals radiate from maroon to yellow fringes. When the flower is spent, the petals drop, leaving the buttons, which are in themselves a sort of curiosity. You will find these flowers, which are part of the sunflower family, growing right up and almost over the berm beside almost every beach access ramp, along with the silvery croton and the husk tomato, which I'll talk about in a later post.

Really, being a native of this area, the gaillardia is as tough as you can get in a plant. Vacant lots that have seen no TLC in forever can fill up with gallairdia. They are described as tough, easy to grow, heat tolerant, deer and drought resistant perennials. You just have to be a fan of red and yellow together, which some folks aren't. Some places sell mildly interesting cultivars, what they've dubbed "peach" or "apricot," but again, you've got to have a use for the red/orange/yellow spectrum.

Verbena
Last we have the verbena, which comes in a whole slew of colors and varieties, although you can hardly do wrong with the classic purple Homestead verbena. In the ground, it'll make a lovely ground cover, sprawling with its deep purple flowers, but I especially like when it cascades down a pot. The example to the left wintered over in a sheltered place that got plenty of sun. 

Verbenas don't always survive the winter. We just got lucky. This one likes regular watering and a minimum of TLC. They are a lovely plant and very versatile, although I wouldn't say they're as indestructible as gaillardia or lantana, but then, what is?



That Wild Wind


As we head into September, a seabreeze from the northeast really whips the umbrellas, sand, and garden whirligigs and flags, but it can also dry out leaves until they are crisp around the edges, so a morning soak is usually a good idea for most plants.

After these blustery days, look for a few things to happen on the beach: sargasso seaweedmen-of-war, and biting flies. Now, before you balk at a beach-combing trip, consider this:
in and among the sargasso seaweed or sargassum, blown all the way in from the Sargasso Sea and pitched upon the shore by some gnarly surf, are some very interesting creatures like tiny crabs and bryozoans, that crust that's not quite a coral. The ghost crabs get to feast on what's pitched ashore as well. As for the biting flies and men-of-war, just watch your step and your calves and ankles. Of course, the sand can blow in your eyes at this time, too, but the sea and sky, well, they're gloriously worth all that stings. BTW, if you do happen to go up to the beach at night, swish your feet in the water, and look at the sand. You may see flashes of blue phosphorescence, most notably in the egg-filled undersides of the mole crabs from ingesting phosphorescent plankton.

Now is a great time to invest in two things: a kite, of course, and an aeolian harp or window harp. Put this puppy in the window, tune it to a happy chord, and listen to it sing!
Aeolian Harp
Oh, and when you go outside, hang onto your hat!
Bruno, the cheek-flapping dog from Triplets of Belleville

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