I've given up thinking I have my garden figured out. It's a schizophrenic beauty with more moods than a hormonal teenager. I'm convinced when plants just disappear that they've been shown the gate in the middle of the night only to be replaced by someone more to her liking.
I wander my garden daily and recently noticed a new plant squished in next to the phlox. I'm not sure who got the ax to make room for the newest addition, but I had nothing to do with it.
I didn't plant this and none of my neighbors grow it, either.
Who is the new guy?
Heliopsis 'Summer Nights'
Heliopsis 'Summer Nights' has moved in next door to my phlox. With his long dark legs and golden auburn good looks, my plants have excellent taste. As for his name, I'm not even going to ask since my phlox 'David' and 'Laura' are the proud parents of a pink baby I've named 'Summer Fling'. Maybe all these warm balmy nights have left my plants in the mood for some summer lovin'. But if I end up with a phlox/heliopsis hybrid, there might be some explaining to do.
Do you suppose a guerrilla gardener sneaked into your garden and planted this by moonlight? Perhaps it was the seed fairy. Anyway, he's a handsome fellow but doesn't look like he's ready to draw his sword and say "You killed my father. Prepare to die."
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud at this! I was wondering who would get the Princess Bride reference. I do think he might be Dread Pirate Roberts, instead. He looks like more of a lover than a fighter. :o)
DeleteCongrats!!!! I love those surprises as they are the best! Right now, I have the other kind of surprises that don't make me smile....dog poo in my sacred gardens!!!
ReplyDeleteMy dogs love to crap in my garden ON my plants. They have no class at all.
DeleteAll my unexpected additions are weeds. I wish I had one as pretty as yours.
ReplyDeleteIt brought a hairy friend with it that I pulled. The whole thing was covered in weird spiky hairs. No charm at all.
DeleteHello there girl ! and just what has been going on in your garden ? If only Mandy Patikin would show up in my garden and sort of say that line so I could hear it in person ? Better yet ... the cast from Dead Like Me throw a party in my garden !!!
ReplyDeleteOK .. enough of my silliness ( but really ? my favorite show was Dead Like Me) .. just say'in
That plant you are lusting over is either Korean or Japanese "Yellow Waxbell" I haven't decoded yet which side it leans towards but I have had it forever and love it for dry shade ... you will love it too if you can get it.
I had Summer Nights at one time and it was very pretty (until a line in the sand was drawn with aphids winning ... then i just had to throw the towel in .. BIG sigh !) .. but that incident may never happen to you so enjoy !!
Joy : )
You have to see Dead Like Me ... it only ran 2 seasons but it was GREAT !!!
Your dry shade must be much moister than mine for kirengeshoma to thrive! I knew those leaves looked familiar. I will check out Dead Like Me. Sounds like me every Friday night during the school year.
DeleteThese are called WHAT?!! moments.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteHi Tammy, that is why gardening never gets old ;-)! Wherever it came from I think your heliopsis 'Summer Nights' is a real beauty. Since it made itself at home in your garden, I guess there is a good chance that it will grow well and maybe multiply. I certainly wouldn't complain about that :-). Warm regards,
ReplyDeleteChristina
So true! I'm not going to argue with a plant that needs no help and attracts pollinators. It is welcome to stay. :o)
DeleteIt must be a year for those (even if the nights have not been balmy here) as I have two plants that have appeared out of nowhere. There is a toad lily which I suppose might have been in the soil of some other plants I was given, but THREE regular lilies? I must have planted them but have absolutely no recollection of doing so. They are among other lilies, so perhaps it is balmy hights a couple of years ago, but all the others are white and the new comers are peach color.
ReplyDeleteYour garden must be a great place if plants are sneaking in. Maybe the bulbs came in with another plant as bulblets. I forget what I do in my garden every year. Each spring I'm shocked by where everything is.
DeleteI have a new sunflower courtesy of the bird feeder. This is a handsome interloper.
ReplyDeleteBird seed sunflowers are the best! They're such tough customers. :o)
DeleteWhat a stunner that guy is! Your plants sure have some mojo!!! HA! And I am with you about having the garden figured out.....I am leaving some of it up to those balmy nights and seeing how it shakes from there! You are great friend! And no, we never found the darn cup! Have a wonderful week! Nicole xo
ReplyDeleteHe is handsome, isn't he? He's definitely a keeper. I have other heliopsis in my garden so the word must have gotten out that I'm a softy for any plant that brings in the pollinators.
DeleteThis is an experiment. I'm tired of being an exclamation mark inside a pyramid. What the hell is that supposed to mean?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a road sign letting me know something fabulous was about to happen. It's much better than Falling rocks or detour.
DeleteNow that's a nice way to look at it....I'll take your point of view-:)) I said it was an experiment because I looked into the way Blogger (I think you are using Blogger??) had my identity. Then I put a photo in the spot where it asked for one, thinking it would pull out my usual Gravatar, but no. My identity is a mystery on your site. Bummer. Maybe I will try again and be a vegetable or a flower. Whaddya think? Oh, I could put in a photo of Fly the Grace Kelly of Border Collies. Maybe the site will like that.
DeleteMaybe the new additions are Mother Nature's response to the good karma you've accrued as a result of your ongoing effort to improve the health and welfare of your garden.
ReplyDeleteIs Mr Summer Nights a bit of a karmic kiss? I like that! He's a much better surprise than the poison ivy I killed earlier in the season. Some natives are overrated!
DeleteMandy Patinkin is my favorite bad guy. He's just so funny. I'd buy any plant named Inigo Montoya. It's a much better moniker than all the infantile names most plants are given. Marketers must think all gardening is done by deranged 5 year olds. I have plants named Pink a Boo and Little Princess. It's horrifying.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty even if it is an interloper.
ReplyDeleteIt's a keeper, for sure! :o)
DeleteHa! Those wild and crazy plants! A Phlox/Heliopsis hybrid would be...interesting. You'd better separate them before they get into more trouble. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think my garden is full of shenanigans. My plants are as independent as the gardener. :o)
DeleteHi Tammy, there's going to be a Star Wars-eque, "I am your father" coming from the phlox any moment. I like Heliopsis, they're bright, vibrant and cheery and I think you can do them from seed, which helps a lot when one is tight fisted. It'll be interesting to see how many appear next year.
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud at this! So funny! If I have any tall dark plants that start bellowing, "I am your father" late at a night, I may pee my pants laughing. I've never grown heliopsis from seed and rarely have volunteers, except for Mr Summer Nights. Bright, vibrant, and cheery describes all the qualities I enjoy in a plant. Summer Nights can stay!
DeleteThis is a smiley post, I love plants for free surprises especially when they are as pretty as you Heliopsis.
ReplyDeleteConsidering all the money I spend on plants, I do appreciate them showing up for free. I have a list of friends Mr Summer Nights needs to invite. It would save me some serious cash. ;o)
DeleteWhatever the cause, fairies or midnight shenanigans, your new addition certainly is a beauty! I have a couple of phlox and some rudebeckia that have worked their way into my garden, and no one is 'fessing up to how they got there. I agree the garden has a mind of its own--probably if you had planted the seeds intentionally, they never would have grown.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Phlox are mighty fertile and scatter their babies everywhere. No parenting skills at all. Same with the rudbeckia. But I love the free plants they leave me. :o)
DeleteI call them intruders, even if I like them and I account for them in one very simple way: bird poop.
ReplyDeleteI have the same theory! I think this seed came with its own layer of fertilizer. I need the birds to poop me out a few agastache seeds and some more monarda. :o)
DeleteAmazing what shows up on its own. I marveled over an iris that appeared out of nowhere one year. Realized later that I had planted Siberian irises many years prior and none ever came back . . . until this one showed up after six years. What had it been doing all those years? I wonder how your heliopsis has been spending his summer nights before showing up in your garden!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lazy little iris! It shouldn't take six years to get out of bed. Before showing up at the Casa, he was probably taking notes along with the other little seeds on How to Woo the Ladies. He's a charmer!
DeleteIt is lovely when this happens. That' s why it pays not to hoe, you never know what seedlings you will get.. I love the idea of having beautiful new plants named after all my family.Then in years to come people will grow my lovely plants and wonder who we were. Your Summer Fling may make you famous yet. Then you can pretend you carefully bred it. Nobody need know that it was the result of your promiscuous plants misbehaving. And are you sure that Heliopsis is Summer Nights? Does it always have so much orange in it? Maybe it is unique and will make your fortune. Or if it doesn't, Summer Fling might. Well, maybe not your fortune. You don' t see many millionaire plant breeders, as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fun if plants had people names instead of some of the ridiculous ones they're given. I saw a picture of Summer Night on Google that looked exactly like the one in my garden. If it looks too orange, it's just the lighting or my lack of photography skills. I wish Summer Fling would make me a millionaire but I don't think that's going to happen.
DeleteOh....what a smashing little invader! And to think it just appeared, must be the flower fairies!!! Lol....maybe Chloris is right and you shall make your fortune with this....I'll have some seed thank you very much.xxx
ReplyDeleteIf I have flower fairies, they have excellent taste. :o) I can send you seeds, if you'd like!
DeleteIt seems there is a lot going on in Shady Lane after dark. The new kid on the block is a nice plant, I just get more weeds or invasive plants! I have a David Phlox are they supposed to be fragrant? Mine smells like an old dead plant. Your posts always make me laugh ! Have a good one Chris
ReplyDeleteMy David just smells like a plant. He doesn't have a strong fragrance for me, either. What a slacker!
DeleteHow lovely - that is the thing about gardening there are always surprises - it must be what keeps us going.
ReplyDeleteI agree. If gardening were boring, we wouldn't do it.
DeleteHilarious! Your new plant is gorgeous though. I like these horticultural happenings and as long as it isn't a naughty neighbour who is out to populate your garden with their favourite plants, all will be well.
ReplyDeleteSo true! But my neighbors only grow what I plant in their gardens and I'm planning a tithonia take over next summer. They'll be thrilled to have free plants. I'm hoping they like them or they might repay me with poison ivy!
DeleteThis kind of random happening helps keep gardening interesting. The Heliopsis is beautiful. You probably know that Heliopsis seed like crazy but are easy to pull. As for Inigo Montoya, shouldn't he be out looking for the person who killed his father, not hanging around in gardens?
ReplyDeleteThis kind of random happening helps keep gardening interesting. The Heliopsis is beautiful. You probably know that Heliopsis seed like crazy but are easy to pull. As for Inigo Montoya, shouldn't he be out looking for the person who killed his father, not hanging around in gardens?
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting because my heliopsis don't seed at all in my garden although I've winter sown the seeds with great success. Inigo is a man of many talents. I think he gardens to relive stress. ;o)
DeleteIt is funny how plants can just show up. In my garden it tends to be weeds and bugs. Japanese Beetles just showed up one summer and decided to stay. I also have a forest of Jewel weed in one part of the garden. That is what I get for finding the first Jewel weed plant mysterious and intriguing.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbours have a very tall weed that I see peeking up over the fence. It's gone to seed and I can see the fluffy seeds ready to take flight and land in my garden. I am trying to screw up the courage to go next door and kindly ask them to cut their prize 6 foot weed down to a level where it can only reseed in their own backyard. Some volunteer plants are just not wanted.
I'd go over with a plate of tastiness and trade them the food for the right to chop down the plant. I had poison ivy sneak into my garden this year from my neighbor's side but they had no idea they even had it. That's one native I can do with out! I have milkweed beetles whose fat larvae are eating all my milkweed! Fortunately, they're easy to smash.
DeleteOh you have to have a Kirengeshoma in your garden..[I always check out Joy's comments, she's too funny] it's the most beeeeeutiful plant ever. And I always thought it wasn't hardy up here. My old Boss had a gi-normous one at the nursery...now I wish I had spirited it up here with me.
ReplyDeleteJen
I'd love to but I'm pretty sure my shade is just too dry for it. Everything I've read says it needs moist soil. If I could just convince my neighbor to include my garden in his sprinkler system, I wouldn't have an problem! :o)
DeleteHahahaha! Thank you for the gardening humour! I hope the illicit affairs continue in your secret garden :)
ReplyDeleteMe, too! I have a list of plants I want so they need to get busy. ;o)
DeleteWhat a gorgeous volunteer.....you're lucky, the only plants that volunteer in my garden are WEEDS....not the medicinal kind either!!
ReplyDeleteHah! Birds have a lot to answer for - I get ivy and mulberry springing up all over the place thanks to their antics, but not anything so pretty, at least so far.
ReplyDeleteHey how did my heliopsis get down there...boy they pop up anywhere.
ReplyDelete