What's in Bloom
Bloom Highlights
Caryopteris × clandonensis ‘Emerald Crest’
Emerald Crest Bluebeard
Caryopteris × clandonensis is a hybrid of Caryopteris incana and Caryopteris mongholica. C. incana is native from southeast China though South Korea to Japan while C. mongholica is native to southern Siberia to northern China. Both are subshrubs that grow in dry hillsides of their respective regions. The stems are densely covered in small hairs (tomentose) and produce leaves oppositely. The leaves are narrowly ovate with widely serrate margins and are fragrant reminiscent of lavender. Both sides of the leaves are pubescent, the top more so than the underside. This plant starts to bloom in August and finishes at the first frost. Clusters of flowers called cymes are produced at axillary and terminal nodes. The flowers are blue with longer lower petals and long stamens giving the inflorescences a cloud-like appearance. This cultivar is noted for its violet-blue flowers, dark green foliage, and a vigorous, compact mounding habit. The genus name is from the Greek words karyon meaning “nut” and pteron meaning “wing” referring to the winged fruits the plant produces. The hybrid epithet comes from the name of the estate this hybrid was first made, Clandon Park House near Guildford in Surrey, England.
Heptacodium miconioides ‘SMNHMRF’
Temple of Bloom Seven-Son Flower
Heptacodium miconioides is native to the mountainous forests of the Anhui, Hubei, and Zhejiang provinces of eastern China, where its populations are considered vulnerable due to habitat lost. It grows as a large shrub or small tree and is easily identifiable by its pale, papery bark that exfoliates in long strips or sheets. The dark green leaves are cordate with smooth margins and deeply impressed venation that parallels the leaf margin. In late summer, young shoots produce clusters of small, fragrant, white flowers. When the flowers fade and fall off, the sepals persist, elongate, and turn an attractive deep red color, making a second sometimes showier display. This cultivar is noted for its compact growth, earlier bloom, and its large, persistent red sepals. The genus name comes from the Greek words hepta meaning “seven” and códeiá meaning “flower head,” referring to the appearance of the buds before blooming; however, this is misleading since there are not actually seven flower buds present. The inflorescence produces two whorls of three flowers (six flower buds) around a central axial stem that looks like a seventh flower bud before it continues to grow and blooms again in the same fashion up to two more times. The specific epithet comes from the unrelated genus Miconia and the Latin suffix -oides that means “resembling,” referring to the similarly deeply veined leaves.
Lablab purpureus ‘Ruby Moon’
Ruby Moon Hyacinth Bean
Lablab purpureus is a tropical vine grown as an annual native to sub-Saharan Africa and India where it grows in tropical grass and scrublands and is sometimes used as an agricultural crop in these areas. It is a spreading, scrambling vine that will readily climb nearby plant or trellis-like structures. The stems are smooth, slightly glossy, and purple bearing large, trifoliate leaves alternately. Each leaf is comprised of three large ovate leaflets that are smooth and green on the upper side and purple and sparingly pubescent on the underside. Long spike inflorescences of fragrant white, pink, and purple flowers are produced from the leaf axils. The flowers are pea-like with two large, reflexed banner petals and two lateral petals that conceal the lowest keel petal. The flowers produce large, flat, glossy, purple seed pods that extend the ornamental interest of the plant. This cultivar is noted for its dark green foliage and deep red-violet pods. The genus name comes from the Arabic vernacular word for bean which related to the Greek word lobós meaning “pod.” The specific epithet means purple in Latin.
Panicum ‘Bad Hair Day’
Bad Hair Day Switch Grass
This cultivar is a hybrid of Panicum amarum ‘Dewey Blue’ open pollinated with Panicum virgatum. P. amarum is native to sandy soils of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts while P. virgatum is native to the grasslands of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. A deep-rooted rhizomatous grass emerges in late spring and grows to full height by midsummer when it starts to bloom and continuously blooms until mid-autumn. The stalks are thin and erect. The medium green leaf blades have a hint of blue and are strap-like and sheath around the stalk. Overall, the foliage form is columnar and upright. In the autumn, the leaves have great autumnal color with golden yellows and oranges. In midsummer, the topmost nodes of the stalks produce large open panicles of spikelet inflorescences that hover over the foliage in a cloud-like manner. The spikelets can be burgundy or pink with touches of purple or lavender. As the spikelets dry, they turn a golden tan exposing shiny red seeds. This cultivar is noted for its large, but not lodging, stature with large, pendulous inflorescences and its resistance to rust. The genus name comes from the Ladin word panus meaning “ear of millet, grain.”
Senna didymobotrya
Popcorn Bush
This plant can grow as a small tree or as a multi-stemmed shrub. The shoots emerge bright green and mature to produce light greyish brown bark. The long, pinnately compound leaves are spirally arranged on the stems. The fragrant leaves smell of buttered popcorn and have eight to sixteen pairs of broadly oblong cuspidate leaflets that have entire margins and are covered in short, stiff hairs. The upper most leaf axils produce upright, spike-like racemes of large yellow flowers each subtended by a single dark brown, scale-like rhomboid bract. Each flower has five brown sepals; five distinct, prominently veined, yellow petals; with a cluster of stamens and a pistil at the center. The flowers produce a seed pod that is oblong, flattened, and turns dark brown. The genus name comes from the Arabic word sana which was a term ascribed to plants with leaves that were used medicinally as a purgative or laxative. The specific epithet comes from the Greek words didymo- meaning “in pairs” and bótrys meaning “clustered, bunched” in reference to the way the flowers are arranged on the racemes.
Solidago shortii ‘Solar Cascade’
Solar Cascade Short’s Goldenrod
Solidago shortii has a small, dispersed population range with a population flanking the Ohio River in Indiana and Kentucky the other population is in the Blue Grass Region of northeastern Kentucky where it grows along riverbanks, on rocky slopes, and at the edges of open woodlands. It is federally listed as endangered. It is an herbaceous perennial with an erect, clumping habit. The slender, light green stems are upright to arching with some branching in the upper half and are sparsely pubescent. The stems alternately bear leaves that are petiolate at the base of the stems and become sessile towards the distal end. The dark green leaves are lanceolate with serrate margins. The upper stems terminate in a panicle of tiny capitula of yellow florets. Each capitulum is comprised of ten to twenty petaloid ray florets around ten to twenty tubular, star-like disc florets all held together by an involucre of scaley, green bracts. This cultivar is noted for its compact growth, less aggressive rhizomatous spread, and its long, one-sided, arching panicles of tiny, yellow capitula. The genus comes from the Latin word solidare meaning “to unite” or “to make whole” referring to believed healing properties in the leaves. The specific epithet honors Dr. Charles Wilkins Short, an American botanist who dedicated his work to medicinal botany and helped establish University of Louisville’s medical school.