What do you see on your garden walks?

[RickR]

It looks as though you collected some of the young stems, too.  Are they tender to eat also?  And the aster is cooked?

[stephenb]

I stir-fried those and they had a mild taste and the stems were also tender.

In Korea, I understand most wild vegetables are more or less treated the same. The vegetables are stir fried in sesame oil with various seasonings such as salt, vinegar and gochujang (red pepper paste) and are served over rice. Fried egg is also often added. The dried leaves are often just soaked in water and seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil (so that is essentially raw!).

[stephenb]

I'm also looking for two others, both used in the same way: Aster glehni and A. yomena (syn. Kalimeris yomena)..

[McDonough]

Some more photos from today:

Acer miyabei (Miyabe maple) root sprouts.

Not to many Euonymus nanus var. turkestanicus flower buds escaped the bunnies last winter, so I don't have too many showy capsules this season.

Rick, being a maple fan myself, your photo of Acer miyabei really caught my attention, beautiful leaf form.  You mention that these are the leaves of root sprouts, do the mature leaves look very different?

The Euonymus nanus v. turkestanicus is one I used to grow, it was grafted on top of a standard; rather silly looking as some of these artificial grafts can be, but it kept the flowers and fruits well above bunny level.  Checking my photos, the last pics were in 2006, so it succumbed that winter after about 3 years in the garden.  I know it is a low species, how tall does it grow for you.  I dug up a few pics from 2004 & 2005.  As Euonymus species go, I found the ultra-long-tubed red flowers to be much showier than the usual minute yellowish-green flowers of most species, and the fruits are certainly ornamental as in many Euonymus.  I have a photo or two of the fruit pods opening up, but can't lay my hands on them now.

[RickR]

How tall does Euonymus nanus var. turkestanicus grow for me?  Honestly, I don't know.  It's been sprawling around for 10 years, but I've never had more than two season's growth with rabbit damage.  It's been up to four feet, though.  Yes, the flowers are more showy than most euonymus, but taking into consideration the "cute" factor, I still like E. verrucosus best.
A washed out pic of it:

              

I mentioned the Mayabi maple pic was root sprouts because you would never see such a combination of growth unless maybe if you were looking down from above the tree.  This one is the last of my Asian maples extant, because they are so susceptible to the verticillium that is natively in the ground here, coupled with the not so good clay soil.  The tree's canopy (about 15ft high) was half killed last season, and finished this season.  The stump (and sprouts) are slated for removal.  Leaves are usually almost twice that size, but still have the same crinkly quality. But the overall density in the canopy is less compact.  Of course there is always variation, and this had a nice corky bark feature similar to winged euonymus, except with six wings instead of four.

              

[Hoy]

Tim, I tried Fascicularia and Bomarea in my garden but none could stand the last two cold winters     I'll try again

Stephen, I do grow some Asters but I don't eat them They are among the few plants slugs dislike!

Rik, do the Miyabe maple set seed? The leaves are very attractive!


Here are a nice clematis flowering now: Clematis x jouiniana 'Praecox',  trailing to 3m.

      


Weeds but not the most difficult: Impatiens glandulifera. Some are white flowered and others are dark purple(?) And another species, sturdier and with branches.

   

[Lori S.]

Not much still in bloom here.  We have been having some amazingly great weather though (30 deg C yesterday!), but much in my garden has dried up in the last while.

In the rock garden...
I'm trying Scutellaria Salvia resinosa again. It didn't winter over in regular soil so I'll see if drainage was the problem (vs. overall hardiness).


Monardella odoratissima v. odoratissima, planted this season:


Satureja montana ssp. illyrica is still blooming nicely:


Elsewhere:
Silene regia:
 

A late Verbascum nigrum:


Aster sedifolius:


Clematis stans:

[RickR]

I'd hardly call that "not much", Lori... 

[AmyO]

I agree! What a pretty salvia...how large is it? The flower looks big but it's hard to tell.

[Lori S.]

Well, thanks -  I guess I just wish that summer would last, though I certainly can't complain with the weather.  There has not even been frost on the ground yet in our yard - only on the roofs a couple of mornings.  (We've often had the first snow before this calendar date.)

Oops, sorry.  I wrote "Salvia" when I should have written Scutellaria resinosa; I've corrected it in the photo post.  It looks like the consensus is that it should get to ~8-10 inches, and the flower is not large, only about 1cm but quite showy.  
Here's some info on it:
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/88540/
http://www.highplainsgardening.com/?q=plants/scutellaria-resinosa-syn-s-wrightii

[RickR]

Lespedeza bicolor (the one that didn't get eaten by rabbits last winter) is super floriferous this year.  Also in the first pic: Thujopsis dolabrata var. hondai(hiding on the left), Picea omorika 'Treblitzch', needles of Pinus ponderosa.

        


Corydalis ochroleuca still pumps out the blooms, and a close relative will be ready to shoot up its vine next season.

        


Impatiens namchabarwensis is shy this year.  In fact only a few sprouted this season.  Sedum cauticola 'Lidakense' is a most vibrant color.

        

It's been almost two weeks since Colchicum agrppinum began blooming, and of course they are still glorious.  Five days ago, I plucked two flowers off for a better photo composition, and just set them on a nearby rock and forgot about them.  Here they are three and five days later!  They seem like such a dainty flower.  Who would have thought they would have such staying power without water?

        

[Lori S.]

Wow, very colourful!  Looks like there is still quite a bit going on there, Rick.

[Hoy]

Rick, here the Colchium flowers hadn't lasted a day - slug-bait >

[Hoy]

Warm, sunny weather the last two days has brought out several kind of insects which I haven't seen for a while. Bees, flies and hoverflies seek nectar and pollen on the green but rich flowers of the Hedera helix.

[McDonough]

Trond, did you get a new camera?  The clarity of your photos is tremendous!  What plant is shown in these shots?