MinxterBLOOM

Moonflowers -- the essential Earthman aka Henry Mitchell guide

Gertrude Jeckyll of the North -- occasional tales from a plant zone near Canada

Fairy Doors and the flowers to adorn them

Pointy-sciencey Flora choices -- see Moonflower above

Other Plant Oddities like a Coreoposis named for Jethro Tull and another for Zamfir.  Really. 

Pinxterbloom -- besides the perfect monitor for a sweet feline -- is the name of a native azalea in the mid Atlantic.  The Latin name is Rhododendron periclymenoides. The National Arboretum on New York Avenue on the gritty side of DC has several specimens.  I appreciate the shell pink outer petal and raspberry creamcicle interior.  The branching, open habit of this species shrub is another charming feature.

You can make the leap to the name of this blog.  I am happy to try on the minx persona as I nurture, cajole, and on some days, seduce plants into bloom. 

Here is a photo of Pinxterbloom stamens by Nevia Cashwell.  The photo posted here is by Thomas G. Barnes, working for the USDA.

Photo courtesy of the USDA plant images database : See this entry to learn more about this special plant.

In the ground this year?  Hybrids rather than the classic Russian Mammoth.

• Starburst Lemon Aura hybrid from Aimers to pair with
  
• Jade hybrid, a lime selection from Aimers.
  
• Moonwalker
• Italian White
  

I bought the Aimers at a family-owned hardware store I believe Aimers is an organic seed company in Canada, but the website for this business is not working now. I expect they are master gardeners not webmasters. Anywho...buds are percolating on five plants, with the tight-fisted protoblooms turning toward the sun.  That is what Helianthus means. The thought of lemon and lime fluffy sunflowers all summer means that I need to keep sowing sets of threes in a nursery pot.  Pictures soon, I hope.

It must be said that the pedestrian workhorse of a sunflower -- say Mammoth or Russian Giant -- in Kansas fields remains the iconic sunflower.  My flirtation with the range of hybrids must be forgiven. What is the name of the sun god? Right. Apollo. Forgive me.  But realize, I know exactly what I am doing.

Burpee hosts a nice exhibit on sunflowers that reads like a high school yearbook:  tallest, cutess, softest....smartest, etc.

I hope to grow a reddish Chianti variety or the amazingly beautiful Strawberry Blonde.  Here is pictorial on all the Burpee brands, including the elusive Jade Hybrid whose face is about to bloom for me. Whoops, Burpee says this frosted lime sunflower is an exclusive. Perhaps teh Aimer version is a Canadian offering. Pictures, soon, of these plants in situ. 

Missing Henry Mitchell as I do, I thought to write about gardening.  I am happy to hear from others what works and what does not plantwise.  I have been gardening in Maryland earnestly since about 1989.  Effectively?  Just about last year.  And then again, not on all days.  There is the dog, you know. And children. And teaching. Such diversions from my madness:  flowers.

Tucked inside Mitchell's three garden books are slips of paper where I note his suggestions for cultivars or varieties that work well in his Washington, DC plot.  Since we shared a climate zone, indeed living within 12 miles of each other, his plants could also live in my plot.  I hope to sprinkle this blog with specific details that will help other mid Atlantic gardeners.