Aesculus parviflora

"The dwarf bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, is not really small flowered. The specific name applies only to the individual flowers. The inflorescence is an impressive slender spike, like a foxtail lily, from twelve to sixteen inches long, with apricot-tipped stamens standing out beyond the white flowers. They bloom punctually the first part of June, almost always beginning on the eigth... In spite of the fact that the flowers are so plentiful, there are very few buckeyes, and those few disappear before I can gather them. Last summer I found out where they go. I caught a chipmunk lugging one into his tunnel. Lacking seed, propagation is by division."

Elizabeth Lawrence
June 24, 1962

The Buckeye has long since flowered and now there are a few remaining seed pods. I thought it was interesting that Elizabeth Lawrence made note of the disappearing buckeyes and I believe her thought remains true today. I'm sure in a few days the handful that are left will be gone too. Summer is moving quickly and other things are passing by including the daylily, Cestrum, and Rose Campion. However, the Eupatorium, Physostegia, Chelone and Lobelia will be in full color before long.

Come see our end of summer flowers soon,

Katie Mullen

"[Cyclamen] neapolitanum is a fall-flowering species, but I have had bloom as early as the Fourth of July. Last year the first flower came at the end of August, and buds continued to appear until early December, in spite of a series of hard frosts that put an end to all other flowers except Chinese violets. The first flowers come before the leaves, resting as lightly as butterflies on their short, stiff stems and looking as if they had settled but for a moment between flights... The common form is very pale with the faintest shimmer of lilac, and at the mouth are even marks of magenta rose, two to a petal."

Elizabeth Lawrence
The Little Bulbs


A visitor last week pointed out that a lone Cylcamen flower had come up and I had missed it in my usual hurry through the garden. Even more enjoyable, the visitor had a lovely english accent and pronounced cyclamen with two short 'i' sounds, like 'siklamin'. She went on to reminisce about her family's gardens and it made me wonder how many people come to the Lawrence garden and recollect previous garden experiences? I often hear about "Grandmother's garden..." when visitors are in the garden. Are our children and grandchildren going to remember our gardens when they are older? We are fortunate to be able to relive Lawrence's garden experience in her books and garden, and reminiscing about little plants such as the Cyclamen.

Learn to create a memorable garden by visiting ours at Wing Haven!

Katie Mullen

Hemerocallis sp.

"In early summer southern gardens come into a glory that has come to them only in recent years with the development of the day-lily. It is seldom that the perennial of the day proves the perennial of all others for the South, but this is one that thrives in all climates. We are particulary fortunate in a long season that allows for a second, and even a third crop of flowers from some of the persisitent bloomers. These tall hybrids begin to bloom late in May. By the middle of July they are on the wane. In my garden they are gone by the first of August. The flowers range in color from the palest canary, through peach and apricot, deep yellow and orage, to rich reds."

Elizabeth Lawrence
A Southern Garden

I am constantly amazed by the Hemerocallis in this garden. While I don't know all the cultivars, there is one in the garden that reaches over 5'. It seems taller cultivars are harder to find in today's industry, but some heavier research may hopefully prove my thought wrong. I counted the stalks on this particular daylily and there are seventeen! In another of Elizabeth Lawrence's writings she notes of one daylily with thirty-two! The daylily is definitely a southern favorite.

Other items in flower in the garden include Crinum, Salvia, Phlox, Gloriosa Lily, Kalameris, and Rain Lily, to name a few. Come see this wonderful garden in summer color, before the heat fades our flowers!

Katie