Himalayan Honeysuckle | Mom in the Garden

Hello! Welcome to my blog, where I find peace and happiness through gardening and flowers. Anyone else need some of that? 🙂 This week I’m going to give a view of what is happening all around the garden. We’ve had a strange summer, weather-wise: a very dry spring followed by a very wet early summer. Our summer so far has been cooler than normal with lots of rain. Thankfully, the sun has not been a complete stranger!

Helenium and bee — Bees love Helenium, too!

I really like the contrast with this combination of Helenium and Daisies. I’ve propped up both plants this year as they get really floppy. The Shasta Daisy have spread, and spread, and spread!

View of the Ditch Wall Garden July — Our ditch wall garden with daisies, helenium, and yarrow.

You can see in the full view of the ditch wall garden that there are a lot of daisies! I have a few varieties of yarrow, too. Lots of floppiness going on as they all seek the afternoon sun from their position under the Hawthorn trees.

Clematis view — A view of the Clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans, lychnis coronaria rose campion, and perennial geranium.

This little corner is rather happy, although it might be a bit happier if it weren’t quite so windy where we live. This Clematis – Purpurea Plena Elegans – is very pretty, with a deep burgundy color. The Lychnis Coronaria Rose Campion is quite prolific! It has sprung up in a few places around the garden! Thankfully, it is quite a pretty fuchsia pink flower with a silvery stem. I actually have a few plants in this garden that just like to take off. The Japanese anemone is just now starting to come into bloom (only one light pink flower on the left of this picture). The perennial geranium is a pretty light pink, and is quite hardy and also enjoys moving about the garden! At the very back of this picture is a tall Rosemary plant. It is now quite woody, but otherwise we still use it for cooking. There is a Japanese Maple tree in the middle of all of this – but it is not thriving due to the wind. I am quite stubborn and I am always hopeful that it will grow big and strong enough to handle the wind. We’ll see!

Clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans single — A close up view of the Clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans

Clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans full view — Clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans

lychnis Coronaria rose campion — Lychnis Coronaria Rose Campion – one of my favorite flowers

Japanese Maple Garden spring — A view in April of our Japanese Maple garden

The above picture is a view of the same bed back in April. I was quite proud of my shaping of the boxwood shrubs! The green ground cover in the front left of the picture is the Japanese Anemone. It loves to spread!

Hydrangea Selma full view — Hydrangea Selma

In this same ‘Japanese Maple’ bed, I have a hydrangea ‘Selma’. This is the best it has ever looked as it has loved all of our rain! The mophead flowers are redish pink around the edges with a white center. The leaves are a very pretty burgundy color.

Hydrangea Selma single — Hydrangea Selma

Moving to another bed – sometimes I get my plantings right, sometimes not so much. The Russian sage – Perovskia atriplicifolia Little Spire – is really happy in this bed. The plant next to it on the left – Zantedeschia aethiopica Arum Lily – although not dead, doesn’t produce any flowers. I don’t think it is happy. I’ll be looking to move that eventually.

The bed beyond the Russian Sage plant is the Rainbow garden. It has a lot going on in there! I just want to focus on one plant, though, the Buddleis BUZZ ‘Dark Pink’ Butterfly Bush. It is really showing off this year!

field view — A view of the fields and the Rainbow garden

Buddleis BUZZ Dark Pink Butterfly Bush July — Buddleis BUZZ Dark Pink Butterfly Bush in July

The next part of the garden to highlight is our front gate bed. I’ve been saying this a few years now, but I really need to move my hydrangea Incrediball. It gets a lot of sun where it is, and it would much prefer to be in shade! This bed is full of beauty. There are two lavender plants, which are super fragrant. The Pittosporum Tom Thumb is great for some different texture. The Lychnis Coronaria Rose Campion is a fabulous splash of color (even if it decided for itself to join this bed) and all of the way on the far right is the Leycesteria formosa – which is also knowns as Himalayan honeysuckle or pheasant berry. There are a lot of wonderful things going on in this bed! I’ll be sad to see the hydrangeas go, but I’m sure we’ll find something lovely to fill their places.

Front Gate Garden full view — Pittosporum Tom Thumb, Lavandula angustifolia Lavender, hydrangea Incrediball, hydrangea paniculata, lychnis Coronaria Rose Campion, Syringa v. Beauty of Moscow Lilac, and Leycesteria formosa, Bergenia and Iris ‘Benton Storrington’

The below picture is of planters that are at my back door. That is the first thing I see in the morning when I go to let the chickens out of their coop and feed them. Just a few planters with a bit of color and different sizes, shapes, textures. They’ve done really well this year!

Back deck flowers — Pots of plants at my back door. Lots of hosta, some dahlia, calla lilies, and soon to bloom marigolds, and gladiolas.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour! The garden seems to change on an almost daily basis. No matter what goes on in the outside world, life and growth continues in the garden.

Stay safe and healthy!

In Peace,
Dana

Hosta in sunlight — Hosta flowers in evening sunlight.

Leycesteria formosa

Having something interesting to look at in the garden during the winter is something that most gardeners set out to achieve. One plant that gives character to a garden throughout the summer and winter is the Leycesteria formosa, also known as Himalayan Honeysuckle or pheasant berry. I hadn’t heard of, or taken notice of this lovely plant before seeing it in my friend Susan’s garden. It’s funny what happens sometimes when you compliment someone’s garden … they just might share some of it with you!

A young Leycestria formosa plant

When I first planted the Leycestria formosa, it appeared to be just a stem with some roots. I was not sure how it was going to survive. Not only did it grow, but it has done well in my very windy garden.

Leycesteria formosa supported

The flowers are pretty, and hang down in clusters.

a cluster of drooping flowers

Still young Leycesteria formosa

After the flowers are finished, the plant is adorned with lovely berries.

Berries late in season of Leycesteria formosa

Berries of Leycesteria formosa late in the season

While walking through a park in Dublin this past July, I noticed some mature Leycesteria formosa plants. They were beautiful and nearly as tall as me!

Mature plants in the park

Close up in the park

At the time, I was still unsure of the name so I appreciated the tag. For this post I’ve typed the name what feels like a hundred times so hopefully now I will remember it! 🙂

ID tag

The plant still has character in the winter. Look at these stems:

Close up of the stems

Winter garden

They remind me of bamboo. The stems are hollow and can grow as tall as 6 feet (1.8 meter) in one season. The plant grows in moist, fertile soil. As for maintenance, it should be cut back to the ground in the spring.

Late summer garden

The Leycesteria formosa is on the left in the full garden photo above. I’m really happy with it and how it changes throughout the seasons.

Are there any plants that you like to share? I was able to share some of my strawberry plants recently. What a great feeling, especially knowing that they are appreciated. A special thank you goes to Susan who has shared so much of her garden with me!

I hope your garden has lots of winter character.
Dana

Mom in the Garden

Enjoying life. In Ireland. With my family.

Tag Archives: Himalayan Honeysuckle

A summer garden tour

Character in the garden with Leycesteria formosa (Himalayan Honeysuckle)