Adder's Tounge

Adder's Tongue(Erythronium americanum) is also known as Trout Lily or Dogtooth Violet. A magical herb which is actually a member of the lily family. You will find these beauties forming very large colonies in moist rich woods. Their leaves give them away the shape is of an Adder's Tongue and does look very reptilian. The molting also looks similar to a trout's markings.
Adder's Tongue also has a Magic history in literature.

In Macbeth (IV, i, 14-15)
2nd Witch
"Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and howelt's wing--
For a charm of trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
- Shakespeare

In Ben Jonson's Masque of Queens
in this verse
"I ha' been plucking, plants among,
Hemlock, henbane, adder's tongue,
Night shade, moonwort, libbard's-bane."

Adder' Tongue can be found in speciality bulb catalogs. They come in yellow, pink and white forms. I don't suggest digging them from the wild. After all their name is Adder's Tongue so be careful!

Spring! Preparing the Haunted Garden!

Spring!!!
Time to start preparing for my Haunted Garden!  First I pick the seeds and plants I want to use for a glorious Halloween Color Garden!  Orange Marigold, Orange, White, Purple Impatiens, Coleus, Cosmos, Sunflowers are just a few I plant Some I start from seeds and the annuals like Marigolds and Impatients I buy. We have a special trellis for our Moonflowers. As they begin to grow we'll add white lights so the Moonflowers will grow over the lights! Moonflowers germinate best when the soil has had a chance to warm from the sun, so plant them according to your location. If you live up North you might want to wait until the end of May! It looks bare to begin but by August all our Orange Daylilies will be blooming and the Marigolds, Impatiens and Coleus will be mature plants.  Oh and don't forget to make use of Chrysanthemums,they are wonderful and because they are perennials no need to plant every year!

Daylilies, Part Deux

Thanks to everyone for adding a few to my growing list! Some I already had added, but I learned of a few new ones too.

And I just HAD to go look up a Lily Munster! Of COURSE there should be one named after her! Isn't it gorgeous? And so delicate, just like Lily!  Hmmm, I wonder if there is one named for Morticia. .but then, she favored her rose stems, with lots of thorns, didn't she?

I haven't had a chance to do some more digging, but this is my list that I composed, when I posted my first few selections, adding the new ones that were suggested. (And I'm definitely going to look for the Jack O'Lantern Pansies. They are one of my favorite flowers!)

So, for your reference, here they are:

Daylilies



Annabelle’s Ghost


Apparition


Bat Signal


Bella Lugosi


Brown Witch


Creature Of The Night


Ghost Fingers


Ghost Of Thunder Road


Goblin Moon


Grey Witch


Halloween Harvest


Halloween Hocus Pocus


Halloween Kisses


Halloween Magic


Halloween Masquerade


Halloween Party


Halloween Trick


Happy Halloween


Lily Munster


Little Witch


Madam Spider


Merry Witch


Midnight Magic


Moon Witch


Nosferatu


Pagan Passion


Pagan Ritual


Pumpkin Blast


Pumpkin Kid


Pumpkin Pie Spice


Pumpkin Patch


Pumpkin Prince


Pumpkin Roast


Pumpkin Time


Salem Witch


Spell Binder


Swamp Creature


Third Witch


Water Witch


Vampire Lestat


Witch Hazel


Witch Stitchery


Witches Coven


Witch’s Brew


Witch’s Stick


Witch’s Thimble

I'm going to continue my search, and will add new ones as I find them.  If you know of some that aren't on here, please let me know so that we will have THE listing of daylilies perfect for Haunted Gardens!

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Don't Forget The Daylilies!

What is this I'm saying? What place do Daylilies have in a haunted garden?  Well, do names like Halloween Masquerade,

Or Ghost of Thunder Road entice you?

How about Pumpkin Blast,

or Happy Halloween?

I have delightfully discovered a whole flock (what do you call a whole BUNCH of daylilies, anyway? lol) of Halloween related daylilies.  I was asking a friend of mine who lives in PA, if she has any Salem Witch daylilies,

and she replied, "No, but I have some Hocus Pocus!"

So that prompted our hunt. .so far we have found 44 different cultivars named for Halloween, pumpkins, witches, Pagans and more. (I'm going to keep looking!) There is one called "Swamp Creature",

and another "Creature of the Night". 

I love the exotic look of Vampire Lestat!

Or how about a Bella Legosi in your garden?

I don't know who is naming these wonderful blooms, but I sure like the way that their minds think!  I'm on a quest now. Some of these are rather pricey, but I plan on carving out a spot somewhere in my garden to plant some of these beauties. Add my cracked iron cauldron (the original leaky cauldron!) and maybe an amber Faerie Light or two. How delightful!



Wishing everyone a lovely, enchanting evening!

Toadshade

If you live in the North East like I do Toadshade or Trillium sessile fits in a Haunted Garden! They are a perfect fit for a shade or woodland garden. Mine aren't blooming yet but I wanted to show you the leaves. A single maroon flower sits above 3 mottled leaves. In some areas they are threatened and I don't recommend wild harvesting unless that area is being developed. Many native plants are threatened and endangered as home gardeners we can make a difference.

Something dark and lovely

at one of the local plant shows I picked up a Burgundy Sparkling Pineapple Lily. Now, I am not bit fan of the Pineapple Lily in general and the reason is the color, the light green does not do much for me. But this burgundy version is beautiful (not meaning to offend the Pineapple Lily fans....lovely plant, just not my fav) in its dark burgundy foliage that turns a deep olive green.

I have always wanted one in the my garden and I am looking forward to mixing the tropical foliage against my other plants and adding a splash of dark color.

Want to get your

goth kid into gardening? I found this cute but creepy gardening kit called Graveyard Gothic Garden.

It has five creepish plants

Aloe
Dragon Tree
Sensitive Plant
Black Dragon Coleus
Moonflower

and the planter has the you plant them in "graves" with "gravemakers" to specify the plants. Although this is not something for anyone other than a beginning gardener it is kinda fun and clever.

You will love this picture where it shows Moonflower blooming inside on small leaves....same with the coleus....wow that looks nice. And these plants can live in this terrarium for years? (the Aloe maybe) We all know Moonflower wants a lot more space than that! :D

I am guessing there may have been some issue about that because the description page also shows this image....which is more realistic.

Anyway, cute gift or in my case likely a door prize for my Halloween party.