August Garden Photos

The Chinese Snowball Viburnum (Viburnum macrocephalem) doesn't seem to know that it is a spring bloomer, and seems to produce a new giant flower head every day.

Confederate Rose (Hibiscus mutabilis) dies back to the ground every year, and then grows at a maniacal rate to reach at least 8 feet, and will soon be covered with frilly pink and white blooms.  It's one of those old-fashioned plants that you'll see driving through the countryside near old home sites. 

Aren't figs just the most seductive of fruits?  I really believe it was a fig that Adam and Eve couldn't resist..... look at that nectar just dripping out of the fruit!

One can barely see the front entrance of the Big House through the Limelight Hydrangeas and Begonias!  (For those who are interested, this is "Babywing," which puts up with crazy hot Western sun, and the foliage doesn't go red.)  The Elephant Ear in the containers took off this year (after two years of being really whimpy).  It is Colocasia esculenta "Elena," and Tony Avent says it's winter hardy as far north as Zone 7B.  I'm going to plant one in the ground at the end of the season, and will let you know in the spring. 

Begonia grandis "Heron's Pirouette" is a real winner in the shade garden.  In it's first year, six plants are now covering an area 4 feet by 6 feet.

The koi ponds look especially good once the tropical foliage plants start to fill in around them. 

Summer Whites

July came into Atlanta with a roar of heat, and it was still in the high 70's when I left for work this morning before the sun was up.  Here are a few photos from the garden at the Big House, taken around 7:30 this morning before the furnace heated up for the day.

This is a good example of why, in my humble opinion, there are few plants that can rival the Natchez Crape Myrtle for tough-as-nails beauty in a Southern garden.  They're just starting to bloom, and will continue this way for many weeks.

Two types of hydrangea, below.  In the distance, the paniculata "Pinky Winky" is just starting to flush out.  In the forground (under the crape myrtle) is macrophylla "Mme. Emile Mouillere," an incredible white mophead with a tiny blue eye that gradually bleeds the faintest blue color throughout the blooms.  The macrophylla has been blooming for several weeks now.

Hydrangea arborescens "Annabelle," will keep that form until the blooms ultimately dry looking almost exactly as they do now. 

The front of the house faces Northwest, so it's a challenge to get some things to grow well there.  These guys all look pretty light and fluffy, but they're all extremely tough, and hold up beautifully to the Atlanta heat.  For the plant geeks, this begonia is called "Baby Wing," and will take full Atlanta sun and heat without the leaves bronzing.

The gazebo near the pool offers some respite from the crazy heat, and it's where many of the ferns and houseplants spend the summer months. 

Spring Has Sprung!

Blooms on the Patio Peach called "Bonfire" are followed by dark burgundy foliage

In the walled garden, the cabbages and violas make a pretty combination

                                                  
Unnamed daffodils near the driveway

"Nuccio's Gem," one of my favorite Camellia japonicas

The spirea "Ogon" is putting on quite a show this week! 

Blooms from a weeping (Okame?) cherry 

The buds on a "Texas White" redbud are ready to pop, though they're a few days behind the native redbud.

The Yoshino Cherry blooms are almost at that point of starting to float down through the air

Another angle looking out through the Yoshinos 

In the Garden on Sunday

The Autumn Cherry never knows what season it is, but it certainly knows that there is warm sunshine today!

One of the few camellias that didn't get zapped by the Christmas snows. 

Crocus & Leucojem are getting restless 

The pansies jump right back to life after a couple of days of sun 

Edgeworthia ready to burst into bloom near the screened porch.  How can such a homely plant have such incredible fragrance?

Rhododendrons absolutely love this cold winter weather! 

It's raining now and getting cooler, but it still beats the snow and ice of New England!

The Big House Garden in the Christmas Snow

The Walled Garden "Re-do" Continues

It hardly seems possible that a month ago this bed was literally overflowing with vegetation!  The fact that it was mostly "vegetation" and not specifically "bloom" is why it's now been stripped down to the bones.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, we've reached the point at which the walled garden needs to be pulled apart, edited, and rearranged in order to continue its purpose as a cutting area.  This first shot shows the first of the flower beds to be totally taken apart and put back together (really about as much as we can do with it until spring.)  We'll fill in all of the blank spots in spring with other perennials and some strong annuals.

This photo also shows off some of the great details that make this such a beautiful garden.  The brickwork has filled in beautifully with creeping fig (not nearly as high maintenance as it might look, but it does take a clipping once every couple of weeks in season).  These white tuteurs get used for different things in different years (tomatoes, hyacinth bean, cypress vine), and are really most effective in winter when the beds are not brimming with produce. 

In this other angle, you can see where those wretched banana shrubs got removed, and we've replaced them with tuteurs to support Rose Zepherine Drouhin.  It's a thornless repeat bloomer that has brilliant cerise flowers in spring and then again in fall.  We're refilling this bed with many of the same flowers that were there before (just majorly thinned), as well as some others to give a longer consistent bloom season.  I've been working with Christopher Lloyd's "Succession Planting" book, trying to adapt the principles to plants that will tolerate Georgia's hot days AND hot nights.  (For example, the back is being planted with delphiniums and then Ruellia in one area, and with foxgloves followed by tall white Nicotiana in another).  

The long hot dry summer has done great things for this little island bed, where the Mission olive seems quite happy underplanted with Mother of Thyme.  The edge is Buxus "Grace Hendicks Phillips," which is a true dwarf; it is painfully slow growing, but hopefully during my lifetime as the Big House gardener it will grow into a solid hedge. 

The photo below shows the beatiful color from Blueberries (after all, this is also the vegetable garden). 

Lastly, here's the second of the flower beds to get tackled; we've finished most of the stripping, and will hopefully start on the new plantings one this rain stops. 

Autumn Color, Part Deux

It's raining like crazy at the moment, and is expected to continue this way through tomorrow, so I'm sure all of the beautiful autumn leaves will be lying on the ground by Wednesday morning.  For the time being, though, it's still looking great outside the window.

Here's one of Japanese Maple "Crimson Queen" yesterday at the Big House.  The laceleaf is really fabulous against the very sharp angles of that stone pillar.

Here is that same Crimson Queen next to another (obviously much larger) Japanese Maple.  The contrast in color is pretty awesome in my mind. 

Plain old Nandina is showing off her stuff at this time of year, as well! 

The fruits of Crataegus "Winter King" against the brown of a Dawn Redwood ready to drop it's summer outfit. 

This container has three different examples of the same plant.  Used to be called "Korean Mum," with "Sheffield" being the most commonly available cultivar.  For some reason it is now Dendrathema rubella, and tends to cross-pollinate like crazy.  What I love about this is that all of the offspring tend to be different shades of the same color family, so they blend together beautifully.  When they go out of bloom, I'll put them into the garden, where they usually live happily for years, and continue to develop into larger mounds.  They are very drought tolerant and bloom for several weeks in the fall. 

Ivy topiary with "Antique Shades" pansies.  In this particular case, it's really all about the Italian terra cotta container. 

So far I am loving Camellia x "Winter's Star," which is going bonkers right now.  What I find most impressive is that this hedge is in full Western sun, and seems to be just fine!  Since it was such a long hot summer this year, I can't wait to see it mature and fill in more. 

Autumn Container

For some reason only one photo would upload when I started this post, so I guess that's all you'll see until tomorrow.  One of the fall containers at the Big House, looking very tailored by comparison to the summer things we recently removed.  "Silver King" Euonymus is definitely not a plant I would put into the ground (a scale-making machine, in my experience), but it's great for winter color.  "Antique Shades" pansy, variegated liriope, and a few other fillers. 

She Heard Me Talking......

                           
We're in the midst of redoing all of the containers with fall and winter arrangements, and try to do them all at the same time (at least all of them in one area of the property), so there is a consistent theme and color running through the whole area.  For the past several days, we've been working around the pool. 

With each change of season, Patti and I do "the dance" about which things should be left "just a few (hours, days, weeks) longer" because they are still blooming.  As much as I can often agree, I am also sensitive to making sure things get switched out so the new plants have enough time to become established before cold weather hits.

On Saturday, it really did bother me to remove the Brugmansia "Betty Marshall" so that the Camellia could be installed in that space for winter.  Clearly Betty heard me say her death was impending a few days early, because the bloom was simply incredible!  Unfortunately my sensible side won out, but what a swan song for this summer season!  I'm justifying it by reminding myself that I'm only putting Betty to sleep for the winter, and after a few months of resting in a bucket of water, she'll be back, better than ever!

In the Home Stretch.....

We're at the 5000 mark with the pansies at the Big House.  Seven of us working again today to get those finished, and start on some of the fall/winter containers.  Photos coming soon, but for now I'm just cranky and tired.......

Autumn Beauties

While we've all been busy planting pansies and winter annuals, there are certain plants that just do their own things, and really become show stoppers in the garden at this time of year.  I was walking around the garden at the Big House early this morning, and snapped a few random shots of things I thought looked particularly good.

The rose "Bella Roma" seems to like it a bit cooler, and really comes into its own when the night time temperatures drop for a couple of weeks.

As "pedestrian" as Crape Myrtle can be, there aren't a lot of plants that are this little maintenance for this much interest in all seasons! 

Old-fashioned sweetgum, definitely not a favorite tree, really shows off its color in October and November.  It still has a terrible form and drops those nasty balls all over the place, but gets a little forgiveness from me in autumn. 

Pitcher plant in the bog, below. 

Juniper "Lime Glow" is showing off its color in this planter with variegated ivy. 

Pineapple sage has such a delightful fragrance every time one walks nearby.  It is planted this close to the gate on purpose, since each time the gate opens, it releases its fragrance. 

Rose "Sharif Asma" has a beautiful fragrance, and is underplanted with prostrate rosemary, so the combination is overwhelming when pruning. 

The orange-flowered Osmanthus just glows right now. 

Tricyrtis is looking beautiful all over the garden! 

Even the Wal-Mart zinnias are looking pretty fabulous!