Colocasia esculenta "Elena"

The sunlight was really incredible this morning, coming through the leaves of Colocasia esculenta "Elena."  According to Plant Delights Nursery, this baby is hardy to Zone 7B, and is a hardier version of "Lime Zinger."  These all came from one original bulb three years ago (there are about 8 big clumps now).  I've not tried overwintering it outside yet, but think I'll leave a couple of them out this winter to trial.  They are in dappled sun, with irrigation, in potting soil, and loving life!

The photo below isn't great lighting, but I think it will show some better perspective.  This little chapel in in an ocean of Camellia japonica and Delaware Azaleas along a creek, so the Elephant Ears in the window box planters give a great change in texture to the scene.  The photo above was from a seat inside the chapel.

Great Book!

One of my favorite books this season is Landscape Lessons, by Patricia Godwin Dunleavy. She is someone who literally grew up in the nursery business, and operates Pine Bush Nursery.

Because the book is formatted for each brief chapter to correspond to a year in the gardening calendar, it’s a very easy read that can be picked up and read whenever I find a free half hour.
This book is filled with great information, presented in a very soft and subtle manner.

The chapter I was reading last night is about camellias. To give you an idea of a typical section, here are some points that Patricia makes about camellias:

• Planting semi-doubles rather than the larger doubles will yield more flowers with less freeze damage, since the semi-doubles open more quickly;
  
• To prevent browning on camellia flowers, plant them in a spot where they won’t get morning sun until after the frost has dried;
  
• If flowers have brown on the edges, it is probably cold or wind damage. If the flowers are browning from the center out, it is a fungal blight. Remove those flowers from the bush and the surrounding ground and bury or burn them;
  


• Look for Camellia sinensis for the earliest bloom, then C. sasanqua, then finally C. japonica to finish out the bloom season.


• The most cold hardy are the tea-oil varieties, C. oleifera, which are sometimes hard to find in cultivation. This variety has been hybridized with some others, however, such as “Winter’s Star,” which is easier to find. (I can vouch for “Winter’s Star” and “Winter’s Snowman” as two spectacular hybrids, since both grow in the stepchild garden. They produce incredible shows every winter, with virtually no attention from me.

I got this book from Amazon. Just for a little plug, buy it from the dealer listed as "Bibliowrite"in Ila, Georgia, if you want the copy personalized and signed.
Happy reading!

It Seems Winter is Here

It's 48 degrees at the moment, but the forecast is for another cold night. It was in the 30's this morning, but the weather did the classic Atlanta thing and warmed up quickly. My transplanted Bostonian attitude has kicked in as I hear shoppers talking about the "snow coming to Atlanta!" (Translated as perhaps a semi-frozen flake in the midst of the rain tomorrow morning.) Quick! Let's all run out and buy toilet paper and milk! (I've never understood why these are the two things that we MUST have in our homes during a blizzard.....I'd rather have brownies, ice cream and cognac if I'm being snowed in).

In the garden, it's amazing what difference comes in a week. Here are a few shots from this week.

From the top: This camellia was hidden for ten years behind one of the arborvitaes that was cut down a couple of weeks ago. It's amazing what a little sun will do for a flower!

The mustards and chards are taking on incredible color as the weather chills.

The creeping fig looks so beautiful at this time of year when the asparagus is down for the winter.

The fatsia japonica with its "Sputnik"-like blooms

It looks like snow, but it's just a view through the elderly Autumn Cherry.

Bake some brownies and light the fireplace!

Renovations at the Big House

As I've mentioned before, the owners of the "big house garden" are really a pleasure to work for; I'm clear it's their home and garden, but we've developed a good rapport over the past few years, and they are usually receptive to suggestions for improvements to the garden.

Like many properties that were originally landscaped by the builder/architect, there are certain plants that were used to death (can you say "azalea" and "daylily"?), and many that were installed simply because they were available in large quantity at the time. The garden is obviously very beautiful, but there are few named cultivars, and lots of places where I'd like to see plants that are more "special." We are also finding that ten years later, there are certain plants that simply aren't appropriate anymore, such as the overgrown arborvitaes used as foundation plants.

Mr. & Mrs. gave the green light recently to making some needed improvements, and it is proving to be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! The overall plan is to soften the house and garden, give it a sense of age, and also make it more reflective of their personalities.

A couple of weeks ago, we had Danny come in and cut down TEN arborvitaes that had been used as foundation plants. I happen to love arborvitae, but sadly they had planted in such a way that they were now dead on one side, tied to the house in a couple of cases, and growing up and over the gutters. I was nervous, since they were such a key part of the landscape design, but when they were removed, it was as if the sun came out from behind a cloud! The top photo shows how large they had gotten....this one arborvitae was covering TWO dining room windows!

In some places, we've been removing plants whose living conditions have changed. Ten years ago there were dozens of shrub roses installed, since the large trees were still fairly small. Over the years, we've reached the point at which the roses are largely shaded, and were blooming poorly, if at all. The middle photo used to be shrub roses; it's now "Setsusekka" Camellias (which will form a hedge to block the neighbor's driveway), fronted by "Pinky Winky" paniculata hydrangeas. They in turn are fronted by Ryan's Pink perennial chrysanthemum, and "By George," a daffodil that blooms in a coral pink and white.

In the bottom shot, we replaced another bank of shrub roses (this time red), with "Tardiva" hydrangea that we'll cut back every spring to control the size. These are underplanted with "Joan Senior" daylily (ivory), pale yellow and white Dutch hyacinth, and crocuses. I can't wait for spring!

September Pinks

It felt very autumnal this morning (that's one of my favorite words), and Chuck was out with his camera in the garden at the Big House just after sunrise. There was a little rain last night, and it was still overcast, so a good morning for photos.

There were blooms in all stages of life, from just opening to barely holding on, so I thought I'd share a few.

The top is a very early camellia, which started blooming a couple of days ago. It typically doesn't show up until around Halloween, so I'm hoping this isn't a sign of a colder winter.

The Chelone (Turtleheads) are just starting to open, and the bees are loving them!

The Balsam is one of my new favorites, though a very old flower. It's the type of impatien that self-seeds itself readily here in Atlanta, and was a Victorian favorite. The plant is about 18 inches tall and just covered with those blossoms. When you touch the seed pods, they literally explode all over the place! It can be invasive, but what a beauty to have coming up here and there!

What is up with the Weather???

Today started very cold, but by midafternoon was in the high 60's and absolutely glorious! I'm finally convinced that spring is here to stay, after the brief snow showers yesterday afternoon.
Truly, if someone had been out of town for the past two days, they would never have believed that it was that cold.

Fortunately it didn't get "crazy cold" until around 5 AM where I live and work, so we were spared a lot of freeze damage. We were also lucky to have very high winds for the past couple of days, which doesn't allow the frost to settle. I was really afraid for the budded peonies and hydrangeas, but all looked really good this morning.

At the Big House garden, we were able to shut the heat off in the greenhouse and actually leave the door slightly ajar. Some of the most tender things like coleus, tomatoes, and the like are still tucked into the warmest corners, but it's time for some of the sturdier plants to start getting used to being outdoors. In the middle of the afternoon, the exhaust fans came on, indicating it was hitting 90 degrees in the greenhouse for the first time in months!

I was concerned about some of the new roses that got planted last week, but my "rose lady" thought they would be just fine, and she was right on the mark! The Abraham Darby's that went in last week (they had been in heated greenhouses at the grower until that point) are just covered with huge super fragrant blossoms. It's been such an interesting year with weather, I'm still amazed at the combination of late daffodils, late camellias and early roses all blooming at the same time. The combination of fragrances is really overwhelming, with the HEAVY fragrance of the hollies mixed with the roses. Add in the sight of Eastern Bluebird, Goldfinches and Cardinals all at the same cluster of feeders, and it's the icing on the cake!

Lastly, since I know you're all dying to know, Favorite Tree (doublefile viburnum) came through the freeze without a blemish....you can all relax and get on with your day!

The New Climbing Roses

The garden where I spend most of my days is incredibly beautiful, and was well designed when it was newly installed ten years ago. As a result, my job is made somewhat easier, because I'm really nurturing beautiful things and "tweaking" as plants age and grow. I'm fortunate that the owners of the garden also appreciate that I do as much as I can organically, so it is a garden that actually benefits the surrounding area.

If there is a flaw in the original design, it is the placement of five espaliered camellias on a brick wall in full sun that must reach 110 degrees most afternoons in the summer. At this moment in February, these poor plants are gasping for breath, doing their best to push out some pretty amazing blooms, from their parched and fried trunks.... they are underplanted with vinca, which also struggles and has never looked all that good. (If vinca is struggling, it will give you an idea of how bad this particular spot is for plants).

Anyway, the plan for this summer is to replace the camellias with climbing roses, underplanted with creeping rosemary. For the roses, I'm installing Blush Noisette, which was originally developed in Charleston, SC, in the 1700's. It's a beautiful fragrant rose specifically bred for the heat and humidity of the southeast. Between the Noisettes, I'm planting Snowgoose, which is an amazing white rambler from David Austen.

Finally, we're adding in Clematis Princess Diana, and Clematis Roguchi, which should scramble through the two different roses! Not that I'm a competitive gardener or anything, but I can't wait to see this in summer! Even Patti (the rose hater) has got to like this combo!

Support Your Local Garden Center!

Many of you know that I maintain the plants at a penthouse residence in B'head, which is, in and of itself, a pretty awesome gardening experience. Do you have any idea what it's like to maintain an Italian cypress in the sun and wind of the 42nd floor? Needless to say, lots of stuff froze solid during last week's cold snap, so I'm hoping things will revive a little bit with this week's thaw.

I was driving around that area today on a quest for one perfect large rosemary plant, and ended up in several different nurseries that I haven't visited in a little while. Between the combination of last week's weather, the season, the drought and the economy, the visits were depressing on one hand, inspirational on the other.

The big orange box store had virtually nothing in stock, short of some shell-shocked pansies and the promise of lots of deliveries coming in daily.

Hastings' in Brookhaven was a little better, but virtually everything there was an indoor plant. Since I readily kill orchids (not on purpose), I didn't spend a dime. It was a good visit, though, since the sun was shining, it was in the mid 60's and there were tons of worker bees running around getting ready for spring shipments. They did have some cool "pot feet" for only $3 each....those of you who shop at Hastings know that $3 usually buys a bottle of water there!...though their plants are pretty fabulous usually.

Over at Ashe-Simpson Garden Center, it was pretty depressing from the street with the plastic shrouding the plant area, but inside was as cool as ever. The ladies had moved all of the camellias, daphnes, etc., into the cold greenhouse, so it was just bursting with color and fragrance! If you aren't familiar with Ashe-Simpson, you need to go there. Carole, Rosemary and crew are extremely knowledgeable, and just plain "good people."

So my point, four paragraphs later, is SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GARDEN CENTER! There were lots of comments at last week's flower show that things were smaller this year. The truth is that some of the boutique companies are having a hard time making ends meet, much less spending thousands on these shows.

In times like these, with weather like we've had the past couple of years, many of these smaller companies are having a tough time holding on; others, like Perennial Grace, just couldn't keep going for another season, and will be sadly missed in Atlanta. We count on them to introduce new cultivars, give us endless amounts of free advice, listen to our whining, and save the best plants for us personally, so we need to spend some money with them! Consider it your local version of the economic recovery plan! Who couldn't use just one more (fill in the blank) in the garden this year?

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

This morning was one of those on which I'm thrilled to be in the south, and no longer in New England! As much as we're dreading the "Arctic Front" coming our way, imagine having that weather from November until April!

Walking across the lawn, the sun was delightful, and it's as though the pansies knew they had to soak up the rays and store some warmth for the temperatures in the teens that are being forecasted for later this week.

These are the days when I become very protective of the bulbs that have started to emerge, and get nervous each spring that we'll have no flowers. Somehow, fortunately, I'm always proven wrong.

In the large south border, there are already lots of the miniature daffodils starting to sprout that have naturalized there over the past several years. It's grown into one of those displays that we can't readily imitate on our own, with leaves popping up in the crevice between a couple of boulders, in the midst of a ground cover, etc. It's really a show stopping display when all of the daffodils come into bloom, and across the lawn the color is repeated in the huge forsythia bank.

This year we've added in Narcissus "Petrel," which is supposed to do well all the way down to zone 9 (the top photo).

On the creek bank, the Stars of Bethlehem have started popping up, along with the leaf rosettes from the hyacinths. They are both favorites, and we added 200 more hyacinths this year, all in shades of pale yellows and white.

Leucojum (Summer Snowflake) is also showing signs of coming up, which excites me at the idea of seeing their beautiful white bell flowers again. They look very exotic, and I'm surprise more people don't use them, since they're pretty much foolproof. (The second photo down) They are in a bed with Guinea Hen Frittilaria (the bottom photo), which is another show stopper, but has a fairly short bloom season.

Fortunately the orange Crown Imperial hasn't broken through the ground yet, since I'm sure that will be this year's plant for me to be neurotic about......quick, get more pinestraw, blankets, perhaps a little heat lamp! Or perhaps my compulsion will show with the White Foxtial Lilies that we added to the pastel border. ....do you see a pattern here?

There are also 500 tulips that were planted in November, coming up as a border to the Antique Shades pansies that are in the beds around the house. We mixed three varieties, hoping to get a great blend along with the pansies.

It's only a matter of a couple of weeks ,I would guess, when we get the show along what we call the "Camellia Walk." It's a brick path that is almost completely enclosed with tall red camellias (Henry Kramer, I think). At their base we'll have a mass of white daffodils and deep blue muscari. Hopefully I'll get a better picture this year!

I promised the UPS lady that I would get a photo for her when the allium collection comes into bloom this spring. That was in response to her question, "What did you buy? A million onions? My truck stinks!" She wasn't really amused when I told her the garlic shipment was coming soon....

I guess I'm okay with a cold snap this week, knowing we'll have such an incredible show from the bulbs in six weeks or so!

Camellias on Christmas Morning

Here are pictures of "Jury's Yellow" on the top, and "Winter's Snowman" on the bottom

Christmas Morning

There is a lot to be said for the snowy white Christmas mornings I remember from growing up in New Hampshire, but it's hard to beat waking up to temperatures in the high 50's, with sunshine and a promise of mid to high 60's in Atlanta today.

It's almost as if the birds realize it's a very special morning, since they are out in droves today. The chickadees and wrens are all around, along with the nuthatches that seem to walk up and down the tree trunks on their heads. The titmouse family is going to town on the almost dead Sweetgum in front of the house, and there is a pair of Phoebes perched on the pergola, just checking things out from the safety of that perch.

This is the time of year I had in mind when I planted the "Winter King" Green Hawthorn (Crataegus viridis "Winter King") last season. It is loaded with huge red berries, and is a magnet for the Cedar Waxwings and Robins. I don't even mind that they'll probably strip the tree of berries in the next several days; I guess Christmas is a feasting day for them, as well!

We're lucky to have a number of Eastern Towhees in our garden, as well as the Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Blue Jays and Cardinals. The Woodpeckers can be hugely annoying when they decide to fall in love with the cedar siding on the house, but on days like this when the windows are closed, it's just beautiful to sit back with a cup of coffee and watch them against the naked tree branches.

The only shrubs blooming right now are two hybrid camellias. One is called "Jury's Yellow," which was introduced from New Zealand and is apparently more common in England than in the US. It is really closer to off-white, but it's one of those plants we gardeners need to have just so we can say we have a "yellow camellia." The other one is called "Winter's Snowman," and it is blooming its heart out! I wish I remembered where I bought it, but it has done amazingly well, with virtually no special care, for three years now. Dark green flawless foliage, just covered with big snowwhite blooms for several weeks at this time of year!

In that peculiar way that nature has of working things out, the two very pale camellias are the perfect backdrop for holly berries and the extraordinarily bright plumage on the birds of winter.