Some Favorite Photos from the Past Couple of Seasons

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was reorganizing some photos from the past couple of seasons, and here are a few favorites.  As always, click on them to enlarge.

This first is one of a pair of containers I purchased last year.  They are concrete and new, but I love the finish on them.  They are made to resemble rusting cast iron containers, and I really like the sense of age they bring to what is a relatively young garden (12 years old).  I don't even know the cultivar on the pansies.  I purchased the containers in late winter, and these pansies were what was available at Lowe's in a large-enough quanity to fill the two containers.  I particularly like the contrast against the Spanish bluebells, which have naturalized in the bed on the upper level (these containers are on a ledge at the top of a small staircase).

The gazebo at the pool is mostly shade throughout the day, so it's the perfect place to put some of the houseplants for the summer months.  We have these four containers on wheels, so they can be moved a few times during the course of the season to grow more evenly.  This colocasia (elephant ear) is called "Elena," and is an awesome chartreuse that lights up every container combination. 

The gate into the walled garden cuts through the center of the (mostly) white border. This is early spring, with variegated boxwood and violas in the urns, and white peonies just about to open.  The sago palms on the pillars stay outside except in the coldest weather, as do the potted ivy topiaries.  (I only know the date because we flip the containers to summer flowers April 15, which is generally the last frost in metro-Atlanta.)

 The fig in August is literally dripping with nectar; we manage to pick whatever the birds and squirrels don't beat us to!

The front entrance explodes in July, and these Hydrangeas will stay until we cut the blooms off in October.  We replaced a clipped holly hedge with the Limelight Hydrangea a couple of years ago, and cut it back to about 2 feet every spring to control its summer height.  In the containers on the porch is Colocasia "Elena" again.

(Please feel free to borrow any ideas you'd like, but please don't "borrow" my photos and claim them as your own!  Thanks!)

Some Favorite Photos

Like many gardeners, I've become overwhelmed with the number of photos I have accumulated from the past few years.  Since I need to review the plans for the spring containers with "Mrs" soon, I am collecting some favorite container photos in an album on my Facebook page for her to look at.  Here's one I just came across, which I had completely forgotten about....I just LOVE this photo of a dahlia just coming into bloom in August!  It has nothing to do with container plantings, but it makes me happy!

Hopefully this will add some warmth to wherever you are at the moment, in the darkest and coldest time of year!

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!

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! 

Plant ID Needed

                         
This really beautiful vine just appeared along the creekbank at the Big House.  Unfortunately it is slowly going up and over the azaleas, though in a very delicate way.  The flowers are exquisite, but it's looking a little like a wisteria relative to me.  I haven't called the Extension office yet, but anyone have experience with this one?
                        

Wisteria can be beautiful, but in Atlanta it can also be like kudzu with pretty flowers!

The Stepchild Garden This Morning

A few random shots from my walk this morning with Sadie the Dog.

This first one is Fallopia japonica, which everybody seems to ask about.  It's a great groundcover that grows about a foot tall.  Can be a little agressive, but it's beautiful running between conifers and evergreens.

Hyacinth Bean shares a trellis with "Madison" jasmine.  I just love the color of these flowers as I pull into the driveway!  I don't use chemicals on them, so it's sometimes a battle between me and the little critters who seem to like them as much as I do.

My classical lady is looking a little more Jamaican, with her dreadlocks of Creeping Jenny.

The olive jars near the front door are filling in nicely with New Guinea impatiens, Creeping Jenny and Jacob's Ladder "Stairway to Heaven"

Poppies in various stages of opening and passing.....

A few too many "spikey" things in the perennial bed, but I think the color combination is pretty cool.

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!

Amaryllis Care for Repeat Blooms

Now that the first of the amaryllis to bloom are starting to fade, it's time to start grooming them to bloom again next Christmas. It's a really simple process, so here it is.....

After the blooms have finished, cut the stems to a couple of inches above the soil, put the pot with your other houseplants, and continue to water it and fertilize to encourage the strappy leaves to grow.

After danger of frost has gone, put the entire pot outside, in a shady spot for the first couple of weeks. After that, I just put the entire pot somewhere in my perennial bed where it gets a few hours of good sun every day, and forget about it for the rest of the summer. It gets watered when the rest of the bed gets watered. Since amaryllis likes to be pot bound, this works perfectly.

Around Labor Day, I tip the pot on its side and put it in a dry cool spot, to dry out. You'll feel compelled to add water, but dont'!

Six weeks before you want the amaryllis to bloom, trim the dead leaves back, start adding water and fertilizer to the bulb. If you want to move it into a decorative pot for the holidays, now is the time to do that, so you're not disturbing the blooming plant later. (Keep it pretty tightly potted, though). At this point, treat it like a houseplant and just watch it do its thing!

As flower buds start to show, water the amaryllis more frequently. Fertilizing during the bloom period is not necessary. If kept at a cool room temperature (65 degrees or so), amaryllis will bloom for three weeks.

Now that I've said all that, amaryllis is terribly unpredictable in its bloom cycle. I had five going this year, and all are living on different cycles, it seems.

One called "Lemon Sorbet" bloomed first, and was really spectacular during the beginning and middle of December. Two of the others (one "Piquant" and one "Apple Blossom") were blooming for Christmas. The last two (another "Piquant" and another "Apple Blossom") have yet to bud, though they're clearly still alive. Since the "Apple Blossom" and "Piquant" were all treated exactly alike since last year, there is no explanation for why they're blooming at different times. The "Lemon Sorbet" came from Van Engelen this year (amazing company!), so I can understand why it might have been on a different schedule that my older bulbs.

Perhaps I will just enjoy having exquisite amaryllis blooms over an eight week period.......

Some Early Winter Pruning

It was the perfect day to get out in the garden and do some winter cleaning and pruning. This is the time of year when the "bones" of the garden can be seen most easily, so I like to prune those trees and shrubs that can tolerate it during the winter.

One of my friends talks about having "prune-a-phobia," and jokes that she's always sure she'll make a wrong cut, and ruin the plant for life. Today's projects would have been perfect for her, since they were both tough as nails plants.

We started with the Yellow Anise Tree (Illicium parvifolium), which had really grown out of control in the past year. It's native to the Southeast, so can take a lot of abuse, and always looks good. We have it as a casual hedge in an area under the tree canopy, where we want privacy at neighbors' eye level. Since it had started to get really leggy and wasn't doing it's intended job as well anymore, this was the perfect opportunity to get out there and prune in a way to encourage side branching and bushier growth in the spring. It is such a treat to have something that consistently looks elegant and dark glossy green, even while getting attention just once or twice a year! The fact that it has a great fragrance and interesting bloom is just icing on the cake!

Since the next area over in the garden is a group of Cherry Laurels (Prunus caroliniana), this was the perfect opportunity for some clean up, as well. The plant snobs are usually not fans of homely Cherry Laurel, and it can sometimes be invasive, but it's very sturdy for the somewhat shady, poorly drained space where we have it. Over the past couple of years, it has become my project for a "pleached hedge." It looks pretty cool, like a hedge on stilts! Since we have a privacy fence behind them, the row of naked trunks look really great in the winter light; in the summer the trunks are somewhat hidden by the panicle hydrangeas that grow in front of them, so it's almost something to look forward to in winter. If you've never tried "pleaching," it's a fun project for the gardener who wants to do something different! (This photo is from a nursery that sells pleached Cherry Laurel, not my garden, but the look is similar --- though I only have seven trees in the hedge).

Camellias on Christmas Morning

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

A Little Photographic Relief from the Cold!

Winter has come to Atlanta! It's been ridiculously cold yesterday and today, so not a lot to do in the garden. Came across this photo from last June, though, so I'm hoping it will keep my mind in the warmth of summer for the next couple of days! Enjoy!