Horticulture Magazine

So without sounding like a complete egomaniac, I thought the blurb Horticulture magazine did was sorta cool......you'll notice that I managed to hide my fat body behind the beautiful gate outside the perennial garden at the Big House!

For some reason I seem to be the last person in America to receive the latest issues of Horticulture, so I had gotten several messages from people commenting that it was a great little article about roses and hydrangeas.

That being said, I am soooooo excited at the appearance of the hydrangeas this year, particularly after the late season freeze of 2007, and the crazy drought of 2007 and 2008. The Annabelles are covered with buds, as are most of the macrophyllas, though it's still a little early for them.

At my own house, the H. seratta "Preziosa" (Carol H's favorite) is already in full bloom, and it's quite pretty. I'll get a picture in a couple of days when it's peaking. I was walking through the garden today at the big house, as well as here at home, and noticed the oakleafs are already starting to show some bloom. It always reminds me of somone with a can of that spray whipped cream, seeing how high they can possibly pile the cream on the pie before it tips over.....how can you not just love them?

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?

Some Early Spring Cleaning

Today was really the perfect day to be in the garden! It was a little foggy this morning, but by mid day the sun was shining and everything seemed to be melting before our eyes! After these last couple of frigid weeks, it was such a pleasure to be outside doing some tidying, getting ready for the first of the blooms to come out again!

This was one of the first days in what seems like an eternity when it was necessary to step around the multitude of bulbs that are starting to show their leaves. Hundreds of daffodils have broken ground, and I'm anxious to see what the new one, "Patrel," looks like when it comes up. It is specifically bred for southern gardens (to zone 9). The Leucojem leaves are coming up with a vengeance; they're a favorite bulb of mine, and put on a really long show of little white and green bell shaped flowers.

Some of the more delicate plants we've put into containers for this winter are having a really hard time with the unusually cold winter we've been having. I'm afraid the variegated gardenia looks more toasted than variegated at this point. Oh, well, live and learn!...perhaps that's why the tag says "zone 8".

The Erthfood we spread last fall seems to be doing its magic with the bulbs,as well. We planted a lot of tulips in November, but it seems as though there are lots of mystery tulips bursting through the soil everywhere else, too! It's not exactly rocket science...add some food and some water (from the new well), and things respond!

We also checked off lots of items from the January pruning list. I generally use Walter Reeves' list from the AJC that was published a few years ago, but is still easily available on line. For the most part, we follow that list, but for a few things like butterfly bush, we're holding off a while.

In the meantime, I think I feel the beginnings of a suntan coming on!

The Plan for the Spring Beds

Sometimes a brick house creates a few challenges in choosing colors for summer annuals. You haven't lived until you've seen fuschia up against terra cotta brick! I do subscribe to the belief that most flowers can work together (as in nature), but the whole fuschia-terra cotta combo sort of pushes me over the edge.

Feel free to steal these ideas. Since the fabulous Elaine (Kelli Green) grows them for me, chances aren't good you're going to find them locally! It's that whole joke about gardening being a competitive sport (If I have something in my garden and you don't, then I win this round!.....)

Anyway, this is the plan:

• "Honey Bee" Lantana - loves the heat and the dry, will grow most anywhere, even under the crape myrtles - awesome "antique" sort of pastel shades.


• Sun Devil Apricot Vinca in "Extreme Peach" -- we had great luck with this one last year, in a paler shade, so I'm hoping this shade is as awesome!


• Purple & White Angelonia. I hadn't grown angelonia before last year, but thought it was a great flower in all regards. Can't wait to use it again!


• Double Impatiens in Pale Pink and White...just everywhere in containers!


• Milk Way Light Blue Calibrachoa - the hybridizer says it's specifically bred for Southern humidity


• "Yellow Moon" Torenia in lots of pots. It needs to be deadheaded every twenty minutes, but it's worth it!


• White "Tapien" Verbena - same look as Homestead Purple, but white


• This cool new plant called "Joey" (ptilotus)---- new import from Australia with irridescent pink and silver plumes....you heard it here first!

Rain, rain, don't go away!

For those of you outside the metro-Atlanta area, you may not be aware of what a severe drought we've been having here. 2007 seems to have been the worst, with 2008 slightly better.

I know it's early in the new year, but as of this afternoon, we've had 4.15 inches of rain for the calendar year so far (at Lake Alatoona). Since we only had 3.46 inches for the entire month of January 2008, I'm cautiously optimistic......but still not putting my rain dance outfit back in the closet yet!

Just for the record, the average rainfall at this site is 5.5 inches for January, so we're off to a good start!