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. 

A Day for Catching Up at the Big House Garden

Today was one of the first really blistering hot days we've had this year, but which I'm sure we'll have many more of as the summer goes on.  It was a reminder that summer is coming to Atlanta, and it's the price we pay for having such mild (usually....) winters.  I'm still more than happy to put up with this heat than the winter snows of New England.

Chuck and I got an early start at the Big House garden, when the air was still cool and damp (low 60's).  It's always fairly quiet in that garden, but for some reason on Sundays it seems particularly so.  We were each doing our own thing in different parts of the garden, so it was an opportunity to just enjoy the garden and the quiet.

Even though this is a time of year when things are visibly growing every day, we're at the point now of having a little bit of time to step back, clean and organize.  The greenhouse is 99% empty, with just the last of the plants there that live there permanently.   The huge alcocasia and begonia are each planted in "elderly" containers that can't be moved.  They are both pretty major background players in winter, but seem a little lonely now.  Next week we'll do "the big clean" of the greenhouse to get rid of any winter funk that might still be around.

This was also my morning to start some ruthless thinning in the perennial bed in the walled garden.  When it was installed four years ago, the wish was for "instant full," AKA lots of invasives.  Today was time to tear out lots of hooligan rudbeckia, New England asters that are completely out of control, verbena bonarensis and the like.  By 10:30 this morning, the sun was up and it was already getting a little unbearable in those beds.

At the pond, the koi are loving the fact that the water is now safely above 70 degrees, and they're at their most active.  As much as my logical side says, "They're just fish," I find it very entertaining that they will immediately come up to me when I walk up to the edge of the ponds.  I think it's something about their association of food with the fat guy with the blue shirts.....Anyway, I got a few new plants installed, a giant blue lobelia and a dwarf cattail in the bog (that's the only cleaning system....we're chemical free), and a pretty awesome tropical water lily called "Starbright" in the big pond.  It was my own little version of swimming with the stingrays to walk in the pond, having the big fish fully comfortable approaching me to see what I was doing.  I think they were all a little disappointed I was only bearing flowers today......

The Dwarf Cattail and the Blue Lobelia for the bog, above, and the new apricot water lily called "Starbright," below.

The Big House Garden in Snow

The Walled Garden mostly put to bed for the winter, with a few things still popping up here and there (aren't Sweetpeas amazing to continue going in this stuff??)

The gate to the walled garden looks better with a little snow on the wreath. I know the holidays are over, but I really love this wreath that Patti made.

The koi are happily hibernating on the bottom of the pond, barely moving their gills.

Even in ridiculous cold, the cardinals are out at the feeders.

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!

Putting the Garden to Bed for the Winter

In a peculiar way, this is one of my favorite seasons in the garden, because things slow down and stop growing for a few weeks (or at least it seems so). Every year I feel a little guilty about liking this season of cleaning, but then I realize it's all just part of the cycle.

The top photo is one section of the perennial bed in early October, at is overwhelming autumn peak. The Helianthus angustifolia is tied to the wall, threatening to crush anyone who happens to walk by when it starts to topple. The asters, phlox, and zinnias are all crying out, "I'm not done blooming yet! Don't cut me back!"

The second photo is virtually the same spot five weeks later. We've reached a point of imminent (temporary) death for the blooms, and they've gone to bed for the winter. This is when I find I'm able to enjoy just how beautiful the garden at the Big House is. I suddenly develop a new appreciation for the beautiful hardscaping, which is just starting to develop some of that "softness" that comes as a garden ages. It seems that our days are filled with removal of spent blooms and foliage, hauling it off to the green waste site for composting. We are finally getting rid of the packaging involved with the winter annuals, and getting the opportunity to take brushes and hoses to things.

On one hand it's a little sad, but on the other, very refreshing! Go outside today and enjoy what's left of autumn!

The Glasshouse

In my opinion, one of the most beautiful features of the Big House garden is the greenhouse. It is only a few years old, but based upon some old designs. It is the centerpiece of the walled garden where we grow vegetables and flowers for cutting.

On a cold autumn day, it is a pretty fabulous place to be. On those rare occasions when we get snow (perhaps one or two mornings a year), it's UNBELIEVABLE! We've finished bringing in most of the things we're planning to overwinter, and it's coming together really nicely.

Some of the smaller things are in various stages of growth, and many will get circulated in and out of the house over the winter (amaryllis, begonias, etc.)

The tree fern in the top and bottom photos was an absolute bear to get from the pool area where it summers down to the greenhouse, but I think it really sets the stage for the winter!

The Alocasia that is on the side in a couple of shots is "Portadora," and we've had the bulb for three years now. This is actually one of the babies from the original bulb, and it's the first year that I'm just letting it continue to grow through the winter to see what happens. We did a concrete cast of one of the leaves recently, and it took 120 lbs of concrete!

Hollyhock Advice, Please....

"Mrs." absolutely loves hollyhocks, and we have had mixed success with them in the garden at the Big House, at best. There are lots of possible reasons, but I'd love to get input from anyone who grows them successfully in the South. As a transplanted Yankee, I'm never totally sure I've got the best instinct when it comes to the proper planting times for cooler weather blooms.

Some specific questions:

• Any thoughts about planting in the fall from seed, rather than in spring?
• Any opinions about putting out established plants vs. seeds?
• We have drip irrigation in the perennial bed. I've heard that moist well drained soil is best, but my dad grows them in an area that is pretty dry naturally (but that's in New England).
• The walled garden is very beautiful, but holds an incredible amount of heat on summer nights, which causes problems with certain flowers. Is hollhock one of those that needs cool nights?

I'd love to wow "Mrs." with an amazing display of hollyhocks in the spring, so if fall planting is needed, the sooner you can offer me advice, the better!