My Garden is Making Me Blush......

The side effect of all of this crazy rain (13.75 inches since last Tuesday), is the abundance of mushrooms growing all over my wooded areas. One type in particular, Phallus impudicus, is stopping traffic, and not necessarily in a good way. There are dozens of them growing all over my garden, and they are pretty hard to miss.......not the sort of thing you want popping up everywhere when you're hosting the group of gardening helpers for the day.....

Hopefully they have a short growing season......

Off to Build Myself an Ark

It stopped raining today.....for almost 20 minutes.

After two years of really bad drought, all of us in the gardening community pledged never to complain about rain. I'm not complaining, but can we temper it's arrival just a little? Just over 5 inches of rain since Wednesday, and no sign of letting up any time soon.

The first work day for the "Garden Angels" sprucing up the garden for next spring's tour was today. This photo isn't exactly my garden, but it will give you a good idea of what it was like this morning. Fortunately there were lots of things to pot up in the garage.......and donuts!

She Ain't Pretty, But She Smells Good!

If you aren't from the south, you may know Eleagnus as "Russian Olive," which is sold in the back of the magazines as a fast growing screen plant; in the photos, it's always pictured as a beautiful, thick, tall hedge....in the south, you probably know it as "Ugly Agnes." The color is actually quite nice, a neutral silvery olive green. The plant itself, however, looks like Medusa herself just popped up out of a grave on your lawn!

I prune this via guerilla warfare....I believe there is nothing that can hurt this plant. I have tried hacksaw, pruning shears, loppers, and a pruning saw. Everything worked well, except the pruning shears, which broke. Regardless of the tool of choice, she is back in a matter of weeks, waving those wild branches about, taunting the gardener. You can almost hear this plant grow.....BOING! BOING! NEW BRANCHES! I planted a 1 gallon shrub three years ago; it is now safely 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, and I cut on it regularly.

Just a few weeks ago, I considered tearing it out (although it has roots that go to China), and didn't get around to it. I am DELIGHTED that I didn't.

Atlanta is getting slammed with rain this week (3.5 inches since yesterday), so everything is wet and squishy. Sadie the Dog could only dance around the house for so long, attempting to keep her legs crossed the entire time. Each time I've picked up the leash, she has run to the bedroom to hide (she's not really big on anything outside, and definitely not anything wet).

As we went outside, my umbrella seems to have caught the fragrance from the eleagnus, which is so heavy it even travels through the rain, and is intoxicating! Eleagnus puts tea olive to shame, and is no more subtle about throwing its scent around than it is about sprouting branches. Even in the torrential rain, one is greeted with an exuberant, "Smell me! I'm here! It's autumn!"

How could I even consider removing this plant? It's obvious I just need to buy stronger shears!

Southeastern Hort Society Party at Vince Dooley's

I was fortunate to spend this evening at Vince & Barbara Dooley's garden in Athens, at a party/fundraiser for the Southeastern Horticulture Society. What a cool event! For those who are outside the Atlanta area, he's the college football icon, and the namesake of the "Vince Dooley" hydrangea.

Truly, I was expecting something fairly "dry," and was dreading the long drive from Cobb County to Athens; now that I'm back at home after the party, I'm delighted I went!

For starters, the Dooleys are very gracious hosts, who clearly open up their entire garden for roaming, exploring, and general poking around. There are no "off limits" areas, including work areas, the baby plant nursery, etc. Linda, Patti and I made a point of seeing all that we could.

The added bonus to this evening was that the "tour guides" were Drs. Allan Armitage and Michael Dirr! I can honestly say I've never been to a garden event with more knowledgeable tour guides, or any who were more enthusiastic about sharing their (unbelievable) expertise in the world of horticulture.

There were very cool plants in the Dooley garden that are not yet available on the market, as well as some of the original first generation plants that have come out of the UGA test gardens over the years. It was pretty cool for a "plant geek" like me to have Michael Dirr show me how he would propogate a particular hydrangea, sharing lots of great tips, and then giving me the cuttings to take home. And how awesome to have Vince Dooley say, "If there's something here you want to take a cutting from, please feel free to do so....."

The evening reinforced my feeling that there are very few jerks in the plant world, and that gardeners are just gracious nurturing souls by nature.....

September Yellows

Some great blooms from this morning's walk at the Big House. The sunflowers are still holding on, though most have now been relegated to the seedheads that bob in the wind. The goldfinches are all over them for much of the day. Here are a couple that are still clinging to their petals.

At the other end of the garden, the Graham Thomas is just spectacular! Covered with blooms this morning.....it seems to prefer the cooler autumn weather.

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!

Sarah's Garden

I visited my friend Sarah's garden this afternoon, and it's one of my favorite gardens. Part of what appeals to me is that Sarah does virtually all of the work herself, and it is completely a labor of love. She has an amazing eye for detail, which I'm hoping comes through in these photos.

At the top, there is a piece of "folk art" she created a few years ago out of old garden tools. I think it's pretty awesome, and am planning to recreate something similar for my own garden (she knows......)

Sarah loves vines, and has done a really amazing job encouraging a number of different vines to climb up the brick walls of her home. I especially like the creeping fig on the kitchen stairs.

Lastly there is a picture of the handles on the garden gate. What a perfect indication that you're entering a really beautiful space!