'Tis the Season....

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, though it may seem that way.  Just up to my eyeballs in the winter-to-spring flip of flowers!  We've had an exceedingly warm March, but then in the past couple of days the temps have dipped back down to near freezing.....as a result, all of the annuals are stacked to the rafters in the greenhouse, and we're on pins and needles over those that are already in the ground.

Here are a few pictures of the garden to tide you over until I can come up for air!  Hope all is well in your world, as well....I hear they're getting slammed with this crazy cold burst in most of the US, and the weather in the UK is just bizarre.....

The Chinese Fringetrees doing their thing above the pool.....they got chopped down (at the direction of a very agitated "Mr" a few days later for doing their thing a little too much for the filtration system, so they're going to enjoy life elsewhere.)

Poppies are poppying all over the walled garden!

Ajuga reptans "Caitlin's Giant" lines the steps up toward the main house from the greenhouse

As always, click on them to make them larger if you'd like!

An Early Morning Stroll in the Garden

This has been an incredibly mild winter in Atlanta, and the spring is also seeing temperatures well above normal, which means the spring flowers are just bursting all over the place!  Here are a few photos from early Friday morning in the garden.  As always, click on them to make them larger if you'd like.

The Carolina Jessamine completely engulfs a black iron fence each year; this season is no different.

The view from the gate of the walled garden across the creek is a beautiful greeting every morning.  The little helicopter-like seedpods on the maple, the Easten redbuds, and requisite Azaleas stand out in this shot. 

Mexican Feather Grass hides some of the mess in the area near the "critter feeder".....don't tell the neighbors that we put out peanuts and corn for the squirrels and crows!  The concrete leaves are little little headstones to plants from past seasons in the garden. 

I'm tempted to put a sign near this bed of narcissus repeating Queen Victoria's quote, "Nothing succeeds like wretched excess!"  If 25 narcissus are good, then 75 must be better! 

The pansies in these beds near the greenhouse are loving the early burst of sunshine and heat....pity we're going to tear them out of the ground in a few weeks! 

This patio peach is called "Bonfire" and was in a container for a couple of seasons before being transplanted into the garden.  Pretty amazing color! 

The Eastern redbuds and Yoshino cherries are both bursting with color around the greenhouse at this time of year. 

Senstive Fern and Heuchera that we thought were gone seem to have reemerged this year. 

This broken pot of Solomon's Seal lives under a cluster of Southern magnolias, and is incredibly tough, despite its delicate appearance. 

The variegated iris positively glows in the early morning.  That coreopsis gets torn out every year and comes back with more vigor than ever again in the spring! 

A view toward the swing across the creek 

Don't Forget to Stop and Smell the Viburnums!

I was all set to do a post about gardening tasks, calendars, journals, etc., etc., and decided to play hookey from responsibilities!  If the weather is as beautiful where you are as it is in Atlanta at the moment, take time to enjoy the garden you've created!  (And if the weather isn't so nice, hang in there for another week or so!)
Here are some shots that are literally things between my driveway and my front door.  Not glamorous, but definitely welcome sights at the end of winter.

This is Kerria japonica, which is lanky and sometimes weedy looking, but one of the happiest plants I know.  It blooms heavily now, and then will continue to bloom on-and-off until the frost knocks it back a little.  When we have a warm week in the dead of winter, it's likely to pop out a few little blooms, as well.  This one is in the part of the Stepchild Garden I call "The Wild."

Leftover narcissus bulbs from the Big House were potted to go on the tables around the pool, but this pot cracked.....oh, well, Mr. and Mrs. are away for a few days, so these blooms get to sit on my little rock wall next to the garage. 

Mohawk Viburnum is one of the most fragrant plants I know, and the scent is just overwhelming when the sun hits it.  They are incredibly common (I bought eight of them for $50 a couple of years ago), and will reach 12 feet if you just let them be. 

Stop looking at your computer and go outside!

A Chelsea Question

I'm hoping some of the readers of this blog can help with some advice.  I'm seriously considering an England trip next year (2013) to coincide with the Chelsea Flower Show.  I've nver been.  Are there certain days of the Show that are better if I'm only going to be there one day?

Any advice would be most appreciated!

Thanks!

Some Pretty Pictures from the Glass House

It's that time of year when the tropicals are putting on their respective shows in the glass house.  Since some of them prefer these shorter days and cooler temperatures than those of July and August, it's a pretty awesome place to start my workday!

Clerodendron thomsoniae ("Bleeding Heart Vine") is just covered with flowers right now, and will stay that way until around Thanksgiving.  This particular plant just adores the heat, and will continue to climb toward the sky until it finally fizzles out in late November, at which time we cut it back to about 24 inches, and the process starts again.

The Penta below was taken from the pastel border at the end of the season last year and brought into the glass house.  In one of Christopher Lloyd's books he had mentioned that Pentas make great flowering plants through the winter.  Go figure....he was right!  (It's obviously doing better than the latest Gloriosa lily, which died the same sad death as its predecessors....)

The Cane Begonia "Sophie Cecile" is just exquisite right now, when the blooms are backed up by the beautiful green and pink mottled foliage.  The original cutting for this plant came from Callaway Gardens (I won it in a raffle....really!)

The phalaenopsis orchids are in their glory at this time of year!  The white one below is just one of many that grace the glass house and the Big House for winter beauty. 

Atlanta Botanical Garden

I was speaking yesterday at "The Inspired Gardener" Symposium at the Atlanta Botanical Garden (more photos from that later), so I didn't have an opportunity to venture far from the facility where the program was being held. I did snap a few photos of the areas just outside the doors yesterday that I thought were great for those of us suffering from a little "cabin fever". Enjoy!  (As always, click to make them bigger if you'd like).

This bench is the perfect place to sit with the winter sun on your face while sipping coffee in the morning.  Just look at the bark on that "Natchez" Crape Myrtle!  It's part of an allee that leads to the great lawn.

These next two are of the parterre garden anchored by Dale Chihuly's incredible glass sculpture in the fountain.  This first one was taken from my position on the bench, above.

   

Loved this metal sculpture that is part of the current exhibit.  It's one of many, each painted a different vibrant color.  This matches the accent color in my home garden, so it's a good thing it was too heavy to carry home.....

The white berried Nandina works beautifully outside the Japanese garden.  I know it's incredibly common, but I still love the plain old red berried Nandina Domestica. (And, yes, I know it can be invasive...that's why God gave us hands to yank it out when it pops up in places we don't want it!)

A Few More Spring Photos

Pieris japonica "River Valley" looks incredible now, just before it bursts into bloom!

Across the creek, the fiddleheads of Bramble Fern (Hypolepis grandulifera) are poking their heads through the mulch.

At this time of year the southern turfgrasses are still dormant, so the mondo looks just beautiful.  I would love to take credit for that "wave" look, but it just does that on its own. 

The dwarf boxwood ( Buxus microphylla 'Grace Hendrick Phillips')has taken a couple of years, but is now filling in enough to become a proper hedge in the walled garden. 

Hellebore madness!  They are such promiscuous plants, one never knows what to expect.  Here the variety looks pretty fabulous with the bronzed winter foliage of the arborvitae ferns and the moss covered stones. 

Camelia japonica "Nuccio's Pearl" has incredible blooms.  This one always has some funk issues with the foliage, since it is literally growing under the bridge shown in the photo above, and hangs over the creek, so it's always damp and dark.  ("Funk" is an official horticultural term in these parts.) 

As always, click to make them bigger if you'd like!