Winter Chores

One of the best things about winter in Atlanta is that it is generally mild, and the cold snaps tend to be short lived.  Earlier in the week we had overnight temperatures down into the twenties, and we didn't warm out of the thirties for a couple of days.  Now that the sun has returned, the plants (and our old gardener bones) were loving today's 60 degree temperatures!

"Mr and Mrs" were away last week with their children, so we had the perfect opportunity to disassemble lots of the holiday decorations in and around the main house, and it was also the perfect time to do a good cleaning of the glass house.   We started in the potting shed getting rid of things that had outlived their lives or simply hadn't been used in the past couple of years; in the glasshouse proper, it was time to do some hard pruning on some of the tropicals and start shaping them for their spring re-emergence at the pool and elsewhere in the garden.  (The red hibiscus doesn't seem to realize it's winter, though, and continues to bloom its little heart out!)

The glass house still looks somewhat empty, though this is the time of year when it's a favorite reading spot for "Mrs" when we leave at the end of the day.  (It is positively glorious in a snowstorm!)  The first of the seeds are starting to sprout;  this one I like mostly for the story it brings.  A parrot seems to have dropped it at a friend's garden in Coral Gables last year, and the seeds were collected and brought back when I was there in November.  I think it's an iris or something similar, but we'll see soon! 

Outside, we've been topdressing the vegetable beds, giving the earthworms a couple of months to work their magic before we start planting summer crops.  The winter brassicas and such are continuing to provide kale, chards, and other greens.  We pull the snapdragons from the patio containers for the coldest part of the winter when they aren't blooming.  After a brief respite here, they'll bud out again and go back to the area around the house. 

Carmen, the weeding machine, preps everything prior to the topdressing, and also takes great delight in clipping the Creeping Fig that grows on the garden wall.  She is also the one who does such perfect squirrel-proof packaging for the potted tulips that will go up nearer the house when they start to sprout. 

This Week in the Garden - Pruning, Seeding, and Cottonseed Mealing

I can't believe it's been a full week since I've logged on here...guess I have some catching up to do!  I'm also a little embarassed that I said I would publish a list of "this week in the garden" every week and it's been two weeks since my one and only post!  I'm sticking with my story that it's just because the snow threw us all for a bit of a loop.  "Shoveling snow and breaking up ice for days on end" is not a regular part of my Atlanta gardening calendar. (Be gentle, dear Yankees.....Atlanta only owns 11 snow plows).

For starters, we're continuing with that same list of pruning that I listed on January 6.  We're about half way through the garden at the Big House with that winter pruning, and three of us will spend a full day doing nothing else tomorrow.  I'm usually somewhat flexible with cutting back all of the grasses (I love their look in the winter sun), but this snow and ice has turned them all into big messes, so "off with their heads" tomorrow!

In addition to the pruning, I'll be doing the annual cottonseed meal dance in the next couple of weeks.  This is a distinctly Southern thing, I think, that makes a HUGE difference in azaleas; I don't remember ever having a surplus of cottonseed meal growing up in New Hampshire. We use about 2 cups of cottonseed meal per bush for azaleas, radican gardenias, and boxwood.  Sprinkle it on the soil over the roots, scratch it in with your foot, on to the next one.  Cottonseed meal is one of those things to buy at an old-timey grain and feed store.  In the fancy garden centers, it's $15 for a one pound box; in the feed and grain stores, about $12 for 50 pounds!

Winter Projects at the Big House

The weather has been very odd today; waking up and going outside, I was prepared for the usual chill, but it was eerily warm.  Later in the day the sky looked like a giant bucket of gray paint being slowly stirred.  One could literally see the clouds churning as it prepared for the crazy rains we got later today.

It was the perfect day for Patti and I to get some holiday things done for the house, as well as catch up on the progress of plants we're overwintering in the greenhouse.  Wiring tuteurs with lights to put into the containers around the pool, a boxwood wreath for the gate to the wall garden.....

In the greenhouse, this is the time of year when things look rather sad; many are still adjusting to being yanked out of their pots a few weeks ago for the winter season indoors.  The bougainvillea is getting too big to keep moving back and forth, so once it finishes adjusting, it will start getting trained up and across the glass roof of the greenhouse.  Since only the lateral branches really bloom well, that's a great way of making shade.

The "Betty Marshall" brugmansia got cut down in late October, and the pieces are starting to root in the bucket of water.  Once they're rooted better, we'll put them into pots to start growing out for next summer.  By going through the process now, we keep the plants "young" for next year, and will usually have blooms by June 1 at the pool. 

The cannas were taken out of the koi ponds this year, broken apart, and repotted.  Hopefully we'll be able to put them out already with some good foliage in late April, giving them a head start on the blooming season.  (Something tells me Patti has hidden a "mystery plant" in that front pot.....) 

Dichondra totally fried late this summer, so it's been chopped back and is just starting to peer over the edge of the hanging baskets again.  This one, "Emerald Falls," really earns its name! 

The shade lovers below are jammed into that trough for the winter months.  We'll separate them out into lots of different containers in spring again. 

Prune-a-Palooza

It seems like we've done nothing but prune at the Big House and in the Stepchild Garden for the past few weeks.  Even with weather being colder and wetter than normal, we're finally seeing some signs of spring, and it's time to cut back in anticipation of that growth spurt.  The Medusa-like growth on the Eleagnus has been pulled back into a somewhat contained form (if that's possible), the roses have been cut back and glued, and it feels like I've taken 35 truckloads of Sasanqua camellia trimmings to the green waste site.

February is also the annual time of "Crape Murder" in the South, when we gardeners look on in horror as so many landscape crews come out with the chain saws and "straighten up" the Crape Myrtles. Perhaps the only thing more funky looking in my mind are the hollies cut into lollipops in the supermarket parking lots!

At the Big House, the two ends of the circular front drive are marked with ENORMOUS Crape Myrtles, and in front of the house itself there is a cluster of exquisite "Natchez" Crapes, with that beautiful bark and white flowers in summer.  Since it's a pretty formal setting in front of the house, we do clean them up somewhat each year, and try to add a little balance to the overall scheme of things.

Once upon a time we used pruning shears and loppers.  Then it progressed to hand saws.  Now even the tallest ladders don't work!  Oh, well, it gives the neighbors something to talk about......."Can you believe what they're doing in that garden now?......"

The Weather Rollercoaster

Growing up in New England, it was common to hear people say, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute." Although we get seasonal changes in Atlanta, they aren't typically as crazy as they have been this season. From record cold temperatures with snow that stayed on the ground for a week, we went to 60 degree days when we could work in t-shirts. Yesterday was blustery and cold, and today it's raining and getting steadily warmer...go figure.

This is the time of year when I'm chomping at the bit to get things into the ground. It's made even worse by the fact that the seeds have arrived for lots of new things, and they're just sitting there waiting for a few weeks before we can start sowing them indoors. I've ordered lots of cool things for spring...mignonette, wallfowers, heliotrope, etc....all of which will fry by the middle of the summer here, but will hopefully be pretty glorious for April and May. The galanthus is up and blooming at the big house, which only makes my cabin fever worse!
In the stepchild garden, we're building and fluffing on those rare days when it isn't raining...hard to believe we're still in recovery mode from two years of record drought! Most of the actual construction on the "non-potting shed" is almost done, and now it's time to do the fun stuff (the tin roof, the door, window, little architectural details, etc. ) I'm still a little bit undecided about the door and trim color, but so far this blue is winning. At the time of year, everything in the wooded area looks pretty sad, but the blue chairs are as happy as can be!

Great Book!

One of my favorite books this season is Landscape Lessons, by Patricia Godwin Dunleavy. She is someone who literally grew up in the nursery business, and operates Pine Bush Nursery.

Because the book is formatted for each brief chapter to correspond to a year in the gardening calendar, it’s a very easy read that can be picked up and read whenever I find a free half hour.
This book is filled with great information, presented in a very soft and subtle manner.

The chapter I was reading last night is about camellias. To give you an idea of a typical section, here are some points that Patricia makes about camellias:

• Planting semi-doubles rather than the larger doubles will yield more flowers with less freeze damage, since the semi-doubles open more quickly;
  
• To prevent browning on camellia flowers, plant them in a spot where they won’t get morning sun until after the frost has dried;
  
• If flowers have brown on the edges, it is probably cold or wind damage. If the flowers are browning from the center out, it is a fungal blight. Remove those flowers from the bush and the surrounding ground and bury or burn them;
  


• Look for Camellia sinensis for the earliest bloom, then C. sasanqua, then finally C. japonica to finish out the bloom season.


• The most cold hardy are the tea-oil varieties, C. oleifera, which are sometimes hard to find in cultivation. This variety has been hybridized with some others, however, such as “Winter’s Star,” which is easier to find. (I can vouch for “Winter’s Star” and “Winter’s Snowman” as two spectacular hybrids, since both grow in the stepchild garden. They produce incredible shows every winter, with virtually no attention from me.

I got this book from Amazon. Just for a little plug, buy it from the dealer listed as "Bibliowrite"in Ila, Georgia, if you want the copy personalized and signed.
Happy reading!

Cold Weather Gardening

This week's cold snap has put a bit of a damper on the gardening chores that normally get done at this time of year. Since the garden at the Big House is so flower-intensive, it's a blessing that we're able to do some things in January and February.

This week we got a bunch of pruning done (clip for a couple of hours, defrost for 15 minutes, clip for another couple of hours, etc.), and then spent one full day thinking about the warmer weather to come.

When the wind is howling, these are the days when I fully appreciate my job. What a treat to spend some time in the glass house potting up brugmansia cuts, repotting orchids, and such. We typically will buy some things for summer containers at this time of year, pot them up and let them grow out for a few months, so they're lush when they go into the containers in April.

Winter Containers

Obviously a major part of what I do at work is containers, both at the big house and in the penthouse garden. Since the penthouse is such a harsh environment to grow almost anything, the containers change very little during the winter. There are some tiny containers that come and go seasonally, but for the most part, the plantings up there are permanent.

In the garden at the big house, we just finished putting together the winter containers (there are 58 of them). Here are some photos, though most of the arrangements haven't "flushed out" yet. I'll post more photos in a few weeks, once they're looking a little more full.

The top container is part of a grouping of three. For the winter, the largest pot is anchored with a cryptomeria "Sekkan sugi", the middle one is a variegated acuba, and the smallest of the three is this arborvitae called "Whipcord." It's a favorite container conifer of mine, great for shade in the summer, but can take full sun in the winter.

The second photo is "Black Dragon" cryptomera, variegated boxwood, flowering kale, two different types of dusty miller, "Miracle" heuchera, and dianthus. The Black Dragon, heuchera, and dianthus will all go out into the landscape in the spring.

The bottom container is pretty simple this year; just the variegated boxwood with pansies (Delta "Apple Cider Mix"). These containers are right next to beds filled with more of the same pansies, so we try to pull that same color into the other container for continuity.

I Know It Isn't Spring Yet......

I know it isn't really spring yet, and we're going to get zapped with a few more good freezes before it's really here, but today was a pretty glorious day in the garden!

I got to work early and it was one of those chilly but not painfully cold mornings. It was the perfect morning to take a stroll with my Venti Americano, and see what was going on. I was walking around and realized this is the sort of weather when non-gardeners have no idea what we gardeners are seeing in the pinestraw. Those of us who have that trained eye, though, can see the first tip of green coming up from the base of the hydrangea we thought had perished in that last bad freeze. The daffodils are safely up now, and there are enough of them to see the different cultivars that have been added over the years, some pale and creamy, some screaming lemon yellow, some tiny little dwarfs. There is a good-sized patch of the little dwarf daffodils that are somewhat hidden by the azaleas that have grown up, and we've talked about moving them to a more visible place; this morning I decided, though, that "Mrs" is a walker, too, and I like the idea that when she's walking in this part of the garden, there's a little surprise there behind the shrubs that she won't see until she's right on top of them. If those tiny little daffodils make her smile, I've done my job well.

The tulips that were planted in the fall are poking their heads up ever so carefully, as if they know there will be more freezes. The hyacinths and muscari are also readily visible, as though reaching for the sun. My "neat freak" side thinks I should pull out some of the Dutch hyacinths that have grown a little scraggly over the years, but when it comes time to do it, I always reconsider.

The tiny little "Miss Kim" lilac is starting to show a little bit of leaf growth, and I realize that soon we'll see that lonely single flower that comes every year. Lilacs are definitely one of the things I miss about New England.

Later in the day we got some seeds started; it's hard to believe we're done with frost in just five weeks. Starting tomato seeds, some unusual zinnias, cannas and moon vines in the glass house was promise enough for me that spring is coming soon. And is there any more glorious feeling than the warm sun on the back of your neck as you start that first-of-the-season weeding?

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?

Any Big Plans for 2009?

One of the bloggers that I follow has a list of winter projects that she reviews in the winter. Since she's in the great frozen north, that winter is much longer than ours (thank goodness!). The premise is the same, however, and one I thought was worth pursuing more.

Do you have any major plan for your garden this season? Anything you've identified as "missing" in your garden world?

Mine is STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE!!!!

As much as I would like to be organized in my plant purchases, I am inevitably drawn to those "I really need one of those" purchases, that manage to stay in pots behind the house for weeks or months until I discover the PERFECT spot for them. Mike Francis (the Japanese maple guru) accused me (unfairly, of course) at this year's Southeastern Flower Show of redefining "competitive gardening" with my purchase of the Aurea pine, and my delight when he ran out of them shortly after my purchase!

In any case, over the past few years, the perennial bed has gone from a specific color driven design to a "mixed border," to a somewhat hodgepodge collection of things that all happen to like sun. A few "must have" hellebores, a daphne odora and some sweet woodruff plants have found their ways into the "only ferns" bed by the front door. The Japanese maple island seems to have discovered a couple of exotic hydrangeas and a dogwood or two......you get the picture.

All that said, my commitment this year is to add some STRUCTURE to my garden, which is affectionately called the step child. I'm sure by September it will look like Versailles......maybe with a couple of quirks.......(Check out the photo of a "redneck Stonehenge".....that's my fantasy!)

So what are your major plans this year?

A "Sense of Place" in Gardening

I'm finally able to wrap up some things from the Southeastern Flower Show, though my garage still contains a giant tub of plants sitting in moist soil that came out of a number of different containers; one of tomorrow's projects is repotting those things to utilize them in some cool summer display.

I spent much more time at the show this year than I typically do, which gave me the opportunity to really look at some of the awesome exhibits in great detail. The show was smaller this year, but I felt it was much more appealing in lots of ways, as well.

On one of my many forays into the bookseller's booth, I picked up a book called "Great Gardens Great Designers," which starts out talking about how people changed their style of gardening in England at the turn of the last century; specifically they were responding to the Victorian collecting of exotics, and moving in a direction that was geared more to native plants, hardy plants, etc., that were more typical of England. The lightbulb went off for me that this is the same pattern we're seeing now, and it's why there was a certain comfort in this year's display gardens at the SEFS.

It was a treat to see so many gardens that were realistic for Atlanta, and weren't a collection of exotics that need to be disassembled in September to be crammed into the greenhouse for the winter. It seemed that many of the designers featured more of the things that do really well here -- lorapetalum in a million forms, lots of conifers that have proven their value here, azaleas, rhododendrons, gardenias, and such. It was also great to see very little turf being used in the display gardens....let's face it, there is nothing easy about growing a great lawn in Atlanta! What a radical idea to promote plants that actually do well here! Why not have a garden that identifies itself as an Atlanta style, rather than tropical, Mediterranean, or desert?

I was very proud to have only purchased two new plants for my garden at this year's show. First I got an amazing pine (Pinus densiflora "Aurea") with chartreuse needles that is going to be amazing against a backdrop of magnolias and hollies in my garden; second, I got several "Bramble Ferns," which are native. Anyone who know me is clear that I'm not one of the native plant geeks, but this fern is just beautiful, growing about 3 feet tall in and around camellias, pines, azaleas, etc. It's my new filler plant, to bring some sense of order to my wooded area......as if that's possible.....

The Duchess of Windsor & Buck Jones, Part Deux

So the infamous window box for the Southeastern Flower Show got installed today, at last! It's the first time I've done anything like this, so it was a very cool experience. I had no idea how persnickety some of these plant people can be. I must admit that I still don't understand what makes a hosta leaf win a blue ribbon while another wins a red, but that's another story.

The photo doesn't give great clarity with color, since the wall behind the box is really a taupe color, I believe to give the illusion of stucco.

I also didn't think I'd be able to fit that many plants into one 5 foot basket, but it took the full lot of them, plus about a dozen pansies, to boot!

Before you say, "It's very dark," remember that this box is themed around departed lovers, in this case the Duke of Windsor. The mood of the whole thing was "Winter seems much colder now that he's gone."

Patti's critical eye (and knife-wielding skills) were a huge asset, as was the always-theatrical Laurie from Buck Jones, who felt the bare climbing hydrangea looked "appropriately dead." The dragonfly lantern that Chris powered with a motorcycle battery buried in the soil hopefully pushed this over the top. Anyone from metro-Atlanta should remember that there is no better lighting company than his.

Will let you know if I placed at all in this competition once I know something. For now, goodnight! PS. I didn't realize until just now that if you click on the photo, it is visible in a much larger format! At least it will show some detail!

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 Ladies in Waiting

This photo was taken in the greenhouse Saturday morning, while it was still in the 20's outside. These guys are all just patiently waiting for good weather so they can go back outside. Some, like the Tibuchina Grandiflora, are looking a little sad in the winter, but others, like the Cup and Saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) on the far right, don't care that it's winter, and are climbing up and across the ceiling!

Buck Jones and The Duchess of Windsor

At this moment it is 26 degrees in suburban Atlanta, which is a ridiculous concept! Just needed to get that out of my system....

This was one of those days that reconfirmed why I like to garden, and spend most of my life surrounded by gardeners. I went to Kelli Green Nursery very early for pinestraw, where Kenny was completely bundled up in all of these layers, simultaneously talking about how frigid it was this morning and also enjoying the novelty of it all. In true gardener fashion, he was off to test the extra heaters that would be needed to keep the plants going through this cold snap. The others who work there were all inside, since "they don't know how to dress for this weather." I'm not sure why Kenny and I both felt there was something to be proud of in our actions....after all, the others were inside enjoying morning coffee.

I spent most of the day doing what could be done in the garden, spreading pinestraw, making sure the precious koi were doing ok in this arctic weather, tending some things in the glass house. As much as I enjoy being a martyr, it was an easy choice when Jean said, "What about Mexican for lunch?"

Later in the afternoon, I visited Buck Jones Nursery (another favorite spot!), on the never-ending hunt for the PERFECT plants for the Duchess of Windsor-themed display I'm doing for the Southeastern Flower Show in a couple of weeks. Some of you already know that the direction of said display has changed thirty or forty times, and I'm now buried under a number of different (expensive) plants, each representing a different season of the year (that is now not being considered). This latest incarnation is going to be representative of the winter season, after the Duke had died. (The overall theme of the SEFS garden design division is "Lover, Come Back")

In my usual way I pulled Laurie away from what she was doing to help me find the PERFECT plants, meaning something the world has never seen before, something that will make me look brilliant, and something that isn't expensive......oh, and they have to represent my statement that "winter seems colder now that David is gone."

We probably looked a little ridiculous to a bystander, each in our "this is really silly looking but is keeping me warm" outfit, but we did find a few great candidates. You'll be relieved to know that as of this moment, the climbing hydrangea (just starting to bud) will figure prominently in the display......or end up with the others, unused, in my garden later this year.

PS That's not Buck Jones in the photo with the Duchess of W

It's Chowda Weatha!

I was teaching a propogation program last night for a garden club, and a couple of people asked if it was too early to start propogating plants to put out in the garden in late April. I don't know about you, but when they're forecasting temperatures in the single digits for Atlanta, I'm not interested in making new plants! I'm interested in grabbing a blanket, and book and a bowl of hearty soup!

This is a traditional Maine chowder recipe that goes together pretty quickly and has a "stick to your bones" consistency. Enjoy!

Corn & Clam Chowder
Ingredients:
· 2 slices bacon, minced
· 1 t. butter
· 1 cup onion, minced
· 1 medium garlic clove, minced
· 1/2 t. each oregano, dill, thyme, basil, sage, and rosemary (all dried)
· 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
· 1 can clams (6-1/2 ounces)
· 1 cup bottled clam juice
· 1-1/2 cups Half and Half
· 1/2 t white pepper
· 1 can creamed corn
· 2 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and diced
Preparation:
In a heavy-bottomed kettle, sauté bacon, butter, onion, garlic and spices over low heat. Don’t let it brown. Drain the clams and set aside, reserving the juice. Slowly stir the flour into the bacon mixture, then add the clam juices. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Add cream and simmer 10 minutes. Add white pepper, potatoes, clams and corn. Heat to serving temperature. Do not allow to boil!

Some "Must Have Plants" for 2009

Just finished perusing the new catalog for Select Seeds (have I mentioned before that they are an AWESOME company to buy from?) A few things that I think I definitely need to find homes for this season:

Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia) "Betty Marshall"....pure white with pale yellow-green ribs in the flowers...I still love the old-fashioned apricot color, but this one is really amazing looking! It's such a great containter plant, especially if started early indoors.

All of these different nicotianas (Patti and I can never agree on the pronunciation.....), especially the cultivars called "Jasmine" and "Woodland"

Amaranth! The Love-Lies-Bleeding that I planted last year promises to continue bleeding all over the place for the rest of my life, but in the dead of winter I tend to forget how quickly they spread here in Atlanta.....I'm thinking I need to have "viridis" to mix in with the ones I'll inevitably have from last year's LLB seeds.... (Photo above)

Texas Sage "Brenthurst"....The catalog says it's "RARE," which means I really need to have at least one of those plants! Plus, "Mrs." is going to love the color!

"Benary's Giant Lime" Zinnia.....how cool is this going to look popping up in the midst of the perennial borders?

Black Eyed Susan Vine "Alba".....this definitely looks like the start of a great container arrangement, climbing up a beautiful black tuteur

Clematis "Chinese Lanterns" along with Clematis "Roguchi".....I can just picture how beautiful that will be climbing up through the tea olive hedge (That's "Roguchi" above)

Apple Blossom Rosebud Geranium.....got this one last year (three of them), and they are still going strong in the greenhouse! This is a really special plant!

The Catalogs are Here! The Catalogs are Here!

Sometimes I think the marketing people from the seed and plant companies are the real "big brother" we hear so much about. Just as I finished packing up the Christmas decorations, the catalogs for spring started to arrive in the mailbox. What better way to spend a winter evening than checking out all of the new things being offered for 2009!

Since none of the catalogs I've seen are offering a legitimate money tree for sale, I'm being somewhat conservative with my new purchases (or at least that's the plan!), but can't wait to sit down and come up with a definite order from at least a couple of the companies.....after all, if we're experiencing a recessed economy, it's my DUTY to buy a few of these.....

A Day in the Glass House

Today was the perfect day to catch up on some things in the greenhouse which have gone by the wayside during the busy holidays. My garden cohort is busy lounging in the Florida Keys, so I had the day to myself and the plants in the greenhouse. Since it was in the mid-60's, I could easily have spent the day deadheading pansies, but that can be Patti's project when she comes back from Florida with a tan!

The lemon trees that spent the summer outside now have huge juicy fruits on them; as much as I would like to take credit for doing something brilliant with them, the fruits just seem to have happened on their own. It's sort of cool, since one tree has three fat lemons on it, and the other is starting to get buds, which promise those amazingly fragrant blooms in a couple of months!

It was mostly a day of "puttering," trimming, fertilizing, etc., which brings me to a couple of points that we're sometimes asked.

With reference to overwintering annuals, the short answer is that it isn't always cost effective, so there are many plants I overwinter, and many others that I don't. For those that do get to come inside, we generally keep just one or two "Mother Plants" of each cultivar. Later in the winter (late January or early February), we'll take cuttings from those plants for next summer's containers. Very often the "mother plants" of coleus, plectranthus, etc., are simply too woody to keep over for a second season, so it's their respective offspring that get to be next summer's star performers!

With some of the coleus cultivars, we only managed to get one good mother plant at the end of summer, so I did a couple of cuttings today of some of the favorites.

In the greenhouse, as in the rest of my garden, I do everything I can to keep with organics....it's really not a powerful politic statement, but I feel better knowing I'm not dumping tons of chemicals in the water supply for those downstream or future generations. I figure that if we each do a little, it adds up to being a major change.

For the inevitable mealy bugs that one finds in a greenhouse, I have had great luck with a product called "Pyola," that I get from Gardens Alive. (A great mail order company....I'll talk about their tomato food later). So far it's proven very successful, and we've kept the insect issue to a minimum.

Since I was the only one in the greenhouse today, I could also use my favorite fertilizer, called "Neptune's Harvest," which comes from a company of the same name. Since it's basically fish by-products, it has a little smell when it first gets added, but works really well, and the odor dissipates quickly. The huge advantage of organics is that they tend to work when nature tells them to work with light, temperature, etc., so there's less requirement to maintain strict calendars, etc.

More about the greenhouse later, but for now, it's time to water the plants!