Tearing out the Perennial Bed

After a miserably long and hot summer in Atlanta and a delightful trip to see a gazillion gardens in England during September, it became clear to me that it was time to tear out some of the beds at the Big House and revamp them. 

The walled garden that surrounds the greenhouse was redesigned and planted by my predecessor about five years ago, and served its purpose well for a few years.  The problem, as with many gardens, was that it was planted with lots of "bulletproof" plants that would give the homeowner instant satisfaction.  Over the course of a few years, that means that we were overrun with asters, rudbekia, and a few other plants.  Another factor was that "Mrs." really likes fine textured foliage, so by late June each year, the garden has been a mass of green stems with fine leaves.  Hence the "ruthless thinning" that we are now undertaking.

I'm afraid neither of these photos is great, but it will give you the idea.  Since they are also taken at very different times of year, I trust you can use your imagination.  I'll post more photos as we progress with this project. 

This bottom photo shows us making some real progress with the "demo" stage of things.  Gone are the banana shrubs, which have a unique and fragrant flower (as long as you stand on a stepladder on the right day in spring, and the wind is blowing in the right direction).  The treehuggers of the group are probably cursing me at the moment, but there simply wasn't room to keep them.  Our goal is to make this more of a cutting garden for house flowers, while also having it be an attractive display garden around the greenhouse.

The longer I garden professionally, the more comfortable I become at editing plants that don't produce.  As much as I love old fashioned garden phlox, I'll not spend the rest of my summers fighting powdery mildew when there are lots of better cultivars out there.  When six purple irises turn into 50, I'm comfortable donating them to a plant sale and don't feel obligated to keep nurturing them, moving them, grooming them, etc.  I'm clear that not every plant needs an exquisite bloom.....Canna "Pretoria" adds incredibly to the garden bed and the floral arrangement with or without blooms. On the other hand, I'm happy to plant something to hide the late season peony foliage, because (in my opinion) there are very few flowers that are that beautiful.

We're up to the replanting phase in a couple of the sections, and I'll get photos on Friday.  It has been a great project to have three experienced gardeners (including myself) honestly go through the different plant options and justify why a particular plant should be used in the beds.  Hopefully it will be as incredible in reality next summer as it is in my mind right now.

Too Much of a Good Thing

While checking email this morning, there was a photo from Fine Gardening, showing a bed chock full of Verbena bonariensis that a couple had installed in their garden in New York.  It looks absolutely beautiful, particularly backed with Solidago.  The combination is really pretty fabulous (you'll have to go to their website to see the photo, since it's copyrighted).

This photo is one I took at Merriments Garden Center while we were in England, which puts the infamous verbena in another (equally stunning) setting, playing off the white birches and white sculpture.  I was chatting with one of the b & b owners there, and he said they sometimes have difficulty keeping it alive.  To that, I say, "Come to Georgia!"
                                    
I have Verbena b. in the Stepchild Garden, as well as in the cutting garden at the Big House.  Not only does it love being in beds, but it also loves being in cracks in pavement, in the lawn, in the gravel paths, etc.  It is a plant that I love, so I'm happy to tolerate its wayward behavior, and just know that throughout the season, I will need to yank out a few seedlings every time I walk through the garden.

It's easy to fall in love with this one.....but make sure you're not thinking it's going to be a "one nighter," because this one is "til death do us part......"

Preparing for Winter

It's that time of year again when the tropicals need to come inside for the winter.  Some of them will go back outside next summer in containers; others, like the banana above, are simply too big to (1) move without a crane, or (2) fit in any of the existing containers.  This banana grew from a one gallon pot in May to its current size (about 6 feet) sitting at the pool.  I put it directly into the ground in the greenhouse, where I'm hoping it will live permanently.  In that particular spot, it's very sunny and it's directly under the peak of the roof, so there is about 20 feet of clearance.

All of those plastic containers behind the banana tree are floating plants that we took out of the koi ponds on Friday.  They are really marginal for winter hardiness in Atlanta, so I'm going to try overwintering them inside.  They multiply faster than hellebores or cleome, but for some reason the garden centers charge $4 to $6 per plant, and I need at least fifty of each (water lettuce and water hyacinth) to look like anything. We'll see what happens.  They're going in a prettier container, with a water circulating pump, so hopefully we won't have bug issues. 

The bourganvilla, above, also came out of one of the containers at the pool. They do beautifully here in summer, but aren't winter hardy for us.  I'm hoping to leave this one in the greenhouse permanently, as well, and that it will start to climb up toward the ceiling.  For anyone who hasn't had success with this plant blooming, the secret we learned this year is to keep it jammed in its original pot (from the garden center), and put that pot into the container you're using, along with any other plants.  It likes to be rootbound, and  fertilized at least once a month to bloom heavily. 

Alocasia "Portadora," above, is a favorite of mine.  I'm afraid it's at its ultimate height for a container plant here.  I'd love to see it grow bigger, but I don't have any other convenient spots in the greenhouse where I can put it directly into the ground.  This is one of three that I have from the original bulb purchased two years ago, so it's worth the $25 for the bulb.

Ode to the Chinese Pistache

Every once in a while there is a scene that is simply beautiful, with absolutely no input from the gardener.  I think this shot of the pistache against an incredibly blue sky falls into that category.

Life in the Firing Range

When I built the "not shed," it was spring.  It has been positively delightful all spring and summer, consistently ten degrees cooler than the rest of the garden.  When it has rained, the gentle pitter patter of raindrops on the tin roof are really wonderful.

It is now fall.  In fall, the acorns FALL!!!!!  It is anything but a gentle pitter patter.  The noise could wake the dead.....Thank goodness the "not shed" is closer to my neighbors' houses than it is to mine! 

The Front Door at the Big House Dressed for Autumn and Winter

If you click on this photo and enlarge it, you'll see that it really isn't as "Christmas" as it would appear.  We did use the slender hinoki in those big pots, because they'll be incredible done up for Christmas later in the season.  The "Antique Shades" pansy tends to look washed out sometimes against this brick (it's a terra cotta shade of brick), but I'm please with how it's playing off the Tuscan kale and the fading Limelight Hydrangeas.  Let's hope Missus agrees....

Another Autumn Container....this is going slowly for some reason....

I haven't figured out yet what I'm doing differently, but Blogger seems to only let me upload one photo at a time....not sure why, but here's another container for fall.  It's right outside the window in Missus' office, so hopefully something nice for her to look at until it gets really cold.