And yet another southern beauty… Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) The fragrance is indescribable! It does, however, conjure images of iced sweet tea , enjoyed on the veranda. © All photos and text 2010
Archive for May, 2010
HEAVENLY FRAGRANCE #2
Posted in Flowering Trees, tagged Magnolia, southern magnolia. on May 30, 2010 | 4 Comments »
HEAVENLY FRAGRANCE
Posted in Shrubs, tagged fragrance, gardenia on May 28, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Just in case I needed another reason to love gardening in the south… The gardenias are blooming. Wish I could post the fragrance! Are you getting it? © All photos & text 2010
BLACK OR BLUE?
Posted in Garden Design, Garden Rooms, Hydrangeas, Shade Gardening, Shrubs, tagged camellias, furniture, paint colour hydrangeas on May 27, 2010 | 6 Comments »
I am in a quandary. Do I paint these black (matt) or pale blue? Surrounded by hydrangeas the blue would be whimsical, but what about when the camellias show in pink red & white?
FRAMING THE VIEW
Posted in Companion Planting, England, Garden Design, Garden Rooms, Perennials, Shade Gardening, tagged companion planting, England, framing the view, garden design, garden Rooms on May 25, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Recently, Tara Dillard of A Garden View, posted about frames in the landscape. It brought to mind a lovely vignette I saw in a garden while in England. Initially I thought an artist had set up to paint. As I approached I saw What had been ‘Framed’. The lesson here is that framing a view brings it into relief. [...]
GARDEN UPDATE CONTINUED
Posted in Companion Planting, Garden Design, Groundcovers, Hydrangeas, Perennials, Shade Gardening, Shrubs, Vegetable Garden, tagged Annabelle Hydrangea, companion planting, garden design, groundcovers, hydrangea quercifolia, perennials, plant realtionships, pruning Hydrangeas, Snowflake Hydrangea, Vegetable Garden on May 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Plants with a cascading habit, call attention to the ground plane. Above, The heavy flowers of Snowflake Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snowflake’), draw the eye to the Japanese painted fern (Athyrium nipponicum). The flower on ‘Snowflake’ has double sepals, significantly different from that of ‘Amethyst’ above, or ‘Alice’ below. Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ forming it’s [...]
GARDEN UPDATE
Posted in Companion Planting, Garden Design, Hydrangeas, Shade Gardening, Vegetable Garden, Vines, tagged companion planting, grapes, hydrangea quercifolia, hydrangea serrata, liriodendron, old tools, Vegetable Garden on May 20, 2010 | 2 Comments »
The Hydrangea serrata are in bloom. Hydrangea serrata ‘Kurenai’ + Hydrangea serrata ‘Shichidanka’ Close up of flowers, H. serrata ‘Kurenai’ above. H. serrata ‘Shichidanka’ below. The grapes will soon obscure my old tool collection. below. Mouth watering anticipation…Blackberries (thornless). Base of Tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) with a river of Japanese [...]
CLEMATIS CRUSH
Posted in Clematis, Companion Planting, Garden Design, Perennials, Shrubs, Vines, tagged clematis, companion planting, garden design, hydrangea quercifolia, perennials, Styrax obassia, vertical gardening, viburnum on May 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I previously mentioned my Clematis Crush ( here and here ). Beside the beautiful flowers, the fact is they require only vertical space. That makes them the perfect companion to any shrub or small tree. Most shrubs have a limited bloom time so a well-chosen flowering vine can really extend the season of beauty. Also, from a design [...]
TEXTURE
Posted in Companion Planting, Garden Design, Groundcovers, Perennials, Shade Gardening, Shrubs, tagged companion planting, ferns, garden design, groundcovers, helleborus, plant realtionships, texture on May 15, 2010 | 3 Comments »
How important is Texture? Texture can be more pleasing than flowers, and persist longer. In smaller gardens where every design element is seen up close, it is of particular importance. Here the bold glossy leaves of Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis) stand in a mass of delicate Maidenhair fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris). Plants used for background need [...]
HOLD THE PRUNERS
Posted in Cutting flowers, Roses, tagged pruning roses, Roses, Sissinhurst Castle, Vita Sackville West on May 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I have for several years grown the ‘Knockout Roses’. They had so much good PR, I was sold. Since it promised a long season of color,( something clients inevitable ask me for) I thought I needed to try them. Well, they did indeed bloom all summer long and stopped only around Christmas but they were [...]
HYDRANGEAS, HYDRANGEAS!!!
Posted in Hydrangeas, Shade Gardening, Shrubs, tagged hydrangea macrophylla, hydrangea quercifolia, hydrangea serrata on May 11, 2010 | 3 Comments »
The hydrangeas are coming! The Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is just starting. This native has much to recommend it. When it first breaks dormancy, the leaves are silver-grey and fuzzy, the flowering is worthy of a glass of champagne. The handsome foliage turns a wonderful burgundy red in the autumn (almost December here in Georgia) and [...]
SOMETIMES
Posted in Companion Planting, Garden Design, Shrubs, Uncategorized, tagged companion planting, variegated aralia, viburnum on May 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It works just like one imagined! It has taken some years but finally the Variegated Aralia (Acanthopanax sieboldianus ‘Variegatus’ now called Eleutherococcus sieboldianus) is sending it’s graceful arching canes into the Viburnum dilatatum. Later these viburnum flowers will become clusters of red berries, many will grace the Thanksgiving floral centerpiece. Somewhere in there is [...]
AN INVITATION
Posted in Clematis, Companion Planting, Garden Design, Shrubs, Vegetable Garden, Vines, tagged clematis, companion planting, poppies, Vegetable Garden, viburnum on May 8, 2010 | 1 Comment »
To a peek through parts of my garden. Nothing is styled here, this is real-time. Hoses snaking around beds and weeds. Poppies, from a dear friend who acquired them from a 90-year-old gardener 40 years ago. End of this month we will celebrate her 94th birthday. some semi double, some single, all stunning. I spread the [...]
CONFESSION
Posted in Garden Design, tagged House on May 8, 2010 | 1 Comment »
That was not the front of my house in the last post. This is, below, taken in winter so there is no wonderful green lawn sweeping up to it and the trees are bare. I thought the other photo was a better illustration of my point. FYI, it was a client’s house ‘before’. There is no longer [...]
TRANSITION SPACES
Posted in Garden Design, Garden Rooms, Uncategorized, tagged arbor, garden design, indoor/outdoor living, Pergola, transition spaces, veranda on May 6, 2010 | 1 Comment »
There are several types of transition spaces. The first would be the porch or veranda. Here the veranda unites both indoors and out, creating a continuous living space. My veranda outfitted for a long hot summer of outdoor living. (above & below) Below, the sweeping lawn and the trees on either side anchor the house to the landscape, strengthening the [...]
GARDENER TO THE RESCUE
Posted in Cutting flowers, Perennials on May 4, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Another vase of peonies. Went into the garden to rescue the peonies from the torrential downpour we had on Sunday. Fortunately not many were past the bud stage so there will still be plenty in the garden. I find that peony hoops are ineffective in this type of weather. I was surprised that many [...]
