Month: October 2011

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GARDENING IN THE SOUTH

                                                                   

Perhaps what I appreciate most about gardening in the south is the fact that it is year round.

                                                                                    

While many of the deciduous hydrangeas are loosing their foliage, the Arum groundcover is coming into its own and will soon blanket the ground.

                                                                                         

Then there are the shrubs that bloom a second time. Above, the Chinese Witchhazel (Lorapetalum chinensis) in its second flowering.

                                                                                       

For the rest, far from looking bare the camellia sasanqua are putting on quite a show. From a distance they could be mistaken for  cascading  roses ….

                                                                                      

Close up, just as enchanting with as much diversity in form.

                                                                                 

                                                                    

                                                                    

The potager is done with the summer crop and we are now planting garlic (late), seeding lettuce and arugula,  planting kale, cabbage and broccoli. Believe it or not the summer peppers are still going strong, I just harvested these….

                                                                            

When the summer wildflowers die down I can see the bee hives…. wish you could taste the honey….

                                                                                            

No, we don’t do that, we have a beekeeper in fact the bees are his, we just supply the nectar and then share the honey, good deal!

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WONDERFUL BRICK PATTERN

I have been saving these photos of a brick walkway for years.

                                                                                

Although it is a walk, there are benches on both sides so one can really appreciate the pattern.

                                                                                                                              

Details like this keep a garden interesting in all seasons. 

I want it here!

                                                            

Ahh …. the difference between the imagination and the reality.

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FINALLY!… WELL,SORT OF..

It has taken a few years but I finally have a purple Clematis blooming with the yellow berries of the Viburnum Michael Dodge…..sort of.. She is Elsa Spath and she is usually all  purple.

                                                                                              

I have no idea  why she presented this way but….. a gardener’s hope springs eternal… maybe next year…

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FALL TOUR

 The area of the garden I’m sharing now on this Fall Tour is little seen because it’s incomplete. Not that any garden is ever ‘done’ or completed, however this part is has only ‘bones’ and is waiting for me to flesh out the details.  Till now it did not seem too pressing because all the important plants were tiny (1 gal.) but over the years they have matured. So its time has come. 

This green space above, divides the grapes and berries on the right from the vegetables on the left. (My husband’s Vegetable Garden is MY POTAGER)

                                                                                 

This feature, four upright exclamation points, is one I repeat in different garden rooms (with different plants)  throughout the garden. Here,  Eastern Arborvitae  (Thuja occidentalis)  ‘Degroot’s Spire’  marks the intersection of several foot paths; to the right ( West) is the Rose Walk terminated by the Schiaparelli Bench….. (below)

 to the left (east) lies the North Border which runs parallel to the Potager ….

                                                                          

and straight ahead, (south) the Viburnum / Clematis Court.

                                                                                           

Looking back, (north) the uprights  frame the putti that resides at the end of the Cutting garden…

                                                                                               

Going forward (south) through the Viburnum Court, around the bend, Oakleaf  Hydrangeas frame the path to the Main Walk and the  back of the house. (note the Camellia sasanqua blooming on the right.)

                                                                                         

This winter some garden construction is on the agenda.