June 2, 2016 by Sandra Jonas

HYDRANGEA TOUR ALERT

American Hydrangea Society

22ND Annual Garden Tour

Saturday, June 11, 2016

9:00 am to 5:00 pm

rain or shine!

We have 7 beautiful gardens lined up for your touring pleasure

in the Atlanta Metro area showcasing Hydrangeas!

Tickets are $30.00 each or a family rate of 2/$40.00

We hope you will join us! It will be a great day!

Tour ticket entitles you to the current tour and a year’s membership in the

American Hydrangea Society including three informative color newsletters.

Our newsletter is a great source of information about hydrangeas, their care and

maintenance. There are three free lecture meetings a year with excellent speakers on

Hydrangeas and we have wonderful plant raffles at our meetings too!

Tickets will be available online via PayPal at our website until May 31ST.

http://www.americanhydrangeasociety.org

Tickets will also be available on the day of the tour from 9 AM – 2 PM ONLY

at Garden #1 (2607 Cotton Mill Court, Marietta, GA 30068)

and Garden #7 (3254 Wesley Chapel Road, Decatur, GA 30034)

so don’t worry if you have a last minute addition to your group.

(Unfortunately this tour is not wheelchair accessible.)

May 19, 2016 by Sandra Jonas

GARDEN TOUR 2

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One of the joys of the Garden Tour Season I always look forward to, is the tour put on by Georgia Perennial Plant Association. Several chosen gardens are opened to the membership for one week- end a year. Most gardeners would have bottled water and iced tea available for the visitors. Margaret Moseley would serve her famous Almond Tea whenever her garden was opened. Last week Pimento Cheese party sandwiches were passed around on silver trays for the guests! (Did I forget to mention that in the last post?)

For several years I served as the Tour Chairperson of this organization as well as The American Hydrangea Society. I know firsthand about what it takes to create a successful event. So I was not surprised that in recent years the format has changed and only one garden is opened for a day. I like this change. One no longer has to budget their time and rush to see as many gardens as possible in the allotted timeframe. These are SPECTACULAR gardens where one could happily spend the entire day and still not take it all in.

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This year, the garden of Lyndy Broder was the featured garden. Lyndy is a dear friend and an expert on the genus Clematis. Her knowledge and talents however, go far beyond Clematis. She has collected an amazing variety of unusual and seldom seen trees and shrubs to create a personal arboretum ‘par excellence’ on her property….and almost all are festooned with the most delicious varieties of Clematis one could imagine.

P1240753 A wall of seed grown species welcome visitors

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P1240771 Golden Larch (Pseudolarix amabilis) with Clematis

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The Canadian Geese Meadow leading to the lake above.

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P1240768 The Sanctuary of St. Fiacre, patron saint of gardeners ( loved working with Lyndy on this project)

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When a garden of this caliber is open….. everyone comes. This turned into a reunion of great plantsmen and gardeners, a huge amount of talent here, the energy was palpable.

June 8, 2012 by Sandra Jonas

MORE HYDRANGEAS

Hydrangea season is in full swing. I have, over the last 15 years, been ‘collecting’ hydrangeas and devising many ways to display them in a garden setting. They bloom a very long time and even when they pass their ‘prime’ they are still very effective; in fact I love them more when they are faded. They truly carry the southern garden throughout the summer months.

lacecap above..

H. macrophylla ‘Westfalen” above…

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Jogasaki’

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Mme Emile Mouillere’, turning pale blue above..

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ in the garden with companion Kerria japonica ‘Picta’ above..

The path leading to “The Circle of Friends” in my garden this morning … above

Tomorrow on the American Hydrangea Society Garden Tour I am going to see beautiful gardens and more hydrangea cultivars to lust over. Hope to see you there.

June 2, 2012 by Sandra Jonas

THE BEST HYDRANGEA GARDENS

Some of the best hydrangea gardens in Atlanta will be on tour Saturday June 9th. Although this is a members only tour for THE AMERICAN HYDRANGEA SOCIETY, one can become a member/ buy a ticket, at several Atlanta Garden Centers or at 3 of the featured gardens on the day of the tour. (1 ticket $25.00 2 tickets $40.00)

Gloria Ward, the tour chairperson, has selected 7 gardens, the main criteria for which is being well designed including beautiful hydrangeas.

For more information visit HERE

I hope to see you there.

April 14, 2012 by Sandra Jonas

GARDEN TOUR part 1

“You should have seen it last week!” The familiar phrase heard from gardeners, when showing visitors around. Well to avoid that I’m posting a time-lapse kind of garden tour. Photos from the garden over the last two weeks.

The Dogwoods in the meadow, like most other spring-flowering plants, cooked in the 80 degree temperatures. the blossoms did not last long. Above, in their moment of glory with the native Phlox (Phlox divericata).

Above, the view from a second floor window, Dogwoods, Lady Banks Rose (white selection) & Viburnums. Those ‘Snowballs’ (Viburnum macrocephalum) are trained into trees.

Love the tree right by the house.

Early clematis, blooming now for several weeks.

Along the North Border….Viburnum ‘Kern’s Pink’ & Baptisia…. (below)

followed by Viburnum opulus, Purple smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ ) & Styrax obassia ..heavenly fragrant bells.

Clematis ‘Carnaby’ & Cotinus ‘coggygria ‘Royal Purple’

Look at those knockout roses below.. not pruned this year, they are lush & voluptuous reaching almost 6 ‘ tall.

The rose,’ Madame Alfred Carrier’, burst out of her restraints..

so….the trellis is moving again… to paraphrase Margery Fish, “In time she will learn to walk!”

All leading up to the Shocking Pink Schiaparelli bench.

To be continued….

July 14, 2010 by Sandra Jonas

FAUX GARDEN

Delightful little courtyard garden? No. Just all the ‘driveway plants.’ Every plantaholic has these. The plants that are unloaded from the car waiting in the drive to be planted.

This vignette was put together by our British host just before we arrived for a tour.