Hidden Hills Garden

My First Give-Away

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Peggy Hill

I never thought this day would come. Another pruner has taken the place of the Felcos that always hung from my pocket.

I know what your thinking, “Hey, wait, aren’t you going to tell us about girls weekend? The story from last year is the best blog you’ve ever written.” Well there really weren’t a lot of garden shenanigans going on, and Melinda is planning a tell-all book, so you’ll have to wait for that.

The girls did help me figure out what’s killing my golden creeping Jenny.

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This picture was taken last year. See how happy they were? Damn Sasquatches!

OK back to the pruners. When the nice lady at Fiskars first talked to me about sending geared pruners I replied, “That would be great.” But in my head I thought, “I’ve seen geared pruners at garden shows before, and you have to squeeze them three times to make one cut. Yes, it’s a lot easier squeeze, but you have to do it three times, so is it really easier?” What came in the mail is different than what I’ve seen before. It’s way better. It’s the Fiskars PowerGear Bypass Pruner. You only have to squeeze it once, but it’s still a lot easier. I’m able to cut thicker branches or the same size branches with less effort. “Think a hot knife through butter” is the catchy phrase on the top of the box.

Best of all, they not only sent one for me, they sent one for you…maybe…if you win. Here’s how this works. You leave a comment/reply on this blog. – Any comment from “Enter me in the give-away.” to “I’ve seen Sasquatch.” – Make sure you use a valid email when you leave your comment so I can notify you if you win. Don’t worry about typing your email address. It won’t show up on my blog. I comment on lots of blogs, and it doesn’t create any problems for me. I’ll use a random number generator and pick a winner on October 1^st. Good luck.

Posted in Family, Plant Ho | 15 Comments

Who has seen the wind?

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Peggy Hill

Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I, but when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is passing by.

Those are the lyrics to a song I learned in girl scout camp, and that’s a pampas grass illustrating the concept. My homework assignment in photography class was to match words and a picture using the previously-mysterious A or S setting on my camera.
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In totally unrelated, exciting news: I’m going to have my first give-away soon. After my last blog about my favorite tool for weeding, the Fiskars Garden Knife, I contacted them, and now they’re sending me two of something. I’d tell you more, but girls weekend starts tomorrow, and I should be cleaning bathrooms instead of posting on my blog, so I gotta go.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Call a Spade – a Spade

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Peggy Hill

This post has nothing to do with my Hibiscus. I just thought we needed something pretty to look at.

My mama taught me, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” I try and follow her advice when it comes to people, but with regard to gardening tools let’s just call a spade – a spade; this cobrahead weeding tool sucks.

I tried to like it. They gave it to me for free, and they probably also gave it to every other garden writer in the country, which may be why I’m seeing it so much in articles and newsletters. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I don’t want you to be misled by their fancy talk and glossy pictures.

My favorite tool for weeding is Fiskars Big Grip Garden Knife.
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And I’m not just saying that so I can suck up to Fiskars and try to get free shit – which I’ll probably try, but that’s besides the point – I’m saying it because it’s true. I stick it straight into the soil near the weed, and then rotate the handle down to remove the weed and it’s roots. It works fantastic.

A fantastic picture from last year I never got a chance to show you.

Speaking of fantastic, my fantastic son Jesse got chased home by the storm and told me the blog needed a joke. He’s right; this was an informative yet boring blog, so I searched the web for a fantastic joke. My favorite thing isn’t really a joke, it’s a quote from Meryl Streep’s character in the movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox, “We’re different…we all are…him especially, but there’s something kinda fantastic about that.”

Posted in Plant Ho, Tips and Stuff | 4 Comments

Welcome to the Lake

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Peggy Hill

I usually run outside yelling and waving, but nothing says, “Welcome to the lake” like a big bouquet of cut flowers. They belong on the kitchen counter. The only reason they’re on the deck in blazing sun is to pose for this picture.

I’m always reluctant to cut flowers from the garden because I want a lush feel, and the bunnies make that difficult enough. But this summer I planted a few seeds of zinnias in the vegetable garden specifically for cutting. I’ve planted zinnias before and always been disappointed that the stem was too short to cut a long piece without sacrificing side blooms. Not so with these cutting zinnias ‘Hot Crayon Colors’ from Renee’s Garden.

I’ve told you before that I’m addicted to free plants, and Renee’s Garden is one of my favorite enablers. They let me choose what I want, and then send it to me at no charge…I love that.

My monkey-fearing friend Linda is full of clever ideas, but she had never seen this and thought it was a great tip. Before I added flowers to this vase, I attached three pieces of tape vertically and three pieces of tape horizontally.
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That separates a large vase into 16 small areas instead of one large area. If I try the same arrangement without separations, the flowers all rest against the outer edge of the vase, and leave a blank spot in the center. When you use the tape, it has a much fuller look.

Zinnias ‘Hot Crayon Colors’ growing in the vegetable garden with the okra.

Posted in I love this plant, Plant Ho, Tips and Stuff, What's Blooming? | 3 Comments

Crazy

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Peggy Hill

It’s been a crazy week. The 11 people who just left call me either Peggy, Maggie, Magdalena, Mag Pie or Aunt Peggy. I’ve known the four girls since grade school. They brought their families, and we had a blast for 5 days. I took this picture of Page jumping off the rock last year. – Family fun week is an annual event.

Southern, country-ways both amuse and alarm this group from the suburbs of Chicago. They were taken aback when the porcelain frog hopped away as Wendy bend to move it, and a bit afraid of the basement after Jesse killed a scorpion there.

Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides 'Colorblaze Marooned')

Wendy is very concerned about the possibility of a reptile encounter.

I’ll bring this back to gardening in a minute, but I have to tell you the funniest story. Elizabeth was walking down to the lake a few steps behind Linda. Finishing her banana, she decided to compost it by tossing it into the woods. – kids…what are you going to do with ’em? Lorie picked it up later. – Anyway, it hit a tree branch and then fell straight down just in front of Linda who said, “Oh my God, they have monkeys here!”

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Proven Winners sent two of the coleus. The 40 inch one is in morning sun/afternoon shade, and I put the second one in a full sun pot. The tag said, “full sun to full shade”, but sometimes tags lie, and full sun in Alabama is very different from full sun in Illinois. I’m surprised at how well it’s done, although the color isn’t quite as deep in full sun. It’s smaller too, only 24 inches, but that may be because it’s in a pot instead of in the ground. The Brugmansia ‘Antique Lace’ (angel’s trumpet) on the right is also new this year. I mail ordered it from Plant Delights Nursery, and so far I’m very pleased. I didn’t plant the white Cleome just behind the coleus, and I don’t know how the seed got there, but I know enough to take advantage of volunteer seedlings.

I’d tell you more, but the next wave comes on Wednesday. Summer at the lake is crazy busy.

Posted in Container Gardening, I love this plant, Plant Ho, What's Blooming? | 4 Comments

Spinning

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Peggy Hill

There is so much to show you. I wish I had more time, but for the next 5 days I’m serving dinner to an even dozen. The number may go up if crazy Colleen can work things out. Entertaining and gardening are my two favorite things to do, so I’m a happy camper, but as you can imagine, I’m a little busy, so I’ll just shut up and spin around in the back yard.

The big hole in the garden in that last picture is where I planted a bunch of bunny food. Damn bunnies!!!!

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Posted in Spinning in the Backyard | 2 Comments

Lasagna Garden

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Peggy Hill

Even at 8:00 a.m. it’s so sizzling steamy the camera must become acustomed to the air before I can take a picture.

Phlox ‘David’ is one of my favorite plants.

Sadly the air is not the only thing steaming around here. Next time you pray for world peace, please include my warring daughters in your petitions. I love them both. – Here’s where I transition back to gardening. – I also love caladium and squash. I planned the caladium, but the squash were a happy accident. – In case you’re wondering, the analogy ended at “I love them both” – back to gardening – this is my lasagna garden.
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Pennisetum 'Fireworks', Caladium 'White Queen', lasagna garden

The fountain grass (Pennisetum ‘Fireworks’) is in a pot, and the caladium ‘White Queen’ is in the lasagna garden.

A lasagna garden has nothing to do with the popular casserole. Author Patricia Lanza coined the term in her book “Lasagna Gardening”. It is layering different organic materials on top of the soil and planting in the layers. It doesn’t require any digging, so when my tiller wouldn’t start this spring, I thought it was the perfect time to give it a try. First, I sprinkled lime and fertilizer according to my soil test, then I added 2 to 4 inch layers of each of these in this order: my youngest compost pile, my leaf pile, my finished compost, peat moss, cow manure and soil conditioner. There’s a lot of flexibility in the layers. Use what you have. The finished garden is basically a low temperature sheet composter that will shrink down as it decomposes. As you can see, things are growing well in the lasagna garden. As I said before, I planted a box of caladium bulbs, but the squash were unplanned, growing out of the unfinished compost. I meant to move them to the bee yard, but I never got around to it, and now they’re so big I don’t think I can successfully transplant them. I hope the caladium and the squash can just get along.

Posted in Container Gardening | 2 Comments

Paradise Found – Part 3

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Peggy Hill

My mama didn’t raise no fool. It is obvious from recent comments that you want to see more of Connie’s garden, and I’m going to show you. I first posted about Connie and Barry’s garden in Paradise Found part 1 and part 2, then I wrote an article titled Paradise Found for the September 2011 issue of Alabama Gardener Magazine. The article turned out great with two of the pictures given a full two page spread. Connie was thrilled. Recently this picture has been turning up on pintrest and facebook.

Connie added a lot of new stuff since you last saw her garden. I visited in May, and I would have shown you pictures earlier, but there are always so many things to post about and so little time left after 60 hour work weeks in the garden. – I’ve done some extreme gardening this year.

This is just to the left of the stairs that lead down to the house,

and that picture is just to the right. I love the winking ball head thingy.

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These are hysterical! A clear winner in the oh-so-difficult-to-achieve ‘so ugly it’s cute’ category. I wonder….what did the man who glazed these figures want viewers to focus on?

Connie has added a lot of stuff here. She’s a very talented artist. Did you know she has a piece at a folk art museum? A trip to Connie’s garden is always inspiring.

Posted in Container Gardening, In the Neighborhood | 6 Comments

Moving Forward

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Peggy Hill

The good news is that my article ‘The Buzz about Backyard Bees’ is going to be in nine state magazines.

My mugshot

And for the second year in a row, I’m assigned a ‘Hot Plant’ article for every issue of Alabama Gardener Magazine. – I’m trying to talk Jennifer E. into changing the name to ‘Peggy’s Picks’ and using my mugshot. So far she is resisting, but she did ask to use that picture as my mugshot when my articles are on their website. (Here’s the story of why I’m dressed like that.)

I consider this whole situation two giant steps forward, and I’m posting pictures of things in the garden that are a step or two ahead of where they were last year.

First of all, one year ago I was not a plant ho, so that’s a big step forward right there. Proven winners would never have sent me free plants, and the 3 pretty Petunia ‘Watermelon Charm’ you see in the lower left would be missing. – They’ll be new in 2013, and so far they have been a great performer. – Also pictured is Cleome ‘Senorita Rosalita’, a reblooming white iris, and the strappy purple Pennisetum ‘Princess Caroline’ – a ‘hot plant’ in an upcoming issue. – This bed was nothing but dirt last year, and now it’s so pretty.

Pennisetum 'Princess Caroline', Physocarpus opulifolius 'Seward' (Ninebark 'Summer Wine'), Cleome 'Senorita Rosalita'

Another view of that bed.

I love how the dark Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Seward’ (Ninebark ‘Summer Wine’) combines with ‘Princess Caroline’, but that millet ‘Jester’ on the right has been a bit of a disappointment.
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Magnolia tripetala, Caladium ‘Florida Cardinal’, Hosta ‘August Moon’

Mother Nature planted that little grove of deciduous magnolias. I have several on the property, and I should probably thin these to just one…maybe three…haven’t decided. You may or may not remember that in early spring I advised you to go to Sam’s and buy boxes of 48 Caladium bulbs for about $12. That’s what I did. This is one box of Caladium ‘Florida Cardinal’ and some hosta ‘August Moon’ I divided. They’re both planted in pots, and the pots are hidden behind the log edging.

The garden, like life, is a combination of great successes and miserable failures. One of the biggest successes is my vegetable garden. I went to my local county extension service and picked up everything I needed to perform a soil test. Turns out my soil was very acidic. Adding lime per their instructions has made a big difference in my garden. I HIGHLY recommend a soil test. Everything grows best in the proper Ph.

I think this chocolate bell pepper is so pretty.

Last year I didn’t even know there was a national pina colada day, and although I missed the July 10th celebration, I think I can rectify that mistake this weekend. All in all my life is moving in a very positive direction.

Posted in Container Gardening, Delicious!!, I love this plant, It Just Grew There, Plant Ho, What's Blooming? | Leave a comment

Combinations

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Peggy Hill

Basil 'Purple Ruffles' and Petunia

I’m really pleased with how this bed turned out. It’s new this year, and most of the plants are making their debut performance in my garden. I love them all, but the bunnies love the ones with the little wire fences around them best.

One of my favorite combinations is the silver Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, the purple-leaved basil ‘Purple Ruffles’ and the purple petunia. The spiky flower in the upper left is a liatris. It’s a great color echo for the purple cleome ‘Senorita Rosalita’.

I hope one day my Heucherella 'Redstone Falls' will look this good.

Above is another of my favorite combinations. Since I’m required to let you know when I talk about things I receive for free – also known as plant ho items – there’s three in this picture. Small and a bit out of focus, in the upper left is Heucherella ‘Redstone Falls’. Heucherellas are a crazy new cross between Heuchera and Tiarella. It’s a ground cover that is described by Terra Nova Nurseries as, “Mounding then sending out trailing stems.” I’m posting this great picture of someone else’s Heucherella because sucking up to my suppliers is a big part of being a good plant ho.
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I planted it here because its color is similar to the coral bells (Heuchera ‘Cassandra’) that is in the left foreground. Its orange tones look fabulous next to another plant ho item, the fuschia (Phygelius ‘Candydrops Tangerine’) from Skagit Gardens. You know the nurseries pick their best to send to garden writers, and of the five plants Sakgit sent, this one’s my favorite. The last plant ho plant is the spectacular cleome ‘Senorita Blanca’. It’s from Proven Winners, and it isn’t available until 2013. In the very front of this picture is a yellow Alternanthera, and just in front of the cleome is the crinum ‘Sangria’.

Sedum 'Angelina' is in the pot. I love how it contrasts with the spectacular, purple and green foliage of Pennisetum 'Princess'.

Calibrachoa 'Minifamous Dark Blue' is spectacular all by himself.

My favorite combination in the garden is Dale and his bees.

Posted in I love this plant, Plant Ho, What's Blooming? | Leave a comment

Hidden Hills Garden

My First Give-Away

Who has seen the wind?

Call a Spade – a Spade

Welcome to the Lake

Crazy

Spinning

Lasagna Garden

Paradise Found – Part 3

Moving Forward

Combinations

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