The Chicago Flower & Garden Show – Part 2

The Chicago Flower and Garden ShowIf you have ever bought one of those travel guides to Disney, you know that after entering the main gate, you should go left because most people go right. Well after the fabulous entry garden, this was the first garden on the right. It had a New Orleans vibe, and Spanish moss hung from the trees. When I travel in the low country, Spanish moss is the epitome of old Southern romance, but here in the naked trees, it was a little creepier, and I loved it. The sponsors for this display were Hort Couture and Cscapes Artisitic Landscaping.Chicago Flower & Garden Show

These next three were part of a large garden with many water features. It was sponsored by Aquascape.

Chicago Flower & Garden ShowChicago Flower & Garden ShowChicago Flower & Garden Show

Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Tire planters can be super cute.

Chicago Flower & Garden ShowI mentioned the theme was ‘Flowers, Fashion & Fun ‘. This was the cutest representation of the theme. It was by the Chicago Park District. I really wanted my picture taken next to the mannequin in the back, the one with her arm held straight out to her side, but the lady I asked was worried I would be a trend setter, and everyone would want their picture taken with a manikin, so she said no.

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It’s hard to compare the Nashville and Chicago shows. I loved them both. They both had fabulous gardens with great ideas and wonderful vendors. (Like the guy I bought my EZ hang chair from.) The free tickets category is too close to call. Nashville gave Blue and me tickets for two days, but Chicago also provided big badges that said “PRESS”. (Monica is keeping hers.)

Chicago Flower & Garden ShowOther than that, the biggest difference between the Chicago and Nashville shows was Nashville had amazing flower arrangements, and Chicago had amazing rooms that featured flower arrangements. The table above makes me want to eat sushi. It was by City Scents.

Chicago Flower & Garden ShowChicago Flower & Garden ShowFor this display, by Ramsey Jay Price Designs, they spray painted crapemyrtle or some other smooth wood with silver paint and hung cool stuff on it.

Chicago Flower & Garden ShowI could have gone on and on about this show, but the garden needs weeding, and I still have a hosta from my spring Plant Delights order that I need to get in the ground.

Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Posted in Container Gardening, In the Neighborhood | Leave a comment

Native Azaleas and Makin’ Shit Up

The native azaleas are wonderful.

Azalea

Native Azalea

Puff Ball 'Pretty in Pink'

I assume they’re native. We paid earnest money for this property 20+ years ago. Back then, if you wanted to campout with friends, you had to pack in from about a half mile away, or Billy goat up the shore from the lake. (I’ve done both.) My point is I’m fairly certian I’m the first to garden this land, so if I didn’t plant it, it’s most likely native or invasive.

Since I didn’t buy these azaleas, I have no idea what their names are, so now I’ll begin making shit up.

These first two are my favorite; they’re part of the puff ball series. The shrubs are about 8 – 10 feet tall, and very leggy with all the flowers are at the top.

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Puff ball 'White Cloud'

Puff Ball 'White Cloud"

These next azaleas are part of the slutty eyelash series. They’re shorter, about 3 – 4 feet.

Azalea

Slutty in Pink

This last one is in-between a puff ball and a slutty eyelash. What’s exciting about it, besides the fact that it is stunning, is it has low lying branches, so I can propagate it the easiest way, layering. I’m going to take a knife and peel one side of the bark, then I’ll bury it ½ inch in the dirt and cover it with a heavy rock. Next spring I’ll pot it up for the season and plant in the garden in fall.

Before I finish this post, I have to show you one of my plant ho plants (that means it was free). This spectacular plant is one of the Southgate series of Rhododendron from Southern Living Plants. They are advertised as heat tolerant and grow in Zones 6-9.

Rhododendron

Southgate Radiance Rhododendron

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

Dogwoods and Unanswered Questions

I’ve not quite caught up with myself yet. I still need to post two part 2s, but the dogwoods are in full, glorious bloom, and spring is so wonderful, and I just had to show you.

DogwoodDogwoodDogwoodDogwoodThe man Dale met said, “If the dogwoods bloom pure white, winter’s over, but if they are a little yellow, we’re in for another frost.”  They’re pure white this year, but I’ve never heard this bit of country wisdom before, and I’m not sure I believe it. Anyway, don’t they always start out a little yellow and then age to pure white?

You may be wondering about the swan. Well, so am I.Here’s my list of unanswered questions:

What the hell is it anyway?

Is it a plant stand?

Is it the base to a glass top table?

Could I sit on it and pretend to be gliding on a placid lake, or would it crumble under my weight?
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Why did mom have it in the basement?

Why did my grade school friend Lorie insist I take it, “You’re going to regret it, if you don’t take this Maggie. I’ll just put it in the back of the U-Haul.”?

What the hell am I going to do with it?

Why does Leandra want me to bury it?

Why is it starting to grow on me?

 

Posted in I love this plant, It Just Grew There, What's Blooming? | 2 Comments

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show – Part 1

That was the longest I’ve ever gone between blogs, and I don’t like it. I’ve been super busy. I still need to tell you part 2 of Blue and Peggy’s big adventure at the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show, but that deserves a little extra time, so instead I’ll tell you about what I’ve been doing these last few weeks. My lovely and witty daughter Monica and I went to the Chicago Flower & Garden Show.

Chicago Flower & Garden ShowMy favorite thing was this 14 feet tall, glass Agapanthus from last year’s Chelsey flower show. It was placed at the entrance to the show.

The Chicago Flower & Garden ShowMonica took pictures for me, and I bought her this pretty pot of mixed succulents as a thank you.

The smiling lady who sold it to me worked for City Scents, and she gave me a great tip: use cactus soil when repotting succulents.

The Chicago Flower & Garden ShowOne of Monica’s favorite displays was this huge container tipping over and spilling succulents onto the ground. She took several pictures.

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Watch out. The worlds of fashion and horticulture are colliding.

The theme of the show was ‘Flowers, fashion & fun: where the world of fashion and horticulture collide’. There were some spectacular table settings and home decorating ideas in addition to elaborate gardens. There is no way to show you everything in one blog, so I’ll focus on some things I thought were cool ideas in this blog, and show more pictures very soon. (I really need to post a little more frequently so I can get you caught up.)

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Jesse would say, "Bangin!"

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show

I love this combination of fragrant, blue hyacinths with spiky sweet flag.

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The Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Cool mirror

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show

I'm excited about getting chickens in 2013.

The Chicago Flower & Garden ShowI already have a water lily, but I think I need another. Mike at Keystone Hatcheries told me this is Nymphaea ‘Evelyn Randig’.

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Mr. Fantastic

Another thing I’ve been doing these last two weeks was writing an article on herbs for Alabama Gardener Magazine. Luckily for me, while I was at the Chicago show I stopped by the booth of Ted’s Greenhouse, and spoke to Ted’s friend Mr. Fantastic. (Some people call him Mel Zaloudek, but I prefer what was written on his name tag.) Mr. Fantastic helped me with my article and gave me his list of underused herbs: parsley, scented geraniums, the many flavors of mint, cilantro, yarrow, lemon grass and bay.

The day after getting back from Chicago, I left for the first of four 2012 girls’ weekends.

Girls' WeekendWhen people ask us, “What do you do on girls’ weekend?” we don’t know how to answer.

I hope you had a nice St. Patty’s day.

 

Posted in I love this plant, In the Neighborhood, Tips and Stuff | 4 Comments

Nashville Lawn and Garden Show – Part 1

I’m crazy busy. I wish I had time to tell you how much fun Blue and I had at the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show. I’ll try and give more details next week, but in the meantime, here are a few pics.

Blue's on the right, and I'm on the left.

This next picture is one of my favorite gardens. It was done by Doherty Landscaping. I’m amazed that they set up such elaborate gardens inside the fairgrounds and then start ripping them out as soon as the show is over.
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Doherty Landscape garden The guys at The United Scapes of America said they had more people interested in this ‘Kingswood Torch’ coleus than their business. Sad for them, but what did they expect? The coleus was definitely a show-stealer. They were nice enough to let this plant ho take a little cutting from the back.Coleus 'Kingswood Torch'

We loved these little birds at Living Stone’s exhibit. The tall one is a girl because she is wearing a necklace, and the other one is a boy because she has to tell him, “Hey bubba, my eyes are up here.” One of the guys working the booth said we were wrong. “They are both girls and the second one is staring at the gigantic nuts.” (The nuts are further down on the mantle, and I don’t think he meant for me to post that, but it’s a lot funnier than the joke someone told me. “Where do bees go to pee? … The B-P station.”)

The guys at Living Stone.

Posted in I love this plant, In the Neighborhood, Plant Ho | 2 Comments

Repeats

 

Helleborus 'Mrs. Betty Ranicar'

I had to lay on the ground to take this shot of my favorite Helleborus, 'Mrs. Betty Ranicar'. .

Helleborus 'Mrs.Betty Ranicar'

Helleborus 'Mrs.Betty Ranicar'

I was going to blog about pruning, but the only thing you can tell from the before and after pictures of my new fringe tree is that before I started pruning it was bright sunshine, and after there were really long shadows. I’m slow at pruning to begin with, but I’m also easily distracted by the pretty flowers. So I decided to show you the flowers. You’ve seen them before, but they look even better now, and I like to look at them over and over, so maybe you do too.

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Violas

Violas

 While we are on the subject of repeats, I’m excited about going to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show this weekend, March 1-4. My friend, Blue and I went last year, and had sooo much fun! (There was so much to say about the weekend that I split it into a Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.) This year is going to be the same, only different, and I can’t wait. Oh, and speaking of the show, I have a little confession to make. It seems that my addiction is not just to free plants, it’s free stuff in general. If you haven’t picked up on this yet, let me tell you, I have a lot of nerve, actually it’s probably too much nerve. Anyway, I called the show to ask if my press pass would get me in at the door, or if they wanted to mail me tickets. They decided to mail them.

Houstonia caerulea

Houstonia caerulea

I’m talking about the show now, so you can come if you want. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to tell you stuff in a timelier manner, so you can join in. For instance, if you want lots of caladiums, but don’t want to pay $5 apiece for them this spring, you should go to Sam’s club, and buy a box of 48 bulbs for $14.98. You need to do it now while there is still a good selection of everything, other than my favorite, ‘White Christmas’. They’re sold out of that one. Wait a week or two after frost free to plant them in the garden, or you can get a little head start by planting them in pots and keeping them inside until it’s time.

Posted in I love this plant, Tips and Stuff, What's Blooming? | 2 Comments

Winter Foliage on Heuchera – Part 2

Quick recap from part 1: In February, Southern Comfort is the best looking Heuchera in my garden.

Heuchera 'Southern Comfort'

Heuchera 'Southern Comfort'

Heuchera longiflora

Heuchera longiflora

The second best is Heuchera longiflora. This is a plant ho plant. (That means it was free.) I got it at the Garden Writers symposium from North Creek Nurseries. I’m surprised at how different it looks now. In summer it was mostly just green and looked a lot like this next Heuchera.

Heuchera 'Raspberry Regal'

Heuchera 'Raspberry Regal'

 ‘Raspberry Regal’ and the next one, ‘David’, arrived in a 2 inch pots last spring, so I haven’t seen them bloom yet. Most Heuchera are grown for their spectacular foliage. The airy flowers are a nice bonus, but not very showy. These two are advertised to put on more of a show when they bloom, so I’m looking forward to that.  

Heuchera 'David'

Heuchera 'David' looks very good.

 

Heuchera 'Black Beauty'

Heuchera 'Black Beauty'


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When the spring storms took his shady spot along with the trees, this Heuchera ‘Black Beauty’ was relocated to The Star Light Lounge. While I had him out of the ground, I split him into three.

He used to look so good, but now he’s pissed about the whole situation. I’m worried he might quit.

Heuchera 'Palace Purple'

Heuchera 'Palace Purple' gets a C for winter foliage.

Heuchera 'Citronelle'

Heuchera 'Citronelle'

I’ve seen this ‘Citronelle’ look a lot better. I haven’t changed soil or fertilized his pot much in two years. My point is sometimes operator error affects the look of the plants I show you. Maybe ‘Obsidian’ will have great winter foliage for you. Give it a try, and tell Dan that Peggy sent you.

If you think I’ve done a lot of sucking up to Dan in these last two blogs, you are very perceptive. You may be wondering why, since he’s already commited to sending me some great plants this spring. Well hell, lots of people are doing that. I’m no longer impressed. And since I’m doing a guest blog or two on Terra Nova Nurseries’ website, I think I deserve more than the same thing Dan gives all his other plant hos. Besides, if Dan sends me a check for writing the guest blog, I have to go to the bank, cash the check, go to the nursery, select plants, buy plants and take plants home. You can see how much simpler it would be for Dan to just send me plants.

Now I’m going to float away on a vision of Richard Gere wearing brown UPS man shorts and unloading box after box of fabulous plants.

 

Posted in I love this plant, Plant Ho, The Little Picture | Leave a comment

The Rest of the Story – Winter Foliage on Coral Bells (Heuchera) Part 1

Last weekend I decided I should blog about evergreen perennials, so I started taking pictures. When I took the picture of Frosted Violet coral bells (Heuchera) I thought, “He was my favorite Heuchera in May,

Heuchera 'Frosted Violet'

Frosted Violet in May.

Heuchera 'Frosted Violet'

Frosted Violet in February

 but now he looks like shit. In fact he would be better as roots beneath bare ground.”

Heuchera are advertised as evergreen, but some do a very poor job of it, so I decided to do a follow-up to my previous blog. The first time I posted about them at their best. They still had nice fresh spring growth and some had flowers. Now I’ll show you the rest of the story.

Heuchera 'Southern Comfort'

Heuchera 'Southern Comfort' looks fabulous, and the Pieris in the background echos the colors.

Dan at Terra Nova Nurseries will be proud to hear that his Southern Comfort was the clear winner in the Heuchera Winter Foliage category. Southern Comfort is a great plant, with nice, fuzzy leaves that change with the seasons. He’s also one of the lowest maintenance Heuchera I have.

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Heuchera 'Obsidian'

Heuchera 'Obsidian' and violas

An un-groomed Heuchera 'Obsidian'

 That last picture was a shameless effort to kiss up to Dan. (Terra Nova developed this one too.) I had to do a lot of primping and pruning to get Obsidian to look that good. Sadly, he isn’t the only Heuchera that has a lot of ratty leaves this time of year. I either cut them off, or just wait for the fresh spring growth to cover them up. Even though his winter looks are disappointing, Obsidian is still well worth having for the fabulous, glossy, purple foliage he’ll put on in spring.

You should buy lots of him, and tell Dan that Peggy sent you. (I’m trying to butter him up a little so I can get extra free plants this spring.)

Heuchera 'Silver Scrolls'

Heuchera 'Silver Scrolls' is flat against the ground, so it's hard to get all the leaves off, but he looks pretty good.

Heuchera 'Plum Pudding'

Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' would look a lot better if I took the time to cut off the worst of the ugly leaves.

 Well the stupid blogging software is giving me fits today. I add pictures, and then they mysteriously disappear leaving only their captions erroneously attached to completely unrelated pictures. I still have five or six Heuchera left to show you, so I’ll post a part 2 later this week.

Posted in I love this plant | Leave a comment

I Like to Move it, Move it

I often sing while I work in the garden. It amuses me. The title of this post is part of the lyrics to my transplanting song. (My weeding song is ‘Another one Bites the Dust’.)

Houstonia caeruleaThis teeny-tiny wildflower is a bluet (Houstonia caerulea) called Quaker ladies among other names. There has been at least one bloom on it since late December. But now it’s really going. It has up to five blooms on each plant. Mother Nature put several right in the middle of my new woodland path, so I need to transplant them. I’ll wait because in general it’s best to transplant when things are mostly dormant, and full bloom is the opposite of dormant.

 

This area will be planted with nothing but natives.

In my last post, I mentioned my new landscape plan includes a ‘wild’ area. Well, right next to that is a large section to be landscaped using nothing but natives.

I’ve already planted some of it using these natives dug from the paths: partridge berry, sedge (Carex), cranefly orchidwoodland iris, goldenrod, oakleaf hydgangea and mountain laurel. 

 

I'm 90% certain this is partridge berry. Something must eat the berries because in November this was the only one I could find.

 

I planted this bed using partridge berry dug from the path.

 

Oakleaf hydrangea

I took this picture of oakleaf hydrangea in November when it still had nice fall color. There's also a goldenrod in the lower left corner.

 

Native plants support life. I think this is a Carex. It's evergreen, and it doesn't get seeds like a grass would.

 I love strong, young men. Not in a weird, creepy way, but in an ‘I appreciate how much garden ass they can kick’ way. Super bowl weekend Jesse came home from college with his friend Sean. They transplanted seven oakleaf hydrangeas – again, moving from the path into the bed. They also dug out the last nandina, transplanted a large shrub and a small tree, completed a few miscellaneous tasks and dug all these stumps out of the paths.

By the way, the tall evergreen shrub the boys are standing in front of is mountain laurel. Mother Nature did a fabulous job placing these. The paths wind around some mature groupings, and I only have a few small ones to move.

Thanks boys!

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Posted in Family, It Just Grew There | 2 Comments

New Year’s Resolutions

Helleborus 'Mrs. Betty Ranicar'

The Helleborus are just starting to bloom, and this one is my favorite. It's Mrs. Betty Ranicar.

The other day I went to check on the Spanish bluebells. They’re planted along the drive, down where it crosses the creek. (My neighbor will certainly check that direction before peeing in the woods again.)

woodpecker homeOn my way back to the house I noticed this and thought, “That hole at the top looks interesting. I bet a bird made it.”

I went to investigate. As I approached, a woodpecker flew out and perched in a tree a few feet away. She hid on the far side of the trunk, but kept peaking around and looking at me. She moves her head in an odd jerking style, quickly looking right, holding the position a moment, then snapping her head back left again. I watched for awhile, and left thinking, “Thank goodness I never cleaned this up. She wouldn’t have a home.”

WoodpeckerI came back the next day with my camera. I know the picture is fuzzy, but I think it’s a downy woodpecker.
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Nature

These logs will stay where they are. I've learned my leason.

A related thing happened about a week ago. I was collecting wood for the campfire. After removing all the logs, I noticed a baby lizard at the bottom of the empty wheelbarrow. How terribly sad it would have been if the log had been near the fire pit and I had just  tossed it on, not realizing he was sleeping just below the bark.

The moral of these two stories is also one of my new year’s resolutions: leave some natural areas for Mother Nature. My new garden plan has a large area designated as ‘wild’. The only thing I will do in that area is remove foreign invasives such as Japanese honeysuckle, privet and nandina. 

By the way, February is the time to prune trees and shrubs, and  cut back grasses. It’s a little early, but soon I’m going to start my tomato and pepper seeds under the grow lights.

Posted in It Just Grew There, The Big Picture, Tips and Stuff | 5 Comments