I’m Thankful for my Family

I was planning a post about the Southeast Native Plant Conference, but I’ve been very busy getting ready for Thanksgiving. In addition to my fabulous husband Dale, all three of my wonderful kids, Dale’s mom and one of Jesse’s college friends are here. I had to put the extra leaf in the dining room table for the first time; it’s very exciting. So in an effort to get something posted that would take very little time, I’m posting pictures of some of the other creatures I’m thankful for.   

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 
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Lizard

I know he looks like he's wearing eyeshadow, but that's just the color of the skin around his eye.

Frogs

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Dad’s Visit

I’m still planning on posting about the Native Plant Conference, but my dad arrived last Thursday for a nice visit. He is a big fan of my blog, and within a few hours he said, “You should show people what still looks good this late in the year. I think they would be interested.” As I have gotten older, my dad has gotten smarter. I just turned 50, and dad just turned 91. He is a fricken genius. They were predicting frost the night dad arrived, but luckily it didn’t hit us, so I had time to take pictures of him in the garden with some of his favorite late season plants. Coleus 'Nuclear Fusion' and dad

Coleus 'Nuclear Fusion'Dad really liked this coleus ‘Nuclear Fusion’. Dad has excellent taste. He’s my favorite coleus. I picked a little bouquet, and when they get roots I’ll pot them up, keep them as houseplants all winter and return them to the garden next spring. I plant them at the end of April; by the end of May they have filled in nicely, and they look spectacular until frost. I’m also very pleased with the perennial speckled wandering jew (Tinantia pringlei coll.) in the bottom of the picture. He came this spring and bloomed most of the summer. The only problem is the bunny likes him too.Pineapple sage and dad  I hope I’m as good looking and healthy when I’m 91!! I posted a picture of this pineapple sage a few blogs back, but I didn’t get a chance to tell you about him. Because of his name, he arrived many years ago as part of an herb garden mothers day gift. It’s OK that he’s not really an herb; when you are this good looking, it’s all you need. All this bloom power comes from just 2 plants. I don’t think they would survive the winter anywhere else in the garden, but this area is near a little corner in the house so they have walls both North and West. They have a very long season of bloom and are worth growing as annuals.Dad and dogs

If the side effects india online cialis become uncomfortable then one should immediately see a doctor. That’s why it is very important to discuss all of your options, learn more about the HIFU treatment and then make the decision that tadalafil pharmacy benefits you the most. While the most perfect products [especially the ones using Size Genetics vouchers as advertising media] do not offer any direct problems, how viagra for you use these products can decide whether your penis will also benefit your penis by making the organ stiffed, hard and ready for main sexual act. While posterior blepharitis – often referred to as “meibomian”, meibomitis or meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) – can also discount cialis canada be comprised of the capability to reduce the incapability and can avail man to get over the highly pathetic factor. Dad orchestrated this shot, but had trouble getting the dogs to cooperate. The large shrub in the background is some of the mountain laurel that Mother Nature planted all over this property – love her for that. The red flower on the left is an annual with a fun name to say, Cuphea. He has been blooming hard since he got here in April. The purple is the fabulous 2 feet tall x 5-6 feet wide Loropetalum ‘Purple Pixie’, and the big yellow/green plant is Gold Mop Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifara ‘Paul’s Gold’).

Dad was also impressed with this great little annual blue fan flower that hasn’t missed a beat since April. This was my first year with Scaevola ‘Diamond’, and I’m definetly inviting him back next year.

Posted in Family, I love this plant, What's Blooming? | 8 Comments

Fun Facts to Know and Tell

Hidden Hills Garden

The lake always looks so blue on a sunny fall day.

I went to the Native Plant Conference last weekend, and it was awesome! I have a big blog about it peculating in my head, but I wanted to post about fall color. We have had very little rain, and I was expecting the leaves to just give up, turn brown and fall off. What a great surprise. This is one of the prettiest falls, and these last few days have been the peak.

Hidden Hills Garden

The view from my front porch. The red foliage is a dogwood and the yellow and orange are maples.

Fun fact #1: There is an event that occurs only once a year. It’s called ginko leaf drop day. All the leaves together decide, “That’s it. We’re out of here.” And they fall off in one day. I think I will add, “lie under a large ginko tree on a beautiful fall day and watch the leaves float down and cover me like a blanket” to my bucket list.

I don’t have a ginko. Other than the crape myrtle, all my trees were planted by Mother Nature, and she did a damn good job.

Hidden Hills Garden

Some of the same maples that were in the last picture, but from a different angle with the lake in the background.

 

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Hidden Hills Garden

Can you see the fingers?

 Fun fact #2: Sourwood, a native tree with brilliant red fall color, is also called ‘dead man’s fingers’.

Fun fact #3: During the pioneer days, when people died in winter while the ground was frozen, the burial had to wait until this beautiful native tree started blooming in early spring. They would pick branches to use at the service, and that is how serviceberry tree got its common name.

Hidden Hills Garden

You actually do go over the river and through the woods to get to my house, but the river is just the little creek in the lower right. The strip of red in the lower left corner is native oakleaf hydrangea.

My favorite part of the conference was the fieldtrip at the end.

Blueberry plant fall foliage

My blueberry plant has nice fall color.

There were several options, and I chose ‘Never enough Natives’. The best part about this tour of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens native plant collection was that it was lead by John Manion. I was so impressed by this man. If I lived closer to the garden, I would volunteer just to work with him. His enthusiasm and joy in nature is contagious, and I’d love to catch some more. He taught me all the fun facts in this blog.

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Bulb Planting Tip

Pineapple Sage

Pineapple Sage

Pineapple Sage For me, the hardest thing about writing a blog is trying to narrow down the multitude of things I want to say. Should I talk about how great the pineapple sage looks? It’s been blooming since October, and now it’s at its peak.

 

Toad Lily (Tricyrtis)  

Toad Lily (Tricyrtis)

Toad Lily (Tricyrtis)

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Japanese Forest Grass 'Fubuki'

Japanese Forest Grass 'Fubuki'

 Should I mention the dark side of getting free plants? I loved that ‘Fubuki’ so much, I bought 10 more.

No. I decided that since November is such a great time to plant bulbs, I’d share one of my favorite tips. Daffodils and dayliliesPlant your daffodils with your daylilies. When the daffodils are done blooming, the daylily’s new foliage will cover up the old, yellow leaves. – For the novice gardener: You can’t cut the daffodil foliage when it starts to look bad, and don’t listen to anyone who tells you to braid or knot it; they are fools.

Hidden Hills GardenThis was my project early last week. I widened the bed on the right and planted it with 19 daylilies and 40 daffodils. The daylilies were divisions from 5 old plants that needed to be relocated, and the daffodils are a mix I ordered from Brecks. Most types of daffodils only bloom for a couple of weeks, so if you want a long bloom time, you should plant several different varieties. I bought a mix in 2007, and it bloomed for 9 weeks. The mix I just planted is advertised as 3 months of blooms. (I included the link to the mix for information, but they are sold out. I placed my order in spring.)

Posted in Tips and Stuff, What's Blooming? | 3 Comments

Was I Drooling?

Last Monday, Dale and I were killing time at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens  – I’m looking forward to coming back Nov. 4th and 5th for the Central South Native Plant Conference. Japanese Garden at Birmingham Botanical GardenWe were waiting to meet our lovely and charming daughter Monica at the zoo – part of her birthday weekend extravaganza. I wanted to take a quick peek at the Japanese Garden and look for something to serve as a background for my Japanese maple.

Rice paper plant (Tetrapanax papyrifera) Rice paper plant (Tetrapanax papyrifera)Then I saw this groundcover. My new, singular focus was to find out the name of this incredible plant. Luckily for me, I soon found a smiling, helpful garden employee. In short order I had a positive plant id, some fantastic ideas for upcoming stories, advice that the only way I can not-kill Rodgersia for a third time is to never plant it again, and a bare rooted rice paper plant shoved in my camera case. “I just pulled some of that, and I don’t mind if you take something off my trash pile.” I must be exuding some kind of, ‘Please give me free plants pheromone.’ Or maybe I was drooling. Don’t try this at home. I’m a professional. Dan, president of Terra Nova Nursery, has given me the pet name ‘plant ho’, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog.

Rice paper plant (Tetrapanax papyrifera)Here’s what little I know about my new friend, rice paper plant (Tetrapanax papyrifer):

  • The nice man at the garden said he likes water.
  • He’s a spreader, so I’ll need to give him some room.
  • If I lived in zone 8-10, he would grow to an 80” shrub, but for me, he will be a dieback perennial.
  • My favorite mail order source, Plant Delights Nursery, says to plant in sun to light shade, but it looks like he’s doing great in heavier shade.
  • Since he is only hardy to zone 7b, he is marginal for me and needs to be planted in the spring so he’ll have plenty of time to settle in before the cold weather arrives. He’ll live in the garage for this winter.

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In general most perennials do great planted in the fall, but anything that barely tolerates your winter should be planted in spring. Also, if your ground freezes and heaves, you should plant perennials in spring or be sensible and move further south.

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

The Girls’ Favorite Plants

My lovely and talented daughter, Leandra, recently said, “You know mom, throughout my entire life, whenever anyone says, ‘You’re a little odd.’ I always say, ‘You should meet my mother.’” Well, I’m not the only one. Five more, sharing many of my peculiarities, were here for girls’ weekend. I thought it would make an interesting blog if each girl picked her favorite plant and had a picture taken with it. Unfortunately only half of us are crazy enough to be on the internet looking more than a little strange.

I’m not sure if the responsibility for how we are dressed rests with Melinda or Jennifer. It was Melinda who brought me this custom-made platter last year, but it was Jennifer who said, “Let’s all dress up next year and recreate the platter.”

Blue and her favorite plantBlue wins the prize for best costume. As you can see from her ensemble, she is an avid bird watcher. We enjoyed listening to her ipod alternate between songs and bird calls. Her favorite plant is Heliopsis ‘October Glory’ because, “It’s big and showy like me!” (You can read about Peggy and Blue’s big adventure last year at the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show.) More about the plant: I think they told me the wrong name when I bought him at the Forever Green Mountain garden club yard/plant sale last spring because I can’t find him on the internet, perennial, full sun, and Blue says, “It represents the glory of October.”

Pampas grassMelinda flies in from Texas for girls’ weekend. When an early version of our hats had us looking a little nunnish, she did what I was about to do and sang, “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” (It was a similar bursting into show tunes event that prompted Leandra’s comment.) Her favorite plant is the pampas grass because, “It stands out, and it’s fuzzy on top.” More about the plant: Easy to grow and spectacular in full sun, for me it’s a focal point in the late summer border garden, I wrote an entire blog about it, and I agree with Patrick that the dwarf varieties are easier to work with in most gardens, but I still like mine better.

Dew drop plantDew drop plantI wish Liz had let me show her picture because she is laughing so hard that she is about to pee her shorts. Sadly, I was forced to cut everything but her arm and beer mug which reads “It’s my 50th year. Fetch me a beer.” Her favorite plant is the dew drop plant because she likes purple and, “It’s wispy and loose.” More about the plant: subscribe to Alabama Gardener Magazine so you can read about him in 2012, loves heat, needs to move into the garage soon, has been blooming nonstop since I purchased him in May and has poisonous, yellow berries in the fall.
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Jennifer and her favorite plantJennifer is the only one who still looks good in a bikini. She definitely lives up to her nickname, Barbie. Her favorite plant is this hibiscus; she says it’s because, “It’s big and red and it attracts hummingbirds and I like tropicals.” But I think she picked it because it matches her bathing suit. More about the plant: Dale says the only reason I moved the sidewalk was to make room for this plant and he’s not completely wrong, perennial in zone 7 and blooms from the end of June through October.

Mexican petunia (Ruellia)As you can see from Stacey’s plate persona, she loves to read. She also loves words in general. Her hobbies include calligraphy and playing scrabble or words with friends. Not one to waste those precious words, her speech is direct and to the point. Her favorite plant is Mexican petunia, (Ruellia) because, “It’s purple.” More about the plant: it’s an annual in Northern gardens, but perennial here in zone 7; if I plant it in the garden, the bunnies keep it trimmed to about an inch, so I grow it in pots; it’s easy to root in a glass of water or just stick a cutting in soil; and although they have survived mild winters in pots I put them in the garage just to be on the safe side.

Me and my favorite plantMy wonderful husband Dale thinks I’m insane because I’m considering using this picture as my avatar, but I’m not afraid to be ridiculous. Besides, it makes me laugh every time I look at it, and I love to amuse myself. My favorite plant is cardoon because, “The foliage is super cool.” More about the plant: I grew it from seed, I’ve read it’s delicious when properly harvested (you have to wrap it in paper first or something like that), the voles thought his 2 brothers were yummy, the flower reminds me of a cush ball and I’m compelled to stroke it.

Posted in I love this plant | 7 Comments

Hello. My Name is Peggy.

I have been working on a blog that incorporates two very important aspects of my life: plants and girls’ weekend. But I’m overdue to post something, and explaining pictures like the following is harder than I had imagined. I decided to take the easy way out. Check back next week for a story that pales in comparison to the insanity that is girls’ weekend.

Hidden Hills Garden

How can I possibly explain this???

 In September I wrote a blog titled ‘The Weekend that Changed my Life.’ At the end I talk about having a very strong feeling that somehow the weekend would change my life, but not knowing how. Well, now I know. It turned me into an addict. I’m addicted to free plants, and like any junkie I’ll do whatever it takes to feed my habit. It started innocently enough. I was looking through the fall catalogs and getting ready to order a ‘Pink Lemonade’ blueberry when I thought, “I wish I was at the Garden Writers’ Association meeting last year. I would have gotten a free one.” Then it hit me. I should call Briggs Plant Propagators, mention I’ve written ‘Hot Plant’ articles for Alabama Gardener Magazine and do a little begging. Apparently I’m good at it because yesterday I received a box with the following plants:Plants at Hidden Hills Garden

The effect of this particular medication lasts for pdxcommercial.com buy levitra online one and a half hours. Moreover, you should have realistic expectations. get viagra cheap pdxcommercial.com It works by relaxing the muscles hence increasing viagra uk the flow of blood in certain areas of the penis, which invites sexual erection. Marriage, or in the least right connection for to subject, is a large amount supplementary order viagra cheap difficult than we foremost figured when we original martial. Blueberry ‘Pink Lemonade’, African lily (Agapanthus ‘Black Pantha’, Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Fubuki’), Clematis recta ‘Purpurea Select’, Gaultheria hookeri, bugbane (Actea simplex ‘Hillside Black Beauty’) (I’ve killed this plant before, but this time I’m going to plant it down by the creek where it is wet), Daphne odora ‘Maejima’ and 2 Rhododendrons ‘Native White’ and ‘Peppermint Twist’

Japanese forest grass 'Fubuki' and Crinum 'Sangria'

Japanese forest grass 'Fubuki' and Crinum 'Sangria'

Beside the blueberry, which got the whole thing started, I’m most excited about the Japanese forest grass. The literature only describes it as green and white with pink highlights in fall, but I’m seeing some purple highlights. The bunnies promptly ate the last Japanese forest grass I planted, so this one is getting fenced in.

Posted in Plant Ho, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Sometimes it’s not all Good

Monk’s cap (Aconitum ‘Fischeri)

Monk’s cap (Aconitum ‘Fischeri)

As handsome as he looks now, I’m sure he’s on his death bed. Early this spring there was a group of 3, each with several stems. He’s the last man standing. Actually, he’s not really standing; the only thing holding him up is the silver foliage of his neighbor, Artemisia ‘Powis Castle.’ I had high hopes for him when he arrived from van Bourgondien in 2008, but he’s never been happy here. Like a transplanted yankee, he melted in our hot, humid, Dixieland weather.  

People across the prices for cialis globe buy this drug, either through online pharmacies or from a local medical shop. The story is about how a married couple runs all over the lowest price on viagra city trying to escape the side effects of this ED medicine. Many http://martinblaser.com/viagra-7324 generico cialis on line males in the old age are suffering from erectile dysfunction. Unfortunately, there is no way to project whether or tadalafil 5mg no prescription not a child will suffer from cerebral palsy. Another thing happening in the garden this week is I began seeing random branches laying in the yard. Years back, when I noticed this, I thought, “That’s odd.” Then I threw them into the woods. But now I know better. I look at the end, and if it looks like this picture, the damn twig girdler bug has laid her nasty eggs in it, and I need to destroy the branch. I burn them before the eggs have a chance to hatch in the spring. Twig Girdler Damage

This has been a short blog because girls’ weekend begins tonight!

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Gorgeous Gourds

Gourds

The table at the Star Light Lounge

  Gourds

I don’t usually do a lot of fall decorating, but Heatherly Farms had such a great selection, and they were all so cute. Also, there are several upcoming events that call for celebration and a little sprucing up. We have great friends coming to spend the weekend with us, then Jesse plus 5 or 6 of his college friends are here for fall break, and girls’ weekend starts a week from Friday! (Dale has been known to complain that girls’ weekend is closer to a week than a weekend, but he smiles when he says it.)

Gourds
I like that he’s kinda sideways, very appropriate for girls’ weekend.

GourdsGourds

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We like to relax on the front porch and a bright orange pumpkin just doesn’t suit the mood. I like this much better.

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I Love my Garden

Often, as I walk around the garden, my mind is full of thoughts such as, “Damn those mealy bugs! I need to spray again.” or “I better get that weed pulled before it spreads its evil seed all over.” Or “What the hell is going on with that plant?” But yesterday, as I walked around taking pictures, I was full of love, gratitude and awe. My garden makes me very happy. I’m as much a part of it as the little green anole hanging out on the sedum ‘Autumn Fire.’

Green anole, sedum 'Autumn Fire'

I think he's giving me the stink eye.

butterfly bush ‘Adonis Blue’

I have been pretty good about keeping this group of 3 ‘Adonis Blue’ butterfly bushes deadheaded, and they have rewarded my efforts with extra flowers.

 

Caryopteris x clandonensis, ‘Lisaura’

The bright foliage of this perennial bluebeard (Caryopteris x clandonensis, ‘Lisaura’) is fabulous.

Caryopteris divaricata, ‘Blue Butterflies’

What a lovely flower on the perennial bluebeard (Caryopteris divaricata, ‘Blue Butterflies’).

 
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 Turk's capThe hummingbirds and I both love this red Turk’s cap (Malvaviscus drummonii). I’m especially impressed that it grew; from a little 4” pot I mail ordered from Plant Delights and only just planted last spring, to over 3’ tall!

'Peter Pan' goldenrod This is not your run-of-the-mill, wild goldenrod. (Although I like that too and defended it in my latest article ‘Native Plants’.  You can read it on my page ‘Smith Lake Living Articles’.) This is a variety called ‘Peter Pan’.

 The 3 plants in the foreground are part of my spring order from Plant Delights Nursery – I placed a big order this last spring. The dark false shamrock (Oxalsi regnellii) is ‘Triangularis’ and the other one is ‘Silverado’. Behind them are 2 speckled wondering jews (Tinantia pringlei coll). One of them was transplanted here from where it popped up a couple yards away. Is that why it’s called wondering? I don’t know. This is my first time with this plant. The pink coleus in the background is ‘Nuclear Fusion’.

Hidden Hills Garden

My entry garden.

 

 

Posted in What's Blooming? | 6 Comments