Hidden Hills Garden

Crinum asiatica purple and Campfire coleus are two stars in one of my most successful container groupings. They’re potted together in the biggest pot, the Crinum in the center, surrounded by 3 coleus. The coleus were freebies, also known as plant ho plants. Ball Horticulture sent them this spring, and I posted about them on my other blog. Here’s a link.

I love the color of the coleus with the purple Crinum. The coleus has done great in full, blazing, Alabama sun, but I probably should have chosen something shorter. I have to pinch it back every couple of weeks. This next picture was taken just after I trimmed it.

The three plants in the pot on the left, Ipomoea ‘SolarPower™ Lime’, Lantana ‘Lucky Pot of Gold’ and Hibiscus ‘Little Zin’ are also plant plant ho plants. The Hibiscus would probably be much bigger, but the Japanese beetles ate it to sticks earlier in the summer. It’s just now starting to look good again. I should have taken the time to hand pick the beetles everyday, but I didn’t.

The sweet potato vine would be much larger too, but when it started running over all the other plants, I replaced it with a smaller version of the same plant.

I think that first picture shows off the plants the best, and it’s my view from the chair on the deck. However, the background of this picture is spectacular.

This next picture was taken just before I pinched the coleus.

The Crinum was an impulse buy at the Chicago Flower and Garden show.

Guess what size I got. – The biggest one. The one that’s as large as a toddler and just as heavy to carry around.

My BFF Trace was with me on the trip, and I posted about it in April. Here’s a link. That’s him just before we jumped in a cab and headed to lunch. Our mistake was taking the Crinum. It was fine until we needed to walk the 6 blocks back to the car. Trace hauled the Crinum for about 2 blocks, before saying, “Here, carry your own enormous tuber.” I toted it for a half block, and then I hailed a taxi.

Back to the Campfire coleus, whenever I pinched it, I threw the trimmings over the deck. A few actually rooted and started growing.
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I know that I can’t propagate the coleus legally, but surely I can’t be held accountable for what my plants do on their own. What was I supposed to do, just leave them there? No, I couldn’t do that. Besides, knowing how good they were in full sun, I wanted to see their shady side. So I potted three in the big pot on the left in this picture of the dining area.

Here’s a closer shot of the coleus.

The foliage is a little different in the shade. Some leaves get a green edge, still pretty, just different.

Before I end this post, I want to show you the improvements I made to the dining area. After looking at my first picture of the area, I realized that it was a bit lopsided. I also thought that it needed a few more plants. Adding more plants is never a bad idea. It’s like adding bacon to a recipe. How could it not be better with bacon/more plants?

Studying pictures of the garden is so helpful. It looks much better after I rearranged the plants a bit and added three tall Aspidistras. The Aspidistras were divisions from a three gallon pot that was bursting at the seams.

I apologize in advance for this last picture of my Aspidistra. But one of the main reasons I write this blog is to make myself laugh, and this amuses me. Hopefully some of you have the same wacky sense of humor.

While preparing for this year’s Fourth of July party, Dale and I were talking about last year and our favorite story. I wasn’t going to write about it on my blog because it has nothing to do with gardening, but I’ve decided that it’s an important story, and it needs to be told. I’ll add pictures of my garden to make it fit the blog.

My red hibiscus is so cheerful right now.

Three other couples, some of their children and their boyfriends/girlfriends joined us for July 4, 2014. Only a few of us were on the dock to witness the first part of my story. One of the World Cup soccer games was about to start, so twenty-something year old Westin told his girlfriend that they needed to go up to the house and watch. As Sally was gathering her things, Westin barked, “Hurry up!” After they left, my friend Bob turned to me and said, “I don’t like the way he talked to her.” I heartily agreed and explained how I would have handled the situation. He told me that I should give her my advice.

The potted garden at the garage looks good this year.

As luck would have it, Sally forgot something on the dock, and showed up ten minutes later without Westin. Bob started doing the little head nod towards Sally while looking at me thing. So I said, “Sally, it’s not really any of my business, but you shouldn’t let Westin talk to you like that. Next time he uses that tone and tells you to hurry up, this is what you should do: stand up, put your hands on your hips and say, ‘I’ll come when I’m F’ing ready!’” Only my advice to Sally didn’t use a contraction. Sally answered, “Oh Ms. Hill, I don’t think I could say that.” I didn’t remember this next part of the story until Bob reminded me this year. He said I replied to Sally with great conviction and emphasis, “Oh yes you can!”

Another picture of the pots at the garage.

And one more of the pots at the garage.

The next day I came down to the dock later than everyone else. Most people were off on the boat, but Bob and my husband, Dale, were there. As I got closer, I saw the big Cheshire cat grins on their faces and asked what happened. Bob said, “You would be so proud of Sally. Westin yelled at her when they were leaving. She flipped him the bird and said, ‘Don’t talk to me like that.’”

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Jack demonstrates what it means to “flip someone the bird”. He’s annoyed at that plant because it’s so weedy.

I probably should have mentioned to Sally that if my approach seemed too harsh, she could have discussed Westin’s behavior with him in private. Either way, the important thing is to not let him treat her that way.

Big Dude Rain lily (Zephyanthes ‘Big Dude’)

Big Dude Rain lily (Zephyanthes ‘Big Dude’)

Since I want to give good and complete advice, I’ll tell you that this is only an acceptable response to shitty behavior from a significant other. With other people, unless it borders on abuse, be the bigger person; ignore it. For instance, as a gracious hostess, if Westin had said something rude like, “Why are you still at the lake? Shouldn’t you be cooking dinner? I’m hungry.” I would have answered sweetly, “Dinner’s going to be awhile. Why don’t you run up to the house and get a snack. And if you want to speed things up, you can start peeling those potatoes on the counter.”

I was going to simply title this post ‘Advice for Women’, but sometime after July 4^th 2014, Westin and Sally broke up, so take heed all you males. Treat your ladies with respect. Dale always does.