The Trials and Tribulations of Flower Gardening

With the danger of frost now passed, I've been hurriedly moving plants around my flower garden. The garden consists primarily of perennials, but there are also ornamental grasses, shrubs and groundcovers in the mix.

There are some perennials that have exceeded my expectations so much that I'm trying to decide if this is a good thing or not! There are some plants that now fall into the "you only need one of these" category as you'll be overrun with offspring (either seeds, runners, or huge plants in need of division) very quickly. One gardener may find these a blessing while another may consider these plants thugs.

Salvia Ulignosia (bog sage). This is a gorgeous clear blue flowering salvia. It loves moist soil. Knowing that the description of stoloniferous should be taken seriously, I planted only ONE last year. This year, there are runners creating a circle out to three feet from the original. The runners are very shallow and easily pulled and pinched. Just stick the piece in the ground and it roots. Fortunately for me, I have a lot of challenging spaces where there is room for this bog sage. I have now throughly distributed it in moist areas where I was in need of some interesting filler. It won't take long!



Monarda (bee balm). I purchased only three plants two years ago. I have now divided and divided and divided the monarda and placed it where I again needed filler in that color scheme. In hindsight, only one plant would have been more than sufficient. It's a gorgeous color, so I'll be happy for a few more years.

That's monarda in front of a buddleia.


There is definitely a time when you get too much of a good thing. I was thrilled with hypericum calycinum as a lush green groundcover with pretty yellow flowers. It spreads faster than I could ever imagine. I spent a few hours last week taking it out of beds that I thought were isolated enough as to have no worries. But, then I worried. I rounded up those hypericum and let them join their kind in a bed out by the guest parking area.

My husband is just wild about creeping jenny. You see, he has a love/hate relationship with mulch. He wants the mulch to look newly spread, rich and brown. He hates weeds and he does quite a bit of weeding whenever he walks through the garden. In my opinion our mulch is deep enough, so I demonstrated to him how I can turn over the existing mulch and it looks like new (THAT was such a job!).

My husband talked me into using landscape fabric in a few places in the garden. Don't ever let anyone talk you into using that stuff, no matter how much you love them! :-) I've been raking back mulch and ripping that horrible stuff out. When I compare the fabric bed to the non-fabric bed, I don't see a difference in weed production. Back to the creeping jenny...when the ground is covered in creeping jenny, my husband knows he doesn't have to mulch that area. Jenny also helps suppress the weeds, although a few do sprout through it. As for me, I'm on "gold overload" at this point. I don't want it throughout the garden. He doesn't care about color scheme. He cares about the usefulness of jenny.

I've also found out that I should have identified plants more carefully at the time that I planted in the last year or so. Now...are those 'Sundown' or the 'Sunset' coneflowers? My husband had this wonderful idea to use golf tees (in colors) to discreetly identify plants and bulbs. I just didn't take the time to mark everything. I go back to last year's photos, but that still doesn't help me when I have two coneflowers that are very much alike.





Anyone who has heard anything about garden design has heard that planting odd numbers of plants is more appealing than planting even numbers. That's a wonderful design tip until you lose one plant. Then, you have an even number in the group. I've been moving plants around trying to alleviate the matched pairs. Some are still out there. If you see two coreopsis together instead of three, it was from attrition and not intentional. Of course, I did plant four nepeta along a section of garden path. I ran out of the plant. I know I can divide it next year and create an odd number. Therefore, if you see some even numbers together, it may be because it's still a work in progress. Why purchase the exact number of plants if you know you can divide them in the future?

In another section of my garden, I installed a sundial that I've had for over 20 years. It's been to a few other houses and gardens. Somehow, this little area has turned into a formal structure within the larger garden. I don't know if anyone will notice unless I point out the symmetry. The color scheme is based upon carmine (deep rose-lavender)echinacea purpurea'Rubinstern' Ruby Star and spirea 'Neon Flash'.

I spent a morning this week moving a small burgundy leaf crepe myrtle 'White Chocolate', pink muhly ornamental grass, and some of that bee balm to the area. I ditched a rosemary (out of a trio again) that had gotten too wet in the winter and replaced it with tranplants of my tall garden phlox and the new rose ascelpias. I also added two rose color nepeta subsessillis. Yes, I used pairs to flank groupings in this symmetrical vignette. I hope that the harmonic color scheme will keep the symmetry muted and understated. If not...I'll be moving some plants around again next spring!

The inspirational colors for the symmetrical grouping:



Then, there are the plants that still look like bare sticks. When they bloom, they bloom all summer long through frost. Right now, I want to put a dress on them to cover their ugly bones. These plants are in their third season with me and cutting them back this spring was a real challenge with their sturdy stems. I'm talking about caryopteris and lantana 'Miss Huff'. Of course, I'm seriously doubting that the plant that I bought that was labeled 'Miss Huff' is indeed a 'Miss Huff' lantana. The color is just pink and yellow. Doesn't 'Miss Huff' have orange? Did mine revert to some parent? Whatever! The butterflies adore this lantana, so I'll wait for June to see it flush with green leaves and flowers.




By the way, both the lantana and the caryopteris outgrew their original spaces so I decided to transplant them to large bare spots in the garden. My son moved the single caryopteris for me. I struggled with one of the three lantana and thought it would get the best of me. I succeeded in moving it, but gave up on the other two. Now, I have a pair, instead of a trio of lantana by our parking area. My apologies. Maybe I'll fix that next year. Or not.

If you've seen any photos that show an overview of our garden, then you must know by now that I'm a garden addict. I can spend every waking moment in the garden without any problem. Therefore, I just had to go out and buy some plants last week. I had planned to wait a few more weeks. I just couldn't.

I want to provide more Monarch butterfly host and nectar plants in the butterfly garden. By the way, the "butterfly garden" is really just an area of the garden where I went wild by including orange and red in the color scheme. In fact, the entire garden is pretty attractive to butterflies, not just that area. I purchased red asclepias, rose asclepias and orange asclepias last week. I also brought home some tithonia (an annual) to attract the Monarchs. Forgive me for not providing the exact names of these new purchases. You see, in an effort to remember these plants, I stuck their name tags out there in the garden with the plants.

I brought back a few more colors and varieties of nepeta as well as a yellow salvia and yellow agastache. I even added some red snapdragons below the red salvia greggii 'Navajo Red'. I only hope the red blooms will actually work together! I put the red asclepias above the salvia greggii, moved a pineapple sage and my crocosmia 'lucifer' to the red area. Here's the salvia on the slope. It's just a small little sloping space and I've already planted purples on either side to create a buffer between the reds and other color schemes. Maybe the next time I take a photo, I'll have more blooms since I have planted the bare spots above and below:



There's a forum friend on the Cottage Gardening Forum who is responsible for the inspirational envy of a "red bed" flower garden. I don't know if I'll come anywhere close to getting these reds to work together. I have no real experience working with reds in a garden design. My 'Navajo Red' salvias were planted last year and are a huge success with the hummingbirds. If the red design doesn't work out, I'll just mix it all up again in the butterfly garden.

Of course, I know my garden is never finished. I know that I'll tweak the design; divide and conquer rampant plants while cherishing special varieties. If it was all done, all perfect, what fun would that be? I'm not striving for perfection. I'm expressing my creativity. I garden for my own enjoyment. My family loves the garden, too. Therefore, I'm allowed to break design rules, experiment with color schemes, research deer and drought tolerant plants and even include a few rampant thugs among my selections. It's a lot of work, but it's just so much fun! Smiles!

Happy Gardening!
Cameron

PS Don't forget to visit Project Racing Home on Saturday, May 17th, noon to 4pm. I have ordered a mix of herbs, annuals and perennials to sell as my fund-raising effort to support the greyhound adoption kennel.

Spring Rains

The spring rains have been frequent and the garden is looking alive with color. The oldest part of the garden was planted in Fall 2005. It is encouraging to see the bulbs planted that first year put on another show. The Dutch Iris are favorites with the family and visitors. There are two large clumps beside the entrance pathway. Had it not been for the drought this past fall, I would have planted many more. I will definitely try to select more colors to scatter throughout the garden to add to the daffodils and bluebells.



The lavender is full bloom! It is quite vigorous again, having ignored the drought. I took these photos in the evening following a heavy rain, so the stems are beaten down a bit. Yet, I love the colors of the late evening with the garden drenched by the rain. The Japanese Maple is also in full glory right now. The cottage pinks (dianthus) edging the pathway are heavy with fragrance. The leaves of the Knock Out Roses are multiple colors along the fence. The clematis vines are scampering and climbing every which way, while a Lady Banksia rose of yellow is in full bloom by the gate.



The Encore Azaleas (in a standard form) are just beginning to bloom. That's creeping jenny used as a groundcover with Purple Palace Heuchera. Last year, I had impatiens coming up through the creeping jenny. I've not yet planted any annuals this year. I will probably wait until late May.



The hummingbirds showed up a few weeks ago. Besides keeping the feeders full for the little fellows, we have planted appetizing flowers for them such as the crossvine on the obelisk at the corner of the patio. It's a bit lopsided with blooms as it was going to close off our little path (an extension created after the vine was planted) so we keep it trimmed for access to another patio and more pathways.



Salvia greggii Navajo Red is also a favorite food for the hummingbirds. There is a grouping of these planted on a slope beside our large willow tree. All the birds that visit our garden and feeders like to hang out in the willow tree.



Our greyhound enjoys the garden! We adopted our adorable "Charm" almost five years ago from Project Racing Home, located just south of Greensboro. Project Racing Home is holding an open house on Saturday, May 17th, from noon until 4:00pm. If you stop by, I'll be there with plants for sale to help with some fund raising. I'll try to bring a nice, but limited, collection of interesting perennials for the event. There will be a lot going on at the open house that will be fun for families. It's a great chance to get out and support these wonderful retired racing greyhounds. To find out more about adopting a greyhound, please visit Get A Greyhound.




I'm trying very hard to control myself with regards to extending the garden this year. I still have a lot of rearrangement underway as I move and divide my existing plants. I will definitely be adding more host plants for Monarch and swallowtail butterflies with asclepias and bronze fennel. I look forward to the return of butterflies. I've spotted a few already, but haven't been able to get close enough yet for identification. As they appear, I'll begin posting butterfly photos.

Happy Gardening!
Cameron

Favorite Deer & Drought Tolerant Perennials

As I watch the flower garden emerge from winter into spring, I look for signs of the drought survivors. While our area of North Carolina is technically still in a drought, our lakes are finally full again from recent rainfalls. From last summer and through the winter the perennials stood up to the test of the drought tolerance. Since most of my plantings were new in spring/summer 2007, I'm pleased to report the drought tolerant successes of perennials -- that did not receive supplemental watering after the drought set in. These perennials were watered when first planted in April, May and June, which helped to get them established prior to the drought. Even drought tolerant plants need water to get established. Thereafter, these perennials are fairly carefree.

If you've followed my blog over the last year, you know that deer tolerance is also a requirement for my outer garden. This list of favorites also includes perennials that aren't touched by deer at all in my garden. Not even tasted and rejected (like some other plants); not even trimmed by deer at all.

I'm focusing on the top personal favorite deer and drought tolerant perennials in this blog. I'll talk about shrubs and ornamental grasses in the future. As an added bonus, these perennials are also loved by butterflies.

Coreopsis 'Creme Brulee'
Deer tolerant
Drought tolerant
Attracts butterflies
Perennial


There are little patches of green at the base of all of the coreopsis 'Creme Brulee' that I planted last year in the outer garden. There are literally hundreds of blooms all summer on this perennial. I sheared it back when the blooms faded and got another light bloom. My favorite tool for trimming a plant with this many blooms is a cordless Black & Decker HedgeHog cordless trimmer.

The verdict is still out on the pink/rose varieties ('Heaven's Gate' and 'Limerock Ruby') of coreopsis. I'm still watching for signs of life. Here's a photo taken while the 'Creme Brulee' was in bloom last summer.



Agastache 'Blue Fortune'
Deer tolerant
Drought tolerant
Attracts butterflies
Attracts bees
Attracts hummingbirds
Perennial


In the last week, the clumps of 'Blue Fortune' have come on strong. The perennials look hardy and it looks like the width of each plant has increased significantly to help fill in the bare spots in the garden. I am anticipating a strong showing from this butterfly magnet. The lilac/blue color works well with companion plants that bloom yellow, red, white, or orange.



Nepeta
Deer tolerant
Drought tolerant
Attracts butterflies
Attracts bees
Perennial


Nepeta is my "go to" plant! When I want a perennial that is easy to grow, provides a bloom season from spring until frost, is semi-evergreen, is drought tolerant, is deer tolerant, attracts bees, attracts butterflies and has beautiful soft blue color and fragrant foliage...this is it! Did I mention that it performs well the first season? Yes, it's near perfect to me.

I am in the process of expanding my edging along the outer gardens paths with nepeta. I have two varieties in the "dry" areas. Those are 'Six Hills Giant' and 'Walkers Low'. 'Walkers Low' doesn't get as tall as 'Six Hills Giant' but both need a lot of space -- allow 2-3 feet per plant. I have another variety, Nepeta Subsessillis, that works in moist soil. It is also coming back right now and I expect great things from that one. I'm on the look out for other varieties of nepeta, especially if I can introduce other colors of nepeta.

Looking through the nepeta:




Lavender 'Otto Quast'
Deer tolerant
Drought tolerant
Attracts butterflies
Attracts bees
Evergreen in zone 7
Perennial


I just love lavender. My favorite is 'Otto Quast' used throughout our garden. It blooms heavily in the spring. I shear it back and it has another lighter bloom in the summer. Here in our zone 7 of North Carolina, it is evergreen. The foliage is a bit grey, but still provides great winter interest in the garden when the other perennials have retired to the ground. If it bloomed as long as the nepeta, this would be another "go to" plant. It doesn't like overwatering, so always plant this one high and dry -- which makes it a great drought tolerant plant.



Perennial Heliotrope
Deer tolerant
Drought tolerant
Attracts butterflies
Attracts bees
Perennial


This is nothing like the fragrant annual heliotrope. This is a ground-covering flowering, creeping perennial heliotrope. It is difficult to find at plant nurseries and fortunately, I purchased quite a lot of it several years ago. This perennial has been with me for two years now. One plant goes a long way! It blooms non-stop from late spring until frost. Use it in places where you would plant 'Homestead Verbena'. I must say that I have doubts that I'll ever be able to REMOVE it from the garden, so beware of that one downside. It will fill in the bare spots in your garden in one season. It's beautiful at the feet of tall plants.

If you want to track this one down, here's the official name: Heliotropium amplexiacaule 'Azure Skies'.



Salvia greggii 'Navajo Red'
Deer tolerant
Drought tolerant
Attracts butterflies
Attracts hummingbirds
Perennial


This is an evergreen (in my garden zone 7) shrubby 3x3 ft salvia. It blooms almost all summer. It does appreciate a little afternoon shade. I have it planted on a bank where a weeping willow gives it dappled shade from the late western sun. I wait until late spring to trim it back. I have other salvias in my garden, but this is my new favorite.




Hardy Ice Plant
Deer tolerant
Drought tolerant
Evergreen in zone 7
Perennial


Another wonderful sun-loving, deer tolerant plant is the hardy ice plant (delosperma cooperii). There are so many reasons to love this little plant! It is evergreen here in our zone; the blooms sparkle in the sunlight and close up at night; it spreads easily without being invasive; pinch off a sprig and just stick it in the soil to propagate. I have this edging our sidewalk and wish I had planted it on both sides. I've been pinching and planting sprigs all during the fall, winter and spring and those have rooted.



I have other "honorable mentions" such as verbena Bonariensis (tall and airy, light purple verbena). It's perfect for deer and drought areas and it comes back in my garden like a perennial. It blooms all summer for me. I don't have good photos of mine from last year. In some gardens, it isn't considered a perennial, but it does self-seed.

I'm keeping an eye on all the new coneflower varieties that I planted last year. The orange ('Sunset' and 'Sundown') are showing signs of life. I'm yet to see the pale yellow varieties emerge. Hopefully, I'll have more drought and deer tolerant favorites to add as the season continues.

Happy Gardening!
Cameron