Garden-related Excursions around Raleigh, NC

When gardeners aren't in their own gardens, they often visit other gardens or garden-related venues. I enjoy seeing perennials, ornamental grasses and shrubbery combinations at the different public gardens and arboretums in our area. I also enjoy open houses/gardens to get a glimpse at the creativity and selections in private gardens or local garden businesses.

Living in Chapel Hill, an excursion to Raleigh is quite easy. My husband and I recently visited JC Raulston Arboretum (North Carolina State University). A few days later, we went to the open garden event at Plant Delights Nursery to wander through the Juniper Level Botanical Gardens. We had lunch at the restaurant at the State Farmers' Market. This also gave us an opportunity to walk around the farm produce. We finished up our outing by driving through downtown Raleigh to see the latest upgrades underway.

If you are planning a visit to Raleigh, here are links to the places that we visited:

JC Raulston Arboretum
Plant Delights Nursery
State Farmers Market

Here are a few garden photos that I took at Raulston Arboretum. We were there around 11:00am on a July day, so the sun was a bit bright and the temperature a bit hot to make a lot of notes. If you have questions about the identification of these plants, I'll do my best to respond with an answer.

For our visit (we've been many times), we focused on the sunny perennials. There are so many areas to the arboretum: rose garden; magnolia; Japanese; white garden; nandina collection; mixed border; lath house; butterfly garden; annual plant trials and demonstration area...to name a few. You can spend many hours there, so plan accordingly if you want to take in the entire arboretum on one day.

As a gardener, I use a lot of the research information from NCSU for my zone. The Arboretum tests new plant introductions and reports the results. Additionally, the arboretum often introduces new plants.



















































Plant Delights Nursery is a retail mail-order plant nursery. The owner, Tony Avent, has created a wonderful botanical garden called Juniper Level Botanical Garden. The garden can be visited on open house days several times a year. From the website, it seems that with an appointment well in advance, one can also schedule a visit.

Being July with optimal planting opportunities behind us, I was able to contain my plant impulse buying to two "planned" purchases of a crocosmia and a cestrum. Of course, both are deer resistant and have been planted in my outer garden.

Given that I took so many photos, I am embedding the slide show here for your perusal. There are also photos taken at the Farmers' Market included here.



There are many more opportunities for interesting places for gardeners in our area. I hope to include more of these in future blogs.

Happy Gardening!
Cameron

Return of the Monarch Butterflies

Having a garden that is a certified Monarch Waystation, I'm always on the lookout for the return of the Monarch butterflies. Back in early June, there were a few around for about a week. I had not seen any again until this morning. I was out in my garden to try to snap more hummingbird photos but was delighted to see a Monarch. I followed the Monarch around the garden to see what flowers were of interest. This is the time when the population here increases. I hope to see eggs and caterpillars on the many host plants of asclepias tuberosa and asclepias incarnata that are planted in my garden for the Monarchs.

The first photo was taken as the Monarch landed on a buddleia (appropriately dubbed "butterfly bush"). We have about 23 buddleia throughout the garden to serve as nectar plants. The buddleia are loved by butterflies, bees and even the hummingbirds.



The Monarch flitted over these gaillardia (now in the 2nd bloom of the summer) and moved on in search of more nectar.



The Monarch quickly checked out these echinacea 'Ruby Star' and the garden phlox 'Robert Poore' and flitted away before I could get a photo.



I planted almost two flats of tithonia 'Fiesta del Sol', an annual that is reported to be a favorite source of nectar for Monarchs. The orange blossoms are just now really cranking up in the butterfly garden. A bit of nepeta 'Walkers Low' is spilling over onto this orange tithonia. Nepeta is a perennial. I also have rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' in the butterfly garden.





Verbena 'Homestead', a low-growing purple perennial groundcover is also in a 2nd bloom in the butterfly garden.



The morning sun spills through the wings of the Monarch as it uses agastache 'Blue Fortune' as a nectar plant. This perennial was the most favored by this Monarch this morning. All of the photos taken from this point are of the Monarch on various clumps of 'Blue Fortune' that is scattered throughout my outer garden. It's a tall perennial that I planted last year.





The agastache 'Salmon and Pink' that is behind this 'Blue Fortune' is a hummingbird favorite. I also have plenty of this agastache throughout the butterfly garden and have just planted a start of it in the front outer garden. Another wonderful perennial that attracts butterflies, bees and hummingbirds while blooming almost all summer until frost.



This photo of agastache 'Blue Fortune' shows the color a bit better. I took this photo on a previous morning when it was cloudy. It's set against a miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan'.



When the Monarchs are ready to lay eggs, I have plenty of ascelpias in the garden to serve as host plants:





The butterfly garden...and all the other gardens...are ready for more Monarchs. I'll continue to post updates on the Monarch activity.



Happy Gardening!
Cameron

Fengsui: Pentingkah???

Kita sering mengesampingkan tentang manfaat dari teori untuk mendapatkan apa yang kita inginkan atau yang ingin kita capai sebagai tujuan akhir kita untuk mendapatkan hasil yang kita inginkan.
Teori dianggap sebagai suatu hal yang sepele dan sesuatu yang tidak perlu diperhatikan untuk membantu tujuan kita.
Sebagai contoh, kita ingin membuat rumah yang indah, bagus, dan nyaman untuk ditempati.
Indah artinya rumah itu enak untuk dilihat karena memiliki desain yang indah. Kata indah itu sendiri berhubungan dengan perasaan orang yang melihat, jadi yang pasti orang yang melihat itu harus pemilik rumah sendiri karena si pemilik rumah bakal melihat terus melihat rumah itu.Sedangkan kata bagus berkaitan dengan kualitas kekuatan atau daya tahan yang telah dibangun/direnovasi.
Kemudian yang terakhir adalah kenyamanan. Nyaman merupakan kata yang sulit untuk digambarkan, karena kata nyaman berhubungan dengan perasaan seseorang yang tinggal dirumah tersebut. Dan umumnya bisa dirasakan setelah semua sudah selesai dan baru bisa memutuskan nyaman atau tidaknya tempat tinggal tersebut. Maka dari diperlukan pengetahuan mengenai kenyamanan suatu tata ruang seperti Fengsui atau hongsui. Teori mengenai fengsui sebenarnya bukan tahayul seperti yang dipersepsikan orang tapi ilmu atau teori yang salah satunya bisa membantu untuk mencari solusi kenyamanan suatu ruangan/bangunan.
Semua yang diuraikan diatas adalah variabel-variabel mentah untuk diproses menjadi teori untuk menunjang konsep yang akan dibuat. Hal ini masih jauh proses pelaksanaan fisik masih dalam tahap membuat desain yang pas untuk bisa diterapkan dalam lokasinya alias membangun secara fisik.
Pemilik rumah paling tidak harus mengutarakan keinginan-keinginannya dan dikumpulkan oleh konsultan arsitek untuk di ekspresikan dalam bentuk yang lebih indah sesuai karakter pemilik rumah maupun ide-ide baru lainnya untuk mencari kecocokan desain yang terindah.
Bagaimana jika semua proses itu tidak ada ?
Jadi anda membuat rumah hanya berupa coretan tangan tanpa ada teori khusus dan konsep dari apa yang anda inginkan, kemudian dilaksanakan oleh pekerja bangunan yang belum tentu pikirannya sejalan dengan anda karena pekerja harus mencerna dan mengerti dulu apa yang anda inginkan dan belum lagi anda punya keinginan lain ditengah pengerjaan yang sedang berjalan sehingga anda membuat bingung pekerja bangunan tersebut.
Berapa anggaran yang anda sediakan untuk rumah baru anda ?Dari coretan anda tidak bisa mencari perkiraan anggaran yang harus anda sediakan, belum lagi kalau ada perubahan desain ditengah proses pengerjaan, yang akan membuat membengkaknya anggaran yang telah anda sediakan.
Dengan teori khusus yang bisa diandalkan semua berjalan sesuai dengan rencana kalaupun berjalan tidak sesuai dengan rencana itupun tidak sampai jauh meninggalkan rencana asli/rencana semula.
Apakah didalam diri anda, menggunakan teori dan konsep khusus untuk menjalankan tujuan anda dalam kasus bidang apapun ?
Anda akan membutuhkan teori dan konsep itu jika anda belum pernah masuk dalam bidang yang anda anggap asing.
“Tidak tahu, jadi tahu”
“Sebenarnya pernah melakukan tapi tidak tahu kalau tindakan itu adalah hal penting yang harus dilakukan“

Arsitek Dekat dg Masyarakat

Masyarakat menginginkan rumah yang nyaman dan sehat, serta efisien dalam budget. Untuk mewujudkannya dibutuhkan seorang ahli, yang dapat merencanakan dan menyelaraskan pembangunan rumah seperti itu. Bagaimana para arsitek? FASADE STUDIO menanggapinya. Kami memang ingin agar arsitek dapat menjangkau dan dekat dengan masyarakat. “Artinya, masyarakat terbiasa menggunakan jasa arsitek”.Selama ini, hanya masyarakat kelas tertentu yang dapat memanfaatkan jasa arsitek. Padahal arsitek dapat menjangkau semua kelas masyarakat. “Para arsitek juga punya sisi-sisi untuk kerja sosial”. Dalam merancang rumah, kami selalu mengedapankan fungsi yang mengacu pada kebutuhan klien. “Biasanya kami tidak pernah menanyakan berapa besar anggaran yang disiapkan untuk membangun karena kami tahu klien kami punya kemampuan untuk itu. Namun bagi yang memiliki dana pas-pasan, kami akan menanyakan jumlah anggarannya agar kami dapat memberi saran yang sesuai.”

Designing a Colorful, Deer Resistant Garden


One of my biggest challenges in designing and planting a deer resistant flower garden was to make it colorful. At first, I felt so limited by my choices. Now, I feel like there are so many perennials, shrubs, bulbs, trees and ornamental grasses from which to choose to plant in a deer resistant garden.

The deer have been out and about the house and gardens a lot lately. We've seen a group of bucks, several does with twins and singles, and a lot of adolescent deer. A doe pretty much lives out her life in the same small area while a buck will traverse around a few miles from home. Since the slight Japanese iris bloom munching back in June when the fawns were born, I've not had any more damage in the garden. We've also been getting some good rain lately, so this was a great time to update my photographs so that I can keep a history of the garden at different times.

While most of the perennials in the next photo have finished blooming, the crape myrtle is in full bloom. I've never had any problem with deer munching a crape myrtle. Lagerstroemia come in all sizes and many colors. The Japanese Beetles will munch our little shrub-size lagerstroemia 'White Chocolate', but they tend to leave the larger trees like this 'Tuscarora' alone.



In the next photo, echinops 'Ritro' (globe thistle) is starting to bloom. The burgundy foliage is that of the crape myrtle 'White Chocolate' that should bloom soon. Just to the right of the myrtle is a rosemary and the echinacea 'Ruby Star' (coneflowers). I've not had any munching of those coneflowers this year. The pale blue spires to the upper left are agastache 'Blue Fortune' (hummingbird mint).



This is another view of that clump of coneflowers, taken from the ground down the slope looking up the slope. There is Heliotropium amplexicaule 'Azure Skies' (creeping perennial heliotrope) at the feet of the flowers. I use heliotrope extensively throughout my garden as it is a fast-growing perennial groundcover that is literally loaded with blooms throughout summer until frost.

In the foreground is Eupatorium coelestinum Wayside (perennial ageratum) that grows in the lower, moist soil at the bottom of the slope. I've seen just a few samples taken on the ageratum, so I don't think the deer liked it. The samples were clean-cut, so it could have been a rabbit taking a taste. These coneflowers are also grouped with spirea 'Neon Flash' a little shrub that blooms a deep rose color. It was deadheaded a few weeks ago and is about to bloom again.



Here's an earlier photo of spirea 'Neon Flash' when it was in bloom:



Another clump of the same coneflowers are grouped with monarda 'Blue Stockings' (bee balm). Bee balm is totally deer proof. Rabbits leave it alone, too. Hummingbirds love it as do the honeybees. In fact, it's difficult for me to deadhead the bee balm because of all of the honeybees!





I'm still trying to decide what companions will look good with the next photo of salvia ulignosa (bog salvia). The blue is so pure that I think it needs some yellow or white companions. That said, one plant is all you need as it sends out runners...give it a lot of space and plan to pull out what you don't want! At the end of everyday, it looks like the blooms are spent, only to be blooming great again the next morning! The honeybees and hummingbirds love this plant and the deer leave it alone, so it's staying for now.





Speaking of hummingbirds, Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' is a favorite as you can see from my little friend, a female Ruby-throated hummingbird. The deer don't bother this salvia at all, so plant a lot if you've got the right conditions! The dark blue flowers look great with a lot of other colors -- yellow, white, red, orange.





This agastache Acapulco 'Salmon and Pink' is another hummingbird favorite. This fragrant agastache blooms non-stop and is ignored by deer, rabbits and other pests. I have clumps of this that are 3 feet high and almost as wide. It's easy to divide in the spring so you can use this liberally. This weekend, I took a small clump of this and moved it closer to the 'Ruby Star' echinacea. I've been cutting off some of these blooms and walking around the garden to look for more ways to use this in my color schemes. It looks good with blue, deep rose, yellow and orange blooms.



Here you can see the same agastache mixed with all colors in the butterfly garden. The small tree is a vitex; the variegated ornamental grass is miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan'. The garden also includes salvia, yarrow, hypericum, orange coneflowers, tithonia 'Fiesta del Sol' (an annual), rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' (some munching by deer/rabbits on the rudbeckia, so you can see the little fence around it on the lower left side).



I'd like to work my design so that I can place the agastache 'Salmon and Pink' close to lantana 'Ham and Eggs' (shown here close up). While this lantana is supposed to grow only 2 feet high, mine are literally big shrubs about 4 feet high and wide! Lantana is another deer proof, rabbit proof, drought tolerant plant. This one must wait until spring to cut back the deadwood. As such, it can look rather ghastly over the winter, but gloriously blooms all summer until frost, so I put up with it. It's also a butterfly magnet!



This agastache 'Coronado' is new this year, planted as a tiny seedling in the spring. It is a pale orange/yellow, almost apricot color. I have high hopes for it to provide a big mass of color like the 'Salmon and Pink'. If it performs well, I've got to put this one with a salvia 'Black and Blue'. When it comes to deer, plant all the agastache you want!



Agastache 'Blue Fortune' is another reliable for the deer resistant garden. The pale spikes last all summer long and it is also a favorite for the good characters in the garden...hummingbirds, honeybees and butterflies.



Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is a red shown here with some new asclepias (red and orange milkweed), and verbena bonarisensis (tall verbena), and salvia gregii 'Navajo Red' in the background down the hill. All of these are deer proof plants.



This is a brand new crocosmia 'Jenny Bloom' that I just planted on Saturday to bring in some gold color. The crocosmias benefit from being dug up and replanted each year as the corms (think: bulbs) tend to grow in a stack and you'll get fewer blooms unless you adjust them a bit. I think they're worth it! This is a Bressingham Gardens (United Kingdom) variety.



This is also a gold/yellow plant. It doesn't look like much right now since it was just planted (4" pot), but this cestrum 'Orange Peel' (night blooming jasmine) is reported to bloom from June until frost here, growing in size up to 6 feet high and wide. It's supposed to be fragrant in the evenings. I'm looking forward to watching this one flourish in my garden. It is reported that all parts are toxic, so take that into consideration if you have children.



Salvia gregii 'Navajo Red' (there's some debate over whether this is the right name) is a great performer in my garden that is loved by hummingbirds and ignored by deer and rabbits. It's a pretty red for the garden. It mixes well with deep blues and bright yellows. I'd like to do more with this one, but it's difficult to find. I can think of so many color combinations that I'd like to create around it.





I have to include lavender as a deer proof, rabbit proof perennial herb. It's colorful, it's beautiful, it's drought tolerant. It's low maintenance (sheer it back a bit after bloom and again in late winter). About the only thing that kills it is too much water or not sheering it back every year. It will get ugly and woody if you don't sheer it back to keep the stems flexible and pretty. Pick a variety that works in your area. If you love lavender, you might want to try to grow some for cooking or for making your own bath products. I made lavender scones recently and they are delicious! I bought culinary lavender from a local farm (see my earlier blog). Some lavenders are purely ornamental, like the Spanish lavender (1st photo below) that blooms in spring. The Munstead lavender (2nd photo below) blooms in the summer. Provence, Hidcote, Grosso, Goodwin Creek are other varieties with special uses. I just planted three new Provence lavenders this weekend to use for culinary purposes.





I'd be totally negligent if I didn't mention nepeta! I've written an entire blog article around this one perennial. While I have several varieties in the garden, and I use it throughout the garden, it is deer resistant, rabbit resistant, drought tolerant, and it is colorful. Here, it is shown blooming with Dutch irises, also deer resistant. This photo was taken in April, but nepeta has a very long bloom time. Sheer the blooms and it blooms again.



I've also written about buddleia in my garden. I have many of these shrubs that are of different size, different colors....5 feet high, 7 feet high. Blue, purple, yellow, pink, etc. Pick one that you like and the deer won't eat it.










As you can see, there are many colors available for a deer resistant garden! I've just really shown you a little slice of choices. If you visit my other blogs, you may find other color combinations that work in the deer resistant garden. Some day, I'll put together an index with plant information and photos...someday when I have the time to undertake that big task! :-)

Happy Gardening!
Cameron