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]]> http://visitsimplygardens.com/2010/07/for-the-gardener/feed/ 3 http://visitsimplygardens.com/2010/07/planting-a-cool-garden/ http://visitsimplygardens.com/2010/07/planting-a-cool-garden/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:35:58 +0000 Anne Brewer http://visitsimplygardens.com/?p=904 In the most recent Simply Gardens newsletter, Coffee On the Patio, I wrote about ways to stay cool in the garden. I want to expound on one of the ideas-planting from the cooler palette of colors. Except for my butterfly garden I keep the color scheme in my yard to blue, green, and white. I use blue and white hydrangeas and agapanthus extensively in my yard along with white caladiums. Melding the two colors against the serenity of the green foliage truly presents a cooler atmosphere. Try adding water to the landscape and the temperature in your yard will drop 15 degrees! Enjoy the photos from my garden and watch the Southern Living video Create a Cool Garden for more ideas using these colors in the garden.

Hydrangeas by the bird bath

Caladiums 'Candidum"

ferns

Hydrangeas

Agapanthus

Not long after our conversation I was working with a client on a courtyard plan, when one day I went  to the site and there was a turquoise garden stool. How coincidental, and of course, I now had to have one! Here’s a picture of mine and how I use it- more as a piece in a grouping of plants than as a side table. If I’m in need for a drink table I can easily use it in a functional sense, or as it was intended centuries ago- as a garden seat. The picture below the grouping shows how the stool can be used as a side table. I would so love that whole scene, wouldn’t you?

Find garden stools anywhere from Target to Frontgate- check them out and let me know if you’ve found the garden stool as irresistible as I did!

It’s grand to watch the flock swoop in and out of the holly branches scarfing up every last berry. They stay a little more than a week stripping the branches just in time for the emerging birth of new blossoms to start the cycle all over again.

The Great Banquet

cedar waxwing feasting on red berries

St. Mary's in Sewanee, Tn. -April 6, 2008

Despite the fact my garden looks like a bomb exploded in it, signs of spring are emerging. Look around- the saucer magnolia, red bud, and Chickasaw plum trees are blooming. My daffodils are about to pop open in Pensacola, while up in the Alabama country the snow drops are in full bloom and the daffodils are in tight bud form. God is always pointing the way to new life and resurrection- just look around. How are you finding renewal this year?

“Daffodils” (1804)

I WANDER’D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

The Daffodil Field in Boligee, Al.

A view from below the snow drop- Boligee, Al.

field of snow drops in Alabama

Here are a few pictures of some new cultivars I saw at the expo that I’d like to try in my garden. How about you?

Harbor Belle Nandina

This dwarf nandina is going to be a big hit with its beautiful green and wine hued foliage, and vivid vermilion berries. Keeping a compact form Harbor Belle is maintenance free. Use as specimen or in mass, you cannot go wrong with the new Nandina domestica ‘Jaytee’. Developed by Ralph Rushing from Rushing Nursery in Semmes, Al., and named for his daughter.

I’m enamored with the Callistemon viminilis ‘Little John’, a dwarf bottle brush shrub. I’ve seen it planted in mass, and it is spectacular when blooming. It is drought tolerant and attracts hummingbirds. Plant in full sun for a big splash of bright red color this summer.

Little John dwarf bottlebrush

Looking for a shade loving, low growing shrub? Check out the spreading yew, Cephalotaxus harringtonii ‘Prostrata’ -

dwarf spreading yew

Crytomeria 'Black Dragon'

A couple of cryptomerias have my attention, too: Cryptomeria japonica ‘Black Dragon’ and ‘Globosa Nana’. Their texture and form are so interesting. The ‘Black Dragon’  grows to be about twenty feet tall while the ‘Globosa Nana’ is a dwarf with a mounding form that can grow to four to six feet.

Cryptomeria 'Globosa Nana'

Be on the look out for these plants and more at your local garden store.

Ice Flowers and Ribbons

My brother-in-law knows what a hibernating bear I become in the winter at our cabin in western Alabama. Even when it’s sunny, if the temperature is less than 50 degrees, I tend to stick by the fireside. I thought he was using extreme imaginative measures enticing me outdoors with claims of seeing “ice flowers”. I had never heard of them before, and it took some coaxing on his part to convince me to check out his assertions. I bundled up with my jacket, hat, and gloves before venturing out for a walk down the dirt road to see this phenomenon, called “ice flowers”. But here they are- check out the photos.

When I got home I did a google search, and found several articles about them. Some people call them ice flowers, others call them ice ribbons- I guess it depends on the formation. The first picture posted looks like an ice flower, but here’s one that looks more like a ribbon tied in a bow. See the second photo. You might call this one  an ice angel because it looks like it has wings.

D. Bruce Means wrote in February 2004 in “Natural History” about his findings :

“On close inspection, I saw that the “petals” of my ice flowers push their way through the vascular bundles of the dead stems: Water from the roots is drawn up the stems (either as part of the plant’s natural transportation system or through capillary action) and expands as it freezes, breaking the stem walls and creating a flow of ice. The leading edge of the ice freezes to the stem’s papery bark, and as the ice grows it is lifted upward by the attached bark, forming delicately curved, lacy ribbons…
Ice flowers “grown” by the same plants during later freezes in the same winter take on entirely different shapes, often becoming more compact, like true flowers. The bark of the woody stems has already been peeled upward by the first freeze, and so it is no longer available to shape the growth of new ice flowers.”

So there you have it! Winter does have something to offer besides a chance to roast chestnuts on an open fire. Button up your over coat and go ice flower hunting! It’s a joy to come upon these flowers because they only “bloom” in certain weather and temperature conditions. You may be privileged to see them one year, and then go several years with no sightings.

Let me hear about your ice flower sitings.

This week I’ve been attending the national Garden Writers Association symposium in Raleigh, N.C. Beginning with a trade show to knock the trowel out of any gardener’s hand, I have benefited from the generosity of sponsors and exhibitors alike. As I write this my hotel room is bulging with plants, books, and garden tools to take home, so don’t ask me how I’m going to get everything in my car. You may see me roaring down I85/I65 with luggage strapped to the top of the car, as the plant loot rides safely inside for the eleven hour journey.

In between visits to the show, the sponsors have wined and dined us, and the association has presented wonderful topics to enhance our business as garden writers. But the real take away has been the tours they have arranged.  Beginning with the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University, my heart has been leaping with gardening joy. One of my favorite landscape architects, Ellen Biddle Shipman, designed a portion of the 55 acres called the Terrace gardens, in memory of Sarah P. Duke. But, just imagine having 55 acres to develop into whatever gardening desires you may have! From formal to wilderness, from native to Asian gardens- you name it, the Duke Gardens has it.

Next on our schedule was an early morning tour at the Plants Delight Nursery for a photography session. Not only is it a nursery, but within the six acres, there is the Juniper Level Botanic Gardens, a wonderful collection of mostly southeast U.S. natives “showcased in an aesthetic home-style setting”. For me, the “home-style setting” was magical, as the Avents (owners) created a sunken garden, a waterfall with a deck overlooking it, and a rock garden, just to name a few features. I encourage you to visit because there is so much more to know and understand about this treasure.

Just down the road is a private garden, owned by John Dilley and Willie Pilkington. Wow! They showed us a picture of what the property used to look like- basically an open field- so we could understand the undertaking and passion behind their garden. What you see today is a hidden paradise within an acre, plus some. Planting unusual specimens, the two gardeners created a dreamy landscape in an urban area.

Last night we visited the JC Raulston Arboretum, where we strolled the gardens and ate N.C. BBQ. I could go on and on about these tours, however, I have to close to make the bus for the next outing-Montrose Gardens, S.E.E.D.S. (South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces, Inc.), Witherspoon Rose Culture, and North Carolina Botanical Garden.

With all this talk, I leave you with one thing. GO! Visit this gardening mecca of the southeast- it will warm your heart and set you on fire for digging in your own backyard dirt! I can’t wait to get home and start dreaming for my clients as well as myself!

Inspiration comes anywhere anytime, and for me, mostly when I’m traveling. When I see an interesting landscape I pull out the camera and shoot away. Sometimes I can incorporate an idea into what I’m working on at the time, or I might file it away for future jobs.

In this case, while visiting my newly engaged niece in Memphis, I was able to implement this diamond idea right away. My niece loved the look as much as I did (could it be we have a wedding on our minds?), so we put it to work on the fence enclosing her tiny patio. Although there was not enough space to get all the layers that are in this photo, we were able to take the theme and create a diamond shaped espalier on her wooden fence. It looks different from this photograph- and that’s what is fun about inspiration. No two ideas are exactly the same.

On the morning we were leaving for Pensacola, we measured and marked the spots for the nails to create the pattern. My sister and I gave our hugs and kisses and said our goodbyes, as my niece headed for the hardware store to get the supplies. She called later that day, after her last plant was in the ground and wrapped around the wire to start it’s journey. She was excited to have accomplished a project to beautify her corner of the world.

Besides loving relationships, creating beauty in our lives instills true happiness in everyone.