flower markets on London streets

Two weeks ago (mid October) my husband and I traveled to London, England. We had a glorious time. I truly got my flower fix. I saw landscapes in the Cotswolds and Bath so immaculately tended and loved that they took my breath away. We went to Kew Gardens where we joined a guided tour entitled “Tapestry of Trees,” led by a gifted volunteer who was both knowledgeable and personable. We traveled to Hampton Court, originally the home of Henry the VIII, where we saw intriguing formal and informal gardens; on our last day we went to a gardener’s paradise, The Royal Horticultural Society Garden at Wisley. Oh my goodness! I have never seen anything so beautiful. I will be sharing photos and highlights of all those locations in the next weeks. I wanted, however,  to start with the flowers of the London Streets. Corner flower markets, window boxes, roof gardens, hanging baskets, hotels with intricate flower arrangements surrounding their doors and, yes, the star of this blog, a pub whose exterior was almost completely covered with flowers. This sight made my heart skip a beat; impatiens, begonias, fuchsias and others in every color of the rainbow were in full bloom. Even in late October the flowers looked like they were at the peak of their season. My annuals are long since a memory soon to be replaced with the flowers of winter. I hope that you will enjoy looking at what I call my London street scenes (for flower lovers everywhere).

one confederate rose plant with all these colors

Pink ribbons are everywhere lately as our communities observe Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Pink abounds in our fall garden too. In a month usually known for falling leaves of red, bronze, yellow, and orange there is a plethora of pink in the garden. Take a look at the lovelies blooming right now in and near my garden in East Central Alabama. The crinum lily, encore azalea, and the confederate rose are all glorious now. Also in spectacular bloom are Leslie Ann sasanqua camellias and Japanese anemones (my last blog featured one with a white flower but soon after that one a pink one began blooming).

The crinum lily is the epitome of the pass - a - long plant, providing it is not too well established in the owners garden. Friend and gardening expert Hayes Jackson told me that once these jewels are well established it is tough to move them as the bulbs can become huge. Crinum lilies can be difficult to find in garden shops but are available readily online; our local Master Gardener group propagates them and sells them at our yearly spring plant sale. Crinums, like many other plants in the south, like lots of sun but relish some shade from the sun in the hottest part of the day. I have found that mine need regular water to flourish. Crinums also love well-drained soil that has lots of good stuff added. This particular crinum ( I apologize because I no longer remember its name) has bright green sword-like foliage which disappears in the winter. Mulch them really well over the coldest months. The flowers have an exquisite fragrance; and as you can see the bloom is just beautiful. If you find a friend who has them, ask for a piece of this tough - as - nails plant; if not, do a little searching on the net to locate one to add to your garden. A word of caution; put it in the right place and just let it be because, after several years, a crinum is almost impossible to move.

I am also posting a photo of the encore azaleas blooming their hearts out for their second time this year. Encores, unlike the traditional azalea, which blooms only one time a year, bloom in the spring, sometimes sporadically during the summer, and then also put on a great fall show. The one pictured has flowers has solid and variegated flowers and is a joy in the garden. Encore azaleas can take more sun than our spring blooming azaleas; other than that, their culture is like the typical azalea we southerners adore. They do just fine here in our zone 7B/8A winters. Check with your nursery if you plant outside the Lower South climate range to make sure they will be cold hardy as encore azaleas hail from Mobile, Alabama.

The next plant in the triumvirate of pink beauties is the confederate rose (Hibiscus mutabilis), an old-fashioned plant if there ever was one. Easy to propagate from cuttings taken before the first frost, this woody perennial may reach 12 or more feet and can form a small tree. This plant needs lots of room in a sunny place, although it also will welcome a little relief from the hottest sun.  The plant opens from a pink bud and then can vary from pink to white and then get darker as the day wears on; in this case blooms of both colors are on the same bush. This particular one has a double flower but there also is also a plant with a single flowered bloom and plants that have red single blooms. The red ones actually bloom all summer whereas the pink and white ones bloom only in very, very late summer through early fall to the first heavy frost. If you see someone with confederate roses, ask nicely for a cutting. They root so easily before long you can have a row of them in your yard. Confederate roses seem to do fine without a lot of watering provided there is some rainfall during the summer. This rose is in my neighbor’s yard and they don’t baby it at all except for cutting down the dead stalks during the winter.
Now we know why we can think pink in the fall –  so when you consider adding plants for fall color think in or outside the box and say pink is my favorite fall color.

mums

sedum

japanese anemone

Fall is officially here, but in East Central Alabama it is still warm and muggy. We have just about drowned with the heavy rains over the last week or so. Usually September is a month where we see long stretches of drought. Not so this year. Remembering days of endless dry heat without a sign of water makes me glad for the recent rainy days. The mushrooms are, indeed, flourishing providing a daily job for my husband as he removes them from my curious puppy.

Many often consider this time of the year to be rather blah. The summer annuals and perennials have faded . The fall color is not yet visible on the trees, and it is too early for the pansies. However, if you planned for four season bloom, there is still lots going on in the garden. You can find beautiful sedums, glorious sasanqua camellias, brightly colored mums, and the dainty but dear japanese anemones. Toad lilies (mentioned in an earlier blog) are still blooming.

If you have not planted japanese anemones, you surely should add this fall blooming perennial to your garden. Happiest in part sun and watered regularly, the japanese anemone will happily spread over time. One of its major disadvantages may be that the blooms grow on stems which can get leggy and need some staking. The one that I have pictured above is ‘Honorine Jobert’.

Sedums flourish in full sun, although they will tolerate a little shade. Their claim to fame is they don’t need much water. There are literally dozens of these succulent perennials on the market–some with large leaves, some with small leaves; some are trailers; others grow upright. Many are evergreen; others disappear over the winter. I have them in a range of colors from chartreuse to bright green to variegated. Sedums make wonderful container plantings.  Although most are not grown for their flowers; many (such as the one in the photograph: Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’) have a beautiful fall bloom.

As far as mums go, I don’t have much luck growing them as a perennial. They get leggy and fall over and never seem to look like the ones available in all the garden shops right now. About the first of September I replace all the spent annuals with pots of mums; they really do brighten up the landscape and can be enjoyed for weeks; however they do need frequent watering. My sister grows ‘Ryans White’, ‘Ryans Pink’ and ‘Ryans Yellow’. She says these old-fashioned mums are prolific spreaders but not invasive and the clumps just get larger and more beautiful as the years pass. They grow without care and really add a lot to the late summer/early fall garden. She tells me they are a great pass-a-long plant and she has shared them with many friends over the years.

Please do remember – as you shop garden catalogs and shops and the internet – to plant for 12 months of bloom in the garden. With the choices available to us all now, it is not hard to do and the rewards are great!

This little jewel with its pink flowers with purple stripes is a mallow, more specifically Mallow sylvestris (french hollyhock). The gardening source I turned to remarked that it needed good drainage and preferred regular water (“The Southern Living Gardening Book”); mine, however, is growing between rocks set out as stepping stones under an overhang so it frequently misses the rain, and regular sprays from the hose. But it grows happily. When I first got a mallow from a local nursery, I planted it in a beautifully groomed flower bed with great soil; not only did it refuse to prosper, it died. Some may view this mallow as a pest because it reseeds so prolifically that there can be dozens and dozens of plants almost overnight and they can spread throughout the garden. This is not a problem to me as it is so beautiful. When there get to be too many, I just get out my pruners. Although it does best in full sun, mine is planted in part sun. Many would refer to this mallow as a pass-along plant. If you can’t find a friend with an extra plant, perhaps he/she will share the seeds.

At Master Gardeners we define a weed as “a plant out of place.” Thus, for some, this mallow may be a weed as it is likely to turn up way far away from its original home. But for me it is a joy! 

toad lily

diamond frost

The summer garden is winding down and late summer flowers, like toad lilies and Japanese anemones, are in bloom. I love the delicate toad lily (tricyrtis); the tiny little flower resembles an orchid.  This shade lover is a precious addition to the garden. It is partial to rich, well drained soil ( but what plant isn’t?). Although I have read that this plant can become invasive, it never has been so in my garden. Unfortunately, it is irresistible to voles who may also be snacking on the surrounding hostas. I also have noticed that it does require water; in a spot where it did not get regular water it just disappeared. It is an easy plant to grow if you give it the conditions to make it happy.

There are still so many beautiful things growing.  This is really a good time to take stock of what did well in your garden and what did not. Jot this information down in your calendar, along with how many plants you bought and where you planted them. Somehow, whenever I get to the garden center to buy the plants for my color beds, I never remember how many to purchase and invariably I come home with too many or too few.

Among my favorites this summer is the diamond frost euphorbia. Planted in part to full sun in pots or in the ground this annual is both tough and beautiful. However, it does like to be watered. So plant it where watering will be easy. Billowing clouds of tiny white flowers make this plant easy to love.

I am also sending you a verse I saw at Brookgreen Gardens in Litchfield Beach in South Carolina.  The garden features an amazing children’s section with lots of wonderful verses mounted on large signs placed among the glorious sculptures and beautiful plants. Although this verse is in the children’s section, the words speak to the heart of all gardeners. 

The summer days have brought with them so many divine flowers and this is just one of them, the pineapple lily or eucomis. I think it is rather an unusual plant, but many of my gardener friends have one in their yards. As you can see, the flowers look like small pineapples. Eucomis can be started from bulbs in the fall or seeds in the spring. I am not sure I would ever have the patience to grow these beauties from seed. Like every other growing thing they like well-drained, well amended soil and I do keep them watered during the summer. Sometimes it is a challenge to figure out the best way to stake a flower. Mine grow in part sun but they will also take full sun.

This has been a wonderful growing season for us here in East Central Alabama. We have had good rain –  not too much to drown everything and not too little to let plants dry out. Most of the perennials have finished their show,  leaving the annuals to continue their job of providing color and interest. Unfortunately, some of them may be getting a little tired. Hopefully you pinched your impatiens and your begonias so they have not gotten too leggy. It is not too late to do some judicious pinching but they may not recover from a really hard pruning before the first frost. Annuals planted in pots will probably need water, either from mother nature or a hose, every day as their expanding root systems has filled up their pots. If your annuals are a bit weary, a shot of water based fertilizer may help. But if they are hopelessly leggy or chewed by any variety of local insects the big box stores seemed to continue replenishing their stock of annuals – so replace those that are really tired. We will have many months before it will be pansy time.

Along with the good of the garden there has be “the evil.” Right now my garden is under attack from what I refer to as the horde of locusts, lubber grasshoppers, who spend their lives chewing plants or reproducing themselves The other morning some of my mg friends were sharing their efforts to get rid of them One offered that she cut off their heads with a scissors because when she stepped on them they splattered on her leg. She wondered if there was a shellac like substance we could spray them with to suffocate them. I step on them or smash them with a shovel. And still they keep coming. When they were much smaller, I sprayed them with seven dust, to no avail. The Japanese beetles season came and went without too much damage. Although I have seen lots of deer, they are avoiding my yard perhaps because of the continuous spray of deer repellant made of putrefied eggs.

I love gardening, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I hate it when something dies as did a six year old Japanese maple the other day. But as a friend said, that is an opportunity to get something else.

I hope I never get too old or too senile to make the morning rounds, deadhead some flowers, pull weeds, prune a wayward branch, crank up the lawnmower, or any one of a hundred other tasks. Even doing battle with grasshoppers and the deer and other garden pests will keep me fit, (I hope) for life. 

succulent bed and container planting at Brookgreen Gardens

flower bed at Brookgreen Gardens

swallowtail caterpillar on the fennel

Roycroft daylilies

Last week we traveled to the coast of South Carolina. As most gardeners enjoy doing, I visited area nurseries and public gardens. My first stop was at Roycroft Daylily Nursery. Oh my goodness!! I was six years old again and turned loose in the candy store. The marvelous selection of daylilies was overwhelming. Ranging in price from 16 dollars to more than 60 the specimens were fabulous–healthy and lush. I am sharing a couple of pictures from their hybrid garden where they are actually creating new daylilies. One of the owners told me the secrets to beautiful daylilies are water and fertilizer. They have a colorful catalogue and ship world - wide (bare - rooted plants). Their web site is http://www.RoycroftDaylilies.com. Take a look and perhaps order one or two. You will not be disappointed and will probably develop a new passion!

At our destination we visited an herb nursery. Rows of green lush basil lined the shelves. Every manner of oregano and thyme that you could think of sat in flats. I became acquainted with scented geraniums. But the best sight was the swallowtail caterpillars munching on the fennel. The staff was quickly moving the caterpillars from the plants to be sold to a stock plant, so the caterpillars could eat to their heart’s content.  Remember, please, if you see these creatures snacking on your herbs they will soon be graceful caterpillars. Plant extra for them and be mindful of pesticides and herbicides, so you can also welcome them safely into your garden.

We also visited Brookgreen Gardens, a place so beautiful it could take your breath away. Between the magnificent sculpture, manicured lawns, marvelous old trees, and glorious flower beds . . . a visit there is a must if you are anywhere near Myrtle Beach or Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. The succulents were especially interesting. They were planted in pots as well as the ground. Succulents make a wonderful addition to our gardens! Frequently overlooked in favor of knock - your - eyes out blooming flowers, succulents add an great touch to the garden; they are trouble free, low maintenance plants. Not all are winter - hardy, so take a little time before you choose one for your landscape. 

Be sure to use some of your vacation to visit nurseries and gardens. It can be both educational and pleasurable. And, besides, you never know what kind of treasure you may come home with!

Asclepsis tuberosa or butterfly weed is a wonderful addition to the summer garden. Its bright orange flowers are irresistible to butterflies, especially monarchs. Although the flowers lure the monarch butterfly, the monarch caterpillar loves the foliage of the butterfly weed. Despite being called a weed (milkweed more specifically), I do not consider it a weed. As a matter of fact, it is a well-behaved, easy - to - grow, beautiful perennial in the garden. After the blooms fade (which mine have now done), green seedpods take their place. The seeds do eventually migrate through the air; this plant, however, seems only to have spread in my garden by forming larger clumps. Butterfly weed prefers full sun, although mine is doing very well in part sun. It is not a drought tolerant plant, but enjoys water during dry times.

Ascelpsis tuberosa provides a double gift for the gardener. It not only attracts flights of butterflies to the garden, but it also brightens any flower bed.

I am not sure of the name of this lily (but think it may be an asiatic hybrid); it bloomed in early June; I was thankful the neighborhhood deer did not have it for a snack. It is so beautiful that the first thing I did every morning was to go admire it.  If anyone can identify it, please do. 

Agapanthus, also known by the exotic name lily-of-the-Nile, can be a difficult plant to grow in my climate zone, 7B/8A. The one pictured is my fourth attempt to grow this striking perennial. Thus far three that I have planted have succumbed, possibly due to my gardening techniques or the climate here in East Central Alabama. In New Orleans they grow like weeds; everybody has them in their yards. Up here I rarely see them. Agapanthus will grow in part to full sun; mine is in the morning sun. They do not require lots of water but are not drought tolerant. The deer have yet to make a snack on the electric blue blooms – but stay tuned. A nice layer of mulch over the winter will help to keep them warm. Agapanthus grows in clumps depending on your climate and the cultivar can be evergreen or
deciduous.  But the beautiful green, strap-like leaves will remain after the blooms have faded until the arrival of the first frost around here. The agapanthus above is ‘Storm Cloud’, now about 2 feet tall and deciduous. This photo was taken last week; agapanthus is a marvelous summer bloomer and the bright blue flowers add a marvelous spot of color to the landscape. A Master Gardener friend visiting here the other day said that ‘Storm Cloud’ might not grow here, but mine has been doing so for more than three years.

I am often hesitant to recommend a plant that is not completely bullet proof. However, in this case I say plant one; read up on the selection you choose to see if it is hardy in your area.  Agapanthus is so beautiful that it is well worth the effort. Perhaps, as in my case, it will not realize it is not supposed to do well here and will flourish. 

Yesterday a group of Master Gardeners joined me at my house for a garden stroll. As we turned a corner we discovered that the calla lily was blooming. Since I have only one, I call it my “Phyllis” calla as it was given to me by a very good friend when she moved away. It is funny how a plant takes on the name of the person who made you a present of it. This very beautiful gift, one of my true treasures, is blooming for the third year. The first year, the bloom ended up as a snack for a deer; thus I now spray the bloom with smelly deer repellant in hopes that I might enjoy its splendor for days to come. I am not sure which cultivar of calla this is, but a calla lily is also known as a Zantedeschia. This calla is a perennial, as it disappears over the winter only to return in the spring. According to THE SOUTHERN LIVING GARDEN BOOK “the flower bracts are called spathes, and they surround a central spike or spadix that actually has the tiny true flowers.” The spathe is cream color and the base of the spathe is a deep wine color. It does not appear to be the common calla as the leaves of the common calla are unspotted and these, as you might see from the photograph, are spotted with white. In its three years in my garden it has yet to form a clump which is its normal growth habit. But I am most grateful for this single magnificent flower. It is planted in part sun but the sun is from 12 until 3pm, the hottest part of the day, so this calla could probably handle full sun. It is in a location that gets plenty of water. My Master Gardener friends remarked that white callas seemed to come back the best, but one of the group said she had good luck with a pink one.

When a gardener gives a gift of a plant to another gardener, garden etiquette says that we should never say thank you. But we are all thankful for our friends who share their bounty with us, because with that gift they share themselves. If you have something extra that has brought you pleasure, think of a friend who would treasure that plant as much as you: that plant then becomes a growing living reminder of your friendship.

There is a dainty plant in my garden that waits quietly to be noticed; however, it has an impressive scientific name. I call it simply zenobia. It is also referred to as honeycup or dusty zenobia; its scientific name is Zenobia pulverulenta (Bart. Ex Willd.) Pollard. Whew! I located this name with the help of a google search and a web site from desert-tropicals.com.

This wonderful delicate small shrub grows well in my climate zone of 7A/8B. According to the web site it is suitable for zones 5 through 9. Mine grows in part sun but it gets the sun during the hottest part of the day so you could probably safely say it is a full sun shrub. According to the web site the more sun, the nicer the foliage colors. Zenobia prefers moist soils. When I bought this little jewel so many years ago from Petals from the Past in Jemison, Alabama (a wonderful locally owned garden center), I did not know much about “the right plant in the right place” so I planted it where I had an empty spot which turned out to be a sunny spot close to my irrigation system so it receives ample water. My zenobia is about 2 and a half feet tall (but can grow up to 5 feet) and the green foliage has a dusty look about it. Although the web site remarks that zenobia is deciduous, mine tends to hang on to most of its leaves through the winter. I love it and the wonderful nodding little white flowers that remind me of small bells. I am not sure if this plant is hard to obtain but if you should happen to see it and have the right conditions, please buy one. Its late spring show is one not to be missed.

This glorious ornamental evergreen shrub is an azalea, a Robin Hill hybrid by the name of ‘Hilda Niblett’. This beauty reaches only about two to three feet high and around. Its blooming season is much later that the Southern Indica hybrids (like ‘Pride of Mobile’ and ‘George Lindley Taber’) coming into flower in May in my climate zone (7B-8A) when the danger of frost has really passed. They are a little harder to find in the trade, but if you live in an area where late frosts frequently destroy your azalea show, then this hybrid is one to try.

The tri colored flowers completely cover this beautifully shaped shrub. ‘Hilda Niblett’, like other azalea hybrids, prefers morning or filtered sun and good drainage in fertile, acid soil. An important point to remember when you plant all azaleas is never to plant them too deep. In fact, the top of the root ball should be an inch over the soil line. Dig a wide hole, but absolutely no deeper than the root ball of the shrub to be planted. Return the native soil to the hole (without amending the soil with anything) as research now indicates that it is better to plant a shrub or a tree in native soil to encourage the plant to form a good root system in the native soil.  Water well; and mulch with pine straw or bark, making sure that the mulch does not touch the stem of the plant.  Azaleas are not drought tolerant and need watering especially in dry periods.

Be prepared to be amazed and enchanted with this jewel of an azalea. Their small footprint makes them ideal for most gardens. 

I love to have an amaryllis blooming indoors in the winter. The big box stores as well as the smaller nurseries sell bulbs in late fall; amaryllis then provide a burst of color during the winter months. Watching an amaryllis come to life in the house is an amazing experience as they can go from a bulb to full flower in just a few weeks. If you have never grown one, try one this winter. You will be hooked.

An amaryllis (hippeastrum) in the garden is just as much of a joy as one on the windowsill. The blooms (in red, pink, white, even striped) can measure eight to nine inches across and grow on nice fat stems (which can reach two feet tall); amaryllis have vibrant strap-like green leaves. Amaryllis really can liven up a perennial bed. 

The amaryllis in the photograph, sadly, are not mine but live in a neighbor’s yard in huge pots which he stores in his garage over the winter. He tells me all he does is water them. If you want to try your hand at growing amaryllis, plant them in part to full sun and keep them watered during the growing season. Be sure to check the label to see that the amaryllis you choose is winter hardy in your climate zone.

If a bed of amaryllis at the front of your house does not stop traffic, it can really slow it down. This majestic beauty is a splendid addition to any landscape. 

Tri colored tubular flowers in shades of white, pink and, dark pink populate the same shrub.

The weigela shines during spring! When this deciduous shrub is not in bloom, it may almost be considered the ugly duckling in the garden. But once spring is here this plain Jane turns into a swan. Weigelas appear bullet proof; they bloom in hot sun to part sun, don’t seem very picky about the soil, are not prone to disease or insects, and can easily survive the drought. However, they can get very big, soon taking over the space around them. To me they are best in a supporting rather than a main role. But their wonderful springtime show earns the weigela a place in every landscape, if you give your weigela the right amount of room to flourish. Depending on the cultivar weigelas can reach 15 feet tall and almost that wide. However, there are also dwarf selections (for example ‘Minuet’)  on the market. I made the mistake early on in my gardening career of planting three together; eventually, they took over. I also discovered, when they were not blooming they were not especially attractive. I am not sure of the name for the weigela in the photograph but its claim to fame is three colors of flowers on the same bush. It is magnificent. (The label and my recall for the names of all my shrubs have disappeared). When the blooms diminish and the leaves come out, it will become a nice background plant. This weigela is about 8 feet tall and 6 around. I also have a weigela with wonderful variegated foliage which continues to be beautiful after the blooming show has passed.  Pruning is best done by cutting the oldest canes to the ground. THE SOUTHERN LIVING GARDEN BOOK also suggests that you can cut the whole plant back halfway every other year. I personally have not tried this method as mine still seems vigorous and healthy. I do prune out any dead canes when necessary.

A weigela is proof positive that you don’t have to be a star every minute of the year but, when it is your turn to shine, you will wow your audience.

(Please remember that I garden in East Central Alabama in an area that varies between hardiness zones 7B-8A; should you decide to plant any of the items mentioned in “The Inquisitve Gardener” in your own garden. please do check for plant hardiness in your area.)