The Beautiful Season

Recently I was miserably sick for a week, then gone to the beach for another week; two weeks out of the garden in the middle of spring - yikes! I am far behind in some essential chores, but I can only be optimistic in springtime. I will eventually get the pruning done, and late transplants will be pampered to hopefully enable their survival through the summer. I will be planting my summer veggies a couple of weeks later than usual, but surely they will do ok. Best of all, great washes of color have spread across my garden this past month without much help from me, and the garden is looking good. 

Azaleas have been blooming along the path in the front garden:

Here are some views in and around the arbor garden:

Ferns are emerging throughout the garden:

Fresh green growth covers the woodland garden, and the moss paths are lush:

After a dreary winter, I am always excited to see colorful foliage and blooms return each year:1st row: Honeysuckle 'Major Wheeler'; Azalea 'George L. Tabor'; Common Ajuga. 2nd row: Spirea 'Candy Corn'; Pieris 'Cavatine'; Hybrid Columbine. 3rd row: Autumn Fern; Orange Karume Azalea; Korean Spice Viburnum.Here is a close-up of a colorful euphorbia:

This is the beautiful season. The nights are cool, the days are pleasantly warm, and I love being in the garden. Finally getting those garden chores done will be no chore at all!

New in Deb's Garden: Acanthus 'Whitewater'

"Oh!" 

I prefer to buy my plants from local nurseries. I have had the experience of paying too much on line for a plant that arrived on death's door or else pitifully small for the price. But once again I had fallen victim to a glossy catalogue photo of a plant I had never seen before. So as I opened the box containing my newly arrived Acanthus 'Whitewater', I was anxious that my worse fears would be confirmed.

I had only partially opened the container when a large leaf unfurled out of its wrappings, like a young animal's enthusiastic attempt to escape its cage. I exclaimed at the plant's beauty as I released it from a covering of styrofoam packing.Here is what my new Acanthus 'Whitewater' looked like immediately after arrival.

Acanthus 'Whitewater' is a perennial with striking deep green leaves with creamy variegation. That is enough to make me love it, but it also will produce spikes of pink and cream flowers in early to midsummer. This plant needs some space, growing 3 feet tall and wide.A closer look at Acanthus 'Whitewater'

An easy care, vigorous plant, it will grow in USDA hardiness zones 7 - 10. It likes shade to part shade and prefers moist but well-drained loamy soil. However, it will grow in poorer soil and is also tolerant of heat and humidity. I just planted mine in a shadier part of my new pollinator garden, and I am eager to see how it does. 3' x 3' sounds big to me, but I know happy plants in my climate often exceed expectations. So I placed it in a corner where it can get much larger without bothering other plants or looking out of place. 

Time will tell, but after a week in the ground, Acanthus 'Whitewater' looks very happy.