Best of the Rest, 2015
Sunday, January 10, 2016 at 4:20PM The new year is underway with cold temperatures and dreary skies. Today, the best place to be is inside by the blazing hearth with a warm drink in hand. It is also time to look back at 2015 and choose my annual "Best of the Rest." These are last year's garden photos that for various reasons did not make it onto my blog, but perhaps they deserve a look. So here they are; enjoy the 2015 tour, and see if you have any favorites!
January:
These photo was taken at a friend's house on a typical gray January day.
A January sunset behind the woodlands.
February:
Hellebores are among the first bloomers of the year.
Flowering quince (Chaenomeles) blooms for months, beginning in late winter.
March:
These hellebores are near my kitchen door. They also bloom for months.
Yellow forsythia is a welcome sight, along with early daffodils.
April:
April showers make the grass wet!
Native azaleas are a lovely sight in the April woodland garden.
'Orchid Romance' is a pretty floribunda rose in the front garden.
May:
'Penelope' is another favorite rose in the front garden.
A May view from the patio.
Confederate Jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, grows over the iron arch by the patio. I look forward to its fabulous fragrance every year.
Pink petunias grow by a purple pot containing Carex oshimensis 'Everillo.'
This Jack-in-the-Pulpit was growing in a garden in North Alabama..
June:
Rosa mutabilis, or Butterfly Rose, is one of my favorites.
The garden is mostly green as summer deepens.
This fuchsia bloomed for months in the woodland garden.
July:
This pretty butterfly was resting on my patio table.
August:
This photo was taken at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
A nice arrangement at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
September:
What would I do without Impatiens? These common annuals add a boost of color in shady places.
A fun project this year was a wheelbarrow garden.
I put a pot of 'Dinosaur' kale by a white azalea for a pretty picture.
October:
Clockwise from top left: 'Tamopan' persimmons look like little pumpkins hanging on a tree; Oakleaf hydrangea; Aging Agapanthus bloom; A glass ornament twists in the wind.
I am trying to grow variegated ivy up this metal tuteur.
Reflections in the lake at nearby Aldridge Gardens.
This birdhouse is beside a trail in the front garden.
An anole lizard stayed for a while in my wheelbarrow garden.
November:
A November view through the front garden.
Japanese maples 'Orangeola', on the left, and 'Waterfall' are growing in the woodland garden. Both have beautiful fall color.
December:
Burford holly produces an abundance of red berries.
A dwarf Burford holly is still a very large shrub!
I hope you enjoyed my 2015 leftover photos! Happy gardening in 2016!
Reader Comments (23)
I enjoyed them all - but my favorite is definitely the one of forsythia and daffodils!
Hi Deb, glad these photos made it on your blog as they are definitively worth seeing! Since you asked for favorites, I do have some. First the Rose 'Orchid Romance'. This is a new one to me and I think it is incredible pretty. I also especially love the photo of the hellebores by your kitchen door and the photo of the Quince.
I often think about what this year will bring for the garden. We had a good start with a few days of strong rain. I am pruning and fertilizing my roses, which seems to be a never ending job, but the anticipation of all the roses blooming again in spring keeps me going. Hope this year will be a wonderful one for both of our gardens :-).
Warm regards,
Christina
It is REALLY difficult to pick a favorite, Deb. I changed my mind several times as I scrolled through your photos. I loved the hellebores by your kitchen door in March, the view from your patio in May, and the view of the trees and woodland in November. Your garden is a wondrous place!
Your garden is very beautiful Debs! It was fun following your gardening journey last year and looking forward to your 2016 adventures!
Hi Deb, so pleased you decided to show us these pics. I love them all, but my fave is probably the butterfly since I seem to have developed an absolute passion for insects. Runner up is the May view from the patio. Stunning!
Lovely to see someone else with my favourite chaenomeles, it flowers for ages doesn't it. I also like the view in May from your patio, the photo makes me want to explore further!
Such a wonderful look back over the year; there is just nothing that beats that daily walk through the garden to see what is now up through the ground and blooming. Your garden photos are always so enjoyable.
hellebore and anole for me - both exotic!
All year such beauty, but boy is May a show stopper. I do remember following your garden through the year and by fall it is glowing in vibrant color. Looks like you had some rain too. Happy New Year and happy growing.
I'm always struck by the similarities in our habitats even though we live in very different places. Of course, we don't have anoles here, but the woodlands and plants are so similar. Love the wheelbarrow garden!
Ooh. Love the quince photo. I really really really need to plant one of those.
That down-the-garden-path photo from Birmingham Botanical Garden is a keeper too - for sure! :)
Very difficult to pick a favourite but if I must it has to be the May view from the patio, it sums up for me the beauty of your garden - great plant choices positioned perfectly, thanks for sharing your year.
Hi Deb, What a brilliant format for a rundown of the year past. I couldn't possibly pick a favourite, too good to be seen as leftovers though .
A beautiful selection of photos. I especially liked the fruit-heavy hollies and the Anole lizard. Makes me eager to start anew with another spring.
We should all have such nice leftovers! I especially love the faded agapanthus image.
Ooo, I love all your hellebores and native azaleas! So pretty! Your wheelbarrow garden is so cute, too!
There were several that caught my eye, but I'd have to say that my favorite is the May view from the patio. Lovely indeed!
I love all your tall trees.
Hello Deb! This was such a lovely idea to post all these wonderful pictures of the year past. It is so lovely to see the beautiful progression through the seasons and to notice just how lovely each season is in its own right. How to pick a favorite? That is impossible because your garden is just so beautiful. I really do love the wheelbarrow garden though and also that lovely Dinosaur Kale with the Azalea. I always love interesting plant combinations and I thought that was a beautiful one!
Thanks as always for sharing your beautiful garden and state with us.
- Kate
I really enjoyed these garden pictures ad I think the azaleas were my favorite!
Don't ask me to pick a favourite. There are so many great photos here that really do a wonderful job of capturing your garden through the months and seasons. I love that you manage as a gardener to create such terrific views, and at the same time, so many more intimate moments.
I love the very first picture! I love to see the tee branches against the sky. I enjoyed seeing your garden pictures month by month. So glad you shared.
Those persimmons really do look like little pumpkins! I noticed when driving around running errands that the Asian persimmons had beautiful fall color this year.
Is that a Va. sweetspire in front of the birdhouse?