May Blessings

Chilly temperatures returned this week, and for a few days I could imagine it was early spring again. I enjoyed being in the garden and found myself tinkering around, planting and weeding and moving rocks. Nothing like fresh, cool air to invigorate the body and soul!

When I am outside, I am deeply aware of my blessings. Here are a few scenes from the garden this week:Top: A view of the garden next to the patio. 2nd photo: Light shines through the autumn sage and blue salvia growing near the parking court in front of the house. 3rd row: 'Anthony Waterer' spirea; Autumn fern growing in front of a late blooming azalea. 4th row: French hibiscus; Hosta 'Francis Williams'.Hydrangeas are beginning to bloom. Long ago in another life, I did not like hydrangeas. The large heads of macrophylla especially repulsed me. What was I thinking?

When we moved here in 1985, the property contained many oakleaf hydrangeas, which are native to Aabama. I grew to love them, but I still turned away from other hydrangeas. Then I discovered lace caps, such as 'Lady in Red' and 'Mariesii variegated'. These also are within the macrophylla species, but their flattened clusters of flowers and loose, billowy form seemed more graceful and suited to my woodland setting than the mopheads.

Then a few years ago I took a garden tour and came across a wooded hillside with an understory of mopheads. Great colorful bouquets of flowers — pastel pinks, deep purple, lavender, blue, fuchsia — billowed around the trees, like the ruffled party dresses of antebellum beauties. I was completely, hopelessly enchanted, and I have loved them ever since.

I can't replicate what I saw on the garden tour, but I have started a hydrangea walk leading from the Lady Garden up to the Front Garden. Here are some of the hydrangeas along the hydrangea walk and in other parts of the garden:1st row: Masja ; Endless Summer. 2nd row: Annabelle; Oak Hill. 3rd row: Lady in Red, growing in different areas. Pink comes from soil with a higher pH; blue comes from more acidic soil. 4th row: Mariesii Variegated; Oakleaf hydrangea 'Snowflake'.

And, finally, a quick peek into the Woodland Garden, where the combination of Heuchera 'Tiramisu' and Japanese maple 'Waterfall' caught my eye:May you be blessed with good health, good friends, and flowers for the soul. Happy Gardening!  Deborah 

You may also enjoy Snowflakes in July.

Gardening with Texture and Color

I plant the plants; God gives the light.

Late afternoon, when sunbeams wash over the foliage, is the best time in my garden. Sometimes I can capture the ethereal atmosphere on camera. I took the following photos just as I stepped out of my kitchen door. Individual plants aren't recognized so much as the impressionistic colors.

Colorful foliage is an important part of my landscape, especially now as summer arrives and spring blooms recede. Yes, I know, according to the calendar it is still officially spring, but when the temps climb into the nineties as they have done this week, I call it summer! Here in Alabama, green predominates through the hot months. Even the interior of my house has a green tint, from the verdant hues reflected through the windows. But green doesn't have to be boring! I know we want to ignore the garden and hunker inside our air conditioned buildings, but with some planning the exterior can be refreshingly beautiful enough to tempt us outdoors.

A shady woodland garden is a pleasant retreat from the hot sun. There are multiple layers to this garden. I am blessed with mature oaks, hickory trees, and pines. Beneath these tall trees is an understory of dogwoods, redbuds, and Japanese maples. Closer to the ground are many shrubs with various textures and colors. Then there are ground covers, perennials, and lush moss paths to cover the forest floor. The entrance into the Woodland GardenA view of the main planting bed in the Woodland GardenA view through the upper Woodland Garden

I am a tactile person. I like to touch stuff. In my garden are many textures, from pitted stone, hard concrete, rough wood, to soft moss, slick leaves and fuzzy foliage. I have added a few accents, such as the snail pot, for additional interest. The pot is made from a heavy, frost proof clay. I love the heft and smooth feel of it.

1st row: The fern in front of the bench is Autumn fern. Afternoon light has turn the fronds gold; The snail pot contains juncus, a twisty rush. 2nd row: Ground cover indigofera; wild violet and pitted rock. 3rd row: Painted Japanese fern with fuchsia in background; a mossy rock with wild violet foliage.Foliage combinations create character and encourage curiosity in the garden. Leaves have various shapes and colors. Some evergreens are not really green but are yellow or blue.Top: Japanese maple, weeping deodar cedar 'FeelinBlue', and mondo grass. 2nd row: Juniper 'Saybrook Gold'; Weeping Deodar cedar 'Feelin Blue'. 3rd row: Japanese maple 'Waterfall'; Groundcover indigofera in front of iris foliage.Other plants are variegated. They may have spots or stripes. Leaves can be purple, red, white, silver, or a mixture of all the above. Green itself comes in a wide range of hues.

Gardening is three dimensional painting, and the canvas is the earth. Colors and textures can contrast or complement. They should repeat in different degrees throughout the garden to provide unity. Don't be afraid to try something different. The colorful pink, white, and blue-green plant in the second row below is in a pot buried in the ground. I sited it to amplify the rosy stems of the adjacent hydrangea 'Lady in Red' and also to repeat the silvery blue color of nearby artemesia. It is a tropical plant that won't survive the winter, so I will move it indoors when the weather turns cold. 
1st row: An unnamed hosta seedling, possibly a cross between 'Elegans' and 'Francis Williams'. It has huge leaves; Blue stems of hosta 'Elegans'. 2nd row: Deodar cedar 'Feelin Blue'; Stromanthe sanguine 'Tristar. 3rd row: Variegated Jacobs Ladder; Calla lily. 4th row: Heuchera; Epimedium and pulmonaria. 5th row: Heuchra and artemesia; View of woodland planting bed. 6th row: Heuchera blooms.All of this together creates visual appeal. Despite the summer heat and my emphasis on foliage, I do have flowers! I have many flowering shrubs and trees which bloom at different times of the year. This is definitely the easiest way to have flowers throughout the seasons. 

Top: A little critter appreciates the bloom of a Rosa palustris, which is located in a sunnier part of the woodland garden. 2nd row: Rosa palustris; Hydrangea 'Lady in Red'. 3rd row: Goldmound spirea; Hydrangea 'Snowflake'.Soon gardenias will fill the woodlands with their glorious fragrance. And when the deepest, darkest, greenest part of the summer arrives, I will sit pots of annuals here and there. I also am not above cheating. I confess, RARELY, I have stuck artificial flowers in pots and put them in the garden!

There is just no excuse for having a boring garden.

Follow-up: Thanks goes to Rosie of Leaves N Bloom, who identified my tropical plant as Stromanthe sanguinea 'Tristar'.