Shades of Green and Golden Light

    this is the garden: colours come and go,

           frail azures fluttering from night's outer wing

strong silent green serenely lingering,

     absolute lights like baths of golden snow.

                                          E.E. Cummings

Light transforms.

If your garden has gloomy, heavily shaded areas where nothing good will grow, consider removing the scrubby stuff and judiciously limbing up and pruning some of the trees to let in the sunshine. You may be surprised at what a difference it makes, and that area could even become one of your favorites.

Recently, as gentle sun washed over my garden, shades of green and golden light filled my heart with joy. I hope you are gladdened as I was.

Here are scenes from the woodland garden:

 Golden light streams through the entrance to the woodland garden.

Irises are beginning to blossom near the woodland entrance.

A tapestry of greens in the woodland garden

Top: Native redbud tree dripping with seed pods. Above, clockwise from upper left: Hydrangea 'Lady in Red', beginning to bud out; Variegated hydrangea; Native mahonia; Spreading Japanese plum yew

Hosta 'sieboldiana elegans' glows in the light.

Sunlight and shadows create a serene atmosphere in the woodland garden.

the hillside in the woodland garden

This is the view in front of my house:

Ethereal light shines over the japanese maple I call our marriage tree.

While the wonderful green colors predominate, flowers are blooming throughout the gardens:'Endless Sumer' hydrangea buds announce the coming season.

Knockout roses in the herb bed

1st row: Anthony Waterer spirea; Beauty Bush, Kolkwitzia amabilis. 2nd row: Southern arrowwood, Viburnum dentatum; French hollyhock, Malva sylvestris. 3rd row: Swamp rose, rosa palustris; very old azaleas. 4th row: Confederate or star jasmine; Blue salvia.

May God's Light shine in your hearts and take you out of dark places.    Deborah

Oakleaf Hydrangea for All Seasons

Oakleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia, is the official state wildflower of Alabama and can be found in every part of the state. I have heard that there are more oakleaf hydrangeas in Alabama than anywhere else on earth. I believe it. I have plenty of them in the woods surrounding my house, and I planted none of them.

It's a great, low maintenance shrub for year round interest. There are a number of beautiful cultivars, but most of mine are the native shrub. The white summer blooms persist for months and turn deep rose in late summer. The plant is deciduous, and the oak leaf shaped foliage assumes wonderful shades of red and burgundy in the fall. Oakleaf hydrangea also provides winter interest, with dried seed heads, arching structure, and the peeling bark of stems and branches.

Oakleaf hydrangea grows four to eight feet tall and wide, in zones 6 to 9. It does best in partially shaded, naturalized areas and has average water needs. It may need pruning every few years, and you may want to remove the old seed heads before the new growth starts in the spring. Mine seem to do well even if I don't do this, but I am lucky my neighbor Betty likes this chore and usually snips mine while she is doing hers. She is a good neighbor.

Propagation is easy by root ball division, which is the quickest way to a new plant, or they can be grown from seeds or stem cuttings. 

If you can't find oakleaf hydrangea growing in your area, come to my state for a visit, turn into the first woods you see, and no doubt there will be one growing right in front of you!