Best of the Rest, 2016

Happy New Year, everyone! Hopes and plans for the new gardening year are bouncing around my brain. Outside, relentless rain flows over the trees and shrubs and the earth. Let the ground soak it in. After last year's drought, I am grateful for the steady downpour. I think 2016 was a hard year for the garden, but when I look back over last year's photos, I remember the beautiful spring and a summer that wasn't too bad until it became the monster that ate up fall.

But now it is time for my "Best of the Rest" feature! Every year I look back and choose photos from each month. These are photos that did not make it into the blog, for various reasons. I use only photos of my own garden for this feature, so it is a good overview of Deb's Garden through the year. So, here we go:

January: Stump World is a group of huge oak stumps that have been slowly rotting in the woods for over 25 years. All but two have completely decayed. They provide nourishment and shelter for countless small critters.

February:Camellias are beginning to bloom in the woodland garden.

Edgeworthia and quince are late winter bloomers that brighten the gray days of February.

March: The garden comes alive in March. It was hard to choose which images to use. I have too many!

A fallen Magnolia petal nestles next to a Bloodroot bloom.

Serviceberry is one of the first trees to bloom in the spring.

March sky

April:

May:Anthony Waterer Spirea is one of my favorite May bloomers, and it will repeat bloom through the summer.

June: I call June the "deep greening" month. Green becomes prominent in the garden.Clockwise from top left: Gardenia bud; Gardenia flower; Cercis canadensis 'Whitewater' leaf; Dwarf gardenia.

July:

August:

September:I bought these on sale at the beginning of September, with plans to plant them before the next rain. It was months before I was able to plant them.

These persimmons fell prematurely from the tree, no doubt due to drought stress.

October:

November:Hosta and Toad Lily foliage as they go dormant

Rings on a windchime

December: Goodbye, 2016!

I hope you enjoyed my tour through the year! Did you have a favorite month?

Best wishes to you all!   Deb 

Am I a Crazy Gardener?

Recently I was helping a friend in her garden when I became aware that she was looking at me oddly. 

"Oh, I guess you noticed I talk to the plants."

"Yes," she replied. "And you also talk to worms."

It's true. I talk to all sorts of plants and critters. Since none of them have talked back yet, I don't think this makes me crazy, though some folks may have a different opinion.Wrens are raising a family in this red birdhouse next to the patio. I usually say good morning to them, and they answer me with song.

I am hanging on to each moment in the garden, treasuring the fresh air and the glorious spring blooms. In the front garden, roses and other shrubs are flowering along with annuals and perennials. The vibrant foliage of Japanese maples adds to the colorful scene.

Confederate jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, grows on the arch near pink Anthony Waterer Spirea.

Clockwise from top left: Daylilies in front of the pink bird house will soon be blooming. Behind the bird house is purple Loropetalum and to the left is Anthony Waterer Spirea; Persicaria 'Purple Dragon' grows next to potted Hosta Aureomarginata; Coral Drift roses by the patio; Confederate Jasmine.

Clockwise from top left: Foxgloves; Rosa Mutabilis; Anthony Waterer Spirea; Rose 'Orchid Romance.'

The woodland garden is taking on an enchanted, deep green atmosphere that gleams with golden tints in late afternoon sunshine. I love to walk along the moss paths and watch the light glinting over the plants.

Blooms in the woodland garden are more subdued than those in the sunnier front garden. Above are on the left, Heucherella 'Alabama Sunset' and, on the right, a white woodland phlox.

Clockwise from top left: Fatsia japonica 'Spiderweb' in pot, seen with Strawberry begonia flowers; Ligularia; Indigofera; Bird's Nest Fern, a tropical plant that spends warm parts of the year in the woodland garden.Ground covers seen here are Liriope and Indigofera.

Summer will be here soon, and bugs and fungal diseases will arrive with the heat and humidity. Flowers will retreat. Some plants will wilt overnight. Others will reach and twine and proliferate like true denizens of the jungle.

Meanwhile, I continue to talk to my garden, and because I am so tuned to it, it responds to my care and love. How about you; are you a crazy gardener, too?