The Beauty is in the Details

This is a view toward my front garden, taken near the side walk by the patio:

I enjoy such views immensely, but when I am strolling through a garden, sometimes the greatest pleasure comes from examining plants close up, often discovering delightful, unexpected details.

For example, at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, there is a flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, near the entrance. Ho-hum. There are lots of dogwoods. No point in giving this one more than a glance. 

No, stop! Look close! This one is different, a rare double flowering one, 'Pluribracteata':

I wonder how many visitors walked past this tree and never saw the unusual blooms?

In my own garden there are several varieties of Cornus florida. I love this pink flowering one:

My favorite dogwood has to be Cherokee Sunset, with red blooms and fabulous variegated foliage:

I have never seen a variegated plant I didn't love. When a plant has beautiful foliage, it doesn't need flowers to impress me! Here is a sampling of some of the variegated plants in my garden:Top row: Caladium 'Candyland'; Variegated fig. 2nd row: Two types of toad lilies. While waiting for flowers enjoy the foliage! Tricyrtis affinis 'Lunar Landing' and Tricyrtis hirta 'Variegata'. 3rd row: Variegated Jacobs Ladder; Pieris japonica. 4th row: Unlabeled plant, but I think it is a Dracaena, also called Corn Plant; Silver lace fern, Pteris ensiformis.

Variegated Weigela is a plant with both variegated foliage and flowers. Sweet as candy!

I have lost count of the Japanese maples in my garden. The number has risen above 15, I know. Here are a handful. Examining the leaves, I fall in love all over again.Clockwise from top left: 'Butterfly'; unnamed tree that grew from seedling; 'Viridis'; 'Sango-Kaku'

Ferns are always worth a close look for interesting details:Clocwise from top left: Birds Nest Fern; Japanese Painted Fern; Holly Fern - note the spores; Lady Fern

Despite my love of foliage, I don't want to overlook the flowers. Here are a few worth a closer look. The purple clematis is H.F. Young, a good one for either sun or shade:Top row: Rosa mutabilis, also called Butterfly Rose. These single roses have an artless simplicity, but the flowers offer a variety of colorations. 2nd row: Lonicera simpervirens, a native honeysuckle that hummingbirds love. 3rd row: I just planted H. F. Young Clematis in the woodland garden. It is more purple than I expected, but I don't mind at all. I like the stripes on the back!

And finally, here are a couple of photos that sum up what spring is about: New birth!Left: Emerging flowers of an amaryllis; I discovered last year that these are hardy in my zone 7b/8a, and I am delighted to see these emerging and blooming! Right: Newly emerging foliage of spreading yew.

Happy gardening, and enjoy the details!  Deborah

Sudden Death in the Garden

I may be a strange person. I get attached to my plants, and I think of them, not as people, of course, but as pets. Some of them are favorites. For example:

Have I bragged enough about my red banana plant? I featured it in my blog posts several times over the summer. Here is a photo I took of it just last week:

Two days after I took that shot, my red banana plant was dying. One morning it looked fine, though surely I would have seen signs if I had looked closely. By that afternoon the central stalk had wilted and fallen over and all the leaves were turning crispy brown. What strange fungus or virus killed it, I don't know. I was heartsick as I amputated the top of the plant. The core was mushy brown. Some sort of rot? I cut the stump to the ground, and at least here all the tissue appeared healthy. I covered the stump with pine straw.

Gardens are ever changing, and experience has taught me not to cling too tightly to the past. But whenever something happens to one of my plants, I grieve a little bit, and right now I am missing those beautiful banana leaves.

I have shifting emotions. There is always hope: perhaps the plant will send out new growth next year. Or I can buy another one if it doesn't. And what if the same thing happens again? Well, that is a problem for another day!

Meanwhile, I have a hoard of plants waiting to be planted as soon as the weather cools in September. I will be working on a new fern glade in the woodland garden, and I have additional plans for parts of the lady garden and front garden. And Lou wants chickens! I have to figure out what to do about that...