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 

Best of the Rest, 2015

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!