Best of the Rest: 2018 Garden Images

Every year I like to go back through all the year's garden pictures and choose unused photos from each month. I select only shots I made of my own garden. These are images that never made it into a blog post, for various reasons, but perhaps deserve a look. At the least, they provide a review of the year. So to celebrate the passing of 2018, and to look forward to a new garden year, here are the best of the rest: 2018. 

January:I tucked sprays of Arizona cypress around ornamental kale in a pot to make an attractive winter arrangement.

February:The small yellow blooms in the photo on the left are forsythia, and the white flowers on the right are from the Serviceberry tree (Amelanchier, also called Juneberry. Its edible berries ripen in June and taste a bit like blueberries. But the birds love them, so I let them have them.

March: A fern's newly emerging fiddlehead; ferns have an important presence throughout my garden.

Here is a March view of the walk in front of our house.

April:Left: Trillium in front of autumn fern. Right: Enkianthus blooms.

May:Left: Turkey tail fungus with resurrection fern. Right: Virginia sweetspire.

June:A large gardenia shrub on the edge of the woodland garden fills the area with sweet fragrance each June.

July:A beautiful heucherella and its bloom.

August: Bugs love the hot, stressed-out conditions of August!

September:Garlic chives, on the left, and spider lilies, on the right, both flourish in September.

In spring 2018, we had to remove the beautiful Japanese maple that grew in front of the house, as ambrosia beetles had killed it. In September we replaced it with 'Rising Sun' redbud, seen here on the left.

October:A female American robin enjoyed this birdbath. Her mate was nearby in the grass.

November:The tree in the background with the heart-shaped golden fall foliage is a native redbud.

December:Once upon a time this Cryptomeria japonica was a living Christmas tree. After the holidays, we planted it in the front yard. Look at it now!

Did you have a favorite month? Happy gardening in 2019! 

Summer Garden Images

I started talking to the lady in front of me at the check-out at the store, and soon we were mutually lamenting the steamy, sauna-like weather. As she departed, she gave me a big smile.

"Welcome to Alabama in the summer!"Crape myrtle is the iconic summer bloom of the Deep South. It loves the heat and humidity.

It's true. Should one complain about what is completely normal and expected? It would be far worse if we did not have air-conditioning, and I wonder about my ancestors who came to this part of the country without benefit of modern comforts. As I stepped from the store's cool indoor air, I was blasted by the sultry heat. It was a shock to my system, an event repeated many times a day as I go in and out. Would I get used to the heat if I did not have air-conditioning? Probably, but I really like my air-conditioning!

I walk in the garden in early morning or late afternoon. It is quite noisy. There are little birds everywhere, chirping and celebrating life. A young male cardinal keeps visiting the weeping yaupon holly tree outside our kitchen. There were cardinals nesting there recently, and I assume he was one of them. Last week I caught this baby wren in a one of the birdhouses by the patio, the day before he fledged:

Here are some more recent images taken in the summer garden:Hydrangea 'Endless Summer'

Boston Fern in the arbor garden

'Coral' Drift rose

This "Easter lily" originally came from a friend. It blooms reliably every year, but long after Easter! Thanks to commenter Erin Baily who gave me this information: "It is an asiatic lily which faces upward, may or may not have spots and blooms early in summer. It is a tough and reliable grower."

Gardenia. This shrub originally came to me as a cutting from my next-door neighbor.

Japanese Painted Fern and Red Dragon Persicaria

Hosta bloom

Zantedeschia foliage. No blooms have appeared yet this year, and I wonder if they will. Nevertheless, the foliage is lovely.

Marjorie Fair rose, a rose that will bloom in partial shade. This one is in the woodland garden

The blooms of Snowflake hydrangea are double, unlike its common oakleaf hydrangea cousins.

Clockwise from top left: Hosta 'Sum and Substance'; A Bromeliad I received at Christmas. It was inside through the winter, and I thought it had died of neglect. When I put it outside, thinking to throw it on the compost heap when I got around to it, it came to life! Now it is putting out buds; Variegated Toad Lily; Hardy Begonia; Acer japonica 'Aconitifolium'; A colorful coleus in the woodland garden.

 You may also enjoy these previous posts:

 A Gardenia For Me

Summer is Here!

Summer Proof the Garden

Have a great week!    Deb