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! 

Time to Get Moving!

The air feels fresh. Fresh, not stale, moldy, not hot or stifling. It is a gift sent by tropical storm Lee, still a few hundred miles away but headed our direction. Gentle soaking rains, so badly needed after a dry August, have fallen all day, and we should get heavier rain and even cooler temperatures over the next several days.

September has arrived, and some of the plants have golden tints which glow in the afternoon light. A few days ago I took the following photos of the front garden. The second one is a good overview, showing how the front garden wraps around the lawn. I probably feature this view too often on this blog, but I never tire of the changing moods as foliage and and flowers transform through the seasons.

More moderate temperatures means it is time to get back into the garden. Every year I take a critical look to decide what plants need to be moved. Some of my plants have been moved multiple times before finding the right spot. I once dug up a seven foot tall crepe myrtle and transplanted it, for the third time. 

Fall is the best season to plant new perennials, shrubs and trees and to transplant existing ones in my garden. Our ground doesn't freeze in the winter, so plants have months to establish their root systems before the growth spurt of spring and the heat of next summer puts stress on them. This year the list of transplants is long, and I am looking forward to starting. In fact, I started this weekend by dividing and moving some purple salvia plants in the front garden. It's a little early, but I figured the rain would help it settle in nicely. 

I was inspired to move the salvia because I had to make room for a new bench in front of the parking court. It's a small bench made of twisted iron and a slab of flagstone, just large enough to hold a heavy, frost proof pot. After a difficult summer, this area was looking stressed, so I wanted to do something to enliven the spot. I planted a 'Blue Boulevard' Chamaecyperis in the pot and surrounded it with creeping jenny, stonecrop, and some sheet moss. The Blue Boulevard is a small tree, and I am planning to root prune it every spring to make it into a sort of bonsai. A stone rabbit completes the composition. The rabbit is also a new purchase. The Kingdom of the Three Rabbits now has four!

A small assortment of flowers are blooming in my garden at the beginning of September, but as temperatures cool, roses and other flowers should find new life and put on a show until frost arrives. Meanwhile, a few decorative elements add some color to the garden.

A metal hummingbird flies amidst annual purple fountain grass:

Another metal stake, this one with a ladybug, is surrounded by garlic chives. Below the top picture are a few shots of some other spots of color in the garden:Clockwise from middle left: Garlic chives; The Zephirine Drouhin rose beside the front arch almost disappeared during the summer but is now making a comeback; Japanese maple seed pod; The berries of dogwood 'Cherokee Chief' are beginning to turn red.

A birdhouse stands out against a background of cosmos, zinnias, and other naturalized flowers in an area I am calling the wild garden:Above left: A bee doesn't mind the tattered state of a cosmos flower. Right: Cigar plant, Cuphea ignea, is an annual with interesting orange flowers.

I know that we are not finished with hot, humid weather, but these few days are a nice respite and a promise that fall is coming. Time to get moving!