Mid-August in Deb's Garden

Can it be? Summer is slipping around the edges, loosing its intensity, with cool nights and early morns. Humidity is also less, so that even mid-day temps are more tolerable. The garden has taken on a mellow, relaxed atmosphere, hinting of autumn to come.  Fall colors are beginning to show in these Japanese maple leaves.

Lets start a tour of the mid-August garden with images taken in and around the front garden:This trail leads from the patio steps, with the hydrangea walk on one side and the arbor garden on the other.

This trail leads from the jasmine arch by the patio. It borders the main part of the front garden.

This image shows the upper part of the hydrangea walk. The burford holly is laden with berries, which will turn red later in the season.

A couple of loving bugs on the holly.There are a couple of things to note inside the front garden. First, the voodoo lily has grown tremendously this summer. In the pot, it reaches well over five feet tall. Another thing is that I have eliminated the invasive liriope that once grew in abundance on both sides of this path. Since this photo was taken, I have planted about three dozen foxglove plants in this area, pass-alongs from a dear friend. A variety of other plants will also grow here.

Trail inside the front garden.

The first image in the collage below shows liriope growing around the base of a tree in the lower front lawn. This is easily controlled with a lawn mower:Clockwise from top left: Liriope; Crepe myrtle; Variegated fatsia japonica; Easy-to-grow mushrooms!

More photos from the front garden:

A close look at the center of this orange hibiscus.

Some images taken inside the woodland garden:

Finally, a view of the sky, so typical this month. I am thankful for abundant rain.Sky before a summer thunderstormI hope you enjoyed the tour. Can you feel a new season coming?

Snowbound at Aldridge Gardens

I have heard many stories of people who were caught in last Tuesday's snowstorm that shut down Birmingham and all of its surrounding areas, but Audrey Ann Wilson has to be one of the more fortunate ones who were snowbound away from home. She is the Education Coordinator at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama and was at work when the snow started coming down. Shortly after she left her office, she realized she would not be able to make it home; so she decided to stay overnight at the Gardens inside the Eddie and Kay Aldridge Art and Historical Collections Museum. Not a bad place to be snowbound! The Museum once was the personal home of Eddie and Kay Aldridge.

With a kitchen with some frozen meals in the freezer, as well as some chairs, some tablecloths and a huge drop cloth with which to fashion a bed, Audrey Ann was much more comfortable than the poor souls trapped on the highways. Best of all, she had her camera! Aldridge Gardens is a 30 acre woodland retreat, tucked away only moments from the busiest shopping malls and roads in Hoover. Audrey Ann has given me permission to tell her story and to share her photos of Aldridge Gardens in the snow, a sight we don't often get to see. Enjoy!

Aldridge gardens is home to the largest publicly available collection of Frank Fleming bronze sculptures, including the pieces shown above.

You can learn more about Aldridge Gardens and see more of Audrey Ann's snowy photos at Aldridge Gardens.com.