The hybrid purple passionflower vine (below) perished over the winter. Last year, it grew vigorously to the top of a wrought iron cage and into the neighboring paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysanthus) by summer’s end, and there were many small flowers, but perhaps this spot on the low side of the garden was too wet through the…
Author: Dave
I've been in the landscape business with Meadows Farms since 1976. I have a one acre+ garden in Warrenton VA started in 1989 that I test new plant introductions and landscape products. I have 6 ponds in the garden and a number of patios and paths.
It seemed like a good idea at the time
From my occasional recollections, I suppose a reader could get the impression that this garden is an endless series of disasters and missteps, but I can assure you that the contrary is more the case. Yes, there are disappointments, but few, and mostly the garden is the source of boundless satisfaction. A few days ago…
Late summer flowering hydrangeas
I grew the smooth hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, below) in a previous garden with reasonable success, but had no inclination to plant another when this new garden was begun twenty some years ago. The large white blooms were striking, but the lower branches flopped into the mud whenever it rained, and often did not…
New and better?
A benefit of traveling to visit nurseries growing next year’s plants is the opportunity to evaluate new introductions and others that are a few years off from being ready for market. Sometimes these are old plants that have been reintroduced, but others are hybrids or sports (mutations) that are new and different (though not always…
A bit unusual
A year ago the Seven Son tree (Heptacodium miconioides, below) was ripped from the ground in a violent summer storm. Unfortunately, it was not uprooted, for trees with roots intact can sometimes be replanted successfully. The manner of the Seven Son is to grow quickly and decidedly top heavy, so when the winds blew the…
Lost in the shuffle
Paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysanthus, below) seems to be well known among longtime gardeners in the southeast, though few seem to actually grow one in their own gardens. A handful of years ago, I hadn’t seen one in southern gardens, or in ones closer to my northwestern Virginia garden, but I was intrigued when I first read…
Dragonflies
Besides the seemingly ever more abundant population of snakes in the garden, my wife is most bothered by the small, but aggressive Tiger mosquitoes. I’m not nearly as troubled by them, though my wife is horrified, and constantly swatting them on my legs and back when we’re sitting together. I don’t know if I’ve become…
A swallowtail convention
Late this afternoon was intermittently sunny, then cloudy as storms passed nearby. But, no matter, throngs of Tiger swallowtails (below) dropped by the garden to sip nectar from a variety of blooms. On cloudy days the number of bees and butterflies is far fewer, I suppose because sun brings out the flowers’ scent, but not…
Surviving the heat of July
The stone path beneath the serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) is littered with a carpet of brown leaves. The neighbors ask if their trees are dying, but this is only a reaction to last week’s sudden heat wave. In summer, many trees drop at least a few leaves due to heat and dryness, and some, such as…
After two weeks away
I’ve just returned from two weeks touring nurseries, and it should be no surprise that the garden doesn’t look the same as when I left. With inches of rain the grass has grown long, but this has been easily remedied. However, much work remains to clean up mulch and debris eroded by the downpours, and…
Bumping through a North Carolina tree nursery
Humidity settles into the bottom lands of the North Carolina mountains early in the day. Even on this cooler than average July morning a considerable sweat is worked up on a short walk through a field of ‘Stellar Pink’ dogwoods (Cornus x ‘Rutgan’, below). Today, more walking than usual is required because recent heavy rains…
Deer problems? Not in this garden.
I am continually dismayed to hear the numbers of gardeners who have problems with deer, and more than that, how many report poor success with deer repellents. In place of repellents they prescribe varied remedies, from ugly, tall fences to exotic, home brewed concoctions, to recommending planting nothing but deer resistant plants. At the risk…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 