A groundhog resided for several years beneath a mound of plume poppies (Macleaya cordata, below) in the rear garden. The dense clump provided ample cover for forays into the neighbor’s nearby vegetable garden, which is now fortified like Fort Knox to prevent further invasions, though the groundhog has departed. Plume poppy can be a bit…
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.
Snakes’ paradise
Finally, I’ve discovered the secret to keeping my wife from meddling in the garden. Most recently she hasn’t been much of a problem, but when she has a bit of time on her hands, there’s trouble. I made a bit of a stink several years ago when she purchased overpriced, undersized pruners, but there are…
Through standing water
With repeated downpours in recent days the depression along the lower southern border of the garden has remained flooded for weeks. While several plants show some ill effects from the constant moisture of this low lying section of garden, I’ve selected plants specifically to tolerate the often standing water of this swale. Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus…
Too good to be true
In 2008, ‘Rozanne’ geranium (Geranium ‘Gerwat’ Rozanne, below) was declared the perennial of year, and recently I read that voters at Britain’s Chelsea Flower Show selected it as best of the past fifty years. I can’t keep it alive! And, I don’t think I’m the only one. This seems to be a plant that requires…
Flowering as June ends
The flowers of native Indian pinks (Spigelia marilandica, below) are not big and bold, but they are unmistakable and unusual so that even a casual visitor to the garden will be attracted to notice them. Blooms open over the period of three weeks beginning in early June in my garden, and I was disappointed a…
Blooming in June – trees and shrubs
Despite my best efforts to spread flowers into other months, there’s no question that the garden’s most abundant blooms are in April and May. In June, instead of the glorious riot of mid spring, the garden is calmer, more sedate, but still flowering profusely, and lush and vibrant before being worn by the heat of…
Great Expectations
At one time there were over a hundred varieties of hosta in the garden, but a few years of neglect when deer began to ravage the garden diminished the number by at least a third. A few varieties were lost to competition from the thirsty roots of maples and tulip poplars (though hostas will mostly…
Trees and shade
The inevitable result of planting lots of trees on a property is that the garden becomes increasingly shady. When carried to an extreme (which I have) the exposure of the garden changes radically over time so that sun loving plants are plunged into darkness. Many shrubs are forgiving of the encroaching shade, but some are…
A mini derecho?
This morning I saw that a large limb from the top of the Golden Raintree (Koelreuteria paniculata, below) was damaged in one of the severe storms that passed through yesterday. It crashed to the ground, barely avoiding a ‘Winter Star’ camellia and a clump of ‘Winter Red’ hollies. Damage was minimal, but the tragedy is that…
Damp, then damper
In the past week there has been one storm after the other, and the forecast is for more of the same in the next few days. The lower part of the garden is saturated, and mostly the plants in this area are well adapted to damp soil, so there is little harm to be done…
Save the irises
This weekend I saw that one clump of Japanese iris (Iris ensata, below) close beside the waterfall of the large koi pond was dangerously crowded by overhanging branches of an exuberant Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia). On the other side of the falls a rambunctious Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) has invaded another clump, and both shrubs…
Stunning blooms in early June
For whatever little credibility I have, I find a few of the garden’s blooms in early June to be incomparably beautiful. I know, I’ve probably said the same thing a handful of times so far this year, and the year’s not half over. But, read on and judge for yourself. The first, and my current…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 