I’ve just returned from a delightful week along the Gulf Coast with daytime temperatures around eighty and few signs of autumn anywhere, much less of winter. I have nothing against winter, except that I’d rather it not be winter, though the cold is clearly necessary to grow the plants I treasure. I stepped off the…
Category: My Garden
After the freeze
A single twenty degree night changes the garden. A day before, coneflowers (below), azaleas, camellias (2nd photo, below), and toad lilies were flowering despite repeated frosts and a light freeze a few weeks ago. After this freeze, flowers remain, but in an altered state that shows effects of the cold. While some extol the beauties…
Foliage and flowers of early November
After a lengthy delay through an unusually mild October, leaves of swamp maples (Acer rubrum, below) in the forest that borders the garden have turned to their typical yellow. Selections of this same tree, then called red maple, are preferred by local homeowners for red autumn foliage, but leaf color of most native trees is…
Coneflower magic
After mediocre, or worse, results with coneflowers in prior years, it suddenly seems I’ve gained a magical touch. In recent years, only a lone white flowered ‘Coconut Lime’ has survived, which is remarkable since it must peek out for sunlight from beneath an ever spreading cypress. A year ago, after repeated failures with purple coneflowers…
Treasures of the November garden
There are wonders to be seen any day in the garden, not only this garden, but in many, no matter the season. Certainly, there are a few to be excited about in early November, and not only colorful leaves. At the start of the month there are many more flowers than expected or typical, and…
Autumn’s Encore
I must begin today by stating that I am far from an azalea fanatic. Once, I declared that I would never grow another besides a grouping of three old Delaware Valley White’s that seemed indestructible. There were problems, lacebugs, clay soil, and diminishing health the longer azaleas were in the ground. Why bother? But, then…
Autumn foliage – better late than never
There is general acknowledgment that coloring of autumn leaves is tardy, and living just off the route taken by many thousands of leaf watchers, I hope that their experiences visiting the nearby Blue Ridge have not been disappointing. Foliage in the garden is also late in turning, and as in every year there are disappointments,…
Bees in autumn
Last winter was so mild that the sight of bees and other insects was not unusual, though more typically these are rarely seen from late October until mid March except for occasional extended periods of warmth in the winter months. Early autumn has been quite warm, so on a sunny October afternoon a variety of…
An early start
By most reports, leaves are late in turning this autumn, though with recent cold temperatures I expect this could change in a hurry. Oddly, mahonias and camellias, that often do not flower until mid November in this garden, are getting an early start. The vagaries of the interaction of weather and flowering are a bit…
A pink Carnation
Ideally, the gardener will love plants in his garden, or at the least he should not despise them. So, what to do with ‘Autumn Carnation’ Encore azalea? Unquestionably, ‘Carnation’ is a flowering machine, with first blooms in early August and now into the second week of October with no end in sight. I believed flowers…
An autumn update
After a warm and dry late summer, a week of cooler temperatures was greeted enthusiastically. But, this lasted only a few days until unusual heat returned. As folks often say, it’s not the heat but the humidity, and certainly both have been abnormally high for October. At least the dry spell has ended, though rainfall has…
A great find
At long last, a yellow flowered toad lily (Tricyrtis flava, below) has been procured of sufficient sturdiness and vigor that there are high hopes for its survival. While there is no reason that yellow flowered toad lilies should be more fragile than others, prior plantings have been skimpy specimens purchased by mail order, and with…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 