Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus, below) is native to much of the eastern United States. It’s not commonly found in gardens due to its unremarkable form and foliage, but I’m certain that it deserves greater consideration for shrub borders, and particularly for plantings at the partially shaded edge of wooded spaces. Sweetshrub’s April flowers are distinctive, though…
Category: ponds
Preparing the ponds for spring
The pump went out in one of the garden ponds in late autumn, and I haven’t a clue why. Perhaps it was old age. I know the feeling. Replacing the pump was a rare expense for my ponds, that is if the cost of running electricity twenty four hours a day for five ponds through…
Lots of catching up to do
Oh well, it’s been fun! For two of the past three weeks I’ve worked at garden shows, so I’ve spent the weekdays building and planting, and the weekend days talking gardening rather than doing gardening. I’m not much of a people person, but I enjoy plants and I can (and often do) go on talking…
After the storm
In the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains hurricane Irene left barely a mark in the garden, with only a few inches of rain and a handful of fallen branches that were quickly cleared. Several lightly rooted plants were knocked askew, but I have straightened and tamped them or left them to work it out…
Tallulah Falls
Don’t tell anyone, but I think that I might be getting a tad too old for this. I’m a wreck, tired, battered, and bruised. At the end of last week my wife and I traveled south to the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia to see our daughter-in-law graduate with her Ph.D. in chemistry, and…
Bzzzzz
For years I’ve made a habit of poking my nose and camera within inches of flowers as butterflies and bees buzzed about, and until a few weeks ago I had not been stung in a great while. Then, wasps that were nesting between boulders bordering one of the garden’s ponds got me several times before…
Summer garden tour – July 2011
Most people with a lick of sense would not be inclined to tour a garden in the heat of July. I will be in Mobile, Alabama next week, and I’m looking forward to revisiting Bellingrath Gardens (below), a beautiful residence and garden that have been opened to the public. I’ll be dripping sweat and fogging…
The bees are buzzing
I can’t recall the last time that I suffered a bee sting, until a few days ago. Over the past few years I’ve made a habit of sticking my nose (and camera) too close to blooms with bees buzzing about, and though I’m certain that I’ve been a terrible nuisance, I haven’t been stung. I…
Turning the heat on
The sudden extreme heat this past week has wreaked havoc with many of the perennials newly planted this spring. I don’t believe that the damage is irreparable, but a campanula and two corydalis are hanging by a thread, and several others are hardly better. All will require close attention through the summer, and I don’t know…
Planting along the pond’s edge
I see too many ponds surrounded only by a naked border of stone. While a mix of boulders, smaller stones, and river washed gravel can be arranged to mimic the edge of a mountain stream, without plants the pond looks sterile and man-made. I have planted along the borders of the garden’s five ponds so…
Wilting in the heat
After a cool and relatively rainy spring the garden is lush with growth, but after the first bout of intense heat this week more than few plants are drooping at midday. For most plants this isn’t a concern, and many bigleaf hydrangeas wilt in the afternoon sun almost every day from now until September. Still,…
Spring pond update
There are five ponds in the garden, and for the first time in years I had to replace one of the pumps this spring. Several pumps have been working without a care for ten years, or at least as long as I can recall. I haven’t a clue what happened. One day it worked, the…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 