What a Difference Two Years Makes - The Front Foundation Now and in 2012

Here's a look at the front foundation planting today:

Fully stocked - three evergreen Aucuba japonica shrubs, one Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowflake, a camellia, lots of aquilegia, geraniums, balloon flowers, bugleweed, prostrate Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia) and a few other odds and ends.

And here's what it looked like two years ago (after I ripped out all the boring boxwoods and liriopes, plus the Nellie R. Stevens holly that was planted about 1 foot from the foundation):

Just a bed of hopes and dreams back in November 2012. The only constants here are the camellia, a bit of ajuga and some columbine.

And here's one more photo showing the Hydrangea quercifolia (oakleaf hydrangea) when I installed it a couple of years ago. Scroll back up to the top of the page to look at that first photo. The oakleaf hydrangea is just as tall as the adjacent camellia now and has filled in its entire space and then some.

What's the moral of showing these three photos side-by-side?

In a nutshell -- Don't give up!

If you ever feel discouraged about the state of your garden, just remember that a lot can change in a couple of years.

If you're dissatisfied with some of the plants in your landscape - if they don't bring joy to you and/or don't bring any benefits to the birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife - don't be afraid to rip them out and start over. You might not get instant satisfaction, but with a little patience, your new vision could take shape sooner than you expected.

Something else to remember (and I'm guilty of this myself) is that plants often will grow larger than you anticipate. When you're planting a knee-high 3-gallon shrub, it's hard to imagine the plant growing 10 or 15 feet tall and wide. Sure, you can prune some plants to keep them in bounds. Certain plants even accept annual pruning gracefully as long as you perform it at the right time and in the right way, but you can save yourself a lot of hassle in the long run by trying to either (a) pick relatively slow-growing plants that won't need to be pruned so often or (b) choosing plants or cultivars whose mature size should be relatively compatible with the space available.

Like I said, I don't always (ever?) practice what I preach in this regard. That oakleaf hydrangea probably wants to grow about 10 to 12 feet tall and wide, which means I should have planted it at least 6 feet away from the house. Instead, I planted it about 2-3 feet from the foundation, so I'll probably be doing some annual pruning and/or enjoying the flowers poking into the porch. Hm...maybe I'd be OK with that latter scenario :-)

Enjoy It While It Lasts - Winter Jasmine, Hellebores, Daffodils, 'Georgia Blue' Speedwell, Boxwood Flowers and More!

After a harsh winter (especially last month - 8th coldest February on record in Tennessee) we have been basking in above-average temperatures for the past couple of weeks.

Yesterday's high temperature was 77 (Fahrenheit). The previous day was 73. Last week, we hit 80.

As a result, leaves, buds and flowers have been bursting out all over, making for a lot of pretty pictures (see below).

Unfortunately, temperatures are supposed to take a nose dive later this week. We're expecting lows in the 20s (perhaps as low as 23) on Friday night and Saturday night.

Usually, I am what you'd call a Darwinian gardener - I let plans thrive or die with minimal intervention. (Well, I water them for a season to get them established, but I don't spray or coddle after that.) But in this case, I'm tempted to try throwing a sheet over the crabapple tree. It's loaded with buds and I'm worried that many of them will be killed in the cold snap.

For now, enjoy these signs of Spring!

'Honey Bee Blue' Agastache (I believe A. rugosa). Purchased three from a local nursery last year, they all seem to be coming back nicely.

I'm pretty sure this is Agastache foeniculum 'Golden Jubilee' (anise hyssop), but the leaves should be emerging a chartreuse color. So perhaps the original plant has died and the seedlings have reverted to the species A. foeniculum? (Prairie Nursery does call the species a biennial.)  I'll post an update later in the year as to the foliage color as these seedlings mature.

Shoots and flower buds on Ajuga genevensis (blue bugle, Geneva bugleweed)

Sedum telephium (I believe the 'Autumn Joy' cultivar)

I'll admit it, generally I think boxwoods (Buxus) are boring and overplanted. Yet, the thing I like most about boxwoods is probably what other people overlook - not their bland evergreen foliage, but their sweetly-scented spiky flowers that attract pollinators such as bees and (as you can see here) other insects including flies. Flies don't get much respect, but I'm sure they have a bigger role to play in the world than landing on our picnic lunches.

And here's a bee (honeybee?) buzzing in the boxwood.

Clematis 'Crystal Fountain' -- got to do some judicious pruning here...

Aquilegia (columbine) self sows with abandon here. I love it and encourage it. Originally I planted a few different columbine species including the European A vulgaris and a hybrid called 'Winky', but I've decided to focus on adding and encouraging reseeding by the native species A. canadensis (wild columbine)

Purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) are coming up throughout the garden, both as returning perennials and new seedlings. Again, love and encourage the reseeding. I'm also happy that the new seedlings are easy to spot and identify, unlike some species where you have to wonder for a while whether you're growing a desirable plant or nurturing weeds.

Look closely at the base of these stems and you could spot new growth emerging on Baptisia australis (blue false indigo). Although B. australis reportedly prefers well-drained soil and full sun, it seems to have done pretty well for a couple of years now in our heavy clay soil with a bit of shade from a neighboring crape myrtle tree. Note that the new growth can look a little bit like asparagus, but there is evidence that Baptisia is poisonous (for people) and should not be eaten! So to avoid a potentially dangerous misidentification, don't plant this anywhere near your asparagus patch!

Beautiful foliage and buds on the 'Sugar Tyme' crabapple. This is the one where I don't know whether I should try to provide some protection from the upcoming cold snap or stay true to my Darwinian ethos.

First cheerful blue flowers are appearing on 'Georgia Blue' speedwell (Veronica peduncularis)

Daffodils!

Most of the year I'm neutral-to-negative on daylilies (overplanted, high-maintenance, don't seem to have much wildlife value), but I always appreciate the lush, fresh new foliage in March that leaps out of the ground when many other perennials are still snoozing.

Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Firewitch' (cheddar pink) - I was thinking of planting more cheddar pinks as a groundcover, but I'm a bit concerned that this one could be dying off in the center after a few years, which would not speak well for its potential as a long-term groundcover. I think I'll wait to see how/whether it recovers over the next few weeks...

Geranium sanguineum (bloody cranesbill) - planted three tiny specimens of the 'Vision Violet' cultivar last year. They struggled a bit as they had to compete with a rampant patch of cherry tomatoes, but they all seem to have returned bigger and stronger than last year, so that's a good sign.

Added a couple of hellebores to the garden last month. Of course, I planted them just before our temperatures crashed below average and stayed there for weeks with temperatures dipping into the single digits multiple times. Since these had been growing in an unheated greenhouse and hadn't had a chance to harden off, I assumed they would be goners. I covered them cardboard boxes (weighted down by bricks) that subsequently got soaked by rain and collapsed by ice. When I gathered the courage to remove the boxes after a few weeks, the hellebores looked fit as a fiddle. These are some tough plants!

Alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle)

Stachys byzantina 'Helene von Stein' (lamb's ear)

Lily

Philadelphus x virginalis 'Natchez' (mock orange) - Bought this from a sale section in autumn 2013 and got a great bloom last May. Then the plant just say there all last year, not growing an inch. I worried as to whether it had exhausted itself with the bloom and was on the road to ruin. Then late in the season, it sent up a sucker about six inches with fresh new leaves. Was that a good sign or did it mean all the old growth had died off? Well, so far, things look good. I'm seeing all the old growth (and the new sucker) leafing out. I'll remain optimistic on the mock orange.

I don't know much about mosses, but I think they're fantastic from both a visual and tactile standpoint, so I try to encourage them in the garden. I don't know how to identify this moss, but it seems to be entering its reproductive stage where sporophytes will release spores that will hopefully help the moss spread around the garden!

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies' emerging from under a winter blanket of leaves. I'm pleased to see that all three clumps of October Skies aromatic aster seem to have expanded nicely.

Phlox paniculata (garden phlox) 'David' - As with the daylilies, I think the sight of the fresh green foliage emerging in early spring may be my favorite think about garden phlox. The foliage always seems to get pretty tattered (and sometimes mildewed) later in the season. Still, it's a tough plant that has come back reliably year after year, so I should probably learn to appreciate it more. (I think there are some little Agastache seedlings growing alongside it this year.)

Viburnum 'Pragense' (Prague viburnum). I had five of them planted last year. This is the most impressive one of the bunch and I'm still not impressed.

Here are two of the less impressive Prague viburnums (Viburnum 'Pragense')

I'm pretty excited to see that this Salvia greggii (autumn sage) survived the winter. It's only marginally hardy in our zone and supposedly dislikes poorly drained soil (which is a big problem with our heavy clay). Still, it's one tough cookie and I'm pleased to see that it's back for another round. The other autumn sage I planted last spring seems to have died back closer to the ground, but I still see some new leaves near the base of that plant.

Native to the Mediterranean, Teucrium chamaedrys (wall germander) supposedly needs (prefers?) well-drained soil, but it seemed to cope pretty well in lightly amended heavy clay. All three clumps survived the winter and stayed partially evergreen. I cut off some of the damaged foliage to reveal this fresh new growth. The clumps seem to be expanding at a measured, moderate pace.

Myrica cerifera (southern waxmyrtle) not looking good. This is another marginally hardy plant in our zone. It's mainly native to sandy soils in the Coastal Plain of the Deep South. Perhaps I should have planted it in the spring to give it a chance to get established before it had to face near-zero winter temperatures and ice storms? I may have been doing a bit of excessive zone pushing with this one...(To add insult to injury, I walked by yesterday - after this photo was taken - and saw that deer had chomped off most of the branches. They didn't eat it, they just decapitated the plant, said 'Blech!' and moved on.)

Jasminum nudiflorum (winter jasmine). I'd read that winter jasmine might flower as early as December or January, and perhaps it would if we'd had a couple weeks of warm weather, but with temperatures at or below normal, it started flowering around the same time as the forsythia in mid-March. Bloom was sparse this year, with some of the buds frozen before they had a chance to open. The flowers are cheerful and I like the green stems, but the plant has a reputation for being aggressive in the garden. I'm not terribly enthusiastic after the first winter, but I'll take a wait and see approach and hope I'm bowled over next year (in a good way).

Winter Gets in One More Punch

Screenshot from NOAA

Uh oh.

Tonight's forecast low is 39 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tomorrow night we're expected to drop to 29.

Wednesday night could see a chilly 38.


It's the frosty Tuesday night forecast that's got me concerned. The warm weather over the past few days (temperatures around 80 degrees Friday, Saturday and Sunday) induced many of the plants that had stayed safely dormant through an interminable winter to unfurl new leaves and flowers.

Fothergilla in full bloom. Will these flowers withstand a brief spell at 29 degrees?

I'm worried there will be significant damage to all this tender new growth if and when temps dip below freezing tomorrow night.

Creamy nodding aquilegia flowers come have started to bloom

New leaves on the Natchez crape myrtle, one of the last trees in our area to leaf out.

Typically, I aspire to be a Darwinian gardener, prizing plants tough enough to survive on their own. But this time, I think I might just intervene a wee bit and use overturned clay pots to cover Balloon Flower and Baptisia australis.

Fresh bright green growth on Balloon Flower (Platycodon). I think I will try covering this plant with an overturned pot tomorrow afternoon to retain some heat overnight.

Do you have any experience with late frosts and freezes? 

If so, which of your plants have come through unscathed and which have suffered major (or minor) damage?

I took lots more photos this evening. Stay tuned for another post toward the end of this week showing which plants sailed through without a scratch and which ones took it on the chin.

A Walk Around Garden of Aaron - Mid-April 2013

I took these photos yesterday in the garden. It is an exciting time with lots of flowers, new growth and bright prospects for the year ahead.

To give you an idea of what these plants have had to deal with so far this year, temps have fluctuated all over the map. A couple of weeks ago, highs were in the 40s. Yesterday, the high almost hit 90. Strong winds (25-40 mph yesterday) have been the norm. We've had a decent amount of rain in the form of strong thunderstorms and downpours, including one last night.

Just another Tennessee spring! :)

Generally speaking, the plants that I put in last autumn who had a chance to settle in over the winter seem much more confident and settled than the ones I just planted this spring, but many of the springtime transplants have done surprisingly well (much better than the previous two years). So either my technique is getting better, I bought healthier plants or I chose plants that are better suited for this environment and cited them better. I like to think it's a combination of all three factors! 

Hope you enjoy the pics:

This is Sweet Woodruff. If you remember from a month ago (mid-March), the plant was much smaller and really tattered looking. I solicited input on whether to prune out the old foliage. Some gardeners did, others did not. I decided to see what happened if I let the old foliage alone. Just a month later, the new foliage has pretty much obscured any sign of the old foliage, which I imagine has decayed and thereby hopefully helped to give some nutrients to the plant. I'm happy to see how quickly the fresh foliage dominated without any intervention on my part, because it makes me think Sweet Woodruff could make a good evergreen large-scale groundcover as long as I don't mind 1-2 months of not-so-pretty old foliage (which I don't mind at all). Cycle of life and all that. Sweet Woodruff also looks like it's getting ready to flower soon, which should be exciting. I've heard the flowers are fragrant and attract beneficial insects!!

Beautiful new foliage emerging on the Vitex agnus-castus, situated in a windy full-sun spot. 

Some large shrubs that were here when we arrived. I'm not really sure what these are. Euonymous maybe? Although the color is a little garish, I have to say that these are real workhorses. I didn't water them much last summer in the awful 100+ heat and drought and they seem to have leafed out stronger than ever this year.  They're semi-evergreen in Middle Tennesee. Their leaves turn purple, but they don't really drop their foliage into the new leaves are almost ready to appear.

A cheerful gathering of little violas

It's definitely the time for Ajuga to shine! This variegated one is spreading amid a group of Sweet Alyssum seedlings. This is my first year seeing Ajuga send up flower stalks. I like the flowers, but have not noticed any bees or other beneficials visiting them.

Ajuga genevensis in bloom, full sun, Western exposure, growing amidst Love-in-a-Mist and Sweet Alyssum seedlings

Another Ajuga genevensis, this one with Northern / NW exposure. So far, Ajuga seems to be able to suceed with any exposure, but it will be interesting to see how the ones with Western and NW exposure (all of which I planted last autumn) handle the Tennessee summer

A large clump of Ajuga Black Scallop covered in flower spikes (Eastern exposure)

This is some sort of unidentified dogwood that I added last autumn. Really kicking myself for losing the tag. Anyway, I tried to site it in a spot where it's a little protected from the wind. Right now it gets morning shade and afternoon sun. Will probably get more afternoon shade once a large Natchez crape myrtle nearby finishes leafing out.

I've got a lot of these seedlings coming up in my landscape beds. At first I thought they might be some Tithonias that I planted last year, but which did not come up then. But I think there may be too many seedlings for that to be the case. Are they weeds? They don't look like weeds when they're small, but they look progressively weedier as the seedlings get bigger.

This is supposed to be my small veggie garden bed. It may not have enough sun to really grow good crops but I wanted to site it as far as possible from the grass, which is getting sprayed with herbicides this year (due to HOA rules). I've sowed spinach and beets, but clearly there are some other "crops" coming up. Definitely a few self-sowed cosmos, but not sure yet what a lot of the other seedlings are. Time will tell...

I'm fairly certain this is a spinach seedling. I planted Corvair this year from High Mowing Organic Seeds. 

I'm also fairly certain these are the Bull's Blood beets seedlings, also from  High Mowing.  One of the advantages of planting red-leafed plants is that I think it's easier to differentiate them from weeds. There don't seem to be as many red-leafed weeds, at least around here...

This is an ornamental sage - Salvia x sylvestris "Blue Hill".  I planted it right next to Salvia x sylvestris "May Night. Both of them are growing well, but only Blue Hill has started flowering already. Both seem to be very low maintenance so far too. The old foliage looked tattered over the winter, but as with the Sweet Woodruff, I didn't do anything to it and the new foliage quickly emerged and took over this spring.

This is new foliage emerging on the native Pachysandra procumbens. Hopefully it will get enough afternoon shade to do OK in this Eastern exposure spot.

One of our new Appalachian Eastern Redbuds. Not only are these beautiful trees, but they seem to do a great job of feeding the bees.

Another of the Appalachian Eastern Redbuds. We had four installed altogether. The leaves are just starting to emerge, which I'm guessing means that the bloom will probably be finished in about another week. The bloom season is not terribly long (maybe 2 weeks?) but the bright red buds add some color for 1-2 weeks before the flowers open.

"Blue Bird" Rose of Sharon - purchased last autumn from Gardens in the Wood of Grassy Creek - is just starting to leaf out. Looks strong and healthy! This plant is in full Western sun exposure.

I'm absolutely agog over the beautiful foliage on this "Snowflake" Oakleaf Hydrangea!

It is in Eastern exposure with morning sun and afternoon shade

Malva "Zebrina" hasn't grown much since I planted it a couple of weeks ago, but it is hanging tough in a sunny and very windy spot.

Here's one of the two native Coral Honeysuckles that I planted last year flanking the front porch steps. They have both really taken off this year. As you can see, this one is waving tendrils in all directions. I managed to curl a couple of them onto the railing, but I think I'll need to try to use some velcro ties to attach some more stems to the railing. Lots of buds and blooms on the plants this year, but I have not yet seen any hummingbirds or butterflies on the tubular flowers. Maybe the hummers only notice once the plant starts to climb more vertically?

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is Liatris (Gayfeather). I thought that both the plants I planted last year had died, but it looks like they're back?! (Or am I misidentifying this plant?)

This is Helianthus "Lemon Queen" perennial sunflower. I just planted this maybe a week ago (or less) from Gardens in the Wood of Grassy Creek and it looks like it is really settling in nicely and sending up new growth. 

Hardy Blue Plumbago looked deader than a door nail as recently as 12 days ago. But now finally the new foliage is emerging. Guess I can cut back the old dead stems from last year. Or like with the Sweet Woodruff, I could leave them to see how long it will take them to decay and/or be obscured naturally.

Fothergilla gardenii is full of blooms. It's definitely a pretty plant when in bloom, although I'm a little disappointed that I have not seen it attract more bees. Also, even though many websites describe Fothergilla as being very fragrant, I've only noticed a very faint sweet scent. Maybe Fothergillas need to settle in more and grow bigger before they start pumping out more fragrance?

This is Arizona Apricot Gaillardia. Like the Malva (and the Vitex) it is in a very sunny spot. I think it is supposed to like full sun, so why does it seem so weak? I'm guessing it is not happy with the whipping it's getting from the wind. Hopefully it will recover, but this is one of the few plants I added this spring where I'd say the prospects do not look good.

Here's a dwarf gaura that I added last spring. Can't remember the name. Maybe "Passionate Blush"?  It barely bloomed or grew last year when it was completely overwhelmed and shadowed by a thick clump of 4-5 feet tall cosmos. I'm hoping to give it a little more space this year to do its own thing. I think it's already bigger and healthier looking this year than it ever was last year.

Dianthus "Firewitch" has gotten even bushier than last time I posted about it two weeks ago. And now it is just starting to flower. I think it will put on a real show this year!

This is Creeping Raspberry. It was tiny and looked mostly-dead when it arrived from Bluestone last year in one of those annoying coir pots. I really like the idea of the coir pots - less plastic is a good thing - but they just don't seem to decompose and thus I think they prevent the seedlings from growing as well as they otherwise would and/or contribute to root rot. Nonetheless, Creeping Raspberry is supposed to be a pretty strong plant, so I'm figuring that if any plant roots can bust through that coir, this one can. (I also tried making some cuts and tears in the coir to give the roots a better chance at finding a way out.) Anyway, it's still very small, but it does seem to be growing and creating a nice dense little clump of leaves around its base. 

Here's one more Creeping Raspberry plant. I love the crinkled, textured and fuzzy foliage! 

A large clump of Purple Coneflower. Do you think I need to divide these soon? If so, is it better to do that in autumn or very early spring? And is there any special technique? I'm pretty much a novice on plant division...

The Natchez crape myrtles are starting to leaf out. I can't wait for these to put on all their leaves and grow another 1-2 feet bigger this year. We have a number of them around our patio and they give a decent amount of privacy when they have their leaves. Not so much during their deciduous phase. 

New foliage on another Crape Myrtle. I added this one last November. It's a dwarf white Crape called "Petite Snow" that is only supposed to get 5-feet high and 4-feet wide. 

The Aquilegia "Winky Rose" is looking incredibly healthy and bushy. It's sent up dozens of buds and the first flowers have just started opening. Aquilegia is supposed to attract hummingbirds. Didn't see any last year on the plant, but with this many buds, maybe it will draw some hummers this year?

I think this is a form of Euonymous, a.k.a. Burning Bush. But I've never seen the 'wings' that are supposed to be on Winged Burning Bush, so maybe it's a different variety? Not sure, because it was here when we moved in. Either way, Burning Bush is supposed to be invasive, and I wouldn't plant it, but I've ripped out so many other plants (hollies, boxwoods, other euonymous, the usual suspects) that I'm loathe to removing something else until I know exactly what I would want to put in its place. Still, I'll keep a close eye out for berries (haven't seen any in the previous two years) and if I do see some, I may remove the plant mid-season.  FYI, looks like a sterile Burning Bush has been developed in a lab and may someday give gardeners and landscapers a chance to have the benefits of Burning Bush without the invasiveness.

This is the "Dream Catcher" version of Beauty Bush. Like the Malva, Gaillardia and Vitex, it's planted  in a full sun, windy spot. I think I may have goofed when I sited this one last autumn. From further research, it seems that the species Beauty Bush (Kolkwitzia amabilis) is happy in full sun, but that (like many variegated plants) this "Dream Catcher" version may need partial shade.  It doesn't look as though it's about to croak, but the leaves do look sort of twisted, as if they're trying to conserve moisture. With a long stretch of cool weather forecast, I'm tempted to transplant "Dream Catcher" to a shadier spot. But the problem is that I'm not sure where to put it. I think I'll let it stay where it is for now. If it survives the summer, I'll probably be doing some landscaping in late autumn and can try to move it then.

Finally, one of the happiest developments of 2013 so far has been the extent to which all three Aronia (Chokeberry) plants have leafed out, budded out and (in the case of the Aronia arbutifolia "Brilliantissima" shown here) already started flowering. For such a tiny tree, I'm astounded that it has decided to put out this many blooms. It's not exactly covered in pollinators, but I have seen it being worked by tiny bees. Or maybe they are tiny wasps or flies? Not sure. Either way, it's definitely drawing some pollinators in and will hopefully have a (tiny) crop of berries later in the year that I'm sure the birds will strip in about 2 seconds. In fact, I may strip the crop myself this year before it ripens, because I wouldn't want a big bird to damage the still-small plant trying to get the berries off. Interestingly, the other two Aronia, which are a different species (Aronia melanocarpa) have concentrated on putting out more foliage and fewer buds. They also have not yet started flowering. All three tree saplings are in Eastern exposure with morning sun and afternoon shade. I'm hoping that all three will put on some significant growth/height this year - they're all still quite petite - but regardless I'm thrilled with the way they made it through a tough first year last year after a spring planting and record summer heat. Very, very impressed so far with the toughness - and beauty - of the Aronias.