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 :-)

Creeping Raspberry, Inflated Expectations and Beautiful Treasures

Creeping raspberry vines do not appreciate -2 Fahrenheit temperatures. This plant seems to have died back to the roots and the new foliage is emerging from below ground.

Update 3/4/15 - This plant has since been shovel-pruned from Garden of Aaron. Click here to find out why.

Do you ever have a plant that crushes your hopes and dreams?

OK, maybe that's a little melodramatic, but I was sure I'd found the groundcover of my dreams when I read descriptions of Creeping Raspberry or Crinkle-Leaf Creeper (a.k.a. Rubus hayata-koidzumii, Rubus calycinoides or Rubus pentalobus). I should have known better than to trust a plant with so many aliases!

I was under the impression that Creeping Raspberry would make a solid weed-suppressing evergreen groundcover with the benefit of some flowers and even a few edible berries in springtime. It did relatively well in my garden last year - well enough for me to add another plant last autumn.

I should have known better.

Reviewing my sources, I see that the people and organizations praising Creeping Raspberry as an evergreen groundcover are one to one-and-a-half zones warmer than me gardening in places like Statesboro, Georgia (zone 8a) and Clemson, South Carolina (zone 8a).

Here in my zone 6b/7a garden (low temperature -2 Fahrenheit this past winter with no insulating snowcover to soften the blow), Creeping Raspberry apparently acts like an herbaceous perennial - dying back to the roots and slowly emerging in early April.

Creeping Raspberry tentatively steps back onto the stage

Maybe I should be grateful rather than exasperated?

After all, even though some sources do list Creeping Raspberry as being hardy to zone 6, there are others that only rate the plant for zone 7 or above. Alabama's Cooperative Extension System recommends Creeping Raspberry except in the northeast corner of the state, where it acknowledges that winter hardiness can be a problem.

Well, northeast Alabama (perhaps the Huntsville area?) is still solidly in zone 7a - I'm guessing at least a few degrees warmer than my Middle Tennessee garden on most winter nights. If the extension service is worried about Creeping Raspberry surviving in Huntsville, I guess I was inadvertently pushing my luck in the Nashville area.

So, will I pull the plants from the garden? I don't think so. I think it's just a matter of recalibrating my expectations.

After all, I believe the meteorologists said last winter was the coldest winter here in 20 years. Perhaps in a gentler winter where lows dip "only" into the single digits or a warm winter where temps stay in the teens, Creeping Raspberry's vines will survive and the plant will act more like an evergreen groundcover?

And even if it does die back to the roots, how is that any worse than other groundcovers I enjoy - like Rozanne Cranesbill Geranium, Lamb's Ear or Lady's Mantle? (Although I will say that all three of these alternates spring from the ground much more quickly in the spring and all are rated to hardy to zones 4-5.)

For now, I've scrapped any plans to add additional Creeping Raspberry plants to the garden, but I do look forward to seeing how/whether the three Creeping Raspberry plants recover in 2014.

Meanwhile, I have a choice - I could be envious of all those gardeners in slightly warmer zones whose gardens are apparently better suited to so many of the plants I'd love to grow (not just Creeping Raspberry, but everything from Camellia and Choisya ternata to Loquats and Japanese Persimmons).

But gardening reminds us of an important life lesson - we can lament the things we lack, or we can be grateful for whatever beautiful treasures we are privileged to experience.

Aronia arbutifolia buds stretch out in preparation to bloom

An unknown Camellia japonica survived the winter to bloom with exuberance

Native Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia "Snowflake") leaves embrace the sunshine

Eight Top Performers from 2013: Creeping Raspberry, Aucuba, Camellias and More!

Apologies for the recent silence.

I was traveling for a while and then sank into a curmudgeonly funk due to November's extraordinarily cold weather.

Having shaken off that funk, this feels like a good time to look back on some of the lessons learned from 2013. I'll start by looking at the best performers - either new discoveries or proven favorites.

Creeping Raspberry

Rubus calycinoides, Creeping Raspberry - Winner, especially in sunny situations. As you can see from the photo above, Creeping Raspberry blankets the ground, preventing weeds, but so far it has not displayed any tendency to spread out of control. (Everything I've read about this plant is that it spreads through above-ground runners, not below-ground roots, so it seems unlikely that the plant would travel underground and pop up feet away, as can happen with other sneaky groundcovers like Blue Star Creeper.) Note that this photo, like the others below, was taken a few weeks ago. Since then, cold temperatures have added much more reddish tones to the plant's leaves. I'm looking forward to seeing the changeover from old to new leaves in the spring and also to seeing what this plant is capable of doing in 2014. Indeed, I'm happy enough with this plant that I plan to add several more specimens in the spring. After that, I imagine I'll be able to separate rooted runners and propagate it within the garden and should not need to buy any more for the foreseeable future. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed for flowers and berries next year, but maybe my hopes are too high in that department.

UPDATE 4/2017 - I ended up removing creeping raspberry from the garden in 2015. See this post to read why it got the heave-ho. (I should say that even though it was a royal pain to dig up and remove creeping raspberry, at least removal was just a one-time job. It didn't try to return from any rootlets like Ajuga, hardy blue plumbago and bloody geranium tend to do.)

Ajuga genevensis

Ajuga reptans "Burgundy Glow"

Ajuga - Winner (mostly), Ajuga is an unpredictable plant. In one place, it seems to have petered out. Perhaps it got too much shade? But most of the others I've scattered around the garden are thriving, especially in partial sun settings, with one doing well even in full sun. My favorite may be Ajuga genevensis, it's not variegated or flashy, but it does produce a dense, low carpet of pleasant green leaves. Ajuga genevensis also seems to hold up to cold temperatures better Ajuga reptans. So why is the genevensis variety so much harder to find in nurseries and catalogs??

The purplish ajugas like Burgundy Glow are beautiful, but they do seem to have a tendency to revert to a darker-leaved plant, so you may have to keep a sharp eye out for those reverts and remove or transplant them if you want to keep a patch consistently purple. I like that ajuga is evergreen in zone 6-7, although it does get tattered over winter. I like the springtime flowers. I like that it seems relatively tough and spreads at a moderate, but not ridiculous pace. I like that it seems relatively easy to uproot and keep in bounds if necessary. My goal in the future is to have mostly plants as groundcover and not much mulch. I see groundcovers like ajuga and creeping raspberry being a big part of that plan. In 2014, I'm eager to try the Chocolate Chip variety, which I hear is an outstanding ajuga.

UPDATE 4/2017 - Way too aggressive in my garden. It wants to create a monoculture (at least at ground level), it's unattractive for a good bit of the year and seems to offer very few ecosystem benefits. In my garden, Ajuga reptans does suffer random dieback sometimes, but the other species (A. genevensis and A. tenorii) seemed to thrive and spread, usually by rhizome, but occasionally also by seed. I wish I could say that I'd evicted this from the garden, but it's an ongoing effort and in some places - especially where it has insinuated itself among the roots of shrubs or other perennials - I'm not sure what to do. I can't really dig deeply in those places to remove the roots completely and spraying seems to run the risk of damaging the other plants, so I'll probably just keep pulling and pulling until the Ajuga (hopefully) gives up the ghost.

Aucuba japonica, Gold Dust Plant - Winner, planted in autumn 2012, so far my Aucuba shrub has thrived. The variegated leaves really light up a dark corner. I hope to add more Aucuba to the landscape - particularly as having multiple male and female plants would give me the hope of getting large ornamental red berries. Warning -- those berries are apparently inedible and slightly poisonous for humans, but hopefully birds would enjoy them. Note that the leaves in this photo are a bit droopy. That's just because I took the photo on a cold day. When temperatures are below freezing, Aucuba droops. Think of it as your own biological thermometer. As temps warm, the leaves perk back up. Loving this plant so far.

UPDATE 4/2017 - Still loving Aucuba. I should say that while it has done well in partial shade in my front foundation, it struggled when I tried a green-leafed variety in a more sunny, exposed setting. It also got chomped to pieces by deer when placed out in the landscape. But it's been a fantastic evergreen through heat, drought, cold, snow, ice, etc. in my east-facing foundation bed. I should really post an update photo to show what it looks like now.

Sorry I don't have a beautiful Camellia flower to show you. Many of the early-blooming ones have finished or got zapped by freezes. This Camellia japonica has not started flowering yet, but it has many fat buds that hold the promise of a beautiful show in the spring!

Camellias - Winners, with reservations. All the camellias in my garden so far have done fairly well with minimal supplemental water and just a bit of acidic fertilizer. This November, I swapped out a mildew-stricken crape myrtle and added yet another camellia - Winter's Joy. Supposedly hardy to zone 6 and with an upright, narrow growth pattern (10-12 feet high by 4-feet wide), I hope this camellia will perform as well as the others have.

But that's not to say everything is perfect with the camellias. (Has there ever been perfection in a garden since the time of Adam and Eve?)

One of the camellias I added last year dropped a lot of buds this winter in our November cold snap (lows in the teens) and barely flowered at all.  Apparently, camellias (some more than others) are susceptible to this sort of bud drop when temperatures fluctuate wildly, as they have done so far in Middle Tennessee this winter, from a low of 12 degrees Fahrenheit in November to a high of 76 degrees Fahrenheit last week.

And then there's the whole issue of zone pushing. Many camellias are only listed as being hardy to zone 8 or the warmer parts of zone 7. But there are more and more camellias - such as those in the Ice Angels(R) series - that are advertised as being hardy down to zone 6, which technically should mean that they are able to survive temperatures as low as -10 Fahrenheit. Fortunately, I have not encountered anything like those temps since I started gardening Middle TN. We're officially listed as being on the colder side of zone 7 these days (0-5 Fahrenheit maximum low temperature in an average winter), so there should be plenty of camellias that survive here.

But I have to recognize that I'm pushing zones here a bit. I'm thinking that I should look for camellias that flower either early or late - or ones that are known for having especially hardy flowerbuds. After all, I'd like to have camellias not just for their evergreen leaves (which are attractive on their own), but also for their flowers. But many of those flowers and flowerbuds will be killed by sub-freezing temperatures - certainly by temperatures in the teens or low 20s, so then I just have the sad spectacle of fallen buds or melted flowers on the stem. (As this source says, "Most blooms freeze, brown and turn to mush at about 32F.") I guess this is why I don't see many other camellias planted in my neighborhood or other Nashville area gardens. I imagine that Camellias are probably best suited for climates reliably warmer than Middle Tennessee - such as parts of the Deep South where it doesn't get to be 12 degrees in November!

That said, I still like the camellias a whole lot. If I pick the right varieties, I should be able to have a nice flower show in late autumn (October to November) and spring (March and April) even in harsh winters. And in mild winters, like the ones we had the last two years, I might even get to see flowers all winter long.

UPDATE 4/2017 - I still love the two camellias that were already planted right next to the porch steps when we bought the house. I mean, they're clearly too close to the foundation, but maybe that's why they have survived and done pretty well over the years while other camellias that I bought and tried to use in more exposed locations got blasted by cold winter winds? I like that we have both a Camellia sasanqua (blooms in late autumn, attracts honeybees) and C. japonica (does not seem as attractive to pollinators, but it does bloom for months in late winter to spring. In fact, it's just finishing up now in late April and I can see on my Instagram feed that it started blooming in February, so that's at least 8 weeks of blooms!!)

Dixie Wood Fern

Dryopteris x australis, Dixie wood fern - Winner, the books call this native fast-growing and drought-tolerant. The books would be correct (so far). This is my only fern and I'm loving it. I'd like to add more ferns, but I don't have many of the shady spots that ferns like. I planted Dixie in the spring, so this is my first winter with the plant, but since it's hardy to zone 5, I presume it will overwinter here just fine (although sadly, I don't believe it's evergreen). It's worth noting that the fronds which fell over were presumably felled by a cold snap. I imagine those fronds are dead and will eventually decay, but for now they are still green and adding a beautiful ferny presence to the garden even splayed on the ground.

UPDATE 4/2017 - Still a nice, solid performer, although the persistent old fronds are pretty messy. I guess they do decay, but slooooooowly. Honestly, I'm not that big into ferns in the garden at the moment, but I still have a few, and this is probably my least favorite at the moment. Ouch. Sorry about that, Dixie wood fern.

Coneflower seedheads

Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflowers - Still Winners. The coneflowers bloomed all summer and into autumn, with the clumps getting larger and more beautiful as they mature. Since I leave the seedheads for the birds, I'm starting to see more and more self-sown seedlings pop up here and there, so hopefully I'll have many more coneflowers next year. I love them for their natural beauty, plus of course for the way they attract bees and birds. This year, I also tried a trick I read on the Internet -- I cut off entire mature seedheads and buried them in various places throughout the garden beds - including in some partial shade spots. (So far, all my coneflowers are growing in very sunny settings - I'm curious to see how they'd do in a morning sun / afternoon shade situation). I'll post an update next spring as to whether this was a successful propagation technique.

UPDATE 4/2017 - Purple coneflowers perform fine in the garden. The straight species ones are dependable and come back year after year. The flowers are pretty and attract pollinators (especially bumblebees), while birds do eat the seeds from the seedheads. That said, purple coneflowers can look pretty awful in a drought, especially when growing in full sun. They seem most robust and floriferous when growing with morning sun and afternoon shade. They can seed around quite a bit (especially if you leave the seedheads standing over the winter for the the birds), but seedlings (or even established plants) are easy to pull and remove if you find yourself with too much E. purpurea.

Gaura lindheimeri 'Siskiyou Pink'

Gaura lindheimeri - Still Winners. Love, love, love the gauras. Since it didn't get too hot this year, they bloomed pretty much from late spring all the way through to autumn. The big, billowy plants attracted lots of bees, ladybugs and other beneficial insects like green lacewings, who came to feast on the many aphids this plant attracted. (If you're grossed out by aphids in the garden, Gaura might not be the best plant for you. I cut a couple sprays of flowers to take inside before I realized the stems and especially stem tips were covered in aphids camouflaged as flower buds. Yech.) I didn't treat the gauras with any insecticide or even try to wash off the aphids with water, I just let the predator bugs do their thing and they soon had the problem under control, but I think there always a few aphids on the plants throughout the summer, which actually probably was a good thing as it kept up the predator insect population enough to protect the other garden plants.

In early winter, the stems turn red and then tan. As I recall from last year, they may be a bit of a frizzled mess by spring, but for now, they still have some nice billowy presence to them - and a bit of green at the base. At a time when many other perennials have died back and annuals have plain died, it's nice to have the gaura's presence in the garden. I hope to add more, particularly full-size ones like Siskiyou Pink. Gaura has been very tough and drought-tolerant for me, plus it's survived several typically wet winters despite my heavy clay soil. Other gardeners have not been as lucky with overwintering gaura outside of its native SW climate, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these gaura will survive for many more years. And meanwhile, a couple of the gauras have self-sowed to give me a few new seedlings, so I do have a few young next-generation plants in the garden in case the parents shuffle off this mortal coil.

UPDATE 4/2017 - My gauras proved to be short-lived perennials (typically 2-3 years?). I suspect they were killed by a combination of cold temperatures and heavy, wet clay soil. Still, I missed the pretty flowers and long bloom season and just bought a quart-size plant this year. I've tried installing it on a slope where hopefully the drainage will be a little better. We'll see if that helps.

Geranium x cantabrigiense "Biokovo"

Geranium, Cranesbills - All Winners. The Rozanne hybrids sprawled and bloomed from summer through November, while x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' and sanguineum 'New Hampshire' were much more compact with shorter bloom periods, but beautiful foliage and generally trouble-free plants in morning sun, afternoon shade settings. I know that Rozanne will be completely herbaceous, but I'm curious to see the extent to which the others die back. So far, Biokovo is looking mostly green and beautiful as we head into mid-December! Even if all the geraniums are fully herbaceous, I still think they are wonderful perennials from spring to late autumn in zones 6-7, and I hope to add a couple more Geranium x cantabrigienses in 2014.

UPDATE 4/2017 - I did add more 'Biokovo' geraniums. They're fantastic. Truly one of my favorite, most dependable plants. I think they'd be happier in a cooler and/or shadier setting (most of them get full sun all morning and into early afternoon in the east-facing front foundation). They get a bit wilted, but hang tough through the summer. And they really shine in autumn, winter and spring. They're true evergreens, with some red leaves for bonus color. They form a relatively thick groundcover that excludes weeds, but they spread at a measured pace and are easy to remove if they stray beyond their boundaries. 'Rozanne' is also a nice plant - loooong blooming season. It's probably an amazing garden plant further north. Here, it wilts awfully bad during the summer and seems to be a little short-lived. Maybe 3-4 years? Plus it involves a little more work - benefiting from being trimmed back once or twice a year, and all the dead stems need to be pulled out in late winter (since it dies back to the ground and then comes back from the roots - or not). I do wish to retract my recommendation on G. sanguineum. This plant has turned into a bit of a nightmare. I thought it was spreading too aggressively and overwhelming other nearby plants, so I decided to rip it out. Ha. Geranium sanguineum - or bloody cranesbill - has deep, thick, red roots. They hang on touch and snap easily (at least in heavy clay soil). And the plant regrows from even small root fragments. The upshot - I've dug up certain areas oh, half-a-dozen times trying to get rid of G. sanguineum and probably will be digging all this year trying to eradicate the last remnants. Meanwhile, I've got quite a few holes and blank spaces in my garden where I can't plant anything lest I need to excavate again in a search for G. sanguineum root pieces. Ugh. Don't plant it. (Unless you're in its native range - Europe, far western parts of Asia. In that case, I guess you could plant it if you wanted a really tough, aggressive native romping through your garden.)


Stay tuned throughout the winter for more reflections on how plants performed in 2013. Here's a hint - they weren't all winners! ;-)

Oh the Dreadful Wind and Rain!

It was a particularly wet and windy spring at the Garden of Aaron.

But wind is a familiar them in my garden.

In the winter, there's the bone-chilling wind out of the Northwest.

In the summer, we sometimes face a hot and dry wind out of the South that can stress and crisp even those plants that are supposedly heat and drought tolerant.

So my question to all you expert gardeners out there is this: In your experience, which plants are best suited for a windy garden?

I'm interested in all suggestions, including annuals and perennials, but I'm most interested in shrubs and trees, particularly those I might be able to use to construct some sort of windbreaks to protect the less wind-tolerant plants from the harsh winds of fate (and Mother Nature).

Here are some of my own observations from our exposed hilltop garden:

"Natchez" Crape Myrtle stands strong against the winds that rip across our hilltop garden. 

1. Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) shows up on lists of wind-tolerant plants. (Here's one list, here's another.) I agree - to a point. The branches are very good at bending rather than breaking in gale-force winds and the leaves seem tougher than say maple or redbud (see below). But the leaves do get awfully tattered - especially if the winds hit right when new foliage is emerging. I don't expect leaves to look pristine at the end of a growing season, but crape myrtle leaves can get ripped up by the wind and chewed up by insects to the point where they seem shredded fairly early in the season.

Vitex agnus-castus flowers just starting to bloom. Note how clean and fresh the foliage looks despite the fact that the plant is sited on a windy, hot, full sun corner next to the garage and a baking concrete driveway. Vitex seems cool as a cucumber and perfectly at home.

2. Vitex agnus-Castus (a.k.a. Chaste Tree) made it onto a list published by the Houston Chronicle of trees most likely to survive a hurricane. I'd call that wind-tolerant. (Crape Myrtle was on the list too...) I've got to say, I've got our Vitex right at the corner of our house where it can buffeted by both Northern and Southern winds. So far, it's looking good. I think there was some minimal branch breakage from winter storms, but the spring and summer winds haven't fazed it and the foliage is looking good - clean and fresh, with no signs of stress and hardly any signs of insect predation. I've read comparisons of Vitex vs. Crape Myrtles where people say that Crapes have a denser canopy and are thus better for providing privacy, but I have to say that our young Vitex actually seems far denser than our young Crape Myrtles. Maybe the Vitex canopy opens up more as the tree gets older?

Overall form of young Vitex agnus-castus tree/shrub planted last autumn. Foliage seems relatively dense at this point despite comments to the contrary on the World Wide Web.

Here's a young "Petite Snow" crape myrtle, also planted last autumn at the same time as the Vitex. I'd say the foliage on this is actually much less dense than the Vitex foliage. Also, the Vitex is covered with buds and blooms in its first full year in the garden, whereas there was nary a bud or flower in sight on this crape myrtle in mid-June.

3. Maples and Redbuds both seem stressed by our hot dry winds. In fact, I had two young maples die on me last year. For some reason, I still let myself get talked into planting two new maples in our front yard. Neither of them looks happy in the hot winds of summer. In fact, despite lots of water, some of the leaves are turning color, which I know is not a good sign. The redbuds look slightly more wind-tolerant, but their leaves hang awfully limp when it gets hot, almost like they're panting in the heat.

Cercis canadensis, Eastern Redbud, leaves look stressed

Maple leaves looking stressed. Never a good sign when your maple leaves are changing color in July.

4. Juniperus virginiana, Eastern Red Cedar also shows up on lists of plants suitable for windbreaks. http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_juvi.pdf  Our landscaper planted three of these on the hill. They're not looking all that great, but I think that's due less to the wind and more to the fact that we wanted large trees for instant landscape effect but we ended up with sort of small root balls on those trees. Not a good combo. In general, I feel I learned from this past winter that it's probably better to start with smaller trees that would probably be less-stressed by the transplant process. Anyway, I'm not in love with the Eastern Red Cedars. Probably because I find it hard to get too excited about most conifers. But I have to admit that they do seem to be fairly wind-tolerant. 

The shiny and waxy leaves of Camellia sasanqua seem wind-tolerant.

5. Camellias - I don't think most people would think of camellias as being tough plants, but apparently they are surprisingly drought-tolerant and even recommended for windbreaks. Our camellias are in somewhat sheltered settings, but I have to say that they have not seemed fazed at all by last year's heat/drought or by any of the winds that whip around the house. I'm thinking more and more about incorporating these into my windbreak and screening plans. The only problem that I can see is that they don't necessarily grow all that fast in my experience, especially when they are young. So if I plant a small tree - one that would be less likely to suffer transplant shock - it might take a long time to grow to the height and density where it would really help block the wind and provide privacy.

Aronia melanocarpa, Black Chokeberry also seems to be relatively wind-tolerant 

6. Aronias, Chokeberries - Also in a somewhat sheltered spot, but I've got to say that their (second-year) foliage looks really green and fresh this year despite the strong winds of spring and early summer. They definitely looked stressed last year (more by the heat and drought than the wind, I think), but they're looking much better now. I'd need to try them in a less-sheltered spot first, but I could see these trees doing well in a windy situation and/or even potentially being part of a mixed wind break. (Really beautiful foliage, incidentally. Sort of what I have in my mind's eye when I think about what a tree leaf should look like.)

And here are some other shrubs and trees that I'm considering adding to the garden / landscape. Any thoughts based on experiences in your own gardens and/or visits to other gardens on whether any/all of these would be wind-tolerant and/or suitable for windbreaks?

Sunflowers bloom just as cheerfully even after they've been bent sideways by 60-70 mph winds

As for smaller plants, I've found that high winds will bend sunflowers (although they'll usually keep growing), topple cosmos (although they'll often keep growing too) and break plants like Caryopteris and Coneflower. (To qualify that, most of the coneflowers survived the wind storm and look none the worse for wear, but I did lose a couple.) I lost one stem on Hibiscus moscheutos too, but the rest of the plant seems fine.

Callicarpa americana, American Beautyberry. I'd call this an open, lanky shrub (at least in its youth). The leaves will get burnt by strong, hot winds. Despite glowing reviews from some online reviewers, I can not recommend Beautyberry for your garden.

Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) also seems much happier this year now that I've moved it away from a windy spot to a somewhat sheltered area.

Other perennials, annuals and shrubs that have stood tough and seem relatively unfazed by the winds include:

• daylilies
• zinnias
• French marigold
• love-in-a-mist
• creeping raspberry
• penstemon
• Phlox paniculata
• ironweed
• Veronica (spicata and umbrosa)
• liatris
• Malva sylvestris
• gaura
• Russian Sage
• Coral honeysuckle
• Indian Hawthorn
• Boxwood
• Hardy Blue Plumbago
• Hardy geraniums,
• Helianthus microcephalus
• Little Bluestem
• Salvias
• Platycodon
• Monarda
• Agastache
• Ilex glabra (inkberry)
• Azaleas
• Fothergilla
• Aucuba
• Hypericum
• Joe-Pye Weed
• borage
• stachys
• ajuga
• Hibiscus moscheutos
• Heliopsis helianthoides

So...what are your most wind-tolerant annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees? 

And which are the ones that are pushovers (literally) when it comes to getting blown around by the winds?

My dream is to look out the window and not feel that my plants (like the maples and redbuds) are getting tortured by the winds. I'd love to find plants - especially shrubs and small trees - that are wind-tolerant. Heck, I'd like to find plants that revel in getting their leaves ruffled about by the wind. I want to find plants that look as though they're tossing their branches like a model tosses her hair back for a photo shoot or a walk down the runway. And hopefully these stalwart windbreak plants will help reduce the howling gales to manageable breezes so that I can grow more tender waifs in the sheltered microclimate they create.

Is that too much to ask? :-)

PS - The title of this post comes from a lovely but haunting folk song...

Out, Out Damn (Cercospora Leaf) Spot!

A significantly defoliated Oakleaf Hydrangea (following removal of ~80% of foliage apparently infected with Cercospora hydrangeae fungus)

Ugh. Lady Macbeth thought that she had problems.

At least she didn't have to worry (as far as I know) about the fungal pathogen Cercospora hydrangeae disfiguring her oakleaf hydrangea.

I had assumed that hydrangeas were relatively trouble-free and that a native hydrangea like H. quercifolia would be particularly tough and resilient.

But when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. ("Assume" = "Ass" + "u" + "me")

As it turns out, hydrangeas are susceptible to multiple diseases. Or as University of Georgia says:

[Cercospora] fungal leaf spot can affect most hydrangeas and is generally an aesthetic issue for homeowners. The pathogen will rarely kill the plant, but can reduce plant vigor by defoliation. It is generally more problematic in low maintenance landscape situations or when homeowners overhead irrigate their plants.

Well, if by "low maintenance" they mean gardeners who do not spray fungicides, then I guess I qualify as low maintenance. I expect my plants to take care of themselves. I'll put them in the ground, give them some water to get started, a smidgen of organic fertilizer now and then, accompanied by healthy doses of Encouraging Words, but that's pretty much it. I don't spray for fungus and I don't spray for pests. (Well, I might try to wash off aphids with the garden hose if I'm already giving the plants some water, but that's the extent of it.)

And if by "aesthetic issue" they mean having all the beautiful oakleaf foliage turn spotty and purplish-brown, then yeah, it's an issue.

I appreciate the advice not to irrigate the plants from overhead, but I've hardly been irrigating at all this spring thanks to all this natural irrigation we've been getting from the sky. It's called Rain. And it tends to hit plants from overhead.

So what to do? UGA says the fungus survives in fallen diseased leaves that remain on the ground and ultimately reinfect the plant. It recommends removing dying and diseased leaves to prevent subsequent infections or outbreaks.

So that's what I did early this morning. I went out and removed all the infected leaves I could find, even the ones with just a few visible spots.

Unfortunately that meant that I had to remove about 80% of the foliage.

On the bright side, the remaining foliage should have much better air circulation, which perhaps might prevent a recurrence of the fungus.

What do you think? Have you encountered any fungal problems or other diseases with your hydrangeas? Were you able to overcome those diseases without resorting to fungicidal sprays?

Or did I just site my hydrangea in a bad place - in a corner next to the stairs and crowded up against a camellia and an inkberry holly?

Oakleaf hydrangea "Snowflake" - the one I bought - is supposed to grow 4-6 feet tall and wide. It certainly has the room to grow tall, but it can't really expand to 6-feet wide (maybe not even 4-feet wide) without bumping up against other plants.

And I'm thinking the fungal issues show that Snowflake does not like to be put in a corner. (Just like Baby in Dirty Dancing.)

If today's leaf-pinching doesn't work, I'm thinking I may sadly have to shovel prune the plant this autumn. I'd like to transplant it elsewhere, but apparently it needs at least partial shade and I just don't have any other partially-shady spots where the plant could reach its full-size in an uncrowded setting.

I'm thinking oakleaf hydrangea really needs to be out in the open, perhaps in the shade from some tall trees. (Although apparently it needs moist soil, so these trees couldn't be ones that suck up all the water.) Or all by itself in a wide North-facing border.

Oh and if I do end up removing the oakleaf hydrangea, any suggestions on what I should use to replace it in the semi-shady corner?

I could add another Dixie Wood Fern (I just added one this spring to the corner on the other side of the steps, so adding one on this side of the steps would create a nice symmetry, which my wife especially appreciates in the garden. The fern seems happy on the other side of the steps, but there's more shade over there.)

Or maybe there's some other kind of fern - maybe Christmas Fern?

Other ideas include another Ilex glabra (maybe Shamrock) or another Fothergilla.

Or perhaps another smallish camellia - something like April Dawn.

Thoughts? Experiences? Commiseration? All are welcome!

Plans and Dreams #1 - The Front Foundation

Part of the front foundation planting today. The plant in the upper right corner is a camellia, planted too close to the house, but otherwise quite nice. The slightly bushy green mound in front of it is an aquilegia and there's a lonicera sempervivens next to the stairs. There's some ajuga too and a lot of self-sown calendula officinalis seedlings that will die this winter, but as you can see, a lot of bare ground and not much in the way of shrubbery.

Are all gardeners dreamers? I know that I am.

I can't help looking at a catalog or a nursery website and imagining how many of the beautiful plants therein would look in my landscape.

This autumn, I'm taking the next step in trying to implement some of those plans and dreams in my front foundation bed.

When we bought the house in spring 2011, this east-facing bed was dominated by a multitude of small bland boxwoods, three large Nellie Stevens hollies and a thick carpet of Liriope. (I'm not sure which kind, but I believe it was Liriope muscari.)

In my not-so-infinite wisdom, we ripped out almost all these plants. I didn't want the prickly hollies (one of which was way too big for its location and threatening to give the squirrels a stepping-stone to the roof), the blah boxwoods or the tattered, brown rampant liriope.

So we got rid of almost everything in the front border, keeping only five azaleas and three camellias. I like plants that have flowers.

That left us with lots of bare space. Bare space, as any gardener knows, is an invitation to weeds.

I didn't want that, so I tried to fill in the space with mail-order shrubs, perennials and annuals.

Fast forward six months to today: The tiny shrubs that arrived in the mail either died or didn't grow much. Some of the perennials thrived (Ajuga, Hardy Blue Plumbago, Sweet Woodruff, Lonicera sempervivens), others died (Smilacina racemosa) or barely hung on (Clematis integrifolia). The annuals have mostly run their course. Sweet alyssum is still blooming and the English marigolds are on their second generation now, but that will all be over soon.

And it will be back to lots of bare ground and an exposed foundation, which is a big faux-pas in this neighborhood.

Another portion of the foundation planting. That's another too-close-to-the-stairs camellia on the left and a newly-planted gardenia in the middle. There are some tiny aronia (chokeberries) in the picture too and a lot of bare ground.

So I'm trying to fill in the space and create the front foundation of my dreams. I've put in a few more perennials - more Ajuga, a balloon flower, some divided Blue Star Creeper, three transplanted hardy Rozanne geraniums - but I knew that I needed something larger with more presence and impact. We have a large two-story house. Rozanne geraniums weren't quite on a scale to get noticed from the street or even a casual visitor.

The first step I took was to buy a gardenia. We had taken a garden tour in the spring and both my wife and I were intoxicated by the scent of gardenias. So I took a chance. It was a good price and a good size. I've since read that gardenias are very temperamental and hard to keep alive, so we'll see how that goes. Some leaves have yellowed, but overall a couple months later it's looking alright. (I know we're also at the northern edge of the gardenia hardiness zone, but since this one is planted close to the house, I'm hoping it will be alright.)

I contemplated hiring a landscaper to overhaul the front border, but (foolishly?) have decided that I'll give it a shot myself for reasons of money, time and the sheer pleasure that comes from putting a plant in the ground oneself and seeing it grow. So I did a lot of research, made a trip to the nursery this past weekend and here's what I ended up buying:

- Hydrangea quercifolia, Oakleaf hydrangea, "Snowflake" - Native, beautiful fall color, nice foliage, supposed to have a beautiful long bloom season, supposed to need less water than most hydrangeas.

Oakleaf hydrangea, photo by Chiot's Run

- Fothergilla gardenii - native, supposed to have nice foliage, nice fragrant spring flowers and good fall color

Close-up on fothergilla gardenii fall foliage, by jacki-dee

- Aucuba japonica "Variegata", Gold-Dust Plant - evergreen grower for shady spots. Marvelous foliage. (I didn't realize, but according to RHS, 'Variegata' is actually a female cultivar that can produce berries if a male clone is nearby. I think the berries are poisonous to humans, but attractive to birds. Not sure where to find such a male plant (and not sure I have enough shade for two aucubas on my pretty sunny property) but I will investigate.

Aucuba japonica "Variegata". As you can see, the plant has the potential to grow quite large. Dave's Garden says as much as 8-10 feet tall by 4-6 feet wide. Photo by maggie_and_her_camera.

- Several crape myrtles - Geronimo (red flowers, 12-feet high x 8-feet wide), Tonto (red flowers, 8-feet high and wide) and Petite Snow (white flowers, dwarf, 5-feet high x 4-feet wide). Most people in our community place evergreens at the corners of their house. This is considered right and proper and sensible. But I've never had a hankering for evergreens like junipers or cedars. I like flowers. I like the bees that visit flowers. And I've been delighted so far with the other crape myrtles on our property - five Natchez crapes in the back border and two crapes on north side of the house (didn't plant them so I can't be sure, but I think one in Muskogee with lovely lavender blooms). I've been impressed with the crape myrtles' toughness and I needed something that would be able to survive the high winds that whip around our hilltop property. My plan is to put the two red crapes in the front east-facing border of the house, one on each corner. I doubt they'll do quite as well as the crapes in the back because they won't have as much sun - and crapes love sun. The smaller white crape myrtle, I plan to put next to the driveway on the back of the house near the recently-planted Chaste Tree. I didn't want a crape that would compete with the Chaste Tree and create an overcrowding situation, so hopefully a 5-foot tall crape will fit just perfectly there.

'Tonto' crape myrtle, photo via U.S. National Arboretum

- Ilex glabra, Inkberry Holly, "Nigra" - I mentioned above that I didn't like the Nellie Stevens holly, so why would I rip those out and plant some other hollies in their place. Well, all hollies are not alike. (This may be self-evidence to some gardeners, but it was a surprise to a relative novice like myself.) I may have scoffed at the orthodoxy in our area that says foundation plantings should be dominated by evergreens, but I recognize the virtues of having some green in the winter landscape. These evergreen hollies fit that bill, but they're not prickly like so many of the hollies. They're supposed to be very tough, a trait that I prize in any plant. And Ilex glabra should also stay a manageable size - the species may grow up to 8-feet tall, but the Nigra cultivar should max out around 4-6 feet. Like other hollies, Ilex glabra is dioecious, meaning that both male and female plants are needed to produce black berries (not the typical red berries found on most hollies). Birds supposedly like the berries but unfortunately, since most humans grow Ilex glabra for its foliage and not its berries, growers apparently generally do not bother to sex the plants. I bought three Ilex glabra and hope that I'll have a mix of males and females so that I get at least some berries for the birds. Slow Food USA notes that nectar from the plants - which are also known as Gallberry plants - is used by beekeepers in Florida and Georgia to produce a prized honey.

Ilex glabra, Inkberry Holly flowers with (I think) a bee, photo by Elsa Spezio

- Sasanqua camellias, Kanjiro and Pink-a-Boo - I've been really happy with the three camellias we have in the front foundation. Two of them are blooming right now and even when they are not blooming, the dark green foliage is attractive and (usually) healthy. They seem happier since I scattered some acidic fertilizer beneath them this past autumn - two of the bushes that didn't bloom at all last year bloomed heavily this time and the other one, which I guess blooms later in the year, is covered with buds. I love flowers, so I tend to try to find floriferous plants with long bloom seasons, but there are not too many plants (as far as I know) that will keep flowering in cold Middle Tennessee winters. Camellias offer a beautiful splash of color in the landscape, so I'm hoping these two new additions will thrive and join the tree existing camellias to create a really nice tapestry of winter blooms. Pink-a-Boo in particular seemed popular with bees at the nursery even on an early November day, so I'm hoping that adding these plants to my landscape will also provide more food for pollinators.

Camellia sasanqua (probably) 'Kanjiro' with bee, photo by Greenstone Girl

That's about it. I did buy one other perennial plant, but it's for the border at the back of the house so I'll cover it separately in another post.

Including delivery (scheduled for tomorrow) and with a seasonal 25% discount on the three crape myrtle trees, I spent a bit less than $500 on all these plants. I could have certainly spent less money had I bought smaller plants, but with a chance that we'll put our house on the market in a couple of years, I thought it made sense to buy larger plants so that the landscape looks more mature, even if they are also more work to plant up front. The Aucuba, Fothergilla and Ilex glabra all came in 3-gallon containers. The Hydrangea, both Camellias and two of the crape myrtles are 5-gallon size, and one of the crapes comes in a 7-gallon container.

Dear Readers: I would be honored to hear your thoughts as to the worthiness of my plant selections and the price I paid. Of course, if anyone has grown these plants themselves, I would be eager to hear about your experiences and/or receive your advice on planting and caring for them.

What will happen to the front foundation (and the rest of the garden)? Find out with free email updates.

The Late October Tennessee Garden

Dear Readers,

Apologies for my long absence.

I was traveling for three weeks in September-October and then needed to take care of some business (the kind that pays the bills) before I get back to blogging. Mea culpa. 

As for the travels, I look forward to sharing photos and thoughts on Spanish and French gardens in upcoming posts.

But for now, I thought it might be fun to share some photos of the garden in October:

Sweet Alyssum never really got established in the hot spring or early summer, but it has done better in the cooler fall weather - though not as well as last year. I am thinking about trying a heavy winter overseeding to see what happens.

Autumn Joy sedum. Since it's my first time growing this kind of sedum, I'm not sure why some leaves are yellowing and whether it's a real problem or just a cosmetic issue.

A reblooming azalea. It was here when we bought the house, so I don't know the variety. This one has Eastern exposure.

Another reblooming azalea. I like this one better! Unfortunately, since I didn't plant it, I don't know the name of this one either. There are about five identical azaleas on this (North) side of the house.

Western exposure - French marigolds, zinnias and a recently planted Vitex agnus-castus (a.k.a. Chaste Tree or Monk's Pepper)

A close-up on the leaves, flowers and seeds of the Vitex. The plant is supposed to be a fast-grower to 15-25 fee tall and wide. I have high hopes, but am trying to temper my expectations. The tree is reportedly deciduous, but still has mostly green leaves even now in early November (a couple of weeks after this photo was taken)

Blue Star Creeper (strangely the plant seems to have about five Latin names). I planted Blue Star Creeper in a Western-facing landscaped bed last year. It blooms prettily in the spring, but gets baked into oblivion in the summer, returning in the autumn. I thought I'd see how it might do on the East side of the house, so I transplanted this patch in September. It seems to be settling in nicely, but I'm concerned as to whether low winter temps will damage the plant. I'll post updates to let you know.

It doesn't look like much, but this part of the buffalo grass patch that I planted back in August. It might be hard to tell from this photo, but I think all the plugs have survived and some have started to spread nicely, but unfortunately they didn't really get a good enough toehold before the weather turned cool, which I believe slows their growth and quickly makes them go dormant. If I were ever to plant buffalo grass again, I would try to plant it in June I think to give the plants a whole summer of robust growth. But I will try to keep the patch weeded this winter in the hopes that next spring when it warms up the buffalo grass will form a thick enough groundcover to exclude most weeds.

In late October, the backyard still was full of zinnia and French marigold blooms. Pretty much all day long, especially on sunny days, the flowers were alive with bees and butterflies skipping from bloom to bloom. It was a beautiful sight!

Heavily-blooming camellia, Eastern exposure. We didn't get any blooms at all on this plant last year. I scattered some acid fertilizer beneath it in late summer / early fall. Perhaps that helped? I really like these flowers. Unlike the one red camellia bush that bloomed last year (but so far just has buds this year), the white petals gently fall off and decorate the ground so that it looks as though there is a patch of snow beneath the plant. And as you can see, the 'flowers' have a sort of pinkish tinge. Just lovely! Sadly, since it was here when we bought the house, I can't identify the variety. Maybe Winter's Snowman or Snow Flurry?

Another shot of some of the blooms on the (pinkish-)white camellia.

A nearby pink camellia has been blooming as well. Not as many flowers, but these are still beautiful! Again, this was here when we bought the house, so not sure of the variety. Perhaps Pink-a-Boo or Kanjiro?

The cherry tomato vines (Riesentraube and Sungold) were still covered with fruit in late October. (Of course the ground below them was also littered with fallen fruit.) Since our HOA requires a lawn with few weeds and since we have not been able to achieve that without hiring someone to spray chemicals and since I don't feel comfortable growing food alongside those chemicals, this will probably be the last tomato plant we grow for a while.... :(

I think the cosmos plants bloomed better in October than they did in the spring or summer!

This is the Eastern side of the house, where I had a bed of English marigolds (Calendula officinalis) during the summer. They have, ahem, reseeded rather heavily and sprouted prodigiously in the fall weather. I wasn't a huge fan of the English marigolds, so I'm not so thrilled about the heavy reseeding. But I imagine that many of these plants will die from the cold before they have a chance to create a third-generation of English marigolds! I have uprooted some, but I am leaving others just to see how much cold weather they can withstand.

This was one of the few English marigold plants that I left in the ground. I had uprooted most in August/September when they stopped blooming and became infested with leafhoppers. Clearly, the plant has bounced back and begun blooming in the cooler weather. 

Hardy Blue Plumbago apparently turns a beautiful shade of purple in the autumn. Just another bonus to one of my favorite perennials!

I was worried that everything would be dead in the garden after three-plus weeks of neglect, so it was uplifting and heart-warming to see this gold-and-orange patch of French Marigolds (Tagetes patula). Just gorgeous! The butterflies and bees were all over these flowers. And I think that there were quite a few moths as well, including perhaps a hummingbird moth - the first one I've ever seen in Tennessee! A wonderful autumn sight. Definitely a plant that I would recommend - if the seedlings could survive in the drought and 100+ temps we had this past summer and mature into these types of flowering plants, then I'm pretty sure they can almost anything the Southeast can throw at them. Highly recommended!

The okra plant that I transplanted in September and highlighted in a blog post is still alive. I don't think it was warm enough while I was gone for the plant to produce any mature pods, but it was still nice to see it standing.

Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) looked miserable all summer - leaves curled in the drought, I thought it would die despite the supplemental water I gave it. By September, with cooler temps, the planted looked healthier, but I didn't expect it would double or triple in size while I was gone and throw up these sprays of red flowers. What a nice surprise! I think these flowers are supposed to attract hummingbirds, but sadly I saw only a single hummingbird make a brief visit. Maybe you need a whole patch of these plants to catch a hummingbird's attention?

Just another perspective showing the size and shape of the Pineapple Sage.

One more shot of a butterfly visiting some zinnia flowers. (Notice the smaller dun-colored skipper butterfly in the upper right hand corner of the photo. I didn't intentionally try to capture both butterflies in the frame, but there were so many butterflies flitting about that I just happened to get lucky.) I love butterflies and I love zinnias. Fortunately, they also seem to love each other.

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