25 Gardening Mistakes That I Made in 2012!

I am not shy about admitting my errors in the hopes that others may learn from them.

Here are a list of plants that I trialed this year that either completely failed or did not grow as well as I had hoped. I have listed pros and cons where I felt the results were mixed.

1)  Abelmoschus esculentus, Okra, Emerald variety - Almost all the plants failed to thrive. I only harvested one okra pod - and that was from a plant that I transplanted. Not sure if the problem was the variety (I had much better success with Clemson Spineless last year) or the soil in the raised bed which seemed to become very hard and heavy this year. I dismantled that raised bed and practically had to use a pickaxe to break up the soil so that I could plant buffalo grass.

Aquilegia vulgaris "Winky" - The leaves actually look quite pretty now, but I've found that the foliage deteriorates rapidly especially in hot weather. If you cut it back, it will regenerate nicely. I had to cut this plant to the ground twice during the growing season to keep the foliage looking nice. I wonder if this process of needing to regenerate foliage all the time will exhaust the plant?

2) Aquilegia vulgaris, Columbine, "Winky" variety - The species Columbine is supposed to attract hummingbirds, but I didn't see any on either of my two Winky plants. I liked the long bloom season in the spring (around four weeks, maybe longer) and the foliage starts out really pretty, but it soon gets tattered and torn. I do like how you can cut the foliage down to the ground and it will resprout and look good in no time (though the plant will not rebloom). Perhaps the bloom would have lasted even longer if I had deadheaded the flowers, but I wanted the plant to produce seeds, which I tried scattering throughout a couple of my landscaped beds. I'm eager to see whether I get new plants next year. If the plant resows, I may consider it a success. I don't consider this an abject failures. I guess I'm still on the fence with Winky and will Aquilegia in general.

Pay no attention to the green weedy-looking plants covering the ground. Most are self-sown Calendula officinalis or Evening Stock (and a few are weeds). Try to focus on this few small vertical sticks in the middle of the photo. That's Aronia (Chokeberry). Supposed to be a small tree. It's not there yet. Maybe next year? It does have hints of pretty fall color.

3) Aronia, Chokeberry - I purchased three plants via mail order in quart-size pots. I got tiny bare sticks that seemed to really struggle in the heat and humidity of a Tennessee summer, even in partial shade. (The partial shade still received sun all morning and until 1 or 2 p.m. in the heat of the summer, and that might have been just too much for the little plants.) The good news is that they all survived, but they didn't grow much. Again, I'm on the fence with these. I have high hopes for next year. My mistake, I think, was to buy such small plants via mail order. If I could go back, I'd try to buy one or two larger plants and get them in the ground in the autumn to provide them with time to settle in. (The price at my favorite local nursery for a 3-gallon potted plant is only around double the price of the tiny quart-size plant I foolishly bought.) Apparently, Aronia's natural habitat is wet woods and swamps, so it may just not like being planted on a hilltop property. But I'm not giving up quite yet.

Callicarpa americana, American Beautyberry - Yep, it's the stick in the middle of the photo. No berries, not much beauty.

4) Callicarpa americana, American Beautyberry - Another tiny quart-size mail order plant. I tried it in a full-sun windy location where it constantly looked on the verge of death. With lots of supplemental water, it survived our scorching summer. I relocated it in September to a half-shade location in the front border. It didn't seem all that happy about being transplanted and dropped its leaves soon after, but we'll see if it comes back next year. Even if it does survive, I'm don't think I like the plant enough aesthetically to recommend it. The flowers are tiny. The leaves and form are unremarkable. The purple berries are nice, although small and they did not persist into winter nearly as long as I had thought they would. (I don't think any birds ate them, I think they just shriveled up and dropped off the plant.) A disappointment, but one that I'm not ready to shovel prune quite yet.

Calycanthus floridus, Carolina Allspice, Sweetshrub -- It's not surprising when the leaves look like this in autumn, but Calycanthus' leaves curled up and died throughout the year. Not good.

5) Calycanthus floridus, Carolina Allspice, Sweetshrub - Yet another tiny quart-size mail order plant. Even in a partial sun Eastern facing bed, it looked miserable most of the summer. It would put out a new leaf and then that leaf would curl up and die. At one point, I thought it was mostly dead, so I cut the small plant back nearly to the ground to see what would happen. That actually seemed to help. It put out a new branch with healthier-looking foliage. Of course, it stayed pretty small, but it seemed a little stronger near the end of the growing season and even had a bit of nice color change to yellow on the foliage. I'm on the fence with this one too. Wish I had bought a larger plant to start (could have bought a 3-gallon for $30 instead of a quart for $11). I learned a lot this year about being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Not only did most of the plants fail to grow as quickly as I had thought they might, I think they had a much harder time settling in than if I had bought a bigger plant with a more established root system. And whatever size I bought, I'm thinking I probably should have planted in autumn 2011 to give the plants lots of time to settle in and establish roots before the hot summer weather set in. (Of course, I had not yet finished tearing out the previous landscaping in Autumn 2011. I always feel like I am doing things at the Wrong Time in the garden, but I'm trying to learn better as I go along.)

Clematis integrifolia, Solitary clematis - Not a big fan of the twisty green leaves and you can see those brown stems radiating outwards. Are they dead? I'm not sure. As described below, the flowers have an interesting appearance, but the bloom time was short in my garden and I don't feel like the plant pulls its weight the rest of the year.

6) Clematis integrifolia - A queer little plant, sprawling, sickly looking twisted foliage. Eventually it did have a brief bloom period, but the flowers were so downcast and low to the ground that I can't say they added much ornamental value. Nor do I ever recall seeing a single bee or butterfly at the flowers, so the plant did not seem to add much wildlife value. For a while, it looked as though the plant would root along its stems, but eventually it seemed to give up that notion and just die back. It has greened up in the center again this autumn, but I'm still far from impressed. I'm tempted to shovel prune it, but since I don't need the space right now, I'll probably let it be. That said, I can't see myself ever planting it again or recommending it to anyone.

7) Coreopsis - Supposed to be easy to grow. Supposed to attract butterflies to the flowers and birds to the seeds. I didn't see any birds or butterflies, and the plant generally failed to thrive. When it did send up flowers, I thought they looked weedy and common. Yellow flowers are not my favorites anyway and these scarcely looked different from dandelions. Or maybe worse than dandelions since the flowers didn't last long and the dead ones persisted on the plant. (I have a strong dislike for plants that require deadheading to look decent.) I haven't seen the coreopsis in months. I think it got covered up by the triumphant French Marigolds, plus some leaning cosmos and zinnias. I'll be interested to see if it returns next year, but I won't be crying in my beer if it doesn't come back. (There are admittedly lots of coreopsis varieties. I've heard some, like Zagreb, are much tougher than others. I didn't keep a record of the variety I planted from a local nursery, but it looked a lot like what is listed elsewhere on the Internet as "Sunray". You can see a photo of the blooms in this post from earlier in the year.)

8) Cosmos, Dancing Petticoats and Double Click - Eventually, some of the Dancing Petticoats seeds sprouted and turned into beautiful plants, but I never saw any plants with Double Click flowers and even the Dancing Petticoats did not grow or germinate nearly as well as the plain Cosmos bipinnatus seeds that I bought at a supermarket last year. I guess the lesson here for me was that sometimes fancier hybrids might be a bit more delicate than a robust species. Or maybe I just got a bad batch of seed? Not sure. I'll buy a different type of cosmos for next year (although buying any cosmos at this point probably isn't necessary since I imagine there will be lots of self sown plants popping up in the garden next spring).

9) Cucumis sativus, Cucumber, Progress and Summer Delight - These Japanese type cucumbers were delicious! They were sweet, no trace of bitterness at all, and the thin skins were edible, which made preparation a breeze. Unfortunately, despite loads of flowers, fruit production was poor and the plants seemed unable to cope when the weather got hot. Despite trellising the vines and despite the fact that they were marketed as disease-resistant, they still came down with some sort of disease - most likely bacterial wilt and/or powdery mildew. After that happened, the vines quickly declined and died. I got much better yields last year with the Burpee Hybrid II strain even though those (untrellised) plants eventually got some disease (powdery mildew) also. As mentioned in earlier posts, I won't be growing any veggies next year (due to the need to spray weed killer on the adjacent lawn) but next time I grow cukes, I'll be moving on to try yet another variety.

10) Fragaria vesca alba, Everbearing White Strawberry - Total failure. Strawberries that I grew in the ground last year were eaten by something (slugs?) so I tried growing these strawberries in a pot. In full Tennessee afternoon sun, they were burned to a crisp. I moved them to a shadier spot, but they failed to recover. I don't think I was meant to grow strawberries. In fact, at this point I'm amazed that anyone can get a strawberry crop, at least using organic methods. I talked to one grower at a farmer's market who had planted a long row of strawberry plants and harvested a single pint. I don't think I was meant to grow strawberries and I'm not at all sure that the plants were meant to grow in Tennessee at all.

11) Hemerocallis, Daylilies - I'm still not a huge fan. In fact, I don't understand why they are so popular. They look awful in the heat of summer, recover a bit in autumn and then look awful again in winter. The dormant ones look particularly bad in winter and the semi-dormant ones seem to be worse in terms of harboring aphids so that the foliage and blooms are damaged come springtime. I'll admit that the flowers are pretty, but they don't seem to have much wildlife value (I can't recall ever seeing a bee or butterfly at a daylily blossom) and it's tedious to deadhead the spent blooms and scapes. An awful lot of work for not much reward. I doubt I'll remove them from the landscape simply because I think I learned my lesson from the front border about needlessly removing functional plants, but if I were planning to stay 20 years and completely redo the landscape to my liking, I have a feeling the daylilies would be replaced sooner rather than later. As it is, they may still be here when we leave, but I don't think I would ever purposely buy or plant them.

12) Lavatera trimestris, Silver Cup - Tried growing from seed, but did not get any germination via direct sowing method. Maybe a bad batch of seeds or maybe they need coddling in a controlled seed-starting environment? Regardless, I don't plan on trying to direct sow again, though if I ever saw a plant at a nursery, I might try buying and planting it.

13) Linum grandiflorum rubrum, Scarlet Flax - Same story here - tried direct sowing, but got zero germination.

14) Lonicera sempervivens, Coral Honeysuckle, "Alabama Crimson" and "Blanche Sandman" - I'm on the fence with this one, which could be a fun since this is a vine that I tried to get to grow on my porch railing. Unfortunately, the vine does not really grab onto anything, so I'd have to tie it to the railing, which I have not done at this point. Still, that's not the vine's fault. It is just following its nature. I don't really have any objection to these plants. They did not grow as much as I would have hoped, but they are perennial so hopefully they will be bigger and stronger next year. I tried planting two in partial shade. One did not have any flowers this year. The other had a few flowers, but the long tubular red flowers take a long time to unfurl and then they quickly dropped off. They are supposed to attract hummingbirds, but I did not see any at the plant. Then again, there weren't many flowers so perhaps the hummingbirds simply didn't notice them. I do like how the vine still has most of its leaves. I think they are supposed to be semi-evergreen in our area. Anyway, I'm not opposed to these plants by any means, just wish they had done better here. But they did survive and get bigger and I still have high hopes for next year. (Floridata has a nice description of the virtues of Coral Honeysuckle.)

15) Lonicera periclymeneum, Harlequin and Serotina varieties - Now these Loniceras did not impress me at all. I tried planting one in partial sun and one in full sun. Both of them were baked to a crisp and disappeared in our hot summer despite plenty of supplemental watering. Since the natural range, according to Paghat, is as far north as Sweden, I guess I should not have been too surprised that they didn't care for Tennessee's climate or soil. (On the other hand, Paghat says their range does extend to North Africa, which I would have imagined should have accustomed them to hot weather...)

Wild-looking seedpod for Nigella damascena, Love-in-a-Mist, photo by Katie Dalton

16) Nigella damascena, Love-in-a-Mist - Nothing really wrong with these dimunitive flowers. They're actually sort of interesting, but they are so small that they are easy to overlook. I think they are cool, but I can't recommend planting them as more than a curiosity, although I may change my mind if they have self-sowed and return next year.

17) Capiscum annuum, Peppers, Jimmy Nardello and Yellow Asti - I had a hard time growing peppers this summer. I started with transplants, not seeds, and the transplants really struggled in the heat. (I thought peppers were supposed to like heat?) As the plants were starting to grow, they kept getting devoured by something. I eventually caught a large caterpillar - I believe a tomato hornworm - on one of the plants. But by then it was too late. I think I eventually harvested one small pepper whose taste was unremarkable. I'm totally willing to accept that I screwed up and that the failure of the pepper harvest was my fault. But by buying peppers at the farmers market this summer, I also came to the realization that I don't think I am a huge pepper fan and that therefore I would probably prefer to spend my time and energy on other crops, especially ones that are easier to grow from seed in Tennessee.

18) Phaseolus vulgaris, Beans, Emerite and Musica - I had an awful time trying to grow pole beans this year. Last year, I grew bush beans and those didn't fare very well, so I thought I'd try the pole beans this year since they are supposed to be more prolific. The vines grew very well at first, but the beans were attacked by beetles (bean beetles?) that damaged the foliage and ruined many of the pods. And besides, the pods were small and twisty (perhaps because of the insect damage), nothing like the pods you find in the grocery store or at the farmers market. Again, from experience buying beans at the farmers market, I don't think I am such a huge fan of pole beans, so I doubt I would try growing them again anytime soon. Fortunately, my pea crop turned out well in the spring and I like eating peas much more than beans, so perhaps I'll just concentrate on growing peas and leave the beans to those who can grow them better than I can! :)

19) Phlox paniculata, Garden Phlox, David - First of all, you supposedly need to divide this plant every few years to keep it vigorous. I am not a big fan of plants that require the work of division. Secondly, the plant just doesn't seem to do all that great in my Tennessee garden. It dies to the ground in winter, takes a while to emerge in the spring. After it does emerge, it takes a while to flower and by that time, it is getting toward summer and the plant is not really fond of hot weather, so it stops flowering again and then you just have a lot of dried dead brown flowers on the plant. I do have to say that I kind of like the scent of the flowers when it is in bloom, although you'll have to kneel down and smell them up close if you want to get the scent. This phlox did seem to overwinter easily in our garden and two of the three plants even multiplied. It seems pretty tough and was even able to survive a brutal summer here in more or less full sun. So I don't dislike Phlox paniculata. I certainly like it better than daylilies. But it's still far from my favorite plant at this point and not one that I would rush to plant in a new garden or recommend to a friend. I also tend to prefer plants with strong wildlife value for beneficial insects and I don't recall seeing many (any?) bees or butterflies around the Garden Phlox.

20) Rudbeckia, Black-Eyed Susan, "Summer Blaze" - It was supposed to be tough, but the Rudbeckia that I planted this past spring baked and withered away in our Tennessee summer. Yes, I killed Rudbeckia. Do I get a Black Thumb medal? (I've heard that different Rudbeckias have different levels of toughness. Maybe I just planted the wrong variety? I have to admit I'm intrigued by Rudbeckia nitida, Herbstonne...)

21) Salvia elegans, Pineapple Sage - First of all, I tried flavoring some water with the leaves of pineapple sage and failed to discern even a hint of pineapple flavor. Second, despite the beautiful sprays of red flowers in autumn, the plant looked miserable most of the summer. It seems to hate heat and detest drought. Accordingly, while I think this is a lovely plant, I just don't think it is suited to Tennessee. Fortunately, I probably won't need to worry about that - since the plant is only rated as hardy to zone 8, I doubt it will return next year. For now, I'm still enjoying those long-lasting red fall flowers!

22) Sarcococca confusa, Sweet Box - It was supposed to have fragrant winter flowers followed by black berries to attract birds. It was supposed to be drought tolerant (once established). I bought two tiny seedlings. One died in the drought. The other nearly died and is just hanging on. It may do better next year, but the growth rate is painfully slow. At its current growth rate, it might make a nice foundation shrub in 10-20 years.

23) Smilacina racemosa, Solomon's Plume - Bought for the fragrant spring flowers followed by berries. It completely failed to thrive, leaves turned brown and it quickly disappeared. Maybe it needed more acidic soil? Maybe it was just miserable in the heat and drought (despite supplemental water)? Maybe it needed more shade? In any case, I doubt I would try it again.

24) Tropaeolum majus, Nasturtium - Purchased for interesting foliage and edible flowers, but I never saw any blooms because the seeds took a long time to germinate and then the plants faded away in the heat of summer. Some new seedlings have actually sprouted now in the autumn, but since the plants are only hardy to zone 9, I presume that I missed my chance. I guess my only hope might be that some notoriously hard-to-germinate nasturtium seeds that did not germinate might still overwinter and sprout early next spring in order to flower before the heat sets in. I'm sure this is a lovely plant in the right climate and setting, but I can't imagine ever planting it again here in Tennessee. (I should have been clued in by Texas A&M which notes that the plants are "native to the cool highlands of mountains extending from Mexico to central Argentina and Chile." Cool mountain highlands does not describe my Middle Tennessee garden!)

25) Viola tricolor, Johnny Jump Up - There's nothing particularly wrong with these flowers. I sowed the seeds because they were supposed to bloom for a long time (some guides suggested 12-19 weeks of blooms!) and because the flowers were supposed to be edible. I did try to eat some of the flowers, but did not find the experience particularly enjoyable. As for the aesthetic value, the plants are tiny so that you really need to be on hands-and-knees to appreciate the beauty. They are cute and I certainly would have no objection to find some scattered here and there in the garden, but I don't think I would go out of my way to sow them again. As for wildlife value, I can't recall seeing any bees or butterflies visiting Viola tricolor.


So there you go. A lot of lessons learned! I'll try not to make the same mistakes again, because why repeat yourself when you can make new mistakes? :)

If anyone has good luck growing any of the plants listed above and wants to let me know I screwed up -- or even wants to stand up and defend a plant that I've disparaged -- I'm eager to hear your opinion in the Comments section!

PS - If you'd like to stay abreast of the latest developments at Garden of Aaron, you can now subscribe via email! Totally convenient, totally free - what could be nicer?

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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Zinnias and Butterflies

Why plant zinnias?

1. You can plant them from seed. For a couple of dollars, you can have flowers all year

2. They're pretty tough. Most of my zinnias survived drought and 100+ degree weather.

3. They attract butterflies!! Lots and lots of butterflies.

4. They also attract goldfinches eager to eat the seed.

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Autumn Joy Sedum

Tough? Yep.

Succulent? You betcha.

Frothy pink flowers? Don't mind if I do.

Attracts butterflies and other insects? Sure does.

It's Autumn Joy sedum!!

(I've been so happy with the sedum thus far that I'm thinking about adding some more to the garden next year. Maybe Matrona or Brilliant or even the Dragon's Blood groundcover...)

Do you grow sedums? If so, which ones work best for you? If you have photos of sedum in your garden, please post links in the Comments field!

See the sedum and the rest of the garden change through the season with free email updates.

Perseverance

An okra plant will survive.

A few weeks ago, we ripped up our raised vegetable bed to install a test plot of buffalo grass.

None of the summer vegetables had done very well in the raised bed this year. I'm not sure why. Maybe the soil (purchased from a nursery last year) was too heavy. Maybe I didn't fertilize enough. Maybe the dirt in the raised bed just cooked to an unfavorable temperature in the 100+ degree heat we had earlier in the summer.

(The only thing that did do well in the raised beds were cosmos plants! Although even they got big and bushy, but hardly produced any flowers...)

Meanwhile, the tomato plants growing right in the clay soil next to the raised beds were thriving.

So I decided to try to transplant the two biggest okra plants from the raised bed to the clay soil.

I had not gotten any okra at all from the raised bed this year. Most of the plants refused to grow. But these were the best of the bunch. They even had managed to create a couple of flowers by transplanting time.

Well, okra hates to be transplanted.

The transplants immediately dropped all their leaves and flowers and I felt sure they were dead.

But they weren't

The smaller plant never did regrow any leaves, but its flower must have been fertilized, because soon a small pod started to grow right at the top of the plant. It as though the plant knew it didn't have enough energy to regrow leaves and so it decided to pump all its reproductive hopes into the single pod.

The larger plant meanwhile has regrown some nice healthy-looking leaves, but has not yet put out any pods.

Love these fresh green leaves on this transplanted okra plant!

I was just impressed by the spirit and the perseverance of these okra plants, particularly the smaller one.

And I will celebrate that perseverance by savoring the one okra pod when I eat it tonight.

I'm hoping I'll do better with okra in 2013. See whether that hope pans out with free email updates.

Buffalo Grass Trial - Day #2

Buffalo grass plugs newly installed, Day #2, August 23, 2012

Yesterday, my mail order of Prestige buffalograss arrived from Todd Valley Farms.

(Yes, this is the same Todd Valley Farms referenced in my interview with Wayne Thorson about the virtues of buffalograss. In case you're wondering, I did not get any perks or discounts from Wayne or Todd Valley Farms in exchange for the interview. You can read the Trust section of this website if you'd like to learn more about my policies and promises on editorial integrity. I bought my buffalo grass fair and square in a 95-plug tray for $48 plus $14 shipping and handling. I looked around and investigated buying the buffalo grass through other mail order outlets, but the ones I investigated seemed to basically just be distributors for Todd Valley Farms, so I just decided to buy from the source.)

I have to admit that I was very excited to open the box and see the thick carpet of Prestige buffalograss therein. Despite three days in transit in mid-80s to low-90s weather, the plugs looked healthy, strong and green. Yes, the grass is a softer, greyer color than fescue or bluegrass, but it was incredibly soft and all the blades were nicely interconnected in a way that seemed like it would do a good job of excluding weeds.

In fact, the stolens on the buffalograss were so interwoven that it was impossible to pull the plugs apart without cutting them. My wife graciously volunteered for this task while I set to work trying to dig holes in the rock-hard clay that we call soil.

(I'm sorry I didn't take a photo of the buffalograss looking so pretty in its tray. I was eager to get the plugs untangled and planted. As it was, the job took us ~3 hours and we only finished around sunset. It would have taken far longer without the help of my generous and kind wife!) 

Incidentally, this buffalograss test patch was installed where we previously had our raised garden bed. I disassembled the bed a few days ago, distributing some of the soil therein throughout the landscaped beds and raking the remaining soil to the point where it looked relatively smooth with a nice slight grade away from the house and patio.

Anyway, back to the digging. It was hard work, chopping at the soil with a small shovel. If I were planting more than one tray (and even if I were doing one tray again), I'd certainly consider buying some sort of auger attachment for my drill to make the work go faster and easier. Or I might try the approach my wife suggested, which would be to use a big shovel to chop up the top layer of dirt throughout the whole planting area and then plant all the plugs into that loosened soil. Or maybe it would have been better to use a tiller? I'm not sure yet and confess that I still have a lot to learn about soil!

Prestige buffalograss plugs close up after installation

In any case, we watered down the area, watered down the plugs themselves and chopped out holes in the soil. I didn't worry too much about placing the plugs at exact distances from each other, but I did try to stagger the rows as recommended in the planting instructions. (By 'stagger the rows', I mean that I wanted the post-planting area to have a checkerboard pattern.)

The planting and care instructions sent by Todd Valley Farms are rather chemical dependent. They recommend soaking the plugs with Miracle Gro®or a similar sod/seed starter fertilizer and using chemical herbicides to suppress weeds.

As an organic gardener, I basically ignored those instructions. Instead I scattered some chicken manure and earthworm castings into each of the holes and plan to spray some organic liquid fertilizer in a few weeks. As far as I can tell, the fertilizers that are recommended (every 30 days according to the planting instructions) are not absolutely essential - after all, no one was spraying buffalograss with fertilizer when it was the dominant grass on the Great Plains! - but rather just to encourage the buffalograss to fill in its area before weeds pop up to compete. Since I'm not using an herbicide - some of which like 2-4D can apparently harm the buffalograss itself - I'll need to just be vigilant about weeds and try to pull them before they get established. Since this is a compact area (probably not more than 50-60 square feet), I'm hoping I can deter the weeds until the buffalograss fills in and gets strong enough to screen them out on its own.

Update - Just called Todd Valley Farms and was told that using organic fertilizer is fine, just to try to use one that supports root growth - i.e. one that has more P and K, versus N that would encourage top growth, which would be counterproductive without the roots to support that growth.

An overhead shot of the buffalograss plugs. The slightly darker patch of soil in the middle of the photo is where I emptied out the last of the earthworm castings. I wish all my soil was that dark and rich. Yes, I have Soil Envy!

So that's where things stand for now. The instructions emphasize keeping the plugs wet for two weeks, so I soaked the area thoroughly right after planting and again this morning. I spoke with Todd Farms to ask exactly what this meant in terms of how often to water the plugs, but was told that it was impossible to give a hard answer since the watering frequency would depend on temperature, soil, etc. Basically I was told that I should keep the area 'wet' for two weeks (wet meaning you wouldn't want to walk on it) and then 'moist' for another two weeks (moist meaning you could potentially walk there). I was also given the reassuring news that the plugs are a bit less sensitive to drying out than the sod.

And while some buffalograss buyers have reported problems with their grass turning brown, again as I understand it that is more of a problem with buffalograss sod and/or with spring plantings where the grass is taken out of a warm greenhouse and plopped into a colder environment. Since it's going to be in the low 90s today and for the next couple of days, I don't think I have to worry about cold temperature shocks with the buffalograss!

Prestige buffalograss plugs and one zinnia, one of a couple plants that I didn't have the heart to remove when I was preparing the buffalograss bed

So, I'm very excited to be giving this a try! Hopefully temps will cool off in a week or so (that's the long range forecast) and we'll get some rain which will cut down on the amount of watering I need to do, but for now I'm willing to do some intensive short-term watering for the future promise of less watering down the road. As the "General Care Guidelines After Establishment" in the planting instructions state:

"You should not need to water your buffalograss except in times of drought. If this occurs, deep water (1 to 2 inches) once per month. This will keep your lawn looking lush. Adjustments to this may need to be made due to soil conditions and/or local climates. If you choose not to water, this will not harm the grass (my emphasis) but you may notice a slight browning of the blade tips. Buffalograss will go into dormancy in extreme droughts."

All of this sounds awesome to me. The promise of a lawn - or at least a patch of a lawn - that needs hardly any supplemental water and grows slowly to a maximum height of 4-6 inches tall? That is the dream I am pursuing with this buffalograss trial.

Will the buffalo grass ever knit together into a green carpet? Or will it remain as a patchwork of isolated clumps? Find out (eventually) with free email updates.

Expert Interview #2 - Kirk Shillinglaw, Prairie Nursery

Monarch butterfly and bee on Prairie Blazingstar, photo by Rachel Ford James

As I mentioned when interviewing Ira Wallace of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, my hope with GardenofAaron.com is to share not only my own limited knowledge and experience with gardening, but also to bring you the views, opinions and wisdom from authorities in the field.

For that reason, I’m honored to be able to present an interview with Kirk Shillinglaw, VP of Sales and Marketing at Prairie Nursery. Although Kirk carries a businessperson’s title, he assured me that he was formerly seed division manager at Prairie Nursery, which means that he is well acquainted with the virtues of various prairie and native plants.

GardenofAaron.com:  Tell me what makes Prairie Nursery different from other plant nurseries and seed catalogs.

Kirk Shillinglaw: We were one of the first nurseries to use native perennials in landscaping. In fact, we just celebrated our 40^th anniversary in business, which makes us one of the oldest – if not the oldest – native plant nurseries.

In addition, we have very high quality seed and plants. All the seed we sell is lab-tested for quality and viability, and we hand-grade all our plants. 

And we have something for  just about any soil type or condition. Our annual sales reports show that we have customers in all 48 contiguous states. In the Southeast, many of our customers are located in North Carolina and Tennessee.

GardenofAaron.com: Why should gardeners consider using native plants in their landscapes?

Shillinglaw: If you choose the right plants that fit your soil and sunlight conditions, then native plants will be naturally adapted to the local conditions. Natives are generally hardy and disease-resistant plants. They often attract birds and butterflies by serving as a natural source of seed and food for pollinators. They are typically low-maintenance and many of them have good drought tolerance. While some natives do naturally experience a certain degree of insect predation, they’re generally less likely than exotic plants to get absolutely mauled by insects, which means that usually gardeners do not need to resort to insecticides to keep a plant alive and healthy.

GardenofAaron.com: Where I garden in Tennessee, the soil is mostly clay. Many other gardeners in the Southeast and elsewhere in the U.S. garden on clay soils. What sort of plants would you recommend for them?

Shillinglaw: We actually have a strong line of clay plants that we call Clay Busters. The great thing about using these plants is that you don’t have to amend the soil.

GardenofAaron.com: Really? You don’t have to amend your clay soil at all before planting these Clay Busters?

Shillinglaw: Well, we suggest removing competing vegetation to reduce some competition at the start. If you plant a native plant into a patch of quack grass, it will have a tough time getting established. So give the plants an even playing field, dig a hole, loosen the roots of the potted plant, ensure that you have some loose soil at the bottom of the hole and then tuck the plant in. You do need to give the plant some water in its first few weeks until it gets established so that it can get its roots into the soil.

GardenofAaron.com: So which of the Clay Busters would you specifically suggest for someone like myself gardening in a sunny patch of Tennessee clay?

Shillinglaw: One of the most commonly and frequently used clay plants is the Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). Another popular one is Prairie Blazingstar (Liatris pycnostachya). Those are two of the most well-known native prairie plants.

Another plant that can work well in clay is Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium), which has a really unusual and unique appearance.

And one of my favorites is the New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae), which in Tennessee might bloom through November.

In moist clay, Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculate) can be a good choice if you’re looking for a tall plant [4-6 feet].

Butterfly on Rattlesnake Master, photo by sfgamchick

GardenofAaron.com: You said Ironweed is good for moist clay. What if you have clay soil like mine that is moist after one of our strong rainstorms and slow to dry, but then bakes like concrete in hot, dry weather? And what if you want a plant that can take drought without a lot (if any) of supplemental water?

Shillinglaw: In that case, you want to look for plants like Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) and Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) that are listed in our catalog or on our website as doing well in any kind of soil – Dry, Medium or Moist. The plants that have that description will generally be more cosmopolitan and adaptable with regards to soil moisture. Note that Black Eyed Susan is a biennial, but does self-sow on bare ground, and the vast majority of our plants are perennials that you can plant once and that will come back year after year.

GardenofAaron.com: Changing topics a little, do you grow your own plants?

Shillinglaw: We do grow approximately 95% of the potted plants we sell in our own greenhouse. Much of our seed is also produced on site.  

GardenofAaron.com: I am trying to do some of my planting in autumn this year (as opposed to this year and last year when I planted in springtime). How do you feel about autumn planting in Tennessee or elsewhere in the Southeast?

Shillinglaw: Planting in fall can be a good idea to help plants get established and put down roots so that they grow a bit more strongly next spring. While most spring transplants will still bloom their first year in the ground, you’re more likely to get blooms the following year on a fall transplant. Our autumn shipping season runs from mid-September to mid-October, although we will ship a little later to Southern areas on request. For large orders, we can sometimes make exceptions and ship outside of this time frame.

GardenofAaron.com: What are your recommendations when it comes to fertilizing native plants?

Shillinglaw: Generally, there is no need to fertilize native plants. In fact, we find that adding fertilizers may actually tip the balance in favor of competitive weeds. Of course, like anything that is green and growing, if you have a plant that is looking really poor, you might want to add a balanced fertilizer, but generally there is no need to fertilize with native plants.

GardenofAaron.com: So in the Southeast, where we have a lot of rainfall, but we alternate between periods of heavy rain and drought, would you suggest looking mainly at plants listed as tolerating dry to moist conditions?

Shillinglaw: Well, it depends on soil type. I know quite a few people garden on clay in the Southeast, but if you have a sandy soil, you’re more likely to lose moisture quickly even after a heavy rain. In that situation, plants that we have categorized as suitable for Dry, Sandy & Rocky Soils would be most suitable.

GardenofAaron.com: What plants would you recommend for shade or partial shade on clay soil?

Shillinglaw: Well, Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) is one good option. Another good choice might be Sweet Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum). Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) is a tremendous groundcover for shady or partially shady areas on clay soil. Even a few of the woodland asters, like the Heart Leaved Aster (Aster cordifolious) and the Big Leaf Aster (Aster macrophyllus), can do well in clay and partial shade.

Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), photo by gardentrek

GardenofAaron.com: Speaking of groundcovers, any suggestions in that area?

Shillinglaw: We don’t really carry any vines that would rapidly cover an area, but almost any of our ferns has the potential to spread and attain good coverage. Stiff Coreopsis (Coreopsis palmata) can also spread and function as a groundcover. And then there’s Wild Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), which can function as a groundcover. Another good option might be Palm Sedge (Carex mukingumensis), which has unique foliage that looks like the leaves of a palm tree.

GardenofAaron.com: Would you say that interest is growing in the U.S. in native, prairie plants?

Shillinglaw: I’d say that the market for purists or traditionalists looking to restore native prairie lands has stayed about the same size in recent years, but we do have more and more customers and potential customers who realize that native plants don’t have to look wild and weedy. A lot of native, prairie plants make excellent garden plants. Very few of these natives are aggressive, which means that they will mostly play well with others.

Also, pretty much everyone likes birds and butterflies, and so the fact that these plants often do a good job of attracting that sort of wildlife is a strong point in favor of the native prairie plants. Generally, I’d say they are becoming more mainstream and more accepted by landscape designers and customers.

GardenofAaron.com: Presumably a lot of the native plants are also attractive to bees and hummingbirds?

Shillinglaw: Absolutely, bees love plants like Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), which is commonly known as Bee Balm. And Columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis) is an excellent hummingbird plant. Our catalog and website has icons showing which plants are best for attracting birds, hummingbirds and butterflies. And next year, we’re planning to add a bee icon to highlight plants that attract pollinators. We are working on that project with the Xerxes Society, which aims to protect pollinators.

GardenofAaron.com: Anything new that we can expect from Prairie Nursery down the road?

Shillinglaw: We have been building up the woodland species that we offer, for instance by increasing our selection of woodland ferns. And we are starting to look at offering a few native shrubs, for instance plants like Elderberry. So that’s something to keep an eye on for next year.

Thanks to Kirk at Prairie Nursery for these insights!

It’s almost fall planting season at GardenofAaron.com. So stay tuned for photos and play-by-play on some of the big changes coming to the garden!

Have you ever ordered from Prairie Nursery? 

Do you have any native and/or prairie plants in your garden and, if so, how have they fared? 

Please share your experiences in the Comments field below.