Whats Looking Good Right Now

Teucrium fruticans

Great silvery blue foliage provides interest all year long. 

Requires full sun and excellent drainage.

Prunus mume 'Hokkai-bungo'

One of the earliest mume's to bloom. 

The flower is a dark pink almost reddish color. 

Violas and Toadflax

Seed toadflax in October and it will make a nice green groundcover amongst other winter annuals until spring when it bursts into flower.

Camellia x vernalis 'Star Above Star' 

Flowers are white with pink outer petals. 

This cultivar is noteworthy for its excellent petal drop. 

Seed Cleaning

A good way to start a 28 degree morning?? 

Inside cleaning seeds. 

The month of November is a great time for collecting seed in South Carolina and cold December mornings are great time for cleaning seeds. 

Helianthus radula flower and seed

Zinnia flower (left) and seed (right)

Campsis radicans seed pod and seed

Dealing With Trees In Perennial Borders

Generally trees don't belong in a perennial border, 

but sometimes the circumstances dictate it. Here are some ways for you to deal with it. 

Dig an 18" deep trench around 5 to 7' away from the trunk.

This particular tree is Salix babylonica 'Yatsubusa' 

In the trench lay a root barrier that is impregnated with a chemical that  will keep the roots in check. 

For the complete story head over to Jenks Farmer's blog 

Each year around this time we reduce and thin the tree and also enhance the weepiness of the tree by removing most of the vertical branches and tipping branches which results in weepy new growth in the spring.

Look how much we removed. A good rule of thumb is to never remove more than 30% of the canopy in one pruning.

The finished product

Adenophora liliifolia

Chinese Toadflax seeded in over top Violas, Alliums, and Purple Milk Thistles

Horticultural Excursion

Instead of planting bulbs and cutting back frost damaged plants, I decided to take a trip earlier this week with my friend Jenks Farmer to visit a nursery and a few gardens in and around Athens, GA.

Our first stop was a great perennial nursery called Goodness Grows. They offer a wide selection of perennials and some unique woodies as well.

 One of the first perennials we noticed when walking up was Adenophora liliifolia (ladybells). I was drawn to it for two reasons 1.) It was flowering right now and 2.) it isn't available often. While speaking with the nursery owner Rick, he explained they had recently dug a clump of 

ladybells from their old nursery site and that was the reason these were flowering this late in the season. Another great perennial we bought was Viola pedata 'Eco Artist Palette' (perennial bird-foot violet) a native that flowers during April and May, a time when not to many native perennials in our area flower.  

A few other plants we picked up:

Juncus 'Twisted Dart'

Aster tataricus (tartarian aster)

Eucomis comosa 'Tugela Ruby' (perennial pineapple lily)

Physostegia virginiana 'Summer Snow' (obedient plant)

Veronica peduncularis 'Georgia Blue' (speedwell)

After leaving Goodness Grows we visited The State Botanical Garden of Georgia. 

From there we went to The University of Georgia Horticulture Trial Gardens.  

Here you can compare 20 different cultivars of geraniums that vary in flower color, flower size, leaf color, number of flowers and so on. 

We probably spent an hour taking cuttings of various annuals and mixing them together to see what would make great combinations for the following year.  

One of the great things about this trial garden is the location is right in the heart of campus which is great for promoting horticulture. Another great benefit of this trial garden is all the information they collect is available to the public at the trial gardens website.

Tough Containers

Center: Agave scabra

Perimeter: Sedum japonicum 'Tokyo Sun'

The Sedum was interplanted with a few Plentifall Pansies to help fill space and add color. By this time next year the Sedum should have filled in completely leaving no room for annuals making this container truly maintenance free.

Click here for more great Agaves

Adding Interest To Winter Containers With Bamboo

Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr'

A great clumping bamboo that is perfect for making trellises.

It's flexible enough that you can bend and braid it and it won't snap.

In the spring we will plant an annual vine in the containers.

Towne and Country Rose

One of my favorite shrub roses

Alocasia x 'Portodora'

Dividing and Transplanting

Pathway Edging, Turf and Mulch

Phase 6 of new perennial garden in Florence

Fence Installation

Phase 5 of new perennial garden in Florence

Due to heavy root competition and limited sun light we decided to build a fence at the top of the arc. This serves as a focal point in the garden and just like the hedge it makes a great back drop for perennials.

Hedge Planting

Phase 4 of new perennial garden in Florence

When planting a long hedge I find it easiest to dig a trench instead of separate holes. This technique makes it easier to install the hedge in a straight line with proper spacing between each plant.

When planting material of this size it is important to saturate the rootball before back-filling the hole. After setting the plants in the trench and lining them up we filled the trench with water twice. Each time we allowed the water to be completely soaked up by the root balls. 

Once the root balls are saturated, back-fill and water-in. 

Soil prep

Phase 3 of new perennial garden in Florence






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Canna x ehemanii

Dr. David Creech, Director of Stephen F. Austin Arboretum, was kind enough to share this great plant with us earlier this year. It has quickly become my favorite Canna. It is currently in flower and about 9' tall.

Irrigation

Second phase of a new perennial garden install in Florence.

Best Time For Planting

In the South, during the months of June through August gardening can become slightly repetitive. Weed, water, fertilize, Weed, water, fertilize, Weed, water, fertilize, Cut back. You get the picture. So what do you do to escape the hot summer sun. PLAN for the fall. 

All summer long our greenhouse manager is propagating and growing out plants that we have acquired from various  nurseries or from a field collecting trips. Towards the end of the summer our nursery begins to look pretty full, as you can see from the picture below.  

Fall is the best time to plant woody's and perennials. Last week Jenks Farmer and I walked through the nursery and compiled a list of several different cultivars of Rosa and Salix, Hypericum densiflorum, Prunus mume, Clinopodium, and other various woodies and perennials that will be ready to be planted this fall. 

Later that day we walked the garden seeking areas that needed refining or bolstering.   

Now that we have a list of areas, we wait for the favorable planting conditions that come with the month of October. 

Buckwheat

Sowed about 3 weeks ago and already in flower! Buckwheat is a great late summer cover crop due to its rapid growth and ability to out-compete weeds. In a couple weeks, before the buckwheat goes to seed, the meadow will be mowed and the green matter will be left to decompose and build the soil. 

Demolition

First phase of a new perennial garden for a customer in Florence. More pictures to come as the process furthers.


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