Blooming in September....

...and will continue until frost is Kleim's Hardy Gardenia...



Although it doesn't exactly cover itself in blooms like I would like, it is certainly nice to have a gardenia make it here. The first few years were iffy, but it's now a pretty good sized shrub. It's in a bit of a protected location but also endures less sun than it probably would like.

This one and the gardenia Chuck Hayes are the only two of several that I have tried to persevere here. Chuck Hayes suffered greatly this last winter (which wasn't a particularly harsh winter) and I lost about half of the shrub. It's doing okay. I think its problem is the late freezes we can have here...it pops out with its new spring growth too early and then really suffers.

Happiness is a Gardenia in bloom....

It looks like my Chuck Hayes Gardenia is settling in. After all, it survived our record breaking winter...even if it did look like a pile of sticks when spring began this year. I've noticed for the last few years that it seems to get it all together in very late summer and blooms until frost stops it.

This year, it is able to pump out multiple blooms...which is marvelous...here's hoping next year I'll be able to say numerous blooms. I am rather happy with this picture. Whites can be tough to capture.


The rock with the dragonflies on it is new. For a number of years, I've had a trio of heart shaped stones in this little area. I liked them, the heart stones. Unfortunately, after returning from our little vacation, I noticed only two stones there. What could have happened? I still don't know...but, gosh, two stones just looked like something was missing. It displeased me. So, the dragonfly rock gets the call from the bullpen.


(Try not to notice the weeds...)

I guess I'll relocate the remaining two heart stones to the backyard for safekeeping...eventually...maybe to play with the gnomes... The missing stone did turn up....my friend found it out by the ditch....exactly one half of it, with each side quite scratched. Your guess is as good as mine. I don't like to think anything nefarious, but it is annoying. It will make me think twice about what I put in the front yard....

Heart Broken...

By now, a good week plus later, the snow has receded to just the shady areas and the piles where snow was pushed aside. Just this morning, I heard of the chance of snow on New Year's Eve to New Year's Day. No matter. Having made it through 'the big one', the rest will seem small potatoes.

Not that I've really ventured forth, but I have had a bit of a chance to see what the Big Snow has left.


As far as I know, this is the most devastating garden damage. Pretty sad, huh. This was Waterfall, a Japanese Maple. It had the unfortunate luck, as it turns out, to reside in the shady bed right beside the front door. On the one hand, this is a protected area and, as mentioned, shady, so nice for a young tree like this...was. On the other, unbeknownst to me, (or un-thought-of) the snow staying in this area got quite heavy (obviously). When I look at it now, I clearly can see that the piles are rather icy not soft and powdery. Who knew?


This picture shows it from a bit further back. You can see snow receding (but not quick enough). The daphne to the right appears to have only suffered slight damage (it's getting large, so what it lost will not be missed). The gardenia (Chuck Hayes) on the other corner lost only some branches off the back. Being on the corner, the snow quickly receded from it. There's also another gardenia, smallish, pretty much still covered in snow (Kleims). Time will tell whether the icy snow snapped all of its branches. They are flattened over (and covered by snow) the hardy cyclamen right now.

The lesson here...for those of us who get infrequent heavy snows....is that snow turns icy which gets much heavier than snow alone. Therefore, even though it still looks rather snow-like, it will break branches on things unaccustomed to such weight. I shall have to remember this for when we get another one of these...in another...what 10, 20, 30, years from now. This may have even been a record snowfall for us.

I have a tea olive in the backyard (holly leaf osmanthus) which is quite hardy. I remember a year or two ago when snow laid all of its branches flat on the ground. It melted rather quickly and uprighted itself without any intervention on my part. I'm afraid that rather spoiled me. I had the idea these things handled issues without my intervention. Silly me. Oh well.

In case there is any question in your mind, Waterfall is gone. Most Japanese Maples are grafted, as is this one. However, as a gardener, one knows that losses can occur. As a rather seasoned gardener in a small yard, one goes with the flow...what will be, will be. I will ponder whether I want to put another one in there or try something else. I do tend to crowd things, so once it is removed, the hellebores will probably give a great sigh of relief and keep spreading out...

.....with all that snow and cold weather, some animals knew just how to wait it out...

80809....Twenty-One Years Ago Today...

....my most beautiful seedling (hehe) entered the world....just slightly before 8:00 pm at CHOC (Childrens Hospital of Orange County)...weighing just over eight pounds. She has bloomed into a legal adult (so fast!)....Happy Birthday!

In honor of this special date, I thought I'd show a couple pictures of Sam Cat who thinks he belongs to DD and adores her....

Here he is early in the morning taking a drink out of a birdbath....


Apparently, that wasn't quite good enough...


...as he felt the need to get into the birdbath...

Speaking of seedlings, I spent a good portion of today cleaning out about half of my oldest seedling bed. It's tough to do, but you have to ruthless. No excuses, anything not performing well or without a marker of some sort was yanked out. I'm not going to even look at pictures from last year...just in case...as I would surely convince myself to give one another year. Nope!

It's a lot of work that goes into these seedlings and after investing some four years on them, it's time for them to repay me! By that, I need to see more than a pretty face (although some days even that would be enough...lol). I kept one seedling that the bloom doesn't do anything for me, but it has increased well (had four scapes this year) and blooms later. I like those things, so maybe next year I'll work on crossing it to something to improve the bloom, but hopefully keep its good growing habits.

The silver maple this bed grows under is trying to take it over, so these seedlings have competition...tough conditions, but if they can make it here, think how much better they'll do in great soil.

My Chuck Hayes gardenia had a spectacular year last year. It was blooming away like crazy when frost got it last fall. We had a tough winter, but I think it made it through that fine...it was a couple of late winter/early spring freezes that got to it, unfortunately. It looked like a pile of black sticks. However, I wasn't prepared to give up on it just yet...and I'm so glad I didn't. It actually has given me a bloom (so far), but even that seems remarkable given how it looked....


Here's a look at it recovering pretty well...


The Kleims one didn't suffer as badly, but it also hasn't bloomed. I am considering moving it to the backyard by the back of the house...where I think it will be warmer and get more sun.

Early evening the air on my deck is perfumed by some potted tuberose...very nice...


Naturally, though, I have some late blooming daylilies to show...

CIMARRON ROSE continues to delight me...


(How could you not like that??) AIN'T I SOMETHING...on a rebloom scape...


A true late, LAST CHANCE FOR ROMANCE...two views...



One everyone thinks of as a late, SANDRA ELIZABETH...


closer...


LOVE OR ELSE still going on...


LOOK HERE MARY (with some SANDRA ELIZABETH showing, too)...


More of LOOK HERE MARY...


COTTON CANDY CUPCAKE blooming on Georgia rebloom...thanks to the kindness of Tim Herrington...


LOVELY PINK LADY which wins hands down for the longest blooming daylily in my garden this year...


There are some others blooming still, just not today...

A couple of my late seedlings...

8-185


...two views of 8-181



I saw in my drafts that I have a post I started for July 30th...noting what was still blooming then....I might go ahead and finish that one...time is just rushing by me this summer...

Almost Autumn...

....and the gardenias are blooming!

Here's Kleim's Hardy:


and Chuck Hayes:


As you can tell, white is difficult to photograph. Maybe, though, you're able...almost...to smell them through the pictures. There's nothing like a gardenia for fragrance (unless it's a tea olive, winter daphne, etc....ha). I'm tickled with these as gardenias are rather difficult here. Both have been here several years now and I'm hoping they're getting used to things. Chuck Hayes has at least a dozen more buds. In fact, I suspect a couple more may be opening as I write. If they want to be fall bloomers, that's fine with me. Despite our water issues and harsh winters, it's pretty darn neat to see and smell gardenias by the front door!

Nearby is a clump of hardy cyclamen:


Among my many fall chores, I need to dig daffodils as some have outgrown their tight quarters. As an example, yesterday I dug out Flower Record. It started as maybe five bulbs in two spots...and look what it is now:


I was forced to tackle this one as one of my cats likes lying where these were planted and was constantly uncovering them. Well, no wonder when I realized how packed in they were. I suspect their tight growing conditions has helped to keep some of the bulbs smaller...they had no where to go. Well, now, they'll get spread out...and I can be the lucky recipient of a drift of Flower Record instead of two small clumps. Aren't daffodils great!

Garden Trips: Riverbanks Zoo and Garden

Located in Columbia, South Carolina, Riverbanks Zoo & Garden is a fun place to spend an afternoon. The site of the previous SCMMGA symposium I had attended, I glanced around while there but didn't really explore it like I wanted. This time, we concentrated just on the garden.

Entering through a shady area, Bloodroot was blooming:


An unidentified iris was bright:

Wish your garden looked like this?


What would a garden be without fountains?


Great pot, although what's in it isn't alive:


You can see where they're going:


This pot is definitely wild:



A very favorite and very fragrant Clematis Armandii...here at Riverbanks was where I first smelled this clematis:



Closer....can you...almost...smell it??



Something I had never seen before...a variegated gardenia:



Mahonia, looking very fine:


Hellebores surrounding a crepe/crape myrtle:


A most colorful prickly pear:


On our way out, the ultimate hanging basket (huge, if you can't tell):


That's all for now. Tomorrow, assuming my jury duty is over, we'll take a very fun stroll through a very nice nursery.

More Gardenias in Snow

I'm doing this in a bit of a hurry...and it does feel rather strange to be looking at snow when it's all sunny outside, albeit cold...these are from last week when we had snow on the 25th (a light snow...but it came down in a hurry...was mostly gone by evening). The top one shows Chuck Hayes in the right corner and the bottom one has the Kleims...which is right in front of the mushrooms with a hellebore behind it...a bit hard to see. Anyway, I think...hope...these are clickable...although, they are not the best of shots. You can tell the gardenias are in a protected area by my front door...especially the Kleims...this faces east and without that protection, not an area I would normally site them in...but, hey, I also wanted to smell them when I came in and out...and what better place than the front door?!

Green Thumb Sunday...something new for me

Green Thumb Sunday



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Chuck Hayes Gardenia with a dusting of snow.....


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