Meet TS and Come See the Rest of the Garden...

Monday, November 11, 2013

Holiday Hiatus

The redesigning is done and the bulbs have been planted. The mulch sits patiently while the soaker hoses lie in tangled heaps, waiting their turn. It's almost time to just throw in the trowel and call it a year so that's what I'm doing. 


I wish I could say that by next week I'll be snug in this hammock with a fruity drink in hand but I won't be. Instead I'll be preparing for Thanksgiving and up to my eyeballs in student projects. The closest I'll come to this photo is a mango smoothie and a slice of coconut rum cake. Big sigh....

It's time for a blogcation to focus on other priorities. But here are a few parting shots before we meet again in January.


My Stellar Pink dogwood and part of the dogwood garden


As much as I love my summer garden, I love the flaming colors of fall, too. There are no soloists in my fall garden, just a chorus in sweet harmony. 


The 'Yoshino' cherry was a brilliant orange but most of the leaves fell before I captured many photos. It was a wonderful way to greet each morning.


'Peach Sorbet' blueberries have wonderful fall foliage and were designed to grow in a container. Plus, the berries are really sweet.


 White heart leaf aster seed heads and purple blue plumbago foliage


Creeping raspberry has thick fuzzy foliage with a heavy texture that holds its fall color all winter.


These pots are right outside my kitchen door. I stuffed the pot of daylilies with snowdrop bulbs so I can see them as soon as they sprout. It's like a little present I planted for myself. :o)


These pots are across from the big daylily pot and were stuffed with hyacinth bulbs. I purposely planted the bulbs in pots close to the house for maximum impact. I wanted to be able to see them before heading out for work.


'Mardi Gras abelia

Friday, November 8, 2013

Mighty Fine

Dishes lay jumbled in the sink and unread newspapers clutter the table. A pile of bagged bulbs lean against the wall, slack and loose, like drunks on a curb. Fat dogs snore in their beds as music plays and I dance a small step, hips swaying to the beat.

My list of garden chores grows shorter and my plants slowly surrender to winter sleep, tucked into earthen beds under a blanket of leaves. Cool spring rains filled my garden with lush growth that hid black spot and acthracnose. Summer downpours left a pile of rotting plants that would have thrived in our August drought. I ignore the clutter and continue to dance. Happiness settles deep and I can't help but smile. My garden, like my life, isn't perfect but it's mighty fine and that's enough for me.

These are a few of my favorite summer pictures.


My Peggy Martin rose mostly escaped the black spot plague that devastated my other roses.


The Peggy Martin rose is also known as "The Rose That Survived Hurricane Katrina". 


'Etoille Violet' clematis and a gourd birdhouse form a local artist


'Baltyk' clematis clambering over my mosaic pot


Lucy in the dog run that circles one of the shade gardens. 


Southeastern native, spigelia marylandica


Shasta daisies and self seeded verbena bonariensis


The new front butterfly garden that I always forgot to photograph


The Sunny Side


 'Schwellenberg' yarrow by the rain garden.
I doubled the size of the rain garden this fall and ended up moving this yarrow to a drier spot.


Lilies, monarda, and coneflowers in the dogwood garden


Part of the container garden


Bumblebee on the sedum


Words to live by  :o)

Saturday, November 2, 2013