Still Planting Despite the Heat

As crazy as it sounds I'm still putting plants in the ground with temperatures up around 100!  The weather may be hot but sometimes you just have to deal with it and move on with your garden plans.  Usually a plant will perform much better with less water requirements if it has been planted in the ground rather than left in the pot - at least that is my observation.  My plan was to plant more plants in the front garden area where I built the garden sitting wall.  It rests underneath the shade of a Bradford pear tree (which admittedly I'm taking a risk planting anything underneath since the Bradford pear could come down at any time).  What plants did I pick out to plant in this area?  Since it gets mostly afternoon shade I planted a combination of coleus and hydrangeas to go with a few hostas I had previously planted.

Before I could plant anything I had to raise the soil level so that the garden would function as a raised bed.  First I went through and reset the wall so that it was level.  (Previously the blocks were just set on top of the soil, which looked fine but I think it looks even better now!)  Resetting the wall required that I dig into the existing grade of the soil - which is no easy task when it the soil has turned into sun baked brick! I tossed the leftover soil from the excavation into the garden area then I went back to the compost bin and emptied it out into the wheel barrow.  I laid down newspaper over the excavated soil then filled up the area with compost.  The compost didn't fill the area up completely which is fine since I wanted to put a decent layer of mulch on top.

'Zebra' hydrangea

'Mariesii Variegata' hydrangea

Then I planted 4 different types of hydrangeas: 'Nikko Blue', 'Glowing Embers', 'Zebra', and 'Mariesii Variegata'.  I've been wanted to add more hydrangeas to our landscape for a while and these four now join a small collection of other hydrangeas like oak leaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia), 'Grayswood' (Hydrangea serrata),  'Annabelle' (Hydrangea arborescens), Lady in Red (Hydrangea macrophylla), and one or two other hydrangeas I don't know the name of!

'Glowing Embers' hydrangea

'Nikko Blue' hydrangea

 

'Pineapple' Coleus

'Wasabi' coleus

Also in this bed are several different coleus plants.  Coleus has come a long way over the years and has been cultivated for increased tolerance to sun but it is still mostly a shade loving plant. 

One unnamed variety is in this garden along with 'Wasabi' (A lime colored green color), 'Alabama' (light red-orange tones with yellow highlights), and 'Pineapple' (yellow and red colors). I have a few coleus plants that have grown from seed that I still need to plant out in the garden.  I hope to collect seed and even try a little hybridizing with these plants once they flower.

'Alabama' coleus

Once I've collected more seed from my heucheras I'll divide and transplant some into this garden.

What are the best performing hydrangeas in your garden? Have you tried any new coleus varieties this year?

Corner Shade Garden Then (2008) and Now (2011)

Three years ago I redid a corner spot along our house and turned it into a shade garden. Two plants were present when I started to install the shade garden: a privet (ligustrum) and a cedar tree. I removed the privet mostly because I didn't like it and removed the cedar due to a bagworm infestation I had early last spring. I replaced the privet with an oak leaf hydrangea and plants a 'Constellation' dogwood tree near where the cedar tree was. The dogwood isn't an evergreen tree and isn't as selectable to bagworms. Let's take a look back.

In 2008:

Here is what the Corner Shade Garden looked like three years ago. The hostas and heucheras were very young, coleus was planted in a few locations (a great annual to add a little color to a shady area), and the oak leaf hydrangea was small, very small.  I tend to plant smaller plants because of the value and because the smaller root system can better adapt as it grows to the conditions of the area.  I've always liked hostas but because I knew rabbits and deer lived nearby I planted the heucheras interspersed with the hostas.  Deer and rabbits don't ever touch our heucheras and mixing things up a little seems to have helped the hostas. The only deer damage our hostas have seen appeared after the tall flowering stalks appeared. The flowers were nibbled off that first year but have been fine ever since.

In 2011:

Here is the shade garden now in late May. The oak leaf hydrangea is in full bloom and actually needs trimming to allow access to the gas meter. Some of the heucheras and hostas have been divided not just to spread them out but also because they were getting large. There's even a stone border now that wasn't present in the 2008 Corner Shade Garden. It's amazing how things change over time! See below for a list of plants that currently reside in the Corner Shade Garden.

Here are a few past posts about the Corner Shade Garden:

April 2008, April 2009, May 2010, April 2011

List of Shade Plants in the Corner Shade Garden:

Oak Leaf Hydrangea 'Lady in Red' Hydrangea Heuchera 'Katherine' Heuchera 'Southern Comfort' Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' Heuchera 'Palace Purple' Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' Heuchera 'Mocha' Heucherella 'Stoplight'

Hosta 'Ginkgo Craig' Hosta 'Patriot' A few unnamed Hostas Japanese Painted Fern Astilbe Variegated Solomon's Seal Ajuga

5 Plants I Really Like!

Fads come and go and garden fads do the same thing.  What I like today might be different in 10 years, 5 years, or even 1 year!  But for this Friday Five post I thought I'd tell you a little about the plants I really like right now.  While this list contains some specific plants it also contains a types of plants (some of which may only be loosely related.)

1. 
   Heucheras are the "in" plant of today or at least I think so!  They are an American native plant that thrives in dry shade areas.  Heucheras are perennial plants that need occasional dividing every 3-4 years.  They grow outward and eventually leave an open center section that can be covered back up with soil and encourages to grow back.  I prefer dividing them in the spring time by digging the plant up and separating the rooted sections into individual plants with pruners.  They don't divide as easily as daylilies or hostas might but can be successfully propagated through division.  There are many neat varieties to try and more are being made every year.  I added 'Paris' and ' Georgia Peach' to our corner shade garden this year.  We also have 'Mocha', 'Katelyn', 'Southern Comfort', 'Dale's Strain', 'Palace Purple', 'Mystic Angel' and a few others. 
2. 
   Switchgrasses are the awesome alternative to miscanthus which has become invasive in many states.  Switchgrasses are native grasses that provide nesting locations for ground nesting birds and other wildlife but they also make a fantastic ornamental grass!  'Northwind' is a good upright bluish colored switchgrass as is 'Heavy Metal'.  I'm a big fan of 'Shenandoah' for its fall color. 
3. Hostas have been a garden favorite of many gardeners for many years and continue to be one of my favorites!  I've been hosta challenged over the years with a garden that has little shade and hosta predators like deer and rabbits.  The shade situation is better now but there's no getting rid of the deer and rabbits.  Creatively interplanting hostas with heucheras has helped as the deer and rabbits are not terribly fond of huecheras.  Hellebores aren't something deer or rabbits eat either and make good companion plants for hostas.
4. Native Plants are becoming increasingly popular these days for good reason.  Native plants do better in our climate since they have adapted to live here over the centuries.  They are capable of growing in our challenging soils and take the heat and humidity better than many exotics.  I'm trying to add more and more native plants to our garden as I go which I think makes my job as a gardener a whole lot easier!  This year I added a red buckeye to the garden near the shed.  It's a small tree/shrub that gets beautiful red tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds.

5. 

   'Shasta' Doublefile Viburnum

   Viburnums have always been a favorite shrub of mine.  Flowers in the spring, followed by berries in the late summer, and some pretty neat fall colors make viburnums a great choice in any garden.  Some can get quite large and once they get started are very strong performers.  My newest viburnum is 'Onondaga' which I just planted a couple weeks ago.  I can't wait to see how it does in our garden.  The lacecap type flowers are very similar to many hydrangeas.

Now it's your turn! What five plants are your favorites?  

Write a post on it if you feel so inclined! 

More Friday Fives await you if you follow this link!

Corner Shade Garden - April 2011

The Corner Shade Garden - April is when it all gets seriously growing. It's not completely full of hosta foliage since the season has really just begun but as the days pass, the plants will grow, and the garden will fill in very nicely! Looking at the corner shade garden through the arbor you can see a Japanese maple that is completely full of leaves already. Head on is the eyesore of the garden - the heating/AC unit - we have to have it, I just need to find a way to screen it. The rock borders have been collected over the years and added to the corner shade garden and several others.

Immediately to the right as you pass beneath the arbor is the Japanese maple again along with a rain barrel I bought last year (Amazon link). It's from Fiskars and has done a really nice job of collecting extra water for watering the gardens. I've been loading up plastic jugs and bringing them down to the garden shed to water the plants there. I hope to eventually add a rain barrel by the garden shed too. Irises are just to the right and several feet behind the Japanese maple.

Here's the main part of the corner shade garden. Hostas like 'Gingko Craig' and 'Patriot' accompany heucheras, Japanese painted ferns, hellebores, an oak leaf hydrangea, astilbe, and Solomon's Seal.

These two ajuga plants used to be just one that I divided in the fall. I'm going to let them fill in around the stepping stones to crowd out any potential weeds and weeds I have! The major culprits in this bed are the chickweed and wild strawberries.

From this position we're looking out from behind the 'Constellation' dogwood back toward the rain barrel.

And a little closer! The Solomon's Seal is on the left top. The really big hosta on the left came from a plant swap two years ago.  To the right of that hosta is a heucherella called 'Stoplight'. Heucherellas are hybrids of heucheras and tiarellas (Foamflower).  Most of the heucheras in this garden are 'Palace Purple' but there is also some 'Southern Comfort' hanging around! With a name like that how could your southern garden not have it?

Plants in the Corner Shade Garden:

• Oak Leaf Hydrangea
• 'Lady in Red' Hydrangea
• Astilbe
• Hostas: 'Ginkgo Craig', 'Patriot', and several unnamed
• Hellebores - 2
• Heuchera: 'Palace Purple', 'Southern Comfort', 'Mocha', 'Fireworks'
• Ajuga
• Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum')
• Japanese Painted Ferns
• Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola')
• Pokeweed - those Mockingbirds planted it - time to weed!

What plants are in your shade garden?

Corner Shade Garden: I've Got Things To Do

It's been a while since I posted about the corner shade garden.  Last year it really wasn't anything to write about, it was a mess.  I neglected it due to other issues and now comes the time when I need to get it back into shape.  A year of neglect in the garden can mean a lot of work later for repairing the damage.  Weeds grow, produce seed, spread the seed, and grow three times faster when you're not looking!  So in today's post I'm going to make a list of things I need to do to get this garden back into shape.  With Easter weekend coming up I doubt I'll have time to get it all done just yet but perhaps next week I can get this garden ready for showing off.

Here's the corner shade garden in its current state.  Weeds are all over.  Some grass type weeds, some chickweed, some dandelions and all sorts of other weeds.  Part of this problem could have been prevented with mulching last year. You'll also notice the the siding needs a good cleaning.  The front porch is also in need of pressure treating.  I'm still hoping to come up with some sort of screen for the AC unit.  I have ideas but haven't had the time yet.

Not all is bad in the garden though. The tried and true perennials are doing fine, like this heuchera. 

Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' is one of my favorites.  The foliage is very cool with spots of pink on dark purple leaves.

The ajuga is in bloom along the pathway.  It probably should be divided after blooming to improve it's coverage.  It will spread well enough on its own so that is a very low priority!  It does need weeded though.  I'm sure you can see the chickweed weaving its way through the ajuga. 

My native honeysuckle (Coral honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens) needs a little bit of pruning.  It's flowering beautifully this year along the porch.  I love the way it nestles the rain barrel into the area.

Here's the list of things to do to get my corner shade garden ready:
Weed Mulch Prune the honeysuckle Prune the oak leaf hydrangea Repair the drycreek bed. Pressure wash the house siding  Divide heucheras that need it Divide hostas that need it Make a screen for the AC unit Divide ajuga - when I get around to it!

I'll use the pruning leftovers to make cuttings of the oak leaf hydrangea and the honeysuckle. The honeysuckle propagates easily but the oak leaf hydrangea is tricky. It took the honeysuckle about 3 years to get to this stage but it's one plant well worth planting! 

The Blooming of My Lenten Rose (Hellebore orientalis)

For a couple years now I've watched and waited for our hellebore to bloom. Every year I jealously read the posts of other gardener bloggers who are happily displaying their hellebore blooms but alas, I had no flowers to share! But now the single Lenten rose I have has grown into an 18" little bush with glossy green leaves and has finally flowered.

Shade is hard to come by in our yard - at least in the cultivated areas - and so the space where other hellebores could grow has been occupied by other shade loving occupants, namely hostas and heucheras, which left little room for Lenten roses. But perhaps I should make some room?

I do have a location that might be perfect for more Lenten roses. There's a little garden in the very back of our yard near the garden shed that could be a new home for hellebores. The deer have feasted there before on my hostas but since hellebores are deer resistant plants they might be safe. (Hellebores are poisonous so do not ingest!)

My hellebore may reseed and if that happens I could move any offspring to the back garden but most likely I"ll have to propagate more hellebores through division. Although from what I've read about dividing hellebores it could be tricky and it may be easier to make more plants with seed.

When the leaves aren't frost bitten they really make a nice groundcover. My poor plant somehow managed to get itself singed by the cold. I'm sure it will bounce back with new growth once we have consistently warm temperatures. The only real downside to a hellebore is that fact that the flower face down! As you can see I had to hold up the flowers for the pictures.

Do you grow hellebores in your garden?

5 Easy to Grow Plants No Garden Should Be Without! (The Friday Fives)

This year I thought I'd try to start something on each Friday.  At the end of each work week I'll make a list of five things from the garden.  They could be anything, everything is fair garden, as long as it can be related to the garden!  To start things off I'm going to mention 5 easy to grow plants that no garden should be without!

See if you agree!

Zinnias

My monarch butterfly friend here will agree with me that zinnias in the garden are essential!  Zinnias are annuals but are very easy to grow.  Most of the time I just sprinkle the seed where I want them to grow, water, then wait.  I've never had pest problems with my zinnias but have experienced the powdery mildew issue.  It's a fungus that attacks the plants in hot and humid conditions (which we are blessed with every summer here in TN). 

Persian Carpet Zinnia

Despite this issue zinnias feed a whole bunch of pollinators and attract the butterflies and are well worth planting because of how easy they grow.  To reduce the powdery mildew sow the seeds far enough apart to allow the mature plants to have good air flow.



Cosmos

Cosmos - pink

I like cosmos for many of the same reasons I like zinnias.  I sow them the same, treat them the same, but don't have nay issues with powdery mildew!  They self-sow prolifically so chances are once you've planted them you'll have them for a long time.  Plant cosmos near your vegetable garden to encourage the beneficial insects to visit your vegetable garden area.  There's an array of colors available - so go pick one!



Heuchera

Heuchera 'Silver Scrolls'

I can't have a list like this without the heuchera.  In fact it would appear on several possible lists like the awesome foliage list, the drought tolerant list, the deer tolerant list, and I could go on!  Heucheras are great plants for dry shady locations and here in the summer we have a dry periods on a regular basis.  Their foliage varies from shades of green to purple.  Heuchera are also called coral bells but whatever they are called these perennials deserve a spot in your garden!




Salvia

There are so many easy to grow forms of salvia from the annual self-sowing types like Salvia coccinea to the perennial standards like 'May Night'.  I like them all!  Salvia lyrata self-sows and makes a great ground cover, 'Caradonna' is awesome for its dark colored flower stalks, Autumn sage is a nice woody sub-shrub, and reallt there are too many to mention in this post.  In 2011 I added 'Purple Rain' Salvia verticillata and 'Hot Lips' Salvia macrophylla.



Catmint

People get confused between catnip and catmint all the time.  Right now someone is thinking "that may be a nice plant but I don't need any more cats in my garden so I shouldn't plant catmint."  In my experience catmint does not attract cats, but even if it did attracting cats is great way to reduce your rodent pest population!  But Enough about cats, catmint has beautiful blue-purple flowers that bloom prolifically throughout the summer. It withstands drought, doesn't need much care after it is established, propagates easily, and smells great when it's leaves are brushed by in the garden. Catmint can also fill in large areas of your garden if you let it!


So what do you think?  Are these five essential?  Or do you have an essential five plants for your garden?