What I Like in My Garden Right Now

There's not much to like right now, but here and there a little green can be found.  The overall look of the garden is that of ugly brown sticks but if I squint my eyes just right I can focus on the occasional green plant in a vast sea of dead leaves.

The boggy area, which has been bone-dry this entire year, still has green stalks of umbrella sedge, Cyperus involucratus sprouting up five or six feet in height.  The dry conditions may be why it hasn't spread as much I would have liked or maybe I'm just impatient.  At any rate, it is living and it is green.

The stalks of the black berry lilies, Belamcanda chinensis, provide great 'winter interest,' which is a term I am using much too frequently these days.  Their leaves are still green and there are new fans popping up around the original plants.  The background fortnight lilies, Dietes iridioides, have finally become happy in their home against the fence and even put up a bloom once in a while.

 Tea olive, Osmanthus fragrans, is a bit scraggly as a shrub but the sweetly scented, inconspicuous flowers are why two of them live in my garden.  I wasn't able to squint hard enough to keep all that brown perennial peanut, Arachis glabrata, from getting into the picture. 

I read somewhere that winter rye grass can be sown over the peanut in winter. The front lawn gets the annual rye grass treatment each November so the peanut area will be included next year to see how it looks.

Coonties, Zamia pumila, keep it green by the front door along with jasmine minima, Trachelospermum asiaticum, and  one of my most cold hardy bromeliads, Neoregelia spectabilis.

The impossibly green rye grass makes a great backdrop for the rabbit's foot fern, Davallia fejeensis, and more of that bromeliad, N. spectabilis.  I did a really good job cropping this picture.  You don't have any idea of the carnage surrounding this scene.  But, I'm talking about what I like in my garden right now.

This little bird is definitely something I like in my garden. 

( Goldfinch?)

Growing in the Rain

It was mid-May when a new entry-way garden was started.  All the rain we have been getting this week has enlivened the new plantings.  After a very dry time this past month, rain has fallen every day for the last week.  It has been gentle and just the perfect thing for plants and gardens. 

The pink impatiens are bordering the new pathway using the pot-in-pot method.  When these flowers need to be protected from cold weather, I can just pop them out of the ground still in their pots and replace them with new pots of  annuals that will be more cold hardy.

Lots of caladium bulbs were planted to border the area and to add color in front of the azaleas when they are not blooming.  The red ones with the freckles are Red Flash and the white ones are White Christmas.

Four Mona Lavender plants were placed within the caladiums fronting the azaleas.  This past winter, Mona Lavender planted in the back garden made it through the record-breaking cold just fine.  The hope is these will be able to hold the area after the caladiums go to sleep for the winter.

The little gardenia tree hasn't bloomed again but it is putting out new leaves and seems happy in its spot.

To the right of the driveway huge azaleas and yellow walking iris have been spruced up a bit with a new border of liriope and caladiums.  These caladiums are Frieda Hemple. 

Earlier this spring I found boxes of caladium bulbs for sale at one of the warehouse clubs.  I just love going food shopping and coming home with something for the garden.

In fact, I was able to buy three native coonties at my local produce stand.  Food and garden shopping all in one spot is my new favorite way to shop. 

The area to the right of my front door was looking a little plain and left out of all the new plantings, so I planted the three new coonties and some pale pink pentas in front of the existing virburnum hedge.  Of course, I had already spread some caladium bulbs this spring .  The caladiums add some color to the existing liriope border. 

The rain has helped the struggling grass look better so for now there will be a small area of grass left.  But, I do have more grass elimination plans to be implemented when cooler weather comes along. 

New Plants!

I'm still working on my shady corner area that extends into a boggy area that is in the middle of my back fenceline.  I found the coonties I've been looking for at a price I could afford.  Zamia pumila are Florida natives which I'm trying to utilize more.  These lovely cycads are cold hardy as well.  Some I've seen in other landscapes did get a little tip damage from the extended cold we had this winter, but overall they stayed green and happy.  I'm going to have to rework where I have planted things so a landscape view will be coming later.  But aren't these wonderfully primordial Florida looking?

I couldn't resist getting a few of these acalypha reptans, dwarf chenille.  They are not  as cold hardy as the coontie but in the dappled sunlight under the big oak I'm hoping they get some protection in winter.  Ones I have seen in use go semi-dormant in winter but spring back well.  I have used them as ground cover between the iris/caladium border and the path.  They are so cute and I know the 'grands' are going to love them. 

On Saturday I attended a workshop at a local garden center on cold hardy plants.  Of course, they sell all the ones recommended :)  I now have a list of some beautiful shrubs to add to my wishlist.  More on that later.