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?)

Fragrance in the Garden

As I take my morning walk through the back garden to check on the ripening of the grape tomatoes, fragrance is in the air. 

Japanese Honeysuckle, lonicera japonica,  gives off the sweetest perfume which is why I bought this plant on purpose without knowing its invasiveness.   I haven't had a problem with it being overly agressive yet as I just bought it in April.  I understand from reading, after the purchase, that it is spread by the berries it produces.  So, it probably will be pulled and replaced.  Probably.  Oh, I hate this.  Maybe I will just quit reading up on plants, or maybe I will only buy plants I have read about and know what to expect.

Jasminum nitidum, Angelwing jasmine, grows as a shrub at My Garden Path.  These flowers are lightly scented, not as strong as some other jasmines.  It usually makes it through our winters but this year it is starting fresh from the roots.  This is the cover for one of the rain barrels so I hope it grows fast!

Of course, my lovely roses are full of sweet, fragrant blooms that flavor my morning walk-through with delight.

The African Blue Basil is just starting to bloom.  I keep this in a pot so I can protect it in winter.  It is perennial but not at all cold tolerant.  Does it ever smell wonderful even with just a few beginning blooms! The leaves have a fragrance just as other basils do but it's the flowers that really put out the fragrance. 

Lovely Mirabilis jalapa, known as four o'clocks because of the timing of the opening of their blooms, greet me along My Garden Path at 9 o'clock AM.  My plants are as mixed up as their caretaker can be, I guess. 

There are several fragrantly blooming shrubs in my garden.  These have all been added just this spring.

Osmanthus fragrans, Tea Olive has flushed with blooms for a second time since being planted.

The Sweet Almond bush, Aloysia virgata, is blooming in dappled shade even though it is supposed to like full sun.  I'm hoping it will be happy here as I really don't have a large area for it anywhere else.  I really want to put a bench or chair here so I can enjoy the vanilla almond scent while watching the grands at play. 

These buds haven't opened and released their fragrance yet, but I  wanted to include this lovely native shrub in this post.  Simpson's Stopper, Myrcianthes fragrans, is growing in semi-shade in my boggy area.  So far, it seems like a happy shrub.  This shrub is actually very pretty and is a great wildlife attractor.  Plans are for more of this shrub to be planted along the fenceline in this area. 

Oh!  I almost forgot the grape tomatoes!  There are just enough ripe ones to use for a salad tonight.  These are the first ones ready.  I'm hoping they will stand up to the heat that's already here and keep producing.  It seems that this might be a short tomato season for me.

I'm Dreaming of Cold Hardy Shrubs That Can Take the Heat

This past weekend I attended a seminar at a local nursery on cold hardy plants. Pretty savvy nursery to offer just the information Florida gardeners are craving. Of course, they had all the cold hardy plants right on the premises so we could drool over them and hopefully purchase them.

These are my favorites, but by no means are they the complete offering. For a complete listing of cold hardy shrubs offered at this nursery click here.

Firepower Heavenly Bamboo, Nandina domestica 'Firepower"
Height: 2'-3'
Zone: 6-11
Light: Sun - Part Shade
This Nandina is non-invasive according to the University of Florida. The leaf color is lime green on new spring growth changing to bright red in the fall. This shrub definitely has a "wow" factor.

Tea Olive, Osmanthus fragrans
Height: 6'-15'
Zone: 7-9
Light: Sun - Part Shade
This is a very fragrant shrub with small white blooms autumn through spring. It does bloom sporadically during summer.

Dwarf Burford Holly, Ilex cornuta 'Nana'
Height: 4'-6'
Zone: 7-9
Light: Sun - Part Shade
The name alone makes it a must-have for My Garden Path. Shiny green leaves all year, white fragrant flowers in the spring and bright red berries in the fall and winter make this a very desirable shrub. These hollies are self-fertile so they will fruit without having to worry about having male and female specimens.

(In the foreground)

Frances Mason Abelia, Abelia x grandiflora 'Frances Mason'

Height: 2'-4'

Zone: 6-9

Light: Sun - Part Shade

This plant has bright yellow and green leaves year-round and pink, trumpet shaped flowers in summer.

(In the middle)

Rose Creek Abelia, Abelia x grandiflora 'Rose Creek'

Height: 2'-3'

Zone: 6-9

Light: Sun - Part Shade

This is a very compact grower. The rounded form you see in the picture is its natural shape. Glossy, dark green leaves all year changing to burgundy hues in cold weather and fragrant white flowers in spring and summer make this shrub as beautiful as it is well behaved.

Since the Money and Muscle behind My Garden Path has decreed a gardening budget is necessary, I am refining and reflecting upon just what I must have. This turn of events has also had the positive effect of causing me to actually make a gardening plan. Only good can come from a less impulsive approach but it is hard to live out.

Can't you just picture the Firepower Nandina in front of the Burford Holly 'Nana'? The red berries of the Holly and the red leaves of the Firepower against those dark green glossy Holly leaves would be beautiful. I think this will be my first phase of The Plan.