2018 Gardening at Holly Grove
Engelbert Kaempfer, b. 1651, was the first European to describe the ginko after a visit to Japan 1691-92. His collection is in the Sloane Herbarium.[1]
Tuesday November 14, 2017
I start my gardening year at Holly Grove with the Ginko. We have had a couple weeks of cooler weather and every night on the gallery having drinks I notice a few more yellow leaves on the Ginko. And why not? Next week is Thanksgiving, which is the time of year of the peak Ginko color.
I have planted a new one in the open space to the east of the big Ginko and Live Oak. I bought it this past spring at Camellia Forrest in North Carolina. Stuckey had planted one in the rear yard but it just up and died a couple years after we arrived. Reason?
I am planting some more for posterity. I bought 2 Live Oaks from Clegg’s in Baton Rouge yesterday to add to the allée, @ $28. They are about 4’ tall. I think I need a couple more for the allée. Stuckey added 2 on the allée and 1 near the patio which are now at age about 30 fairly good size. They have grown a lot in the last 12 years we have been here.
I have potted up 3 live oaks from Rosedown, given out at the annual Friends of Rosedown soiree. I also potted a few tiny seedlings from the sidewalk on Barracks. They would be from Mrs. Stream’s oak.
This is also camellia time. The sasanquas are in full bloom and several of my Japonicas are also in bloom.
The small Woodville Red I planted in ’13 is in bloom. I googled the Woodville Red and this one is a peony form dark pink described on the web as medium red. But it is said to be mid-season bloom. Further search led me to an article by Art Landry, Baton Rouge in the Gulf Coast Camellian, Fall 2012. He writes that it was in the garden of Mrs. Thomas White in 1822 in Woodville, brought from Europe. He lists alternative names of: Mrs. White, Kollock, Gruenwald Red, Henry Bry, Mrs. Wright, Black Beauty, Martin Roberts. (Camellia names are so problematic!) He also mentions that it is deep strawberry red. Woodville Red Blush was developed by LG Thomas in 1961 at the Azalea Road Nursery in Mobile. Early Woodville Red was developed in 1971 by Hody Wilson of Hammond Louisiana with a flower similar to the original except early, not mid-season with leaves dull green and slightly droopy looking.
While reading through this publication I also noted some facts I need to know. Fertilize when the plants are growing, April 1 through September 1, not when they are dormant and blooming in the late fall and winter. That is the time to transplant. It was noted by some that no fertilizer needed except mulch. Nuccio of California uses cotton seed meal, 3x/yr. I have been using some organic fertilizer with mycorhyzial fungi in the spring. Maybe I should share the cow’s cottonseed meal with the young camellias.
I looked up Thomas White in google and found a Thomas White, b. 1797, SC who married Jane Jenney Floyd in Wilkinson County. Was Jane the Mrs. Thomas White with the Woodville Red camellia? Certainly seems plausible. And of further interest Thomas is the grandfather of Francis Eugene White (1857-1936) who lived at Holly Grove in the first half of the 20th century and is buried here.[2] Thomas White married Jane in 1826 so the 1822 date of Mrs. Thomas White’s Woodville Red camellia does not exactly fit.
Wednesday 22 November, the day before Thanksgiving.
The Ginko is still not colored up fully. Anxiously await.
Spent the last few days moving more plants in. Still no killing frost but maybe the next couple days. Watering new transplants and pots. No rain recently.
Harvested many mirliton, best year ever; shishito, jalapeño, okra, eggplants, some peas. My fall sown edible podded peas are a no-go. Still picking pot greens and salad greens. Using the tender mirliton in salads.
An article in a special edition of ‘Garden and Gun’ about Middleton Place camellias: 900 cultivars, 15,000 camellias. In the 1830’s the Reverend John Drayton devised the sprawling, romantic 120-acre garden. He was among the first to plant camellias outdoors in the South. In 1870 the family opened the garden for public view. Magnolia’s wholesale nursery was open from the 1930’s through 1975. I need to go visit. They have old varieties and ones they developed. Where to buy?
Saturday, 25 November
Went to Houston for Thanksgiving. They have nice oleanders still in bloom.
My I-phone said temperatures here were 33 two mornings. There is burn on those things that freeze: mirliton, banana, pepper, tomato and butterbeans in the potager. Canas and the sweet potato vines on the patio. I still picked sweet potato leaves for a salad.
The Ginko slowly colors but not Thanksgiving this year. I recorded a peak last year on December 5. It looks best in the afternoon sun.
My Brent and Becky’s order came. I got 25 campernelles. Ogden says that the larger jonquils common to the South are actually old hybrids between Narcissus jonquilla and other wild daffodils. The favorite being an antique called the campernelle (N. x odorus). It originates from southern France, Spain, and Italy. He notes campernelles provide more springtime gold in the South than any other flower and have done so since the earliest days of European settlement. More delightful and suitable bulbs for naturalizing could hardly be imagined. Clusius recorded the campernelle in 1595 and Parkinson discussed this variety in his Paradisus. It has wonderful hybrid vigor (heterosis) common to many sterile crosses. They will show he says around the first of March. I planted them in front of the house, in front of the southern azalea bed.
I also purchased 5 more Avalanche. My others have been a success at our rear entrance steps. I quote Ogden. The Isles of Scilly off the southwest coast of England have a perpetually mild climate and since Elizabethan times they have been known as a haven for winter flowers. Tresco, one of the islands, is famous for its abbey and gardens. The manager, T. Dorrien-Smith, discovered an old narcissus growing in a rocky crag along the seashore. He registered this flower in 1955 as ‘Avalanche’ a nickname used by the islanders. Ogden says it is probably one of the three hundred historic tazetta listed by Dutch growers in the 19th c. In old Southern gardens similar yellow-centered narcissi are sometimes called seventeen sisters. He says for Southerners Avalanche offers all the gaiety of the true ‘Grand Monarque’ on a thriftier, more robust plant. I planted these near the front gallery.
I have thought about fall color which will never be what it is north but a little could help. The Chinese tallow is probably the best color but such a weed. I did plant a serviceberry on the allée several years ago (’06) and it is only now my height. There is some fall color this year. I have yet to see it bloom in spring. I do not know which Amelanchier it is.
I harvested the Carolina African Runner peanuts. Brought to the US by the 1600’s by West African slaves. This is the original American peanut. Peanuts were originally from Brazil and brought to Europe and Africa. It is interesting that the first commercial peanuts were grown near Wilmington, NC around 1800. My harvest was meager. They are small and maybe I planted them late. They are smaller, denser, and oilier than other peanuts and sweeter than Virginia peanuts. This peanut was thought to be extinct since the 1930’s but Dr. David Shields tracked down a small sample in NC State’s seed archives and from a 2013 planting of 20 seeds, Brian Ward of Clemson’s Coastal Research has been building up the population.
The Ligularia tussilaginea in the front is blooming nicely. The one on the house’s south west corner has faded already. I was reading about Peckerwood Gardens in Texas and they have sweeps of ligularia in bloom---not my single specimen plant.
2 December, Saturday
We are back from a week in ILM and I think there was as much fall color as can be had this far south. Brought back some sandy soil that I had cleaned out under the fence. Good for potting here instead of using my clay or buying in.
Went out on the upper gallery this am to brush my teeth. The Ginko is peak!!!! We can only enjoy for a couple more days before we leave for Austria.
Harvest my lunch salad. The sweet potato vines on the patio are slowing down. There were 2 snow peas. I thought they were not going to produce at all this fall. Heavy frost has stayed away long enough for a few blooms. Heavier frost predicted this coming week. There was a good deal of okra and as most of the mirliton vines are dead I found 6-8 more mirliton. Those two vines of Plaquamine mirliton planted last spring have really given me lots of vines and fruit---like never before. Now if I can only get them to live through the winter. I also picked my first mess of butter beans. Why do they come so late in the season?
More camellia blooms.
I am not decorating for Christmas until after Austria. Maybe the Christkindlemarkt will get me in the mood.
Saturday December 16, 2017
Returned from Vienna (where there was no snow last Tuesday) to find downed limbs galore from the Live Oaks and Cedars here at Holly Grove. Reported 4-6 inches of snow. Must have been a wet one. Burned my four wood piles in the park on Wednesday to make room for the new debris.
All the tropical plants burned completely. The hanging ferns burned on the porch. It was reportedly down to 25º. I would have brought in the ferns but I think they will live to be used next summer. They do fine sans watering in the summer when I am gone, and tolerate a lot of cold.
Lanny sent two tiny olive trees for my birthday which I have potted up.
I also went to Clegg’s while Connie was getting an infusion on Tuesday. I bought 2 thymes, vulgaris and a variegated lemon thyme and a winter savory and potted them all together. I have had 3 thymes die this past year. I also got some onion slips---red and yellow.
I also bought a Chinese Pistache, Pistacia chinensis. Odenwald says it is one of the most trouble-free, drought tolerant. It has the most spectacular fall color of any tree in the Deep South, turning brilliant yellow, orange, or red in November. We’ll see.
There is a paperwhite in bloom in the white bed. Lots of burn on the camellias.
Thursday 21 December
This is the shortest day of the year. Our weather has been up and down. I have had fires in the annex due to cold. Lots of rain and therefore mud. I have been gradually picking up downed limbs but slow due to large size of some (haven’t gotten the chain saw out yet) and the wet ground precludes the truck, so I could carry the limbs to the burn piles.
We have had some warm weather as well. I have planted my fava beans but the wet caught me before I got out the onions. I have continued to pick greens for salad and pot. A few pea pods! Not worth the planting however. Another year of failed fall peas.
I did do my Christmas decorating. Cut the holly near the south house walk for a wreath on the gate and the front gallery. Just a bunch with a bow at the back door. I did cut wild citrus and put it in a pot on the piano for a Christmas “tree.” I decorated it with some good ornaments---the new ones from Vienna and the Steven Whites, a great one of 520 given us by the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society for the last Christmas tour we did in ILM.
Wild Orange, Trifoliate Orange, Poncirus trifoliate, of which we have too much is a native of China, another pest plant invasive. I have tried to use the fruit for Christmas decorations but it often falls off the branches and if collected it doesn’t seem to last.
Another Christmas berry that I like but it seems to go bad too soon is China Berry. The one I have in the potager did not bloom so I need to get rid of it. The one near the cemetery did but was gone too soon.
The other natural decorations in the house are camellias and paperwhites. The red amaryllises I once used for Christmas still rebloom but in the spring after they have had a winter rest. I did cut some nandina berries for the annex mantle. I want to get an indoor palm for the vacant pot I have in the annex.
I am still moving pots to the well house of agaves. They do better without the winter cold wet.
I also planted under lights some asparagus seed---sweet purple from Pine Tree.
Reading the Old House Garden blog today about glads. The first hybrids appeared in 1837 but none from the 1800’s survive today. Even glads from the 1940’s are hard to find. I may need to buy some red and yellow for the hot bed as I begin to redo it. I have pulled the solidago (which I know will not end it yet). This is good when it blooms but looks weedy all summer and not good after the bloom and it invades the other things. I cut the dead back yesterday all over the bed. Too wet to dig up the canna and too wet to replant. I need some canna and solidago but not so much in that bed. I have plenty of solidago elsewhere.
I am cleaning up the rest of the patio for the winter. It is ratty right now. Moving the citrus to nearer the annex where it is warmer.
I have a camellia that I quite like north of the HVAC. It was planted by me quite early and has no label but looking through Macoboy I think it is Peter Pan (which I know I have planted), 1951. It is a pink with a tinge of white peony form and therefore fits the description. Pretty camellia but I don’t think much of the name.
I am cutting camellias and paperwhites for the house and I found a white iris as well. Also have a Brugmansia bloom on the living room mantle. It was not being enjoyed in the well house.
Tuesday, 2 January, 2018
The thermometer on the gallery read 14º this morning. The TV said 20 in BR and the computer said 20 here. It was 17 yesterday morning and I am not sure the temperature got above freezing yesterday. It is to be below freezing until noon today and not really warm up till this weekend. This is a colder spell than last year. I have the citrus in pots covered and heat on in the well house. The camellias had curled leaves this morning. We’ll see what we loose.
I did add some more mulch to the mirleton and mulched the sprouting fava on Sunday before this really bad spell started. We have been having cold weather so maybe things have had some time to adjust.
I did buy some heat bulbs to use on the pipes in the well house and to use for my seed starting. The LED bulb just does not cut it for heat.
Wednesday 10 January
I have done very little outside in the past due to the weather. I have hauled about 20 truck loads of limbs from the snow to burn piles when it was dry enough for the truck to get around and I have 20 more.
The only blooms in the park are a few narcissis. Plus a couple camellia blooms trying again to open. The old ones are completely brown and some of the new ones have brown edges from the freeze. The White by the Gate is blooming in its pot next to the well house.
Dug up trees and privet near well house and did part of an azalea bed at front of allée.
11 January
Harvest salad and pot greens plus some turnips.
Cut lantana stems from drive bed to use to stake fava plus put some pine straw over it to help with the next freeze. The fava have grown a lot in the last week.
Looking in new magazines for seeds for potager this spring (have some left over from fall and have checked my seed cabinet and organized in annex) and summer. Also looking for plants for the hot bed. I am moving the cannas and solidago as being a bit ragged at the end. I may leave a little.
Joe is cutting limbs so he can get his tractor down the lower farm road. Thank you Joe. (Ed Lee is in the back of the pick-up with the long handled power saw.)
Putting pots back in well house in preparation for next big freeze. Eating the kumquats (that froze) before they become un-edible. C thinks they are too soft already.
70º today. Almost got all the weeds (privet and trees and smilax) out of the azalea bed in the front of the allée. Then came the rain.
Friday January 12
About 32 this am and spitting rain/sleet almost. Getting ready for the next week of cold.
Connie went to the Feliciana Gardeners yesterday. She had to cook. But brought back some information. Some lady asked why they did not have any men members. Mary Cleland as president said you do stir up trouble. Anyway membership is closed at present.
There was a speaker on orchids and Connie brought home 2 free phalaenopsis. I have the one I found of Fred’s in the NOLA patio sans pot and the one still in bloom that Marsha Carroll gave Connie last year. Maybe I can keep them going.
Water only when about dry. Keep humidity up. Use bark to hold roots, not soil.
Light but not sun to burn. East or north window. Needs temp drop in fall to set
flowers. Temps above 55, best
75-85. Not above 95. Fertilize twice a month with 30-10-10. When flowering is
desired, use 10-30-20.
Looking at a blog on Bartram’s house in Philadelphia and noted that plant collector, William Hamilton, brought 3 Ginko from London in 1785. Gave one to Bartram and it survives as the oldest in the US. The two Hamilton kept for himself at The Woodlands have been lost.
Wednesday 24 January
Last week when we weren’t here had some very cold weather---maybe down to 11° and a couple days not above freezing. Also some snow. I-10 in Baton Rouge was closed due to ice and New Orleans had so much pipe breakage that they lost water pressure. Fortunately no burst pipes here.
All camellia blooms brown and many of the buds also. No bloom at present at all anywhere. This has been the coldest winter I have known at Holly Grove and we are not to spring yet.
Still cold but not freezing. I am out working some. Planted an azalea, the last of the rooted Cherokee roses and 4 crabapples from ILM. Clearing azalea beds, adding gravel to the drive. More work on the washout at the mailbox. Picking up trash on the highway since it is a trash day. I am going to try to clean up Joe’s side of the road and maybe mow this summer since it is in my watershed for the front pasture and pond.
The snowdrops on the allée are coming up. I was afraid after the disturbance by the armadillos in the summer that they might have eaten the bulbs.
Monday 30 Jan.
Still cold. 30’s this am. I have noticed the rosemary is mostly dead. The narcissus foliage is so damaged it may mean fewer flowers next year. What all will survive? Anxious for spring. Need to go ahead and order seeds for the potager and plants for the hot bed while I have trouble getting out to work due to the cold.
Wednesday 7 February
The markets are bad this past week and I am waiting to order seeds. It is raining heavily today so I may use my time to organize seed needs. We’ve not had freezing for a week or so but the temp is up and down. I have had a chance to work on the azalea beds in the allée and am doing bit by bit to clean up under the lightening-struck magnolia. Still have down branches to haul to the burn piles which are getting high again. As I walk the pastures I kick up thistle.
I took the garbage out this am but due to the rain have not been able to do my now weekly pick up of highway garbage. I notice Joe’s pasture and pasture drive is draining the water by the mailbox. Connie asks what to do. Using the large blocks has helped to stem the washout. What else? Joe’s pasture further south drains into my pasture as well as a half mile or so of highway ditch. I plan to mow some there next summer to prevent the highway department from spraying. But Joe still uses fertilizer I think on his pasture so that will still drain onto me.
I have all the three orchids in pots and am trying to water once a week with warm water. I have one in the front of the front hall and 2 in a north window of the annex. The blooming one from Marsha in October has quit. The last 2 buds never opened.
Some camellias are in bloom but the blooms seem smaller. The first-breath-of-spring has blooms. That is the name I know from Wilmington. Odenwald lists it as Winter Honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima. He notes Z4-8. I think plants not listed as hardy in Z 9 are suspect here but I put it out last year (I think) and it is living in the white bed.
The narcissus are putting out some blooms on short stems. I did see some trees in the north border putting out some buds. Not sure what kind.
Saturday 10 February
Thursday I went with Connie for the second time to the Feliciana Gardeners meeting. They don’t have any men members and have closed membership for the time being. Anne Kline said TWK used to be a member. I don’t need to be a member and have to pay dues.
Dr. Trent James of Bagatelle was speaking on camellias but they only allowed him 20 minutes. He did note in researching old camellias that the first camellias for sale in the US were offered in Bartram’s 1807 catalogue from Philadelphia. The first nursery in New Orleans to sell camellias was Magnolia Nursery in 1859. He mentioned some old varieties: Alba Plena, Tricolor and Donkelari. And he noted the first ones at Rosedown. I went to Sue Turner’s compilation of Martha Turnbull’s diary. She notes that there was a transcript of a receipt for a plant order made by Daniel Turnbull of St. Francisville of William Prince & Son, dated April 11, 1837, and among the plants listed, primarily fruit trees, are five camellia plants, one of each of the following species: Chandler’s Superb Striped Waratak, C. insignis, C. coccinea, C. fimbricata, and C. myrtifolia. The same invoice lists azaleas, including indica, “Splendia hybrid,” and “Blue or Cerulea.”
I went today to the Baton Rouge Camellia Show and Sale and bought 3 @ $20: CM Wilson (1948, a sport of the English Elegans which appeared in the garden of Mrs. AE Wilson of Florida in 1936 and was duly named for her husband. Elegans is from 1831), Herme (1875, Japan to US), and Happy Memories (recommended to me there by Bruce Lewis). Karen Lewis invited us to a camellia party (grafting, identification) next week at Allendale. I could have a CM Wilson in the south lawn.
We also went to Clegg’s. Bought 2 lbs. each of Yukon Gold and a red potato, seed for Sugar Snap. Plants: a rosemary and a prostrate rosemary (mine in the pot has frozen), 2 mirliton (said to be from Coach Ogeron’s brother, a family heirloom) and some toscano kale and collards, and while there tomatoes: Big Beef, Cherokee Purple, and Creole. I potted the prostrate rosemary and potted up the tomatoes and put them under the light in the well house. I put the mirliton pots in the annex. I hope the mirliton plants I had that produced so well last year will come back.
It is raining so much I can’t really get to the potager. I have done some cleaning of beds this week. That works best in wet soil to pull those pesky trees and privet. Briars and smilax is included.
I noticed the first snow drops in bloom on the allée. Saw a soulangeana in bloom on the road to Baton Rouge.
Monday 19 February
We were gone to ILM for a week and now everything is popping: Soulangeana Magnolia, quince, dafs of many kinds, snow drops, pears, apple, blueberries. The camellias have not had their best year and the flowers open now seem smaller. The narcissis at the intersection of the cross roads and the south farm road are perhaps their best ever.
We did go to Allendale on Saturday for a camellia workshop and sale. Learned a technique of grafting and the fact that grafted camellias perform better especially in Louisiana according to the grafter. I stopped at the vacant lot with the old camellias at the 4-way stop and cut three. One a dark red variegated that they thought might be a royal velvet variegated. He grafted 2 scions for me. I came home with some scions available: a magnoliaflora, and a Mrs. DW Davis (1953 from DW Davis of Seffner Florida), a nice large faint pink, along with 2 other scions from the 4-way stop. I grafted these on some sasanqua I have but had to dig it up. Doubt I will get good results. I did buy a grafted Woodville Red for $25, Larry Bates Nursery.
I tried to get some identification of some of mine. Perhaps White Empress (1943 from Alabama’s Overlook Nurseries) for a large white in the south lawn. Marian Mitchell, a red variegated, on the north border. Perhaps.
No rain in the last 10 days so I am trying to get out the spring garden. I pull weeds, hoe and then plant: snap peas, shelling peas, onions (which I bought 2 months ago and never got out) and potatoes. I also seeded lettuce, arugula, carrots, beets, etc. Those of that ilk from last fall are dead. I do have parsley from last fall and the fava look ok.
We leave for Sri Lanka tomorrow and will miss the 70’s all this coming week here.
Monday 5 March
Where to begin. After about 10 days of warm weather while we were gone the farm and park have turned to green.
Some cool weather to come still but no frost in sight so again a very early spring after a very cold winter. “Gardeners are optimists. We believe tomorrow, next week, or next year will be better.”[3]
I have ordered seeds and plants since I will be here to receive them for awhile. Plants for the patio hot bed which I am revamping. I have been digging up all the old local cannas and replanting in the HVAC bed which is new since the removal of the ivy. Replanted the lilies, Lilium henryi, which remain but have been lost in the canna foliage in the past. L. henryi was introduced by Dr. Augustine Henry, an Irish physician and forester who explored central China and Taiwan in the late 1800’s. The L. formosanum which come up all over from seed I replanted in the HVAC bed. Some will remain as they are about as prolific as solidago. This is a hot bed but a little white will have to be tolerated, I think. I can’t bear, it seems, to throw them away. Planted the potted daylily (a red) and the potted Louisiana Iris (also red) and will plant the Texas Star hibiscus. And have the bed ready for the new cannas and daylilies I have ordered, and Hello Yellow Asclepias and Sizzle and Spice Crazy Cayenne Coreopsis. Plan to put in some marigolds and zinnia. I have some old coreopsis that I am putting in. Also will leave in the 4-o’clocks. I found several sweet potato tubers and replanted (also one to drive bed and one to the pot in front). I have at least the chartreuse, maybe the red. I moved some of the La. iris and the water plant with white stars to the septic ‘flower bed.’ I hope to get rid of all the solidago. I have sufficient elsewhere and it is not a neat plant. The dafs (Falconet) are in bloom there and maybe I can add some more for bloom this time of year. Maybe soliel d’ore for winter bloom.
A word on cannas from Ogden: The original garden cannas were planted by the Victorians for their exotic, banana-like foliage. Wild Canna hail from moist, upland forests in the tropics of Asia and the Americas. Though they may prefer other, they tolerate drought and poor soil. The first hybridizer of cannas, Mons. Thré Année, was the French consul-general at Valparaiso, Chile. He returned to Europe in 1846. The best known of his breeding is the Indian shot, Canna indica, so called for its hard, round-seeds resembling buckshot. Some of the old cannas in the hot bed are Indian shot.
Canna got their name from the Greek “kanna” meaning reed-like plant.
I have ordered Pretoria and Durban from B&B Bulbs. Ogden discusses these. Striped foliage seems to have appeared spontaneously on cultivars distantly descended from Canna limbata. Brilliant orange flowers top the ruddy, five-foot stems of ‘Bengal Tiger’ better known as ‘Pretoria,’ from India. An even more opulent selection, ‘Durban’ carries bronze-toned leaves decorated with yellow and apricot-tinged stripes. (I wonder if it comes from South Africa, because of its name.) I have ordered another canna for its red foliage, Australia, with dark foliage and red flowers. Ogden does not mention it.
Tony Avent of Plant Delights has more to say on Bengal Tiger. He notes it was imported from India in 1963 by the Glasshouse Works guys and is a sport of ‘Wyoming’ that originated from radiation experiments in the 1950’s at India’s Agri Horticultural Society. Canna ‘Bengal Tiger’ was later taken to Africa by Sydney Percy-Lancaster, where it was later rediscovered and given the invalid additional name Canna ‘Pretoria.’ This will also grow in water as an aquatic. It was awarded the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit in 2002.
I did order an orchid type, ‘Robert Kent,’ very tall, green leaves with red blooms. Said to be insect resistant. Does that include leaf rollers? of which I have an abundance. Ogden notes that in the marshes of the coastal South are two species of wild canna: Canna glauca and C. flaccida. They set their rhizomes in water alongside streams and lakes. Breeders have used these and they too prefer a moist or even aquatic conditions (but that is not mentioned in the catalogue of B&B). The first cannas of this type were bred from C. flaccida in the 1880’s by Dammann & Co. of Naples Italy. A modern series of orchid-flowered varieties was bred by Robert J. Armstrong at Longwood Gardens of Pennsylvania. Ogden does not mention my variety.
Cannas are easy to grow here and the limited selection growing here spread rapidly but all are bothered by leaf rollers. Ogden suggests some older varieties are not plagued by them.
And as I clean up the hot bed I am also cleaning up the patio, cut back dead citrus, rake, pull weeds, move pots around. Still cool weather predicted next week so not bringing out most of the pots in the well house. I have brought out some of the ferns, replanting the hanging baskets with ferns. Unfortunately I let them freeze last fall. Otherwise they did pretty well last year not stressing from lack of water.
I am working in the potager where I am planting the last of the spring garden—Valarde peas. The tall clover I am giving to the cows as usual. I am trimming back the banana. Some new growth at the base. We’ll see about the old stalks. The new plantings are up. The old red potatoes also. I am harvesting sorrel, violet leaves, parsley, cilantro, mint which are all good, bits of other stuff and lots of ginko leaves for salads for lunch each day. I have cut back the grape vines. My book on wine says that cut back scuppernongs etc. like a hedge not like the fancy grape vines. I have started some basil, tomato, pepper seed under lights in the well house.
I have done a little azalea bed weeding and I did haul 3 truck loads of downed limbs from the snow still. Almost done with that.
The allé looks pretty good. The trees are all budding except an old ‘not live oak’ up front which I have thought was dying. I have planted 2 new live oaks last fall and I see need for a couple more. Never mind I won’t be here. I thought the forsythia would perhaps be good this year after the cold. Maybe later.
The President Clay azaleas at the entrance are in bloom. Some Formosas. The Coral Bells are blooming. The Pride of Mobile at the Lower Farm Road cross are blooming. Got my Southern Garden History Society magazine, ‘Magnolia.’ We are going to Jacksonville Florida in April and a nursery there, Glen Saint Mary Nursery, was run by George Lindley Tabor. It is one of my favorite indicas. Tabor Sr. came from Maine originally to Jacksonville in 1881. He established the nursery. Taber, Jr. continued it. And in 1906 Hardrada Harold (H. H.) Hume joined them. They mostly worked with citrus. Azaleas did not appear in the catalog until 1917. The listed A. lutea, A. nudiflora, A. indica (different color forms of unnamed Indian azaleas). In 1939 they listed nearly 50 Southern Indian hybrids and 23 Kurume hybrids. Ernest Harris, a production assistant at the nursery, noticed a single branch sport in a vast sea of ‘Omurasaki’ azaleas. He reported this to John Otis Barton, his immediate supervisor (and father-in-law). Barton reported to Hume who directed to set the plant aside. They put it into propagation and in 1929 they included it in the nursery catalog and named it ‘George Lindley Tabor’ in honor of the boss who has passed away earlier in the year (Tabor Sr.) At least 2 sports are common on George Tabor, a purple self, which should probably be viewed as a reversion to ‘Omuraski’ and a white self, ‘Mrs. GG Gerbing’ which was selected in 1935 by Gus Gerbing and named for his wife and introduced in 1947. Gerbing Camellia Nursery is in Fernandina, northeast of Jacksonville.
The snow drops have done well despite the plowing of the beds by the armadillo last summer. Dafs are out. The seventeen sisters not so good this year. The hoop petticoats are there again. I don’t see the tommies.
Camellias still in bloom. The redbuds are in full. The most visible is at the Lower Farm Road cross. The Carolina jasmine is full at the cemetery. The quince, blueberries, dew berries are in bloom. The white iris are in bloom. A couple of blooms on Lady Banks, and the Stuckey red has a bloom. Saw a bloom on Jeanne d’ Arc in the white bed.
In the white bed the iris bloom and the osmanthus.
In the tropical bed I have cut back all the dead and everything atop ground is brown.
Tuesday 13 March
A cool start to the week after a big rain over the weekend. Some frost on the rooftops this morning.
I am potting up some rooted gardenias and podocarpus. Also potting up several camellias. The deer do such a number on the smaller camellias I think I am going to keep my present crop of new ones for longer in pots before putting them in the park. I probably should put them in cages for the first few years. Cleaned out the garage gutter, not only of leaves but a lot of compost.
I got a Hymenocallis, Tropical Giant from Southern Bulb Company. The planting instructions say it is the most cold hardy (z. 8-10). It thrives best when the soil is kept moist and in the sun. It is known for multiplying quickly. The foliage can get 3-4 ft.
Ogden says most of the cultivated varieties in the South are old heirlooms from the tropical shores of the Antilles and the Spanish Main. The early explorer Oviedo encountered his first lirios blancos growing on beaches near Porto Bello, Panama, in 1535. He notes the difficulty with the names, H. littoralis, H. caribbaea, H. rotata, H. tenuiflora; so with no honest botanical name forthcoming for the venerable spiderlilies of Southern gardens, he uses ‘Tropical Giant.’ He notes this is one of the finest foliage perennials in the South. The blooms appear in July and when well grown it ripens glossy green seed, like other wild hymenocallis. Queen Emma cherished this plant in her Hawaiian garden.
I put my new bulb in the white bed on the patio which tends to be dry but as I go round the patio with a hose I shall remember to give this one a soaking in the bed.
Saturday 25 March
Back from a week in ILM which is a week or two behind HG. Coral Bells and President Clay in bloom. Here they are going/gone. The allée formosas are still good.
I fertilized my smaller/newer azaleas and camellias with the organic fertilizer from Farmers Supply in ILM @ $8/bag. The small deer ravaged camellias are coming out if nothing further happens. Walking around I kick lots of thistle. I spent a couple of days with the hoe before we left for ILM in the pastures trying to get rid of them. Another never ending procedure.
As soon as the frosts ended last week, i.e. about 10 days ago I started the laborious task of moving out pots. I continue. Reseeded the shishito peppers. Harvested first lettuce and grape leaves. Starting to put out the tomato plants. Planted red okra and arikara sunflower in the hot bed. Just so much to do. Didn’t go to Neal Auction today and will have two weeks before we leave to get some stuff done. But always behind.
Some of the citrus are leafing out and I fertilized them with the organic stuff. Trimmed the Satsuma. Green still under the bark but no sign of leafing out. The very killed back ardetsia is coming out.
I am starting to put out the tomatoes that I bought from Cleggs a good month ago, I’m sure. Finally time.
Monday 26 March
My pasture work consists of chopping 100’s of thistle. Trying to catch the blooming ones so as not to set seed.
The Stuckey red rose by HVAC is blooming nicely. The yellow Lady Banks there is good. Not as vigorous a bush as I would like but maybe give it time. The three white roses in the white bed are in bloom: Jeanne d’Arc, Lamark, and Iceberg. A Thalia is in bloom. The white iris are over.
The amaryllis are starting to bloom, a nice one, variegated, in a pot is open.
Still picking camellias and dafs for the house.
The yellow iris at the pond look good this year.
The serviceberry, Amelanchier, is in bloom for the first time. I planted it early on here at HG. I think it is A. Canadensis, the shadblow serviceberry. The black locust, Robonia pseudoacacia, is in bloom. It is one that can be missed in the park if not watching and walking.
Moved out the tropical Agave potatorum ‘Eye Scream’ that I left out too long last fall and is burnt. I think it will survive.
Thursday April 5, 2018
I have been hardly able to walk for about 10 days now since being back from ILM due to a pinched nerve. Bad timing. Connie got Ed Lee to mow the highway a couple days ago. We are letting the park go for the time being. Thistles are everywhere. Chopping them in the pastures may be one of the reasons for my pinched nerve.
Connie has been taking the pots out but not the heavy ones. Slowly, some every day. Also she has put out some tomatoes, the mirliton that I bought earlier this year when I thought the old ones had died---but they are coming back. Planted out the coleus in the hot bed, also basil and peppers. Seeded red okra, sunflowers and red zinnias.
The St. Joseph Lilies, Hippeastrum x johnsonii, are blooming now. They would be good for the hot bed at this time of year. I have amaryllis in pots also blooming. Some red ones could also be put in the hot bed. I have not yet received the plants I have ordered for the hot bed.
The white roses are blooming nicely.
A yellow iris is blooming in the septic field. I think I will add other wet loving plants to that like it is a bog.
Wednesday 18 April
We spent 8 days away---all last week. Went to ILM. Connie mowed the yard there. The azaleas still in bloom. The Azalea Festival was the following weekend. We however traveled south, stopped for a look at Abide-a-While. Probably did not buy anything as I was still not feeling well. Then on to Savannah. Unable to walk and galk. On to Jacksonville for our first Southern Garden History Annual Meeting. It was a success for us. I was able to attend sans problems. Did not buy a book but saw a book on southern weeds that I bought with my B&N coupon on return.
The highlight was a visit to Glen St. Mary Nursery. This nursery was established in 1882 by George Lindley Taber and is still run by the family, Lin (George III) is 80, Tab (George IV) runs the nursery and there is a George V. A warm, open family that welcomed us with all arms. And we got some rooted cuttings of the “Orchid Azalea” named for George Lindley Taber I. I have repotted our four as they were root bound in the small crockery pots that the nursery used to use. Provenance in plants is important too. Learned that George Taber is a sport of Omurasaki, a purple Indica, used to hybridize Indicas. George Tabor was introduced in 1935. Harada Harold (HH) Hume assumed the presidency of the Glen St. Mary Nursery in 1920 and was the one to promote the Taber azalea. They named it George Lindley Taber after the late owner of the nursery.
Mrs.GG Gerbing is a sport of Taber. It was selected in 1935 by Gus Gerbing and named for his wife and introduced in 1947. Gustav George Gerbing and his wife, Axilda, operated the Gerbing Camellia Nursery in Fernandina, northeast of Jacksonville, Florida. He was better known for his work with camellias.
Bart Brechter of Bayou Bend gave a lecture that inticed me to want to go and see the azaleas in Houston. There has been an Azalea Trail for 84 years, the longest in the US. He has a collection at Bayou Bend and lamented that we are at risk of losing some of the old azaleas as the everblooming varieties, like Encore, gain popularity.
I have started to mow, a little every day can get the job done.
I also had several bulbs from Van Bourgondian and Brent and Becky, primarily for the hot bed that I have put out. I planted Zephranthes citrina (a yellow which I do not have) in front of the front gallery and the new HVAC bed. These I planted in a bed so not to have to worry about cutting.
Crinum x. powellii ‘album,’ 1893 went into the white bed and I am trying Acidanthera again, this time in the ground in the white bed. This is Abyssinian gladiolus (Gladiolus callianthus), a native of east Africa. They like a wet space so keep watered this summer.
In the hot bed I planted 4 new cannas despite the leaf roller I have trouble with. One was of interest, Robert Kent, a tall orchid type with green leaves and red flowers. It bills itself as insect resistant. We’ll see. Ogden talks about orchid-flowered cannas. The first cannas of this type were bred from Canna flaccida and introduced in the 1880’s by Dammann & Co. of Naples, Italy. Few of the originals remain. They like water so again we’ll see how it does.
I planted Pretoria or Bengal Tiger, variegated foliage. It was introduced from India. Australia has dark foliage. It is not mentioned by Ogden. Durban has multicolored leaves. It is also as Asian plant.
I planted Crocosmia hybrid ‘Star of the East.’ Ogden notes that the name montbretia commemorates French botanist Antoine Francois Ernest Coquebert de Montbret who accompanied Napoleon on his invasion of Egypt in 1798. It is now classed in Crocosmia, meaning crocus-scented. He says it is a first-class border flower in Southern gardens.
I also added some yellow gladiolus, joena.
I await several red/yellow/orange daylilies. I think some St. Joseph lilies would be good at this time of year. A yellow iris is blooming along with the potted red amaryllis.
In the potager I am able to pick a salad daily. We have had our first mess of snow peas. It is very weedy as I am not able to do much. Plan to try to weed a little every day and plant.
Some roses are in bloom; the mock orange is passing its peak; the yellow pond iris are still good. The several St. Joseph lilies are good. Ogden talks of these South American natives. The were introduced in 1799 or 1810. They were introduced to Europe where an Englishman in a Lancashire garden hybridized Hippeastrum reginae from Peru with H. vittatum from Brazil to produce H. x johnsonii. In 1888 Henry Nehrling found them in Houston and they became the focus of his career. He moved to Florida and authored a treatis, “Die Amaryllis” on these favorite blooms. Ogden further states that after 200 years H. x johnsonii remains the most prolific and hardy of garden amaryllises.
I or rather Connie has moved out the pots and some have been burned in this very cool April. It has been 40° on at least two mornings.
Friday, April 27
Despite still having leg pain I have been working. I hope to finish mowing the park today---a little bit every day. Ed Lee mowed the hay field the same day he clipped the front pastures so some time saved. And of course he mowed the highway about a month ago when I was bad.
I am still moving plants out. Repotting some. Re-arranging.
I finally got the plants from Roots and Rhizomes which finishes the hot bed:
Daylilies: Beppy, orange yellow, mid season
Black-Eyed Stella, early to late, yellow with red eye
Hyperion, mid season, yellow
R&R Orange Tree, mid-late, orange
Wayne Johnson, mid, red
Moses Fire, mid, red
And a free one: Alan Rouge, not in the catalogue
Achillea Millefolium Terra Cotta
Asclepias Tuberosa Hellow Yellow
Coreopsis Crazy Cayenne
I have peppers, marigolds, perilla, red zinnia, as annuals. There is some old coreopsis. I have pots of yellow snap dragons, red nasturtium, on the ledge. Next year maybe yellow pansies and pot marigolds for more early color. The red amaryllis are still in bloom. I pull daily seedlings of solidago. There is four-o-clocks coming from tubers. A few old canna still and with leaf rollers. We will see how all this works. I have been thinking of this for a long time.
Two rose bushes are very good in front of the well house: the Chestnut rose and I think Blush Rosette which is great and tall. There is also an old pink climber. The huge small white bush is dead which is good. The Chaste tree there seems to be dead as well. Both these need to be cleaned out. The Philadelphus, mock orange is passing.
As I mow I see that most of the camellias are leafing out nicely. The ginko and the new live oaks are doing well as is the Chinese Pistache. Odenwald talks highly of the Pistache—most trouble-free, drought tolerant, most spectacular fall color of any tree in the Deep South. Female trees have showy red fruit also.
The dewberries are in and are everywhere. Daily salads in the potager. The snow peas are doing poorly. And the fava produced about 3 pods. In all the years I have tried to grow this plant I have had one mess, about 10 years ago!
The bananas are coming out from the stumps. John Baxter brought me one that is supposed to fruit in this locale that I planted in the potager. It does not seem to be doing well.
1 May Tuesday
I have finished mowing even the cemetery.
And I did 4 burn piles which are still smoldering. Two will take a long time as the log is huge.
I am watering pots as no rain in a week. Weeding and planting some in potager. It is only this week that temperatures are in 80’s but lows in 50’s.
All pots are out of the well house. The aloes faired well but not the succulents.
The oleander in the pots are coming out. The one by the gallery has a few blooms as even the one south of the well house.
Monday 7 May
In the potager the small planting of Knight peas is producing fine but I like the telephone as they are bigger and taller, easier to pick. The snow peas are very poor this year. I harvest salad greens daily, lettuces which are not so good, few wild arugula this year, radish seed, coriander leaves, flowers, seed, grape leaves, parsley, carrot tops, small brassica leaves and flowers, mint; and the last of the ginko leaves as they are maturing and Connie finds them too tough; and the ornamental sweet potato leaves and nasturtium (mostly flowers this year) in the patio. I pick brassica leaves for the pot about once per week. The first of the blueberries are in ----a few berries but looks like lots to come. The dewberries are in.
I am trying to get all the planting done but it is slow. I got straw and manure for mulch yesterday. I did water a couple days ago. No rain predicted until next week.
I went to Clegg’s last week and bought some eggplant which I have again planted in pots on the patio this year. I also bought an Owari Satsuma which I decided to pot up for this year anyway. I bought more jalapeno and some banana peppers for the potager. One of the wild Texas peppers has come back at the potager gate.
I bought a Peter Pan agapanthus having remembered the cultivar from Ogden but rereading I find it can be problematic in cold wet winters so will leave in a pot. I need to remove the lirope and replant the agapanthus I have which have not bloomed in a couple years. Will do that in the fall.
The hot bed is all planted. The old yellow daylilies are in bloom and a trithoma for the first time in maybe 3-4 years. The new plants are progressing so we will see how it all develops. The marigolds I planted as plants continue to bloom. I continue to pull up lots of solidago. I am moving the spring pots of nasturtium and pansies to a shadier location as we are high 80’s daily. The old coreopsis is abloom.
Friday 11 May
I am trying to thoroughly water today as we will be in Wilmington for 10 days and no rain is predicted here and temperatures are at 90 at least.
I cut a gladiolus dalenii for the gallery the other night. Connie asked about it and I couldn’t remember the common name so I went to the Southern garden bible---Ogden. It is the parrot glad. They do well here and spread. Ogden calls it one of the old plants seen in the South. My Gladiolus byzantinus or corn flag do less well. I think I need to move some out from under the shade of the magnolias to get them to bloom. I did have one to bloom near the well house earlier this year. Ogden notes an ‘alba’ which I think I have but again it needs moving out of the shade. Ogden notes it is slow of growth. He says this one is raised for the cut flower trade in Europe.
I have planted some modern hybrids in the hot bed and maybe I should add some parrot glads as well. Ogden talks about Gladiolus primulinus and B&B has some hybrids of that which would also work in the hot bed.
I cut the first white glad that seems to have settled in and spread in the potager.
I keep watering the acidanthera as to try to give it the moisture it likes.
In the potager I dug the potatoes and as Connie noted I got barely as much as I planted despite the cool spring. The dew berries are gone and the blueberries not quite there. I am trying to get it all planted which is going slow. Putting some compost and manure on it. And watering today (as well as several days this past couple weeks). Another big mess of English peas today.
I mowed the highway this week and clipped the weeds in the ditch. With no rain it could have waited but I wanted to show Joe I was still up for it.
Tuesday May 22
Back from Wilmington. No rain here except sprinkling when we arrived. Plants in pots suffering. May have lost some.
In potager, picked peas, lots except the knight peas gone. Picking collards; bugs have started in earnest. Cut big bouquet of white glads for down hall table. These grow wild in the potager. And the blueberries are in.
Spent the morning watering and now, 1:10 pm, inside because of a thunderstorm.
Saturday May 26
Have had rain all week, spotty. But two pretty good showers, especially the one yesterday afternoon. Warnings are out as tropical storm Alberto formed yesterday. So more rain expected.
In the potager I have been daily adding new seeds after a weed pulling effort. The English peas are ending. Still getting the valarde but their vines need more support than the tomato cages. Picking blueberries, salad fixins but not lettuce. Also cutting more glads. I did pick perhaps the last of the pot greens. The coriander is all in seed now.
In the hot bed the 2 old daylilies continue as does the coreopsis. The 4 0’clocks are doing nicely and the chartreuse sweet potato vines are coming. The new plants are establishing slowly. The marigolds do well as of now. I pull weeds and lots of solidago. And daily I am pulling catapillars off the canna; it’s something new. The amaryllis plants produced seed and I have planted. I lost the young plants I had in pots in last winter’s cold.
Wednesday 6 June
I am mowing the allée and the highway. The part I mowed last week is in need again. No rain while we were in Charleston for 5 days but a good rain yesterday. We did a garden tour in Charleston. The city gardens all seemed to have the same designer and planter with the exception of Mrs. Whaley’s. I did go to Abide a While and bought a large leafed sage said to do better in our climate. Magnolia Gardens now has a sale area and I spoke to the horticulturist. I did buy one that was developed at Magnolia, Rev. Bennett. They are going to do more with producing and selling the older varieties.
When I got back some of the pots in the patio were wilting. There were blooms on the zinnia and the hibiscus. More sweet potato coming out. The white daylilies are in bloom in the white bed but are more yellowish and would look ok in the hot bed.
The blueberries are bountiful. I am digging green garlic which Connie likes. Some jalapeno, banana peppers, tomatoes, peas.
Many crinums were in bloom as we left and most of these have since fallen, especially the ones in the front pasture. I have cut more white glads in the potager. The hibiscus on the north side are in bloom.
Tuesday 19 June
I have been traveling so much I am not getting much done—and leave again tomorrow for Virginia.
I am harvesting as many blueberries as I can pick and am not getting them all. The purple pod green beans are in and the tomatoes. Still picking salads.
I am watering pots to keep things from dying. Will mow starting again next week but in bad need now. We have had some rain but not much.
Friday 29 June
It’s 94. I can’t seem to find the where-with-all to get on that mower in this heat---and its dusty too. The grass is very high and I will get all mowed by next week end when we leave for Tucson.
The crepe myrtles are blooming. The old dark pink ones in the north border are great. I can see them filling up the view from the kitchen table window.
The patio is blooming fairly well. The new white spider lily (hymenocallis, Tropical Giant, that I put in this spring) is blooming and with it a night blooming cereus. The pale yellow daylilies continue. The white roses rebloom. The achillea are fading. I have an acidanthera. In the tropical bed we have a lily of the Nile. None bloomed last year. In the hot bed I have my first crocosmia. It may be the one I brought from Scotland several years ago. The cannas bloom and the 4 o’clocks. The zinnia and marigolds are in bloom. Every plant except the bulbs are wilting. And I need to water the bed as much as the pots.
Some crinums are blooming. The indigo go on blooming. That has turned out to be a great ground cover under the Chaste tree. The althea on the north side of the annex are good. The pot of hydrangeas that Jen gave Connie last year likes it’s space in the shade south of the house in the drive bed.
In the potager I have a great crop of weeds and can’t seem to find the time to get at them. Beans, rattlesnake and purple pod, long beans. I didn’t plant them last year. The tomatoes do a little. I can make a salad of various greens. The blueberries have been good but are drying up.
Monday 16 July
Just back from Tucson. There was a rain while we were gone so plants not so stressed on return but the pump is not producing even before we left. Gone dry in the drought with the large amount of water I poured on the potager? We were able to fill the barrel on return from Tucson and then used all of that for the cattle. I have some water in containers from rainwater last week on the patio and am using that to help the plants that are the worst—primarily the potted ones. I am weeding the pots (and the patio) in little spirts in this heat---high 90’s and humid---feels like 105 they say today. I am also picking off ‘the mealy flies’ on the citrus as I go round the patio. I have moved the pots to close to the hedge to give some shade.
Stopped at Peckerwood Gardens for a tour for the first time. A great 2 hour walk with a very knowledgeable guide. Plants there in the hill country are much more like what I can grow here. Purchased a dwarf white crinum which they say spreads nicely (up-potted it today), a zamia integrifolia, @ $5. The zamia will be a nice ground cover type in the shade. Also known as a coontie or Z. floridana, drought tolerant (good). I’m in a drought tolerant mode.
I also bought 2 trees @$15: Quercus polymorpha, Mexican white oak, (found from Val Verde Co. in W. TX south into Mexico and Guatamala), and quercus glauca, or Japanese blue oak, native to E. Asia, mostly China. . The first an evergreen oak and the second a multi-trunked smooth leaved oak. Both grow to 60’ but the Japanese oak is said to be deer food---bad.
Will pot all up today and wait for late fall or maybe next year to plant out.
Love going out to the dessert. I harvested more seed this year: a short leaved palo verde from the Desert Museum, other seeds unknown and an aloe at the Arizona Inn. Will plant and see. I also got a piece of chain-fruit or jumping cholla, Cylindropuntia fulgida, in the vacant lot near the Arizona Inn. Its seeds are mostly sterile and it spreads by having pieces carried off by animals etc. It will need to be protected in winter.
I definitely love the desert plants but I need to get over trying to bring too many here. I bought a cactus book. The agaves are probably a better choice. I did pick an agave in the desert near the Desert Museum. Looks like a Shindagger amole, Agave schottii, or mescalito, agave felgeri, that I saw at the museum. I have potted today.
I notice what is good here---large green trees and grassy pastures. They are not to be had beyond Houston. Certainly I can rejoice in camellias and azaleas and certain spring blooms. In the heat of summer we have the crepe myrtles, crinums, and altheas.
My hot bed is not growing the new plants as fast as I might have liked. The old 4 o’clocks and cannas are growing. Some glads are blooming which are too salmon for the hot bed. The red perilla and chartreuse sweet potato vine are good. The orange lilies are in bloom, Lilium henryi, but they look pale in the heat.
I read that mesquite send roots as deep as 60’ to find water. They should do ok here, but they are considered a weed in Texas as they steal water from other plants and are hard to get rid of due to their roots.
I saw the first white lily bloom, Lilium formosanum, called traditionally in the South as the Philippine lily, so says Ogden. I often call it my Alabama lily as that is where I first came across it. They are good for here as they are tough in the heat. This first one is blooming on the allée where other things have problems with the deer. Speaking of them I have been seeing a couple does about lately.
Monday 30 July
Finally got some rain Saturday and again Sunday. The pump is still not working so have called a firm in McComb. Moved the cows to the rear pastures anyway. There is some water from the rain in the barrels. And John Leake brought hay Saturday before the rain—50 bales @ $30. And speaking of other things to do with the land --- the farm, we have been offered an oil lease again.
The few days we were gone to Wilmington had some bad results with the moon vine and the ixia.
I love the southwest gardens but here I need to think on other things primarily. Summer it must be able to withstand drought and not die and in winter withstand both cold and wet. I have been into bulbs these last several years and I think that still is a good option. I went to order some Aztec lilies (Sprekelia formosissima) from the Southern Bulb Co. but they were sold out.
I did bring a pot of Louisiana iris from Wilmington which were not doing well and transferred them to the outfield of the septic tank plus a yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus) that had been pulled up from the pond by the cows. I. pseudacorus is a European species often seen as an escape in the South. Ogden says Jefferson had these at Monticello, where he knew them as flower-de-luces.
The potager is a disaster. I harvested the last of the beans; the field peas are puny, as are the okra. What is a gardener to do? I think I planted late and let the weeds and drought make the worst of the rest.
And I agree that gardening in the extreme heat of July, August should be kept to a minimum.
I have started the August mow now that it has rained. I did mow the highway before I left for ILM; it was so bad.
Wednesday Aug 8
Am mowing some every day and making progress. I get to see what needs weeding---a lot. Noted that 2 more dogwoods are dead. Only one alive now I think. One of the dead is the pink one that used to do well on the north side.
I am also trying to weed in the potager and have planted tepary beans and some more okra. I hope to get in more green beans and field peas and pumpkins for the fall. I do not plan to do peas. I will plant lettuce later. Connie likes green onions so I need to work on that.
I have been talking to people about the well. I think I have an answer as of today. It is an air-lift well. They have not been put in since the 60’s or so. Therefore probably put in by the Williamsons. They were not being put in during Stuckey’s time. Since I was bringing up muddy water the man in Natchez thinks I have a leak in the pipe and therefore all is lost. Not using that type anymore so would need a new well---$5000--$7,500 or so. I can use a lot of city water for that price. But it would be a problem with the potager. I need to plant more water wise—maybe more mulch.
The plants giving bloom now are the Alabama lilies. They do not seem to have a problem with drought. But in the white bed they died out??? They are in the hot bed and some near the HVAC. Some in the daylily beds. Maybe that is where I can use them as the daylilies have not done well.
Tuesday August 14
I finished mowing, including the cemetery. The back and the highway are in bad need again at the end of the cycle. I will start on them in a week when I return from Wilmington.
I have continued to work almost daily in the potager. Weeding!! I have planted what I shall call my late summer garden---no cool weather stuff. Planted okra, tepary, field peas and green beans: rattlesnake and Louisiana purple pod, and pumpkin. Now to keep them mulched and/or weeded. I am doing more weeding and hope to have things ready to plant the fall garden in October. I have a ton of crab grass everywhere. And essentially no produce.
I have been also doing some work daily on the azalea beds---getting the trees out. Using roundup—even though Monsanto has just lost a big lawsuit with the victim accusing roundup of causing his cancer.
The Ruellia brittoniana, Mexican petunias, in the cracks in the patio are blooming nicely---mostly blue. Connie said she liked them. The Hedychium are blooming in the patio bed. And my Hymenocallis riparium in a pot is in bloom and at the same time nearby was 2 blooms on the night blooming cereus, Selenicereus grandiflorus. The sweet autumn clematis, C. paniculata, is beginning to bloom. I also found the little Zephranthes citrina in bloom in the front of the front gallery.
Thursday 23 August
I am back and mowing. No rain in a week so hot and dry. The highway is quite high and I suspect I will have to mow it a final time later. I am also back to doing a little brush control among the shrubs and trees. A little bit every day or maybe it should be a lot every day.
The potager summer vegetables are up and in need of weeding, watering, and mulching. I am mainly getting salad greens: sweet potato vine and grape leaves and perilla are the bulk. More arugula now. Allium flowers are in. Another eggplant from the pots on the patio.
The crepe myrtles seem to have had a flourish, especially the light pink in front that I especially like.
The autumn clematis is at peak and a flourish of the pot of brugmansia and the white allium flowers for the white bed. The perilla are flowering in the hot bed; the 4 o’clocks are caring the bed with their little yellow flowers. The sweet potato vines are good and there are some red zinnia. The coleus has remained good. The old red daylily has rebloomed. The new plants have not put on much of a show.
The lantana bloom along the garden drive bed. And in the park beautyberry is in berry.
I went to Abide-a-while in Charleston and couldn’t resist trying another Tibuchina urvilleana, Princess Flower, ($10). I have been trying with them since I saw one as a standard at White Flower Farm back in the late 80’s or so. I did have one to overwinter well in Alabama but have lost it when I moved here and a couple others. I may try to keep this one in a pot. I also bought a gaura. I read of its properties on Gardenista and decided its tolerance to drought and poor soil might make it work on the allée beds. The one lantana is good there and I have had some bloom with the Alabama lilies.
I bought 4 Rhodophiala bifida, Oxblood lilies, from Southern Bulb Co. yesterday. Avant notes that it is most durable in Southern gardens, multiplying steadily. In 2011, a group of major bulb experts and growers voted to name the old Texas heirloom clone Rodophiala bifida ‘Hill Country Red.’ Ogden notes that in British literature they appear under the label Hippeastrum advenum. They are natives of Argentina and Uruguay. “No other Southern bulb can match the fierce vigor, tenacity, and adaptability of the oxblood lily.” They are especially common in the US in Texas in the old German communities centering near Austin. Peter Henry Oberwetter of Comfort and Austin Texas introduced oxblood lilies to America in the latter part of the 19th century. I may put these in the hot bed.
Sunday 26 August
I am trying to work in the azalea beds and trees and the potager but it is so hot and I have to water some as it is so dry. I did repot the Tibuchina as it continually looked wilted but it was not pot bound afterall. I put it in a black plastic pot and plan to set that in a nice glazed pot that I have. Full sun and 90° I don’t know.
Tuesday 28 August
I put the Oxblood lilies, Schoolhouse lilies, (since they bloom at the beginning of the school year) in the drive bed instead of the hot bed. They should have been in the ground long since. They have long scapes. I hope they perform. I think rabbits ate the ones I had put on the allée.
I tried to put the gaura in the daylily beds but kept digging up bulbs. Maybe not there after all. Maybe on the south steps.
Monday 3 September
Had to stop mowing last week when the tractor went on the blink. Awaiting parts at Richland. So my last mow is going to be later than I planned. We have had some rain and are now in a tropical storm path---Gordon. Probably Tuesday night/Wednesday.
I am weeding in the potager and have mulched the things I have planted. I am trying to weed to be ready to plant the fall garden.
In the patio the Duranta repens is blooming better than I have ever seen it. The Clematis paniculata has faded. The three roses in the white bed have blooms. I can’t tell them apart. The zinnia in the hot bed is good.
Saturday 29 September
The trials of September. The mower took a week or more to fix so we were off to San Miguel and then we came in after dark on a Monday night and left before daylight to go to Wilmington to deal with Hurricane Florence. I did see the lycoris in bloom along the drive as I came in.
We were gone to Wilmington for about 10 days and then came back for 3. I did get the tractor and mowed the drives and the highway. The green beans did not do well. I do have some nice looking new okra plants and cow peas. The tepary beans may produce some. My salad greens are mostly sweet potato leaves, some grape leaves and violet leaves. There is some arugula. I have not had time and therefore easily resisted planting a fall garden. It is a little cooler now but not by much. I will try to do that when I get back from Istanbul mid October.
I have had a few figs and my first mirliton. It is from the old vines. The plant fruits when the days shorten in the fall.
I started mowing the rear lawn (everything is high) and made a couple rounds only to have the belt break!! I will take it back Monday but no mowing before I leave I guess.
The lycoris are still good. Maybe their best year. The moon vine in a pot actually has bloomed. The duranta is blooming better than I have ever seen but not blue blooms and orange fruits. Some oxblood lilies have bloomed. The rabbits or deer get to those. I have a camellia Japanica in bloom!! in the south lawn. A few purple blooms of the sasanqua along the drive. My hot bed has been somewhat of a disappointment. Though one zinnia is going to town.
We have had adequate rain this month so no watering except some of the pots.
Since I can’t mow I have been cutting privet, et al from around trees and picking up sticks—truck loads at a time.
Friday 19 October
I’m back from Istanbul. Two plant related items: the huge trees, especially the sycamores in the courtyards of the Topkapi Palace and the well groomed cemetery at the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificient. Very groomed iris and hydrangeas among the graves. I’m kind of into cemeteries.
Got my mower back when I got back and started all over for my final mow. I really like to do it before the lycoris bloom. This year it is after they have all faded. I mowed down the flower stalks. Do I have the old sterile type? Ogden says the Japanese began to send diploid bulbs that seed after WWII. When were the lycoris here planted? The Williamsons? but that would be in the 1960’s. Well anyway I cut them this year. I did discover the green scapes of sternbergia and tried not to mow. Deer or rabbits eat certain of the crinums and just this week have been eating the sweet potato vines in the patio.
The highways are full of perennial sunflowers, narrow-leaf or swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius). I need to get some and put in the allée beds. The daylilies just get eaten by the deer. The solidago is starting. I have pulled up all that I had in the patio, so not there this year.
The sasanquas are blooming more, a couple of the new ones and the purple big old ones.
In the patio, the zinnas are good in the hot bed. The perilla has died. It needs cutting. The pot of purple dahlias have some late blooms. The night blooming cereus blooms intermittently. The osmanthus has put on a flush.
Yesterday I went to Clegg’s. I had gone to Dalton’s last week but they had bad plants. I bought broccoli, cauliflower (I can eat the greens even if they do not reproduce.), Tuscan kale and Georgia collards. I also got some red onion sets and buttercrunch lettuce seed (’19) and succumbed to buying favas to try one more winter. Bought violas for the pots. I have been weeding in the potager and have put in my fall seeds. I am getting some field peas and okra. The late planted green beans failed miserably. The deer have devastated the mirliton. I have only had a few. Still eating my green salad for lunch using mostly the sweet potato leaves plus herbs. The grape leaves are few as are the violet leaves. The bitter melon vine has looked good all summer but nary a melon.
Saturday 20 October
The rear gallery is perfumed with the tea olive.
Yesterday I went to St. Francisville for the Southern Garden Symposium (#30). A good presentation by Peggy Martin about her favorite roses. She gained fame after loosing all, including her parents, in Hurricane Katrina in Plaqueamines Parish in 2005. All except the climbing rose later named for her, Peggy Martin. It puts on an extreme show on a huge plant in the spring and she says can bloom again in the cool fall, though not as well.
Trish Aleshire gave a tour of Rosedown’s garden. Noted that the oaks on the allée are on 35 foot centers which is too close and they are in decline. Oak Allée was planted 70 foot on center. Later I looked at the allée at Afton Villa. They are much closer than 35 feet. Rosedown has gomphera blooming nicely now in some beds. Maybe a good choice for the hot bed and white bed.
In the afternoon I was at Grace and especially enjoyed a practical talk by Greg Grant, a horticulturist from Tyler Texas. He noted 3 thing to pay attention with vegetables: sun (vegetables need full sun to produce even in the heat of summer); fertilizer (I think this is something that I am failing as I try to do only organic), and timing. He describes three seasons: winter with plants that can tolerate frost; spring and fall: this is the prime time especially spring. Plant early so you can harvest before the heat of summer. Summer is hot and grow plants that tolerate 90 degrees plus: okra, field peas, sweet potatoes (planted early, peppers especially hot. Asparagus, although we harvest in spring, stop in May.
He also recommends several determinate tomatoes to plant early. We do not do well with heirlooms and indeterminate varieties. Plant early, fertilize and water.
He talks about what and when to fertilize: pre-planting, with transplants, every 2 weeks with tomatoes and greens, beans and peas never (they are nitrogen fixers), others once or thrice.
Kiki Fontenot, Professor at LSU talked about container gardens and gave us some strawberries (variety unknown) in hanging baskets. I got two baskets. We’ll see how they do.
Monday 22 October
45° this am. It was 90 just a couple days ago.
Tried to finish mowing the park Sunday only to have to mower fail again. Took it to Richland this morning.
Saturday was another good day for the Southern Garden Symposium. A great talk by Dr. Doug Tallamy of Delaware, an entomologist, who gave me great thought about having more natives in my garden for a more bio-diverse environment.
I bought a Peggy Martin rose ($23). Saw a couple books I wanted and will try on Amazon. I stopped by the roadside on the way back and dug up some sunflower, Helianthus angustifolius, Narrow-leaf or swamp sunflower. I have put it where the daylilies won’t do in the allée.
I finished getting the fall or rather winter plants and seeds out in the potager yesterday. Will pot up the violas today.
Saturday November 3
Cooler this past week, rain. I did get the tractor back and finished the final mowing. And did the cemetery but All Saints was too wet and cool so we had drinks inside. I am still harvesting the salad as usual.
The white sasanquas have blooms. Yuletide is blooming and the new Ruby that was a gift has a very similar bloom.
Moved all the gallery pots in and the orchids which have done well this summer but no buds yet.
Friday 9 November
Rain this am and chilly, 50 and windy this afternoon.
I am moving plants/pots from the patio. Freeze coming maybe Tuesday. Potted up a curry plant and potting red pineapples.
Physostegia virginiana, Obedient plant in bloom for the first time here. It is a native and invasive per the book but mine has been slow to start.
Yesterday I paid another visit to Feliciana Gardeners for a lecture on Louisiana iris. I have decided to use them for the bog at the end of the sewer field. If given lemons, make lemonade. They all like wet to watery.
There was also a plant swap. I took a rooted gardenia and got a clerodendron.
More sasanquas are in bloom.
Plans: several new varieties of figs; sasanquas from a nursery in Belle Chase; more La. iris. More trees. I would like to plant another ginko.
Tuesday 13 November
It feels really cold, mostly due to the wind but in 40’s and no sun. The rain I think is finally ending and frost predicted soon.
We started feeding hay yesterday. We usually start the middle of November and the first frost is usually the middle of November. Also the first fire last night.
I have harvested all the goodies I can. There is the possibility of a few mirlitons if I can get them through these few cold days. I have covered vines with tarps and pine straw on the bases of the plants.
More pinestraw on the crinums. And I have moved the potted ferns inside. Took cuttings of coleus, sweet potatoes, and cut zinnias and marigolds. Also cut some camellia blossoms.
Monday 19 November
Most of the tender stuff severly burned by the 27 degrees of one night last week. Some mirliton covered on the ground is alive but will probably not produce any more. The leaves of the popcorn tree are burned brown so will miss their color this year. The ginko has lost some leaves but I think is turning.
Dug a few sweet potatoes today and the jicama was a bust. So were the peanuts.
Harvested the first collards
Cleaning up in the patio, and brush on the south side of the potager, weeds on the north side of the house.
Cut some nandina berries and smilax for decoration in the dinning room.
[1] From the
Ginko Pages, Oct. 5, 2017.
[2]
Foswms.com/familie/white.html#namethomas whiterw
[3] Nancy
Goodwin
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