Gardening at Holly Grove 2015

Gardening at Holly Grove ‘15

19 November 2014

Last night was a heavy frost. I read 27 on the gallery. And the ginko lost all its leaves today. And the sad part is the leaves had not all turned. Next week is Thanksgiving and that is their peak. Not this year. Every year is different.

I use the ginko as the start of my gardening year. It came earlier this year. I have cut back all the foliage in the hot bed in the patio. Some of the plants in the tropical bed have lost to frost---the bananas and the tibuchina. I am raking pine straw and mulching the beds and the crinums. I put all the pots in the shed including the Arizona plants and the agaves, of which some were lost last winter. I have moved the citrus back out today as there is a warming trend. It is supposed to be near 80 this coming weekend.

I bought two new camellias at Camellia Forest last month and repotted. And just outside the well house door the deer ate them---duh!

The sasanquas are nice but maybe not as great as ususal. There is a white japonica in bloom which may be an old alba plena.

Thanksgiving ‘15

We had a rain last Sunday and it was cool so I decided I’d burn some of the many piles I have about the place. Wednesday afternoon a big wind came up and the smoldering embers in the front pasture set fire to the pasture. A lot of trying to stop with a shovel to smother. Connie joined me and finally the local fire department. The road stopped the fire in that direction but some of the fence burned. Some damage was done to the south farm road plants. Some brown azaleas and holly. We’ll see how much damage there is next spring. Joe Brian and Henry Darden came over. All in all a big mess but it could have been much worse.

I cut camellias and sasanquas for the house for Thanksgiving. The ligularia is in bloom but I didn’t cut it. The best yellow here this year is the pears and some elms. I cut a branch of pear for decorations.

1^st week of December

I am working on the hot bed. I removed the lantana since it overtook everything last year. Moved the lilies around. Put out some more tulips: Tubergen’s Gem, T. clusiana var. chrysantha. This is one of the  species that should do well in the South. Scott Ogden notes that the Persian tulip, Tulipa clusiana, or the lady tulip is “among the most useful and permanent types in the South. They may also be the oldest of their race in gardens.” T. clusiana “sets viable seed and has naturalized in several countries around the Mediterranean. The vigorous bulbs also multiply by droopers (stolons), and in some strains by offsets or buds from the base.”

Ogden adds, “Carolus Clusius (Charles d’Ecluse), author of Rariorum Plantarum Historia (A History of Rare Plants) and the man remembered in this flower’s epithet, reported the introduction of Tulipa clusiana to the gardens of Florence in 1606.” The origin seems to be the mountains of Iran to Kashmir.

The daffodil Falconet (Division 8, Tazetta) is coming up and I planted another clump. Cleaned out the water tubs of moss. Pine straw to cover all so the bed looks pretty good for the winter. I need to add some pots of yellow pansies and then wait for spring.

I am also cleaning up the white bed and put out a clump of Mount Hood. It is a trumpet (Division 1) introduced in 1938. Scott Ogden says these large trumpets bloom most reliably in the upper South, but “Along the Gulf, a pearly-white-flowered variety introduced in 1938, ‘Mount Hood’, blooms successfully if given shade from hot afternoon sun.”

I am putting some St. Keverne to naturalize in the lawn. McClure and Zimmerman says it perennializes well even in the deep South. Scott Ogden suggests Carlton, the slightly smaller St. Keverne and the much larger Gigantic Star as good substitutes for yellow trumpets in the South. I also put out a few Ice Follies (Large-cupped, Division 2). In discussing Division 2, Ogden says, “Among white varieties, most are too late blooming to be of much value, but the lemon-cupped, white-petaled Ice Follies is reliable, early, and well loved by Southern gardeners.”

Near the front gallery I have put out a few miniature daffodils, mixed, free gift from McClure and Zimmerman. Also I put a few Tulip saxatilis, rosy-lilac with a yellow base near the front steps. It needs no cold period. The catalogue says it is an heirloom from 1753. This may not be good as Scott Ogden says they have a reputation for shy flowering since some multiply to excess. It propagates with droopers but some new cultivars multiply by offsets but this doesn’t appear to be one of those.

I have finally removed the yellow lantana from the white bed and also the one in the hot bed which has proved to be a problem of over running things. We’ll see how they do along the allée with the daylilies.

Spent a good while picking up trash on the highway. Some big pieces of cardboard and plastic.

The week of Christmas

We’re had relatively warm weather since those very cold days in November and a couple of rains in the last ten days. This has allowed the ligularia to put out three blooms, the camellias to open up, a beginning of paperwhites, and in the potager I have broccoli for the first time in ages. In the spring it gets too hot too quick and in the fall, frost (last year it was the rabbits) gets it. I did not find a suitable Christmas tree so settled for the circular metal one on the center table in the back hall with smilax surrounding it. I did make wreaths for the gate, front and back doors from my much berried holly next to the steps at the sw corner of the house.

Since the rain and the softening of the earth I have been weeding, pulling privet etc. I have much to do before spring. I have repaired the front fence that was damaged by the pasture fire and planted the white Lady Banks that I purchased in Tombstone last summer. The rose there was planted in 1885 from a cutting from Scotland and the “tree” there is the largest in the world. The rooted cutting was $15. I have also planted the Wonderful pomegranate and the persimmon that I have had in waiting. I bought a red Louisiana iris at the Louisiana Water Gardens in NOLA to put in a pot in the hot garden.

End of January ‘15

Although December was not so cold, early January brought a hard freeze. 16 degrees on the rear gallery. This ended the camellias for a time and the paperwhites. No more broccoli. The collards and kale remain for salads and greens. Le Petite Antiques Forum of Baton Rouge will tour Holly Grove this week. We have paperwhites and camellias to use but I am not sure what to cut for the large vase on the table in the back hall. Some of the pansies look good but the hard freeze set them back.

February 23, 2015

The day is cold (30’s) with a north wind. Maybe freezing rain tonight. We have had variable weather this past month. Up to the 70’s then back to freezing. We spent a week in Marrakesh to get some garden ideas from our hotel, Jnane Tamsna, and the famous Majorelle Gardens of Yves St. Laurent. I returned to go to Naylors and bought and planted seed potatoes, red Pontiac and Yukon gold; and also English peas and sugar snap peas. A warm weekend augured well. We’ll see. The dafs are in bloom all over and some paperwhites still, and a few Roman hyacinths plus the beginning of the snow drops. The camellias are looking good and the quince have blooms. Spring awaits if only the weather could get a little better.

February 27

McClure & Zimmerman sent an email warning of the end of their 10% off early orders. So I got busy and ordered Helleborus Orientalis Royal Heritage, Acidanthera Var. Murielae (I saw it in bloom in late summer at High Grove last year), Dahlia, Bishop of Dover (red/black foliage with white blooms) and Sunshine (red/black foliage with yellow blooms), Gloriosa Rothschildiana, Lycoris Aurea, and Polianthes Mexican Single. The dahlias are like ones I saw in England last summer and I will try them in pots to put near the door. The Gloriosa will go in a pot with the bamboo top I bought at Sissinghurst. The lycoris and the polianthes require a little special care and I will also grow them in pots. I did get an email from High Grove offering Gladiolus Callianthus or Peacock Orchid which is Acidanthera. They said it was in the sundial garden; I don’t remember.

Since the cold is supposed to be about over I decided to move the citrus to the patio.

I think I have discovered some Algerian Iris. This little iris was blooming earlier in the month in front of the front gallery. I did not plant it, so where did it come from. I checked it against Scott Ogden’s description and rather than the Iris unguicularis, I think this is Iris unguicularis, subsp. Cretensis which produces grassy foliage which this has. I will follow it next winter.

The pears are blooming and I cut some branches for the center table in the back hall.

March 5, 2015

There was ice on the steps this am and a temperature of 32. Yet we had drinks on the gallery last night with a warm breeze, 70’s. I took pictures yesterday of some camellias, daffadils, and the Soulangeana yesterday before all are damaged by the hard freeze of tonight. I guess I should move the citrus in one last time!

March 7, 2015

28° this morning. 22 yesterday am. I am thinking this is the last frost. Felder Rushing said on his program yesterday the problem with these freezes is the Japanese Magnolia (Magnolia soulangeana). Just when they bloom we get a freeze. Maybe if we quit planting them we wouldn’t get these late freezes. We had sleet on Thursday and the dafs are all leaning or worse. We’ll get some more late ones blooming and more camellias. That Thursday sleet was the day that Forrest Home burned to the ground.

17 March

We are in a string of wet and warm days and things have popped. The tulips I potted for the Azalea Festival in Wilmington are already in full swing. There are iris blooming. Carolina jessamin are blooming along the roads. Some azaleas are out here---the kurumes. But in Grace cemetery I noticed the Formosas in bloom. Lots of dafs here still good. I am putting out pots from the well house. If I start and do a little at a time it will not be such a chore.

22 March

It seems like after yesterday’s rain, everything is popping out. The white iris on the patio are in full bloom and the species tulips have opened. More azaleas. The trees are putting out their green and the two dogwoods on the allée are in bloom. Green and colorful and wet and warm.
Connie has agreed to be on the Jackson Assembly tour next year which is next week. I see that I will have to work the week before and mow. Spring weeds are ready to clip but we go to Wilmington this week so it will be next week before I can do anything with the mower. I am trying to empty the annex and the well house of all the pots today. I had started but it has been a slow start.

1 April

Things are popping. The indicas are beginning. The live oaks have leafed out and lots of pollen is in order. The dogwoods are in bloom. Lady Banks and wisteria. The purple iris and the yellow pond iris.

The park needs mowing. My tractor battery was dead on Sunday and I only got a new one Wednesday but began mowing, especially the highway. I only have this week before we go to Wilmington for the Azalea Tour. I am digging in the potager but that is slow due all the rattlesnake weed to sort through with every spade full. I did make a trip to Naylors and bought some plants: peppers, eggplant and tomatoes for the garden and some plants for pots here and in Wilmington. The McClure and Zimmerman spring order arrived and I have put all that out. I am also trying to empty the well house of the plants there.

I have fertilized the smaller azaleas and the camellias with the organic fertilizer. A camellia and a couple of azaleas have died?

14 April

Back from Wilmington and the Azalea Festival. Our garden was in full color there. Back here it is raining and has been last week and to continue this week. Too bad I didn’t get the potager planted.

The azaleas have all faded except Elise. The roses are beginning to bloom. The St. Joseph lilies are good. The iris at the pond remain good. The Louisiana iris I have in a pot on the patio are blooming well but they are gold, not red as supposed. Some blue iris are in bloom. And the grass is growing but I can’t mow.

29 April

Crinums are beginning to bloom. The achillea and the coreopsis are also starting. The violas and pansies are good and the zinnias (Double Fire) I bought at Naylors, but the marigolds not so. The nasturtium from last fall is fading. The red amaryllis from Christmas 2 years ago are also making a good display. The bulbs I planted earlier are coming up, some better than others. Most of the small camellias are putting out a lot of leaves and the two eaten by deer in pots are putting out new growth. They may make it after all. I did get some more seeds and plants into the potager and I have mowed but we have had a lot of rain. Lightening struck a huge magnolia north of the house; split it down the middle and the top came down. I have been cutting on that. I have other trees down that need work as well. We have had some cool days as well. The dewberries are in. Eating salads, mostly arugula, some nasturtiums, sorrel, calendula leaves, beet leaves, Swiss chard, ginko, violet leaves; lettuce is not so good.

4 May

I am digging in the potager this morning. The rains have stopped and things are dry enough to dig. I need to get the rest of the summer garden out but digging is slow as there is so much Florida betony to get rid of. Some of the summer garden is doing nicely. The earliest tomatoes are tall and blooming. The corn is going and the more recently planted zucchini, pink-eyed-purple-hulled peas, and the Louisiana purple green beans are up.

We had the choir party this weekend. It was mostly outside---a bbq, so I only did flowers in the back hall. The best choice was the milk-and-wine crinums from the pasture. The Pat Aplin rose is at its best this year. One guest commented on it. I should have more on the south farm drive fence. I think this is Marjorie Fair actually. The other single rose bushes are more bashful in bloom. The exception is the pink bushy rose I have in front of the well house from Alabama. It has grown into the crepe myrtle and looks good. The Scotch rose is at its best this year. I have been disappointed with it for the past several years. The Chestnut rose that is in the northwest lawn that was here when I came is perhaps at its best this year as well. There is a volunteer climbing small pink in the azalea bed that is blooming nicely. I don’t know who planted it there. This is the first year I have seen it. I need to add some more roses for this time of year but I have not had the luck with them here as at Belvidire or in Gantt. I may try to visit Antique Rose Emporium in Texas when Tinsley moves to Dallas and save on shipping which adds a lot to the cost of any plants ordered.

I am watching the pots where I have the summer bulbs planted: Acidanthera, Abyssinian gladiolus (Gladiolus callianthus) which is a native of east Africa is up nicely. I first saw it last year at High Grove and decided to give it a try. M&Z suggest it is good as a pot plant which is where I have it, but it is hardy to Z-7. Ogden says it likes a lot of water so I need to put the pots in a plate to hold water better. I so liked the dahlias in England last year I decided to try a few. Ogden gives them short shrift saying that the hybrids of today are flowers for cool, pleasantly mild regions and do not generally thrive in the torrid, steamy weather of the South. The white dahlias on the patio in the ground return and sometimes give a fair show. The Bishop of Llandaff did not do particularly well last year in the hot bed but it has returned. I have put in pots Bishop of Dover (dark foliage with white blooms) and Sunshine (dark foliage with yellow bloom) for this year. I have potted a Gloriosa superba ‘Rothschildiana’ per use instructions from M&Z. Ogden notes them good for the South. They need a dry winter and summer moisture. They are natives of subtropical Africa and India. I have put bamboo in the pot for it to climb on with a cap I purchased at Sissinghurst last summer.

17 May

The weather report this morning: summer like temperatures, hot, humid. That says it. We are now in summer mode; have turned on the air.

We have also had rain so I’m mowing since I have only three days before we leave again. In the hot bed the daylilies are full as is the achillia. The Indian shot is starting.

In the white bed the achillea is at peak. The brugmansia is blooming. The Confederate jasmine is still not big enough to make a show. The spike plant (angelonia, summer snapdragon, Z 9-10) is still good. The pansies are fading. The lily that had been so prominent is now only one but it seems less pale and more orange/yellow.

The pink oleander looks good but the daylily is too much tending to orange. The purple spike plant (angelonia, again) looks good in the pot. This may have been a good choice for bloom.

The orange glads are now blooming in various places where they have naturalized.

30 May

I have been back from Charleston (and their garden tour) for several days. There was a lot of rain while we were gone and also since we returned. The grass is up where it was mowed as if I had never mowed---and I did not get all the north side mowed---but hard to give time to mowing in the wet.

I went to perhaps my favorite nursery---Abide A While---in Charleston. They have been in business since the 1960’s when the present owner was a baby. Twenty percent off all plants. Now one can’t pass that up. I bought one of many for a total of about $125 so I have been trying to find all a place. Most have gone into pots on the patio and the weeding before the choir party is holding up but I need to pull a few every time I walk past. Changing out some winter flowers—the fall planted nasturtium and some pansies.

Ice Plant, ‘Jewelof Desert Peridot’ Delosperma cooperi hybrid. (Z 5-11).  I put this in the tall pot and it went to the front steps. I also moved an aloe there. I mean to have things that tolerate drought as I do not water there as often. Working on that collection of pots by the door that Connie and I found so nice in England last year.

Impatient (Peach Frost Fusion TM). I put this in an old cache pot (that unfortunately leaks) and put it on the table in the shady portion of the back gallery. I have another impatient of the south side of the gallery—a red double.

Tithonia, Mexican sunflower (from Mexico). I put this in a large pot and put it in the hot bed. I first saw this growing in Mrs. Pearson’s sidewalk garden in Wilmington and liked it then. I did have it from seed for awhile. I hope to save seed again.

Ipomoea, Marguerite (a chartreuse) and Black Ace. I put these directly in the hot bed. A previous Marguerite had over run the place a couple summers back but I have had trouble with rabbits eating them (I think.) and lost them entirely this past winter. I need to over winter one in the well house to make sure I have them. I had them in my hanging baskets one summer but found it difficult to keep them watered. Now I just have the asparagus fern in the hanging baskets and they tolerate drought when I am gone.

Native red hibiscus, H. coccineus, Texas Star (Z 6-10). I left this in its pot and put it near the hot bed. I need to put it in a larger pot or maybe replace some of the cannas that are over running the hot bed.

Coleus, Pineapple and Dark Star. I put both in pots for the hot bed. I have I think a Pineapple that is not doing so well. I have trouble over-wintering coleus.

White zinnia, Profusin White, to a pot for the edge of the white bed. It looks like the orange plant I bought at Naylors that is doing so well.

Portulaca, purslane, ‘Passion Puff.’ This to a pot in the hot bed. It is a yellow red. Doing a little googling I learn that portulaca and purslane are related but different. Portulaca is an annual with pointed leaves while purslane is a perennial with a rounded leaf. Also I learned that wild purslane is very healthy with the highest concentration of Omega 3’s of any plant. Better put it in my salads.

Butterfly red penta, Egyptian stars, (from Africa) (Z 9-10). This was put in a pot in the hot bed but I think the red a little garish with the other colors. Needs heat, water and sun.

Tarragon. I potted up a nice plant and will try again to keep it for a year or so.

Fountain grass, ‘fireworks’, pennisetum setaceum, (Z 10-11). Full sun. I have potted it  and am not sure where it would be best. It is white and red now.

I also got some monarda and winter savory which I put in the herb garden after I tidied it up a bit---weed, trim the grape vine and tie up and cut back the dead olive.

Farfugium japonicum, Ligularia, ‘Aureomaculata’, Leopard Plant. I have had good success with one at the north end of the front gallery but one in the drive bed succumbed. I have put this in the shade at the sw corner of the house. I think this area can be used for some shade loving plants. And as I was tidying up this area I transplanted some ajuga that grows out in the lawn to the base of the sago palm. This palm is putting out leaves and the one near the front of the house has a host of new leaves. Neither lost a lot of leaves to the cold this year as did all mine in Wilmington.

I also got some names that I haven’t had or have forgotten. The purple heart, setcreasea; I like for its drought tolerance. I have it in pots out front and in the hot bed. It over-winters there some times. The plant I brought back from Bali is a flax lily, dianella. Tasmanian flax lily from Australia is not hardy (Z 9-11) but is drought tolerant. Maybe I can move my pot on the rear gallery to the front steps?

The dark leaved dahlia, Bishop of Dover, has bloomed. It was to be white with a touch of purple. It seems to be the reverse. The dahlia, Sunshine, dark leaves with yellow flowers has not come up and therefore I suspect it will not.

The white achillea is doing well. The white stokesia has one clump blooming. The white canna did not return. The white daylilies are starting to bloom except they are really a pale yellow. I have some white glads in the potager that I should move to the white garden.

In the hot bed the cannas are flourishing, the yellow water lily puts up blooms. The daylily is going. The four-o-clocks are starting. And the chrysanthemum is in full bloom. In pots the pot marigolds, the marigolds, the pansies are still good. The red Swiss chard gives some color.

I have been in the potager and managed to dig the potatoes, Yukon gold and red, and have a good crop this year, a fair crop of garlic and shallots. The English and snap peas are gone and have been very disappointing. I have been weeding as the rain has them at their best. I did use the dug potato bed to plant some whippoorwill peas and I dug up another area to put out some tomato plants that I had. I have harvested my first tomato today along with zucchini blossoms.

I got out to put the bamboo sticks (from Wilmington) around the smaller camellias and also thereby did a little weeding. I was pleased to see the camellia in the nw area that I thought was dying to have put out some new leaves, so I trimmed off the dead wood. I am not sure if the sticks help with deer damage or not. I do not have metal cages to use.

I have been cutting the white glads in the potager to bring into the house. I have cut some mums out of the water lily pool and have them on the new white Indian table on the upper gallery where we have drinks. I have also been bringing in the so sweet smelling gardenia blooms. Mine all seem to flower well here.

The lantana are beginning to bloom along the drive bed. And the vitex is blooming.

10 June

Since being in Charleston we have been also to New Orleans and Houston. But this morning I finished mowing (not the cemetery which is in need) which included the hay field.

The harvest is on: lots of blueberries, more raspberries than I have ever produced, the first of the cultivated blackberries that I planted a couple years ago. The tomatoes are coming in. Lots of Louisiana purple pod pole beans, gypsy and jalapeno peppers, squash blossoms. Have plenty of salad greens especially arugula but not lettuce (what little there was is gone). During the mowing I saw some small figs. I didn’t think there were any and I saw a couple of plums. I thought we had none of those either but shaking the tree I got a dozen or so.

The red crinums are starting to bloom as the milk and wine are fading. The cape jasmine is fading but still there and I caught the scent as we walked the dog this morning. I cut some magnolia from the highway which is where it blooms best. Some roses bloom off and on. Clotilde Soupert is doing well.

The cannas are at their peak in the hot bed along with the chrysanthemum. I took up most of the pansies and potted a chiltipin---the wild pepper.

The various glads that I didn’t plant are blooming here and there. The hydrangeas are blooming but not well this year. The hibiscus are in bloom. They don’t shout but they are there.

I continue to read and reread Ogden on bulbs. He is very good. I wish I had a treatise on other plants that match him. I am planning my June order of bulbs and also looking at the summer bulbs that I shall order later.

I brought home a yellow oleander from New Orleans to root and a red from Galveston, the Oleander City, they claim.

June 18

Returned from Wilmington. There had been some rain but wind and a big pecan fell in the west lawn and over the fence where the cows are watered. I have been clearing out the way to the water all day. I began after the potager visit: lots of purple hulled beans, tomatoes, peppers (gypsy and jalepeño), squash blossoms, blueberries, and a few blackberries. The raspberries are gone.

There are some rain lilies in the west lawn.

30 June

91°, sunny, humid---in a word HOT.

Why do I get so much going that I need to take care of in this heat. With the traveling and the rain and heat I have been slow to get the garden out. We are having beans, field peas, peppers, some tomatoes, corn, squash. Lots of blueberries. Have long beans this year and Connie has bought olives and pork to do our favorite dish with them. She really likes the green beans with Benton’s bacon. We love tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil but have to buy tomatoes. Even with a very early start with the tomatoes this year we have not had as many as I wish. We have an occasional salad with all kinds of mixed greens. I have now some wild purslane growing.

We have just returned from Tucson. I get turned on by the desert and its plants. The Arizona Inn has a great space. They do have lawn and an annual border that they water. They have lots of oleander and I have taken some double dark pink to try to root. They shear theirs as hedges which cuts down the bloom. But they have palo verde, other acacias, a cactus and succulent garden. We visit Native Seeds each year and I get excited and buy some. Maybe I can get some of these out for the rain that we are having right now---to equal their summer monsoons. I saw a nice pomegranate with fruit. Perhaps I need better drainage for mine?

I gathered seed and have planted several. We’ll see what we get. I have a Mexican buckeye, Ungnadia speciosia, (seed from the botanic garden) and an acacia from Texas that I planted last year. The plants I bought at Native Seeds have succeeded. (Plant sale this year later in July.) I think I need to think dry winter which means I bring these plants inside. I have Asclepias subulata, desert milkweed; Yucca elata, souptree yucca; Agave parryi var. huachucensis, Parry’s agave; and Dasylirion wheeleri, desert spoon; all from Native Seeds. I have a cactus from the desert, maybe a cholla; a variegated agave from the Arizona Inn and a succulent from Kerrville.

I am also working on peppers. I seem to produce banana and gypsy ok---sweet peppers. I have jalapeño and Texas bird peppers which Jefferson grew, and Thai peppers and I have been overwintering them. I am trying chiltipen, a wild pepper, and chili de arbol.

I also have to mow. I started two days ago and have done the highway looking at all I need to chop down in the fence row and the cedars. I have a big pecan to finish chain-sawing plus several others from years past. I am way behind.

23 July

I finished the mowing before I left for Wilmington last week. And I planted the tepary beans (Santa Rosa White), sesame, and sunflower, and cowpea (Tohono O’odham) from Native Seeds.

It is daily high 90’s and no rain but humid and hot. I am weeding in the blueberries daily trying to get them in order. I have watered the potager and am pulling weeds daily to try to catch up. The tomatoes are gone in the potager. I am getting cucumbers, okra, peas, green beans.

The grass is high in places but too dry to mow.

I have also daily been cleaning out azalea beds and highway trees and fence. And daily I work some in the patio. Moving some plants to cooler places. Dahlias do not work so well here. I should have listened to Scott Ogden rather than being overcome by the Dahlias I saw last year in England. The Acidanthera, Abyssinian gladiolus (Gladiolus callianthus) are blooming in pots but get lost among the Alabama lilies Lilium formosanum, an Asian trumpet called Philippine lily.) that are blooming now. One interesting one not yet in bloom has about forty buds as opposed to the usual 1-3!!!

On the patio the cannas are about gone. The annuals, zinnias, marigolds, are struggling with the drought. Lost or damaged some plants in my absence despite my heavy watering just before I left. I seem to need to water about every other day.

I have several hymenocallis in the drive bed. One is in bloom now. I think they need moving to less than the rather dense shade where they are now. I have re-read Ogden and I think I have “the common spiderlily of Southern gardens, Hymenocallis ‘Tropical Giant.’“  Ogden notes that most of the hymenocallis in the South are old heirlooms originally 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, Pananma in 1535. Ogden states that no honest botanical name is forthcoming for the old spiderlil of Souther gardens so he calls it ‘Tropical Giant.’ He further notes that the spiderlily clan has several common names: basket flower, crown beauty, Peruvian daffodil, and chalice lily. In Latin America they are often called flor de San Juan. Ogden states the most common Hymenocallis species in horticulture are the deciduous Peruvian daffodils often placed in the genus Ismene. These are mountain bulbs and do not really thrive in the humid South. Sulphur Queen in more forgiving.

What I thought was a blue ginger is blooming and I found it in The Tropical Garden. It is definitely not blue but a spiral ginger, costus speciosus. It is native to the Malay Peninsula and called crepe ginger or Malay ginger. It has an orange cone with small flowers coming out one at a time. I have it in a pot but it is hardy to zone 7 so maybe I should change it.

The various crepe myrtles around the park are blooming even some that I planted years ago are now big and blooming. They have never bloomed as well as I would like.

The orange bottlebrush ginger, hedychium, is also in bloom. The Lily of the Nile had two nice white blooms this year but no blue?

28 July

100° for the last two days. And still no rain. Though some of the grass is high; no mowing until a rain. I am using some of the time to weed---blueberries, potager, highway trees. A little bit every day helps and a little bit it is in this heat.

The ice plant that was to be drought tolerant has died. One dahlia seems to be succumbing. One zinnia dead. I am watering pots in the patio every other day.

The crepe myrtles are blooming better this year.

The runner beans are succumbing also. I should not plant them. This weather is not something they can take. One has to take special note that it is hot And humid here and that asks a lot of plants and many cannot take it. Add to that a dry spell. And then there is usually the wet winter.