Gardening Holly Grove 2013

November 2012

Thanksgiving is a good time to start talking about the garden at Holly Grove.  On Thanksgiving the star of the show is the ginkgo.  It reliably ‘blooms’ (as I call it, although this ginkgo does not bloom and the November show is its great fall yellow color) and is at its peak on Thanksgiving.  Within a week the tree is bare.  The ginkgo is one of the oldest ginkgo’s in the United States.  The giant tree records in the US (National Register of Big Trees) are for native and naturalized trees, neither of which is true of the ginkgo.  Ginkgo, Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba) is a native of China and therefore was planted here at Holly Grove.  I think this was in the mid-nineteenth century.  Perhaps Sally Stewart Fort who established the extensive gardens at Catalpa, her husband’s plantation outside St. Francisville, Louisiana, sent this tree to her parents at Holly Grove. We know her neighbors, the Turnbulls of Rosedown Plantation were importing azaleas and camellias in the 1830’s from Wm. Prince & Sons, Blue Flushing, NY and R. Buist in Philadelphia.

In trying to establish an age I have compared the Holly Grove ginkgo to the Pratt ginkgo at the University of Virginia.  The UVa ginkgo is documented as the university’s first memorial tree and was planted in honor of William Pratt, superintendent of building and grounds just before the Civil War. I visited Charlottesville in 2011 and measured the Pratt ginkgo and found the circumference to be slightly smaller than the ginkgo at Holly Grove (a little over 16 feet) but the Pratt ginkgo is much taller.

Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716) on a mission for the Dutch East India Company sent the seeds of the ginkgo in 1691 to Holland.  The botanic garden in Utrecth has a ginkgo c. 1730 that is still present, probably the oldest in Europe.

André Michaux (1746-1802), a French botanist sent to the US in 1785 by Louis XVI is credited with the introduction of the ginkgo to America.  He had a botanic garden in North Charleston from 1786-1796. (He also introduced the Southern favorites: camellia sasanqua, tea olive and crepe myrtle.)  The oldest US ginkgo is thought to be the 1784 tree planted in William Hamilton’s garden near Philadelphia. This was a tree in what is now Woodlands Cemetery.  The tree is apparently gone now but a seedling of the 1784 tree is still in Bartram’s Philadelphia garden and is thought to be the oldest in the US.  The Ginkgo Pages lists an 1801 tree in the Julia Etchison Hanna House near the synagogue in Frederick, Maryland, as one of the oldest ginkgos in the US. Another oldest is noted to be the tree in front of the state capital in Baton Rouge planted by Henry Watkins Allen in 1857. (I have seen this one and it is not as large as ours.)  White Marsh Plantation in Gloster, Virginia, has a ginkgo planted c. 1820 which is the Virginia USA champion.  An 1860 ginkgo is noted at Oatlands Plantation near Leesburg, Virginia. A ginkgo in Hyde Park, New York is said to be the largest in the US.



December 2012

The narcissus are beginning to bloom.  What’s in a name? We mostly talk of daffodils; jonquils is used and as a child in Tennessee we called the big cupped yellow ones butter cups.  The narcissus blooming at Holly Grove in December are paperwhites, Narcissus papyraceus. Paperwhite narcissi were great favorites of flower growers in England and Holland during the 1500’s and 1600’s.  There were a number of them here naturalized in the lawn when we came.  I brought some, mainly planted in the white garden bed on the patio and a few other places near the house dug from an abandoned field in Gantt, Alabama, near where we lived (2003-2008). I’m certainly not sure which variety.  The ones already here have small yellow cups; the Alabama variety is all white. Maybe Pearl or Paper White.  Ziva and Galilee are later introductions, developed in the 1970’s in Bet Daga, Israel under the direction of Herut Yahel.  I think most of the older plantings of shrubs, bulbs, etc. were done in the 1960’s by Georgie Williamson, maybe some in the 50’s by Mary Dudley.

Narcissi are divided into thirteen divisions and listed in the International Daffodil Register and Classified List 1998, published by The Royal Horticultural Society. Not all do well in the deep South, something I learned from White Flower Farm many years ago when they began offering their ‘The Works’ in a second offering of ‘The Works, Southern Style.’  Although there are thousands of naturalized daffodils at Holly Grove I try to add more each year.  I have put out ‘The Works, Southern Style’ from White Flower Farm and also a Southern mixture from McClure & Zimmerman.  Last year I got two bulb books about Southern favorites: Heirloom Bulbs by Chris Wiesinger, 2010 which led me to Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden, 2007. And I ordered more specifically for the planting this fall (December).  Chris recommended Campernelles.  I ordered N. x odorus, the single Campernelle, and double Campernelle, introduced prior to 1900, also known as ‘Queen Anne’s Double Jonquil.’ I also ordered N. jonquilla, a late season bloomer. I put them at the edge of the front lawn to be seen from the front galleries.  All three are from division 13 (species and wild forms).  The new catalogues are coming in the mail now and I am planning next year’s order already, looking for those recommended for naturalizing in the South.

I did succumb to a large cup (division 2) daffodil purely due to its name.  We are re-introducing Red Devon cattle to the area and I couldn’t resist a daffodil called Red Devon (greenish-yellow petals with orange cup), offered by k.van Bourgondien & Sons, Inc. I didn’t think the wholesale price of $31 for 100 bulbs so bad.  I planted them on the edge of the front lawn as well in afternoon shade and will hope to get them to repeat.  Now on the email list for the company, I succumbed to a December sale at 50% off.  Scott Ogden recommended a trumpet, Mount Hood (white), and a large cup, Fortune (yellow petals, orange cup) and I bought those. We now have rain so I can dig in our clay soil easier so December becomes a month to plant bulbs and other plants.

The Japonicas are beginning to bloom as well.  We have an old white one that starts in November. I think it is more of a rose form double rather than the formal double of Alba Plena, although it is noted to be very early.  Alba Plena is widely grown and was introduced to the West by Captain Connor of the British East India Company in 1792, the first double camellia seen in the West. (Our double white in the north lawn under the giant oaks also has a red sport that blooms later.)

There are, to my count, 27 older camellia Japonicas here. There are two I can definitely recognize: Mathotiana and Dr. Tinsley (introduced 1949).  The Turnbulls of Rosedown Plantation in West Feliciana Parish were importing camellias in the 1830’s and by local lore the Woodville Red was introduced here in 1822.  I do not think any of the Holly Grove camellias are 19^th century.  I think again they were planted here in the 1950’s or 60’s.

I have been adding to the camellias here for the last several years.  I have transplanted suckers of some of my Alabama plants, Pink Perfection, RL Wheeler (introduced 1949), Professor Charles S. Sargent (1908) and have planted several I have purchased.  I have purchased several from Camellia Forest Nursery near Chapel Hill, NC.  They sell small plants for as little as $12.  Shipping costs were so much I made a trip to the nursery in 2011.  I have lost several and deer are bad at damaging the small plants.  I read advice recently about how to deal with deer—build a very high fence or move! But I keep trying.  I have a deer hunter shooting at Holly Grove this year—put a bit of pressure on the deer.  I am still seeing signs of deer and damage to many plants. As of this December I count 40 Japanicas that I have added and one Higo.  There are several old sasanquas and I have added several as well.

I did locate 2 small Woodville Reds at a nursery in western Louisiana this month.  @$10 but also $10 to mail.  Anyway I got them and potted them up.  Looking for some azalea-camellia fertilizer to use on my young plants.  I want to live to see them bloom on decent sized bushes.

I am raking pine straw and mulching the smaller camellias and weeding the older bushes.  Privet is a real weed here and smilax is also a problem.  Every winter when bugs and heat are not such a problem and the ground is softer from winter rains I pull and dig a lot of privet, smilax, honeysuckle, and Chinese tallow tree.   A lot of our Southern ornamentals that we prize are Asian introductions but so are these ‘weeds.’  Neil Odenwald in Plants for American Landscspes called Chinese Privet (lugustrum sinense) “a fast-growing introduction from China many years ago, …escaped cultivation to become one of the most common invasive, volunteer plants in the United States, especially in the South.”  The Chinese tallow tree or popcorn tree has beautiful color in the fall and great white berries—the popcorn, but it is fast growing, suckers and has become an invasive weed here at Hollygrove. I did spend several hundred dollars to cut a huge one from the round bed in the patio.  It was pretty but messy and on the roof. It really needed to go.  I will never get rid of either of these two pests but continue to try to keep them under control. Japanese honeysuckle. Lonicera japonica, is a lovely vine but it is another import that gets out of control in the azalea borders here. Control is all I can hope.

With the wetter, cooler weather I am burning debris.  We produce a lot.  Mostly it is falling pecan branches, limbs and even whole trees.  We have a large number of pecans, mostly volunteers I think.  Many are huge.  They are a nice shade tree except for the tendency to drop branches.  It is also the season to pick up pecans.  They tend to produce well one year then take a year off.  This year is a good year.  Not all our trees produce good nuts but enough are produced to keep us supplied.

I pick up limbs in the park all year and sometimes have to burn in the summer to keep the piles from getting too high.  I also have to cut up the larger limbs in the pastures so they can be clipped each year.  A bush-hog can cut up a lot but not trees and large limbs.

It’s the 17^th of December and I just noticed the Roman hyacinths in bloom.  They are in a clump at the base of one of the large oaks on the north of the house. Scott Ogden notes that “the earliest and most abundant of the hyacinths in the South is the French-Roman; a distinct white form of the common hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis), modern botanists recognize it as var.albulus.” He further notes that they appear in succession for six weeks or so beginning about the first of January.

I got 3 large amaryllis bulbs in the mail by mistake and I kept them---guaranteed to bloom in 6 weeks---just time enough to use on the Old Wilmington by Candlelight Tour, the first weekend in December.  For the last two weeks I kept them in light 24/7 but no color at all until the second weekend in December.  Now here in the 20’s of December they are making a very nice show—double-red Ragtime.  Maybe that will be a major part of the decoration for next year.  I suspect I will need to buy new bulbs.  In general I do not like indoor plants.  I have several.  I just can’t seem to throw any away.  They look good on the porch in the summer but there is always the carting in and the carting out which takes up a lot of time.  Here at Holly Grove I have most in the well-house cum greenhouse and several in the South facing windows of the annex.

It’s Christmas Eve and the fields of paperwhites are at their peak this year.

I was walking back to the house after picking up trash along the highway (which is necessary quite often) and noticed the holly next to the highway in full berry.  How did Holly Grove get its name?  I don’t know.  Maybe there was a holly grove but these large holly trees here were planted probably when all the rest of the older plantings were added, the 1950’s or 60’s.  The trees line the ‘lower farm road’ and are not that visible.  Only about half have berries, probably half are males.  They have been limbed up and therefore are not so visible.  But they have lots of berries right now if you go looking.

Dr. Stuckey planted a holly near the rear of the house near the south side walk about 1990.  It has dark green foliage with deep red berries.  Since it wants to encroach on the walk, I feel no problem with using these branches for my Christmas wreaths each year—on the entrance gate columns, front and rear doors.

Christmas day brought an EF1 tornado to Centreville.  Several branches down here to be picked up over the next few weeks but the old dead cedar on the south farm road fell across the road—better than across the fence.  I had planned to use it as a support for some Cherokee roses but alas I spent December 26 busily cutting the tree up to allow the tractor to bring hay to the cattle.  Also cut up two old dead downed dogwoods.  There has been a lot of dead/dying dogwood since we came to Holly Grove—old and at the end of their lifespan or disease?

The kumquat is full of fruit and ready for eating.  We have been enjoying lemons since the first of December.  I had one Satsuma.  I have had trouble getting a Satsuma tree going due to the deer. Both the kumquat and Satsuma are hardy here.  I keep the lemons in pots to bring in if the temperature is in the lower 20’s. If left on the trees the fruit keeps all winter and can be picked as needed.

Working to get the seed order ready for the potager.  It is like going to a cafeteria looking at the seed catalogues.  I pick out too much.  It has to be edited.  I have been saving seed for a few years now and am successful with some things.  I also have two seed catalogues that are helpful, one caters to the South—‘Southern Exposure Seed Exchange’ and one specializes in heirloom and open pollinated seed, ‘Seed Savers Exchange.’ Then if I can I go to ‘Pine Tree’ which has the cheapest seed.  I am trying two new plants this year that Thomas Jefferson grew—tennis ball lettuce (it is a heading type and may not do well here) and McMahon’s Texas bird pepper, native to southwest Texas and introduced in 1813 by Bernard McMahon from seeds given him by Thomas Jefferson.  I grew his West India Gerkin last year but Connie didn’t like it.  I will go back to other cucumbers this year. Thomas Jefferson is my hero.



January 2013

I have discovered Naylors in Baton Rouge—an old hardware store/seed plant place that seems to be good for local varieties.  Seed that they package is cheaper than mail order so I have bought several.  My mail order needs are much less this year because of this.  I have bought onion plants, seed potatoes for red and Yukon Gold, and some more blueberry plants.  The onions are out as well as the blueberries.  I have seeded broccoli. I have not had much success here with either plants or seeds but Connie likes broccoli so I keep trying.

The potager has only arugula, some lettuce, and sorrel for a salad and turnip greens, collards and mustard for greens.

The narcissus continue to look good and the camellias continue to bloom.

I am between rains (and we are having a lot) trying to pick up limbs, clean up privet etc. and burn the piles when not too wet.  The frost at the end of December has killed back the cannas and lantana and I am cutting them back in the patio bed and south drive bed and around the well house.  The lantana are nice in the heat of late summer.  The cannas survive well and bloom but the foliage gets ratty with leaf-roller caterpillars.  I have tried spaying with bacillis thurengensis but with no luck so I just live with it.

Another Asian weed, Japanese Climbing Fern, Lygodium japonicum Swartz has infested several beds here and I am digging it as best I can when the ground is wet.  One can’t pull it up, even when the soil is soggy.  I’ll never get it all as it is out in the privet borders of the fields as well.  I remember several years ago when I got a plant of this fern from Dorothy Bonitz, the plant woman of Wilmington.  It is a pretty fern and grew contained for me in Wilmington, NC. I didn’t know what a weed it could become.

The paperwhites in the north border, south lawn and along the allée continue to open up.  Jan 9, I saw the first snowdrop bloom along the allée. This is the summer snowflake, Leucojum aestivum not the snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis.  There are thousands along the allée.

We have had several inches of rain this past week and everything is sodden.  These rains bring trash off the highway to the pasture near the lake.  I went out this morning to pick up trash in the pasture and then my frequent highway scavenger hunt.  If I don’t get the trash there then it winds up in the pasture---blown or washed. Back home via the allée---a bloom on the forsythia.  Unfortunately forsythia do not do as well in the deep South as further north.  I never have a good show here because of the deer first of all.  By the winter’s end and time for bloom the deer have made havoc with the bushes. Maybe one spring these several massed bushes will make a show.

January 18.  The rain has finally stopped.  It’s still cold and I have been keeping a fire in the annex going all day for the last week.  It helps to clear out the large surplus of firewood I have stacked in the garage.  With all the trees that fall here I seem to have a never ending supply.  This past fall our propane man came over and helped me cut up several trees so he could use the wood.  He heats with it.  Time to invite him back.

I’m out now in the wet soil pulling up seedlings and larger in the shrub beds and around the large trees.  Found some dogwood seedlings that I transplanted to the azalea beds.  The older dogwoods that were probably planted in the 1960’s are dying and some seedlings do not seem to be taking off.  Is this disease of both trees and seedlings, or just old age with the trees?

The rain has the leafless branches of the pecans able to show off their large collection of green resurrection ferns, Polypodium polypodioides L.  They cover many branches of the live oaks as well and after summer rains turn from brown to living green but here in winter on the leafless brown branches they make an even better show.



3 February 2013

“Spring comes in February,” wrote Elizabeth Lawrence, a Piedmont North Carolina gardener many years ago.  I have been quoting her ever since I read her books in the 1970’s.

The Soulangiana Magnolia, also known as the Japanese Magnolia, is in full bloom.  These often get burned with a freeze.  We’ll see.  I have only the one old tree in the north lawn border.  I could use a few more. 

The yellow daffodils are starting to bloom. Occasionally I find a good garden book and last year I found Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden. It is a fairly inclusive bulb book and I have pulled it out to try to identify the old bulbs here at Holly Grove. He notes that “Narcissus is the botanical name for the group, daffodil the common name, and jonquil a name for the small species, N. jonquilla……In the South several fragrant yellow varieties are best known as jonquils.”  He talks of Narcissus jonquilla as being brilliant yellow, with a honeylike fragrance and the leaves narrow and rush like. The two yellow dafs blooming here now come in singles: one with a larger cup has blade like leaves, the other small single yellow cup has a more rush like leaf but not round. The smaller one could be the Texas star, a cross between N. jonquilla and N. tazetta known as N .x intermedius as described by Ogden.  Or perhaps all are some natural hybrids. Ogden does say “In the South…jonquil is the customary term for a yellow daffodil.”

The white narcissus (multi-flowered white with pale yellow cups) along the cross drive are peaking as well as those in the cow pasture to the south—one of our most pleasing shows, a large grouping on a hill under a leafless pecan overlooking the lake.  It is my favorite narcissus display at Holly Grove.

The ‘snowdrops’ are also in full bloom along the allée.

The flowering quince, Chaenomeles speciosa, have started opening up along the south drive. These generally do not fruit but I had a bush in Alabama that did, and I have brought some of it here.  These bushes are great to cut for a large show in the stair hall.

20 February

We had a light frost on the 17^th. The last one?

The Anna apple is in full bloom.  I keep trying to grow apples and must realize if I am to have any, I need a low chill variety. Anna is an Israeli variety (200 chill hours)—yellow with a red blush. And the pears are starting to bloom.  The trees are old and in semi-shade but are making a nice show of white in the winter landscape. The few pears produced are not good.  The redbuds are also in full bloom. They too are old and bloom high up.  You have to look up.

Another Southern favorite, the Sweet Olive, Osmanthus fragrans, is in bloom.  Here we have no old specimens but one beside the back steps that I planted two or three years ago has grown a good deal.  There is a large Sweet Olive tree in the graveyard at Grace in St. Francisville.  I look at it through the window during Sunday school.

With all the rain it has been hard to get into the potager but I did get a break and put out potatoes—Yukon gold and Pontiac red and planted the snow peas (edible podded peas really—sugar snap) and some English peas—Wando. Digging Jerusalem artichokes, sunchokes.  Need to dig what I need before they start sprouting.  They have great yellow flowers in the fall.  The collards, mustard, and turnip greens keep us with a mess of greens at least once a week.

The Ides of March

The coldest night of the year 2 weeks ago so some burn on things that had not all winter, notably the gingers and burn back on the early leaves of canna. Another light frost this week but I think we are now ready to go.  The yellow dafs are at their peak and the redbud.  The live oaks have all lost their leaves and starting to put out spring growth----and pollen covers the galleries. The coral bells,     azaleas are almost at peak and the Formosas that line the allée are beginning to open.

I’m mulching various beds and plants with the spent hay from that the cows waste. Take the truck to the pasture and fork it in the bed.

March 19, 2013

The old white cemetery iris in full bloom in the front of the house and in the white bed at the back.  The large cup dafs are also in full bloom: Red Devon, Fortune.

Growing up in Tennessee where the bearded iris is the Tennessee state flower (and there’s the song “When It’s Iris Time in Tennessee”) I learned to love iris.  The bearded iris in the trade do not seem to do well here in the deep South.  Felder Rushing notes the ‘sweet flag’ iris that is easy to grow here is Iris germanica florentina, the one introduced to America as orris root.  He notes it is common in cemeteries (“Even the dead can grow it” as he would say.). It is said to be the original pattern for the French fleur de lis. He also notes it is not available in the trade and you have to get it as a pass-a-long plant.  I don’t remember where I got mine.  I have also some of the old blue bearded iris.  Charlotte Seidenberg in The New Orleans Garden notes that this iris is the only bearded iris to do well in New Orleans.  She notes that this may be I.X albicans from Yemen and was used in Mohammedan graveyards. Neil Odenwald of Louisiana notes only that Iris X germanica (zones 3-9) is the most popular iris grown in the United States.  He does not distinguish the old white iris germanica florentina. Scott Ogden notes that the old white flag is Iris albicans and their original homeland appears to be the Arabian Peninsula.  He also tells of its use on the graves of fallen Muslim soldiers.  He adds that the Spanish continued the tradition in the Americas.  The early blue flag is a variant of the same species. Iris albicans has suffered confusion with a near relation, I. florentina, the preferred source of orris, a fixative used in the perfume industry.  It is taller with more open spikes of bloom.  He states that although the blossoms are larger than I. albicans they open sparsely and are less effective in the garden.

The pink Indica azalea, Republic of West Florida, that I bought in 2010, the 200^th anniversary of the Revolution establishing the Republic of West Florida, is at its peak.  This is its first good year having been hit by a falling tree before it could bloom in 2011.

The Formosas get more flowers daily.  Those I planted 5 or 6 years ago on the north of the allée are big enough to make a show.  I keep planting, also adding varieties.  Only Formosas (with a few coral bells) were here already.  Dr. Stuckey did plant a few Encore. I have rooted Gerbing, George Tabor, and President Clay from my Wilmington garden and Formosas and a pink from Alabama.  I have purchased a couple Pride of Mobile which I put at the crossroads of the Lower Farm Road.  I purchased a couple President Clay which I put our also in 2011 at the entrance to the allée. I would like to have a collection of all the Indicas but googling them I made quite a long list!  The old varieties are hard to find in the trade.  I did find 2 Judge Solomon and a Red Formosa in Natchez (on sale @1.99) this spring and have planted them.

I took some cuttings of Afton Villa Red and Rosedown Pink while on the Pilgrimage in St. Francisville last weekend.  I have tried before and failed and this is not a good time to take an azalea cutting but I do what I have to do.  The allée at Afton Villa has a mixture of Formosas and Afton Villa Red which some say is really just a President Clay.  Someone told me that the plantings at Afton Villa began in 1915.  The Rosedown Pink may not be unique to there either but some claim otherwise.  Another idea for the allée noted at Afton is an interspersing of gardenias for a large display a bit later in the season.  I have not seen them in bloom at Afton.

The Indica Azalea was named by Linnaeus in 1753 but is a misnomer as the plant originated in Japan.  It was introduced into Holland in 1680.  It reappeared in England from China in 1808.  It was first offered in America by Bartram in 1814 and by William Prince’s Nursery in 1847.  The earliest collection is said to be at Magnolia Gardens near Charleston, SC, begun in the 1840’s.  Rosedown Plantation near here in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana has an invoice dated 8 February 1836 where Martha Turnbull received fourteen assorted azalea plants.  She purchased azaleas, camellias and other plants from Wm. Prince & Sons, Blue Flushing, NY and from R. Buist in Philadelphia as early as 1836.  This would seem to have Rosedown as growing azaleas earlier than Magnolia. While Martha’s granddaughters (two married William Fort) married Duncan Stewart’s great-grandson in the late 19^th century establishing a connection with Holly Grove and a generation earlier Martha Turnbull was quoting Sally Fort of Catalpa (granddaughter of Duncan Stewart) about gardening, I don’t think any of the Holly Grove azaleas date from the 19^th century.  They, I think, were probably planted in the 1950’s or 60’s along with a lot of other plants and bulbs.

23 March

The yellow iris on the upper pond are starting to flower, another gift from some previous gardener here. This yellow iris (iris pseudacorus) is a European species often seen escaped on the sides of streams and ponds according to Scott Ogden.  He also notes Thomas Jefferson had these at Monticello where he called them flower-de-luces.

Also starting to bloom is the Naples onion (Allium neapolitanum).  We have millions, I dare say, here. And since it is a Mediterranean plant, not native here, someone must have planted it at Holly Grove. Scott Ogden notes it increases rapidly on any soil and soon extends in impressive patches.  If it were not so well mannered about departing after its season, it might be regarded as a weed. I suspect the ones I see in the trade to be a better flower.  I hardly need to buy any.

1 April 2013

Mowed the highway last weekend.  Half of the area was dead by spraying by the MDOT.  I have tried to get them to stop but unsuccessfully.  It causes erosion and drains into my pastures and ponds, not to mention that it is ugly.  Nice to drive south into Louisiana where they do not spray.  The remaining right of way was getting untidy with weeds so I mowed after picking up the usual large amount of litter.  I try not to mow the park until late.  Still have dafs in bloom and it will be awhile before the leaves die down.

A recent newspaper article note a “prominent weed displaying reddish-purple flowers in many home lawns.”  This is henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) and I think makes quite a show in the north lawn here at Holly Grove.  No need for the pre-emergent herbicides.

We have had a late spring with the last frost being just last week.  I think we are safe now and I am putting out tomato plants in the potager.  I grow my own plants of heirloom varieties, still looking for the best for me.

I have also just planted 2 mirliton (Sechium Edule) that I bought at Naylors.  I have known mirliton since I lived in Haiti in 1970.  The plant is native to Mexico and is found in the United States mainly in New Orleans.  It is better known elsewhere by its Spanish name, chayote.  Lance Hill from LSU had done a lot of writing on mirliton (pronounced in Louisiana as mel-uh-tawn). He notes that it has been grown in New Orleans as early as 1867.  The proximity to the Caribbean and the large migrations from that area probably contributed to its popularity.  New Orleans’ population doubled in the first decade of the 19^th century with emigrants from St. Domingue (now Haiti) so it’s likely I think that the mirleton was in New Orleans before 1867.

Dr. Hill notes that in the 1920’s the US Agriculture Department attempted to introduce the mirliton to a broader public in a project based in Homestead, Florida, using varieties imported from Cuba.  In the US it took the name vegetable pear. The project failed as most US consumers had no idea what this odd vegetable was. “The mirliton retreated to New Orleans where eccentricity in music, culture, and even vegetables were well tolerated.”

Backyard mirliton growing slackened as imported varieties from Latin America became available inexpensively and year round.  Katrina in 2005 and Gustav in 2008 wiped out a lot of the old varieties grown in South Louisiana.  Propagation of imported varieties was tried; some did not germinate and commercial varieties, grown using pesticides and fungicides and bred for uniformity were not as disease resistant as the traditional Louisiana varieties and lacked flavor.

Mirlitons need to be planted in well-drained soil and mulched well.  They need space for the roots to run up to six feet.  The 40 foot vines produce better if grown horizontally on a frame but do satisfactorily on a fence.

I have had a plant for several years now that I rooted from a store bought mirliton but have been trying to get a Louisiana variety since reading Dr. Hill.  At Naylors recently I bought two ‘Joseph Boudreaux.’

6 April 2013

I first noticed the budding out of the pecans.  No more frost.  A tenet of the lower South I first heard from Patty Ashworth of Andalusia, Alabama when we lived there.  So far she has not been wrong.

I am moving the tropicals outside, mostly on the patio. I hate house plants but tolerate them better when I can put them in the well house for the winter. But it is a huge job to move them in and out.  The patio is large and would look a bit barren if we didn’t have these plants in summer.  But plants in pots in our summer means I must be sure to water.  Some are especially needy.  Sweeping the oak leaves off the patio.  The oaks have stopped dropping leaves.  The oak near the front gallery we noticed last night at cocktail hour is pretty much leafed out with such bright green leaves!

The Cherokee rose (R. laevigata species, 1759) festoons the trees along some of the back roads.  I only have one small Cherokee rose here but several more in the trees would be nice.  You might think with the name and the way it grows wild here that it is a native, but alas it too is from China.

16 April 2013

More of the bulbs of the garden are blooming. Gladiolus byzantinus, or corn flag, or corn lily, so named as they may be seen growing in fallow cornfields around their native Mediterranean, is in bloom. They are tough and thrive in many gardens in the South where they persist without attention. I have a few in the south drive bed.

St. Joseph’s lily (Hippeastrum x johnsonii, hardy amaryllis, Johnson’s amaryllis) is another bulb that survives here and is putting out its red flower now.  Scott Ogden states that sources differ on the date of introduction (1799, 1810) but they agree that this is the earliest of all amaryllis hybrids.  Raised in a Lancashire garden by an English watchmaker named Johnson, it is known in horticulture as Hippeastrum x johnsonni.  Gardeners generally call these St. Joseph lilies.  Another plant I want more of.  It is the most prolific and hardy of the garden amaryllises but they have long since disappeared from most nurseries.

The other early roses are blooming.  I planted a nice Fortuniana (R. fortuniana species) that I had rooted along the fence near the entrance gate about 5 or 6 years ago.  It is now a nice specimen.  It is named after its discoverer, Robert Fortune, a young Scot undergardener who found the rose in Canton, China.  It is related the Banksias and has the same cascading habit.  Connie likes the yellow Lady Banks (R. banksieae lutea, 1824).  I have rooted some and they are getting established but not yet putting on the show that they are capable of doing.  The rose was named in honor of the wife of the gifted amateur rosarian, Sir Joseph Banks, by the botanist, Robert Brown.  It is thornless and deer do not like it.

It’s not a rose but I think the blooms look like a rose: mock orange (Philadelphus coronaries).  I put out some rooted (from Gantt, Alabama) specimens a few years ago and they have thrived.

I have brought several roses here but most have not thrived.  The Louis Phillippe (1834, China) I have from Tryon Palace way back early when I lived in Wilmington roots easily and blooms.  The Duchesse de Brabant (tea, 1857) was a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt and he often wore it as a boutenniere.  I bought it at the same time as the Louis Phillippe.  I prefer it but have found it harder to root and keep.  I also bought a Petite Pink Scotch rose from Tryon Palace.  It was found in 1949 near Willard, NC on an old plantation on the Cape Fear River (where we have a home in Wilmington the Cape Fear).  It blooms once and works well on the brick wall of the south drive bed.  I have also brought a cutting of Lafter (hybrid tea, 1948) which does well.  It is said to be a combination of yellow, orange and pink. I brought a cutting of the chestnut rose (rosa roxburghii plena) but there was also a large bush here.  The burr rose or chinquapin rose was introduced from China in 1824.  It is said to be a long lived rose and there are specimens in the South known to date before the Civil War. I bought a spring blooming large single red rose from I think White Flower Farm for Belvidire in the 1980’s.  I have a cutting of it that still survives and blooms. I think the name is Salat.

I have mixed up several of the roses I rooted or transplanted from Alabama.

Some I have bought some in the last 8 years we have been at Holly Grove: Madame Alfred Carriere (Noisette, 1879) was planted to climb up a dogwood in the south lawn.  The dogwood died and the rose struggles. Zepharin Drouhin (Bourbon, 1868) on the north cemetery fence is blooming well this spring. The iceberg roses (floribunda, 1958) are blooming now and perform well in the white bed. I have also added Lamarque (Noisette, 1830) to the trellis in the white bed last year and Jeanne d’Arc (Noisette, 1848) the year before that.

I was walking in the lake pasture this morning chopping down thistle.  Milk thistle is pretty but not a good plant for the pastures as the cows don’t like it.  I noticed the growth of the Macartney rose.  It was introduced to England in 1793 from China and named for George, 1^st Earl Macartney (1737-1806), British diplomat.  Here in the South it has become invasive in pastures, especially troublesome in Texas.  We keep the pastures clipped so it is not a problem at present. It can re-sprout from any root left in the soil.  The Macartney has a single white bloom and is sometimes confused with the Cherokee rose.

1 May 2013

Wild flowers are making some show. The lake pasture has a large show of the yellow blooming butter cups.  The barn court has a nice showing of the lavender wild verbena (Verbena rigida).  Unfortunately the Mississippi DOT has eradicated the verbena along the highway.  Wood sorrel (Oxalis crassipes) is blooming in the lawn in several places.  I note it is a native of Argentina and is invasive---one of the few invasive foreign plants that is not a problem, I think.

Roses continue to open up.  The huge bush of a white cluster rose is blooming.  It has not been as pretty as I had hoped when I rooted it but it is extremely vigorous.  Another vigorous rose is one I found at Mizell Hospital in Opp.  It may be Champney’s pink cluster (Noisette).  It has small pink blossoms in a cluster also.  Another large bush is a pink which I think may be Maman Cochet (tea 1893).  I think more roses are needed and was looking through The Antique Rose Emporium for 19^th century roses especially Chinas and Noisettes.  I will consider adding some this fall.

I put out a scavenged (from a street plaza in Baton Rouge) indigo (Indigofera kirilowii) under the vitex tree in the south drive bed about three years ago.  It has spread nicely so far.  It may get too invasive.  The nice pink flowers are appearing now.

Another flower I like is the magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), the state tree of Mississippi.  They have started blooming.  We have several huge trees in the front lawn which do not put on much of a flower show but the younger trees alternating with the cedars along the highway do make a better show.  It is a beautiful cut flower and the fragrance is good. But the downside is its short vase life—one day.

In the potager I am behind due to the cool spring and the rains.  I have now gotten all the tomato plants in, planted zucchini, Stewart Zeebest okra (a Louisiana heirloom), Louisiana purple pod pole beans (a Southern heirloom, said to be prolific and drought-resitant) Pinkeyed Purple-hulled field peas ( a favorite of Frank Stitt, our favorite chef).  The first of the edible podded peas are coming.  Lettuce and wild arugula for salads along with some sorrel and violet leaves.  In the potager and elsewhere I picked our first mess of poke salat.  The potager is full of weeds and the self-seeding coriander is abloom all over the garden.

The herb garden is looking pretty good.  I am only talking of the brick pathed area west of the well house.  The yarrow (Achillea millefolium x coronation gold) is starting to bloom.  The mullein is growing slowly.  The lavender continues to survive and is blooming.  The sage is in bloom and the marjoram is crawling everywhere.  The thyme is more controlled and is blooming.  The lemon grass I planted in the ground last year is back.  I have added Mexican tarragon and epazote this year. I keep trying French tarragon and this year I have again placed it in a pot on the patio but will move it to a cooler space as the heat of summer approaches. My chives, bay, society garlic are in pots on the patio.  Mint has been allowed to spread around the north east corner of the well house.  Parsley is grown in the potager as is cilantro. I grow fennel in the potager as a vegetable, not an herb.  I have a pot of curry leaf that I brought from Kerala which Connie uses in her South Indian cooking.  It goes inside in the winter and seems content, even tolerant of drought. The rosemary topiary I planted on each side of the well house door several years ago is a large bush on the right side and dead on the left.  Perilla has become somewhat of a weed reseeding itself.  I have read it is poisonous for cows and I am pulling the plants I find in the pastures.  I like it in my ‘hot’ (red, yellow and orange) bed on the patio.

We went last week to Historic Garden Week in Virginia, their 80^th year. They had some beautiful peonies which I particularly like.  I say we can’t grow peonies here as does everyone else, yet in last week’s Woodville Republican was a picture of a man who brings in his peony blossoms to the paper every year.  He is in the western part of the county but how different is that?

11 May, 2013

I used the dry period last week before yesterday’s rain to get in most of my vegetable garden. I planted my favorite green bean, Rattlesnake (a heirloom that will produce till frost) (saved seed); Cow Horn okra (pre 1865) (saved seed); Whippoorwill peas (a field pea brought to America from Africa during the slave trade, grown by Jefferson at Monticello and once the standard for southern peas); cucumbers; zucchini; Speckled Calico pole butter beans (saved seed); and 3 different melons, 2 from seed I purchased from Tucson last summer; and sweet corn (Country Gentleman, introduced in 1890, a white corn with narrow “shoe peg” or non-rowed kernels) (saved seed).  The edible podded peas (Sugar Snap) and the English peas (Wando) are coming in and this morning I picked the first of the dewberries.  They are wild and found on all of our sunny fence rows and give us a lot more fruit than the wild blackberries.

Another bulb found here at Holly Grove, the parrot gladiola or Natal lily (Gladiolus dalenii) is now blooming.  These spread easily from seed.  The bulb originated in Natal, South Africa and then to Ghent, Belgium, to Holland, to England and from there to 19^th century America.  This great orange glad is the parent of many of the modern hybrids.  There is a clump near the old brick steps in what I think may have been a formal garden in the past (probably the Williamsons in the 1960’s).

14 May 2013

I have just finished mowing the park for the second time this year—10.5 hours plus 2 hours more to mow the hay field north of the allée.  The spring bulbs have to be left still and make the mow look a bit ragged in places.

Memorial Day, 27 May 2013

The cool spring has ended and the temperatures are in the high 80’s with the humidity making the afternoon feel like the 90’s.

Much is in bloom: 

Mexican petunias (Ruellia brittoniana) which spreads around my patio is blooming in blue and white.  The yellow/orange lantanas are trailing over the wall on the south drive and making a show along with the cannas that also spread greatly here.  Just have the problem of the leaf-roller caterpillars causing the foliage of the cannas to look ragged especially later.  My cannas are mostly the yellow and orange flowered ones I found here growing and spreading in the potager.  I moved them to several of the beds.  The lantanas flower orange/yellow and I have a more spreading blue one.  Also along the south drive the blue spiderworts (Tradescantia virginiana) look good. They are truly a weed springing up everywhere.  In some places they look good. The yellow daylilies are fantastic in the patio round bed along with the coreopsis which has spread nicely.  The chartreuse potato vines are coming back.  They look great but I have had to cut them back severely many times to keep them from overrunning the patio.  I had them in hanging baskets on the back gallery for the last two summers but they suffer from lack of water when we are gone so I’m going with asparagus fern and airplane plants which are not as needy.  I wanted to have a daylily bed among the fading daffodil foliage along the allée but the deer and whatever (rabbits?) keep eating on them though some are blooming this year---not the big showy bed I had envisioned. The four o’clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) (I saved seed from the Shack-up-inn in ---- and from Bob Lane in Wilmington and the plants reseed and come back from their roots.) and the goldenrod (Solidago) are flourishing as well in the round bed though not yet in bloom.  I have to pull up the goldenrod to keep it from overtaking the bed.  I have a touch of red in a plant I rooted from a cutting from the Al Bustan Hotel in Muscat Oman.  It freezes back in winter but has nice red foliage for the summer.  I have seeded the red zinnias.  There is some red montbretia (now Crocosmia) that I brought from the Achamore House Gardens on the Isle of Gigha a couple of summers ago. It is not yet flourishing.  Red pineapple in pots add some red and the purple leafed purple heart (Tradescantia’Purpurea’, also known as Setcresea pallida) from pots has spread to the beds as well. The small pink flowers do not distract from the color scheme but I need more bold red blooms not these more purple-leaved plants.  The purple heart makes a good plant for the small pots on the front steps as they can tolerate drought.  I don’t want to water and rarely do in front of the house. I have a yellow mum that is blooming as well. Another red plant is Perilla (Perilla frutescens) which reseeds well though not large yet.

In the White Garden there is still color from those plants that I haven’t successfully removed.  The white roses (Iceberg, Jean d’Arc and Lamarque) are blooming.  The white Stokes’ Aster (Stokesia laevis) is in bloom but has never been as successful as I had hoped. The small flowered Shasta daisies (Chrysanthemum x superbum) are in bloom as well.

Crinums are blooming here and there, the milk and wine type, not yet the red which may be ‘Ellen Bosanquet’ but I don’t know the names of any as I have them here before me and have transplanted some that were in my Alabama garden, also before me.

My rooted oleander are blooming. For some reason they have not done well here. The pink is in the pink/blue bed on the patio waiting for the Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) which has buds only right now.  I have tried this plant elsewhere but it did not do well for me.  Fortunately these here planted by Dr. Stuckey are great.

The rose  Champney’s Pink Cluster’s (produced by John Champneys by crossing ‘Old Blush’ and a Musk rose) great show is over but Blush Noisette (I think) (Noisette 1817) is a huge bush putting on a great show. I have noticed the McCartney rose in bloom in the pasture.  Pat Aplin, a neighbor in Gantt, shared with me a large shrub rose she had and I brought it here to Holly Grove---Marjorie Fair.  It is spring blooming and is doing its best this year though I have had it a few years. It is a large shrub/climber and can put on quite a show. The bloom is a deep pink single with a white center.

The Jerusalem Thorn (Parkinsonia aculeate) has burst forth south of the well house.  I planted the seeds taken from Mrs. Stream’s trees on Royal Street in New Orleans.  It has prospered.  I have had them in Wilmington and Alabama and lost them in both places.

The Cape Jasmine (Gardenia jasminoides) are beginning to bloom. I rooted these shrubs and they have done well.  My father talked about the Cape Jasmine on either side of the front steps to their plantation in Hamilton, Mississippi.  I have two hip gardenias (Gardenia thunbergia) beside our front steps.  I rooted these with great difficulty from cuttings from Rosedown Plantation in West Feliciana Parish. They call it also the lantern gardenia. It is purported to be an early plant at Rosedown.

The hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) are beginning to bloom.  They struggle here because of drought but I have them I think in the right locations now and water if they wilt badly.  I have both lacecap and the common pom-pom.  I prefer the Oak Leaf Hydrangea (H. quercifolia) and think it is more drought tolerant.  I brought the plant here from my garden in Gantt.

The Walking Iris (Neomarica gracilis) is putting out blooms now.  I have mine from Katmandu and New Orleans and there were some here as well. The blooms are small and often go unnoticed.

Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) are in bloom.  They have great and fragrant blooms that I like to cut and bring inside.  They however do not last long and spill their stamens all over everything in a couple days.  We have several huge ones in the park but the best blooms are found on the smaller trees along the highway that alternate with the cedars (Juniperus virginiana, the eastern red cedar, a native). The cedars are nicely berried at this time of year. The magnolia need room.  I have one in my small front yard in Wilmington and once when I was raking its leaves, a passer-by suggested I needed a chain saw. It took me a minute but I finally got it.  But give it its space and you can forget about the leaves that fall all summer.

I brought some parrot lilies (Alstroemeria psittacina) from the Alabama garden and they have done well in the drive border under the Chaste tree.

I am not particularily enamored of the Encore Azaleas but Dr. Stuckey had planted some and the two in the drive border do look good right now.

I am at work in the potager right now. Harvesting snow peas and English peas, salad greens particularly arugula, collard greens, onions and I dug some new potatoes today.  I still have planting to do.  I am potting up my basil plants and the Texas Bird Peppers that Jefferson grew and I am growing for the first time.  I am setting out banana, Jalapeño, and habanero peppers and eggplant.

Connie likes the smell of Confederate jasmine (Traechelospermum jasminoides) though I think it is a bit heady.  But I like the plant and have started some on the lattice in the white garden bed but it is still small although this is the season of bloom. It tends to cover whatever it is planted on and I hope for this as well with the lattice.

The tender hibiscus in pots on the patio are also now blooming.

Last week of May 2013

Pop up storms, as they call them on TV, have filled the afternoons this week keeping me from planting in the potager.  AND one of those ‘pop ups’ plopped down a huge pecan which took out half a live oak on its way down!  So my time in the garden has been chain-sawing and hauling.  The main trunk I can’t handle and will have to let rot or burn over time in place.  The rain is good for the cow pastures and Connie likes to move them to their new pasture each morning. That also means the grass is growing in the park as well and will demand another mowing---but I am hauling off tree branches.

I did harvest our first squash blossoms, had stuffed with goat cheese and sautéed for lunch.

30 May 2013

I mowed the cemetery today for the first time this year.  I meant to clean it up for Memorial Day but didn’t get around to it.  When we bought Holly Grove the cemetery had been cleaned of trees etc. by Dr. Stuckey.  The fence was mostly down so it was mowed with the tractor. (Now I have to use a push mower.)  I put the fence back up with the help of a son to help me lift the heavy sections.  It was all there except broken in places.  I didn’t spring for a welder to re-install it properly but wired it to wooden and metal poles as necessary.  It remains standing and looks pretty good.  One day a better restoration. I did attend a cemetery restoration program early on but it didn’t answer my needs to right the large obelisks.  They look ok I think as a kind of ruin. (There are several Enochs stones in the cemetery.  This Philadelphia firm had a branch at Bayou Sarah in West Feliciana Parish.  One of our stones are signed and others fit the description.) I was able to upright one tablet type stone and leveled another smaller stone.  I put upright another tablet that was lying flat.  Later the Director of Magnolia Mound in Baton Rouge was visiting and suggested that that gravestone was beveled on the edges suggesting it lay flat.  The scattered bricks I finally figured were the base for the flat marker and I got some of the guys that often come to fish help me lift the stone onto its base.  There were no plants in the cemetery.  Several cedars have been planted outside the fence and an old crepe myrtle is on the south side.  An old cedar is several yards to the southeast.  I have added roses (Zepharin Drouhin, Louis Phillipe and a Spice rose I purchased at Monticello a couple years ago), irises, crinums (transplanted from the pastures here and from Alabama), two crepe myrtles (Natchez from a plant here), an azalea and a camellia (from one of my Alabama bushes; will see which when it blooms) and have started filling in the impossible to mow sites with Asian jasmine (Trachelospermum asiaticum).  The ‘grass’ is weeds and bahia but over time I think I can get it under control.  Outside the fence is a Chinaberry (Melia azedarach), another Asian introduction that is somewhat of a weed (fast growing and drought tolerant).  I especially like the gold berries in the fall which I like to use for Christmas decoration.  I remember a friend putting down Chinaberries as being found in the yards of the Blacks of her childhood.  My volunteer specimen struggles as the deer keep damaging it. I was surprised to read in a recently acquired book, Gardens and Historic Plants of the Antebellum South, that the Pride of India, as it was called, was a favorite street tree in Charleston and Savannah, prized for its bloom and shade.  It apparently was brought here quite early appearing in a nursery catalogue in 1790.  One writer mentioned seeing the yellow of Lady Banks climbing among the blue blooms of the Pride of India (a thought for my cemetery specimen).

The Spice rose is a Bermuda foundling with cupped blush flowers with the scent of violets and home- made apple-sauce.  It is believed by some to be Hume’s Blush, the original tea.

1^st week of June ‘13

The off and on showers have the grass quite high and I am mowing again.  This mowing gets a lot of the bulb foliage but not all. I still haven’t planted all the potager.  I pushed today before a shower to plant the luffa which we like to eat. Luffa (loofah), Chinese Vining Okra, Vegetable Sponge, Dishcloth Gourd is of the cucumber family.  Its vines climb the potager fence and then into the nearby oak tree.  The yellow flowers are quite nice as well.

The white daylilies (pale yellow really) are in fine bloom in the white bed.  I should move them as their color is not quite right.  The free Louisiana hybrid lily (Asiatic x longiflora) was supposed to be white also but is more a pale yellow/orange. One white lily that will bloom later is Lilium formosiana; I call it my Alabama lily since I have it from there.  It seeds itself and therefore spreads nicely.

The glads are blooming and are falling over so I am cutting them for enjoying in the house. The gardenias are in such abundance their fragrance perfumes our cocktail hour on the front galleries.

Saw some zephyranthes in the rear yard today. Zephyranthes grandiflora, pink rain lily, zephyr lily is a tropical naturalized to the Southern US.

The chaste trees are beginning to bloom.  I have a pink one but it is not as nice as the blue and seems to have grown slower (maybe the location).  The old tree in the south drive bed is large and nice and provides shade to the indigo and other things.  Vitex, Lilac Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus) is sometimes it is said the lilac of the South---a blue spike with a wonderful smell but nothing like a lilac really. They are pretty easy to root and I should have more.

The white Lily of the Nile, flower of love (Agapanthus) have burst forth and the blue will come shortly.  I have had limited success with them in the past but these were here in the warm patio bed and do nicely. The botanist Charles Louis L’Heritier de Brutelle named this South African genus from the Greek words agape and anthos, meaning “flower of love.”

The Althea, Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) are beginning to bloom.  There are two old ones on the north side of the annex (a single purple and a double light pink) and even under a live oak and still bloom well every summer.  I have a double magenta that I bought initially for Belvidire, our plantation in Pender County NC, from Abide-a-while Nursery in Charleston that I brought here and planted with the roses beside the well house.  I have a couple of the Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) in pots on the patio that bloom but not as well as the althea and they still have to be brought inside in the winter. The Althea is a native of Asia and is the national tree of Korea.  It is not a native of Syria as Linnaeus thought in naming it.

I notice around the area that many crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) are in full bloom.  I just read in ‘Country Roads’ that Imahara’s Botanical Garden in St. Francisville has 35 varieties. There are some very tall pinks in the north border and in one sunny spot they are spectacular.  There is an old pink next to the cemetery---question dating from the 19^th century? In the south drive border there are some whites that seem to be spreading and I have transplanted some of them to other locations.  I think they may be Natchez.  There was also a nice soft pink that I like that I have also moved to a less shady location.  I brought an old white from Wilmington.  It came from the McLaurin House at 619 Orange St.  I was told by the Willards that Mrs. Joseph Wilson (the mother of President Woodrow Wilson) gave it to the McLaurins.  Joseph Wilson was pastor at First Presbyterian Church at Third and Orange.  The Wilsons lived at 4^th and Orange, the Willards at 6^th and the McLaurins, also Presbyterians, at 7^th and Orange.  We owned the McLaurin House and I took a cutting of that bush and took it to Alabama and then to here.  It has not prospered because of deer as have some other crepe myrtle that I set out here.  After we bought Holly Grove I purchased several of the Indian named Crepe Myrtles—Muskogee (lt. lavender), Tuscarora (dark coral pink), Miami (dark pink), and Catawba (dark purple) in Pensacola.  The crepe myrtle came to England from its native China in 1759 but did not prosper in the English climate.  Andre Michauz brought it to Charleston about 1786 and they have been Southern favorites since.  They were named in 1759 to honor Magnus von Lagerstroem, a Sweedish naturalist and director of the Sweedish East Indus Company.  Natchez and Muskogee were the first two of the new powdery mildew resistant varieties available in 1978, a cross of L. indica x L. faurici.

My plum tree is producing.  Had about one last year but much more this year.  I planted a low chill Santa Rosa from Trees of Antiquity of California a few years ago.  This one was developed by Luther Burbank who lived in Santa Rosa. I have a second tree from a cutting I rooted.

The three apple trees I have left, also from Trees of Antiquity, have apples on them.  I need to watch so I get them not the worms or birds. Anna is a really low chill (200 hrs.) from Israel (planted 2009).  It is a yellow with a red blush.  Pettingill, Long Beach CA (1949) is also low chill, red flush over green skin.  The White Pearmain, England (1200 AD) is the oldest known English apple but noted by Trees of Antiquity to be well adapted to coastal California, including southern California. It is pale green with one side blushed red. It was also planted in 2009.  I would like to add a few more low chill varieties but I think I will get my next trees from Naylors. I have also planted Crabapples in the park for their bloom. The Dolgo planted near the entrance was nearly done in by deer but is now in a cage.  I have also added a Hewes Virginia Crab along the lower farm road and plan to add some of the crabapples that I have in Wilmington which do well there for their flowers if not great fruit producers.

The Jujube, Chinese date (Zizyphus jujube) is in bloom. I first became interested when I learned that Thomas Jefferson grew them.  I had one in Alabama and have moved it here but have had deer problems.  I also bought a Li Jujube from Trees of Antiquity and have had even more problems with it with deer.

From the potager I have Louisiana Purple Pod pole beans, collards, salad greens (mostly arugula both the cut leaf and the large leaf), squash blossoms, carrots. The onions are all harvested and I am harvesting the potatoes, red and Yukon Gold from Naylors.  The snow peas and English peas have been good but are gone.  We love our Arugula and let it reseed.  We grow the Wild Rocket, Sylvetta, (Eruca sativa) which is more deeply serrated and has a sharper taste than the larger round leaf types which we also grow.

The blueberries are starting and the blackberries in the fields.  The blackberries are wild and there are sufficient along with the low trailing dewberries I see no need to cultivate any more.  There were some blueberries south of the potager when I came to Holly Grove.   They produce small berries.  I transplanted some from Alabama and some of the lived (Misty, Sunshine Blue and another and I am not sure which I have now.)  This past January I added four plants from Naylors: Brightwell, Climax, Premier and Tifblue.  All are Rabbiteye which are recommended for the coastal South along with the Southern highbush. Blueberries (Vaccinium ashei) are native to eastern North America. I would like to add more as we like them.  I lost some last year to not watering newer plants when rainfall was insufficient.  I add coffee grounds most mornings to fertilize with acid fertilizer.

I have four Pawpaw trees (Asima triloba) that I have planted.  They have yet to produce and are growing slowly. Deer problems here too.

I have one Persimmon (diospyros) which I brought from Alabama but have had deer problems.  I grew them successfully at Belvidire in North Carolina.  They are a very pretty tree especially when in full fruit.

The native Elderberry (Sambucus Canadensis) has its dinner plate sized white bloom gracing a bush north of the annex.  It is a pretty bloom and the berries are favored by people and birds.  I recently obtained a recipe for a drink using pickled elderberries that I very much liked. I don’t usually order specialty drinks in a restaurant but at Husk in Charleston where the chef is quite creative I tried Edmund’s Sherpa (Tenzing’s evening quaff): Sage gin, mole bitters, lemongrass, white pepper, simple syrup, pickled elderberries, lemon juice and Himalayan sea salt.  I grow lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) too.  I have had it in pots for several years but planted it out last summer and it wintered nicely last winter in the ground. Madeline Hill says it will withstand 10-20 degrees with heavy mulching.

The end of June 2013

I returned from a week in North Carolina where it is not as hot.  Back to the 90 plus degrees and 90 plus humidity.  The grass is high. We are now dealing with the bahia grass.  Seed heads pop up right after mowing. Bahia (Paspalum notatum Flugge) was introduced in 1914 from Brazil as a pasture grass.  As a highway grass it works well as it looks good as we drive by at high speeds.  It does not make a pretty lawn although touted as such by some.

The crepe myrtles have burst forth especially the old dark pink ones in the north border; and the wine red crinum at the northeast corner of the front gallery is a show.  I think it might be “Ellen Bosanquet.” This crinum is probably an offspring of JC Harvey and was first listed in the Reasoner Brother’s catalog of 1930 as “ Mrs. Bosanquet.”  The plant was bred by a British plantsman, Louis Percival Bosanquet residing in Fruitland Park, Florida.  He named his creation for his wife and pronounced this French-titled crinum in the English fashion with the last syllable being KWET.  It may do well in this location as Scott Ogden suggests that “Shade from the hottest sun will allow the big, wine-colored blooms to open to perfection.” I brought these from Alabama where they were probably planted in the 1950’s.

The history of crinums is a long one.  They were among the first flowers to be deliberately crossed by early breeders.  The Hon. And Rev. William Herbert, Dean of Manchester, compiled a list of hybrids in 1837 totaling nearly thirty varieties. The most prolific and abundant crinum in Southern gardens is a distinctive species with tapered, blue-green foliage.  Some country folk know these as deep sea lilies.  In their native South Africa they are called Oranjerivierlelie (Orange River lily).  Old garden literature named this species Crinum longifolium or C. capense.  Botanists have settled on C. bulbispermun (bulb seed), a reference to the peculiar fleshy capsules of this plant.  I have a white form in Wilmington and I should bring some here. The rough-margined, undulating leaves of Crinum scabrum make this old garden treasure easy to recognize even when out of bloom.  Although this is an African plant the bulbs described by Dean Herbert were collected from around Rio de Janeiro, presumably carried to Brazil along with slaves from West Africa.  Perhaps they reached the American South the same way.

The most familiar garden crinums in the South are the milk and wine lilies, descended from C. bulbispermum and C. scabrum.  Dean Herbert originated the first milk and wine lily in 1819.  Crinum x herbertii applies to any hybrid of C. scabrum and C. bulbisperum.  Maybe these milk and wine crinums here at Holly Grove are from the 19^th century.  With the stands in the cow pastures I think they predate the gardening in the 1960’s of Georgie Williamson who I think probably added a lot of the present landscape, especially the older plants.  Mrs. Dudley may have added some and the Stuckey’s added some especially in the patio beds.

I also have a pink crinum that I transplanted from the field in front of the Captain’s house. Could this be JC Harvey, a late 19^th century cross with C. zeylanicum. It is said by Scott Ogden to be especially common in Southern gardens.

The cashmere bouquet (Clerodendrum bungei) is in bloom in the south drive bed.  It looks good with the phlox and Louis Phillipe rose.  The cashmere spreads by suckers and may give me problems one day.  But for the present I like the bloom and the name.  I also planted the phlox which is an old pass along plant from my garden in Alabama and therefore doesn’t seem to have the problems of the more refined phlox in our hot humid climate.  Phlox paniculata is magenta colored and the parent of the cultivated strains.

Again a number of pink zephyranthes, the rain lily, are blooming in the west lawn, probably stimulated by last week’s heavy rain as perhaps are the crinums.  

 I am harvesting a goodly crop of blueberries and lots of plums.  Also we are having tomatoes.  I am trying to weed also in the potager but the weeds continue to stay way ahead of me.

July 2013

We are fortunate to have had some good rains and that means grass for the cows but also for the mower of the park---me.  I have found the time to take the tractor/mower in for its yearly service and blade sharpening.  Joe Brian, our neighbor who rents the back pastures, has clipped our pastures, mostly of privet, trifoliate orange, briars (blackberries and dewberries), the McCartney rose and some Chinese tallow seedlings. The ring pasture (where the old walking horse ring still remains) and the west pasture, I think, were not clipped last year.  I did over the winter clean up a lot of fallen limbs and trees (but not all) so clipping went better and the pastures look better than they have in a long while.

Connie had a dinner party on the 6^th and I found a nice purple, pink and blue bouquet of hydrangeas, chaste tree blossoms, pink and purple hibiscus and crepe myrtle, cashmere bouquet, and phlox, and foliage from purple heart and perilla and the red (purple) plant from the Al Bustan. The cannas continue to flower and the yellow lantana.  The Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato vine), variety ‘Marguerite’ which is the chartreuse is now giving a lot of color to the round patio bed and the daylily and the coreopsis continue to bloom. The red crinums continue to show color as well. The round patio bed has overgrown the marigolds I planted in the spring.  Maybe I should do them in pots on the edge?

We are having a good year in the potager: lots of tomatoes, pole beans (Rattlesnake and Louisiana Purple Pod), long beans, okra, zuchinni, field peas (both Pinkeye Purple Hull that Frank Stitt, our favorite chef of Alabama recommends, and Whippoorwill that Thomas Jefferson grew). Asparagus beans (Vigna unguiculate ssp. sesquipedalis) or yard long beans were a novelty when I was a child but they are perfect for Asian and Indian dishes. They are closely related to Southern field peas, not beans. I have been saving seed for several years so I don’t remember the variety I have. We have our pots of basil that are a necessary herb with the tomatoes. The arugula is still with us but we eat tomato salads instead.

August 2013

We have been traveling and the park grass is knee high in places so I’m trying to get it mowed in the 90’s plus heat.  There are lots of limbs down to be picked up and there are also 2 large sections of trees down.  They may have to wait until it is cooler before I chain saw that mess.

One of my favorite lilies is beginning to bloom.  I call it my Alabama lily since that is where I discovered it and brought it here.  This is Lilium formosanum, known in the South as the Philippine lily.  Scott Ogden calls it “the most prolific Asian trumpet in the South…….After blooming, the architectural plants turn upward to ripen their attractive capsules of papery seeds.  These remain through winter and make interesting dried arrangements.  If left to stand, the seeds sow themselves into any partially shaded corner.”

Also blooming in summer is the Hymenocallis ‘Tropical Giant’ that I found already growing in the bed along the south drive. Scott Ogden has a long discussion of these old heirloom flowers of the South. “Originally brought from the tropical shores of the Antilles and the Spanish Main.  The early explorer Oviedo initiated the long garden history of these bulbs when he encountered his first lirios blancos (‘white lilies’) growing on beaches near Porto Bello, Panama, in 1535.”  Ogden notes that this most widespread hymenocallis is a variety for which there is the least certain information. No botanical name is agreed on so Ogden calls these cultivars by the old horticultural ‘Tropical Giant.’  Of note he says Queen Emma cherished this plant in her Hawaiian garden.

The hibiscus and crepe myrtles continue to bloom as well as the crinums.  The ixia, Ixora coccinea, in a pot on the patio is blooming along with the potted Duranta repens, golden dewdrop.  I  have a nice crop of blue flowers but never have had a good showing of blue flowers and orange berries together that the plant is capable of doing.  The chartreuse sweet potato vine doesn’t bloom but is giving color to the patio center bed. The canna, yellow daylily, yellow lantana also provide color to the ‘hot’ bed.  The red zinnia and the red pineapple add ‘heat.’ The yellow Allamanda cathartica, golden trumpet, is also a favorite of mine from many years back. Only one of my marigolds has survived.

The fall/autumn clematis, Clematis paniculata, is blooming (and it is definitely not fall). I planted it to cover the trellis in the white garden and it is making a nice display covering the top of the trellis. A few roses are blooming in the white bed and some Shasta daisies, Leucanthemum x superbum. The white dahlias are also starting to bloom.

The night blooming cereus have started to put out their beautiful flowers which are short lived---ending with the morning.

And the Hedychium coccineum are putting out their orange plumes. These originated in the tropical parts of the Himalayas. 

Gardening duties this time of year are limited because of the intense heat while working outside.  And I need to keep some of the plants and of course the pots watered.



8 September

It’s still hot (90 plus daily) and dry of late.  Pots require watering.  I am still harvesting in the potager: lots of pole beans (Rattlesnake and Louisiana Purple Pod), okra (especially the Zeebest), field peas (the Whipperwill do best for me but I also like the Pink-eye Purple Hull), and butterbeans (Large Speckled).  The luffa are producing and the vines and flowers are the best looking things in the garden. I am trying to clean out the summer weed in anticipation of fall planting.  I went to Naylor’s yesterday to get seeds that I needed.

Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum) are blooming in the pastures where they have not been clipped. I like it as a cut flower but they are not long lasting in the vase. I saw some lycoris blooming by the side of the road in East Feliciana Parish on the way to church.  Those here at Holly Grove have not come.  I think they are waiting for a rain. The lantana is doing well. I have been cutting some of the pink roses (? Maman Cochet or Mrs. RB Cant, both teas) by the well house for the house.

The Jujube or Chinese Date (Ziziphus jujube) that I brought from Alabama is producing this year.  It had been severely damaged by the deer in the past.  One I bought from Trees of Antiquity in the past and also damaged just up and died last month.  These are small and don’t much meat. My fig tree that is about five years old has some figs but these are a yellow/green fig which I don’t like as much as the brown.  I have a nice fig tree in Gantt and it was producing heavily last month when we were there.  I need to take some cuttings and put out a few here. I saw small baskets of figs at whole foods yesterday for $6.

30 September

The Lycoris are bursting out.  After a month or more of no rain we had a good deal last week so they are now out, if a little late. Lycoris radiate, Spiderlilies, or naked ladies are a highlight of the fall garden here and have spread all over in the lawns and in the pastures as well as the hedge borders and even down at Sharp’s Creek at the far end of the pasture from the house and barn. “The name commemorates a famous and intriguing mistress of the Roman general Marcus Antonius.  Since this is a true Latin name, Lycoris follows the rele of receiving the accent on the antepenultimate (third to last) syllable.  You may refer to this genus correctly (LY-cor-is) when you are alone or among botanists, but if yu wish to be understood by most other gardeners, you will probably need to mispronounce it, with the accent in the middle (ly-COR-is), as with such genera as Curcua and Oxalis.” [Scott Ogden]

Lycoris radiata probably came to America before the beginning of the nineteenth century. The old Southern variety has an extra dose of chromosomes (triploid) and are therefore sterile.  They have tremendous vigor and hardiness. Through the first half of the twentieth century, most lycoris radiata var. radiata sold in the US were triploid but after WWII commercial growers in Japan began supplying
America with a smaller form, Lycoris radiat var. pumila. These bloom earlier.

Unfortunately I don’t have the golden Lycoris aurea.  These bulbs probably came early with the Spanish as the city of St. Augustine have had them from Colonial times.  Floridians know these flowers as hurricane lilies. I like the Mandarin name hu di xiao, “suddenly the earth smiles.”

Every time I come in the back steps I smell the fully in bloom Sweet Olive, Osmanthus fragrans.  I planted by the back steps about five years ago and it has flourished.

This is the season of the Goldenrod, Solidago species.  They are everywhere.  Thought of as weeds and they do spread ‘awfully bad’ but I do like them when in bloom and allow them to survive in several areas. The wild Sunflower, Helianthus species, another native, are in bloom along the roadside.  I need to go shopping.

The yellow mums that I found in the potager (from the Stuckeys) are in bud.

The white Ginger Lily, Hedychium coronarium, is blooming in the white garden. These hail originally from the foothills of the Himalayas.

Also blooming in some gardens is the showy Confederate Rose, Hibiscus mutabilis.  I have a middling plant with no bloom this year.  It came from one I started in Alabama.

I did notice one single pink/mauve bloom of a Sasanqua.  Camellias will start soon.

I am working in the potager, weeding, manureing, digging and planting the fall garden.  My butter beans are producing nicely. The peppers are doing well also. Made a trip to Naylors and bought some garlic to plant, broccoli since Connie likes it so much (I have had a lot of trouble growing it here.), and 4 more blueberry plants (a repeat of last year’s: Brightwell, Climax, Premier and Tifblue). I am going to expand to thornless blackberries. I bought two Apache with “highest yield and largest berries.”  And I bought two muscadine vines, Scuppernong and Albemarle to pollinate---maybe wine or just to eat though I am not a fan of grapes. I was going to get two more apple trees: Anna (Israel, 200 chilling hours) and Dorsett Golden (Bahamas 1964, a Golden Delicious seedling, <100 chilling hours), but they need the truck to bring them home.

I want more figs and persimmons and I need to replace my pomegranet that died, reason unknown. This is the season to get these things into the ground so they can make roots this winter and not be so needy of water next summer.

October 21, 2013

Fall is here.  Some cool mornings and the highs have dropped below the 90’s.  This past week even some 70’s high. Connie and I attended the 25^th Southern Garden Symposium.  I bought two books and some plants: Lespedeza, St. Joseph’s lily and a yellow rain lily, Zephyranthes citrina. I was also given a few bulbs of Narcissis jonquilla, ‘Little Sweetie.’

Zephyranthes citrina, according to Scott Ogden is “startlingly golden” and is common to Southern gardens. It seeds and spreads so hopefully that can happen here.  He notes it is very hardy despite its origin in the Yucanta. It begins flowering in early summer but its best shows await the fall.

The Lespedeza liukiuensis, ‘Little Volcano’ is a tall deciduous perennial from the Ryukyu Islands of Japan  blooming a red purple in mid-September into October.  It is tolerant of drought and I hope to use it among the forsythia along the alee.

I am still working in the potager weeding especially the briar infested mirleton and raspberry bed where I have dug out the briars and mulched all.

I am working in the herb garden, weeding and planting.  I put one of the yucca I rooted from Arizona in a bed and one in a pot.  I am putting out the red yucca that I seeded last year and have grown on in pots.  I am also planting the lemon grass that are in pots.  One that I planted last year did well over the winter in the ground so I will save only one in a pot.  I am moving the citrus in pots to the south wall of the patio where they will be warmer this winter.  They suffered last year behind the well house.

The solidago is fading and I am cutting it back. But the large old mauve Sasanquas on the south drive are in full bloom.  Also the ‘Sparkling Burgandy’ at the corner of the well house.

October 22, 2013

Today I am tidying up the front of the house: weeding the grass, St. Augustine out of the beds and doing some new planting: moved the rose Falstaff (a crimson/purple David Austin) and Gertrude Jekyll (a large rosette-shaped rich pink David Austin) that had been overgrown and not doing well in another bed; a rooted cutting of Louis Phillipe; my seeded red yucca from Arizona; N. jonquilla, ‘Little Pretties’ that I recently acquired; the St. Joesph’s lily; the bonus bulb from McClure & Zimmerman, Chionodoxa, Glory of the Snow, ‘Wedgewood Blue’ (to Zone 8) which I put in the shade of the large camellia. Chionodoxa is a Mediterranean native that should naturalize in a woodland, so perhaps my shady site will work.

I think I already have some Narcissus jonquilla, the true jonquil, a tiny, golden flower that appears in scant clusters atop slender, jade stems.  The upright leaves, rounded in cross section, provide inspiration for the specific epithet (jonquilla means ‘little rush’). Scott Ogden further states that they are unavailable in the Dutch trade so the ‘Little Pretties’ from the Southern Garden Symposium (where Ogden spoke this year) is a treat to have.

I am going ahead and putting in the bulbs that I have ordered and received from McClure and Zimmerman: 24 Daffodil Sweetness, 24 Daffodil Pipit and 24 Daffodil Martinette @ $12.95. Scott Ogden lists these as modern Jonquil hybrids bred in Oregon, Ireland and New Zealand. He feels these hybrids that inherit rushlike leaves or honey fragrance from Narcissus jonquilla and grouped in Division 7 are the most fruitful for experimentation in the South, as most will settle into garden life if offered ordinary care.  They tend to bloom late so are best positioned to receive partial shade and shelter from hot winds. Sweetness can be found in gardens of the 1940’s and 50’s and is the only one of that era still in the trade.  He likens Martinette to the winter-blooming ‘Soleil d’Or.’ ‘Pipit’ was introduced by the Oregon breeder Grant Mitsch.

All Saints, November 1, 2013

Cleaned the cemetery (mow, weed) for All Saints and Connie and I had drinks in the late afternoon.

The mauve sasanquas are in full bloom; the white sasanquas are starting to bloom.  The weedy Chinese tallow trees, popcorn trees, Sapium sebiferum, are turning color especially around the pond.  They do provide nice color here in the deep south but are so invasive.  I had a huge one taken out of the patio bed several years ago as it was so trashy, not only on the patio but on the roof.  I pull up seedlings all the time but like the privet I think it is here to stay. At least it has great fall color.  The Mexican/Texas tarragon is in bloom with a nice yellow.  The garden commentator, Felder Rushing, suggested it be used in cemeteries as it will be in bloom for All Saints Day. Some of the roses are putting out flowers: Lafter, Louis Phillipe, Iceberg.

Planted a New Dimension Rose Salvia, Salvia nemorosa, from Lowes in the front gallery bed. Doing some weeding and picking up sticks. Working in the potager.

Scott Ogden notes that several jonquil hybrids developed by Oregon breeder Grant Mitsch are worthwhile.  Following his advice I ordered Quail (introduced in 1974) and they have arrived from Van Engelen Inc. (100 for $32.). Also another hybrid, Falconet, a tazetta-jonquil cross, (100 for $27) also arrived.

November 15, 2013

Frost on the 13^th.  I heard the TV weather reporter in Baton Rouge say that their average first frost is on the 28^th, but we are always a bit cooler up here in the country. Had to move all those pots inside, a chore I detest but I can’t just leave the plants to die. I am trying to limit the number of tender plants I grow in pots that have to be watered in summer and carried out in spring and inside in the fall.

I am now cutting back the frost damaged foliage to give the borders a neater look.

More sasanquas are blooming. One of my favorite, Yuletide, has put out some blooms.  The roses have some blooms. And the biggest color producer of the year at Holly Grove, the Ginko, is beginning to color.

Thanksgiving week

We are having a few days of cold rain and heavy frosts are predicted---maybe low 20’s. We haven’t had that in a few years.  I have moved the rest of the tender pots in and will even move the citrus pots in for temperatures in the 20’s.  Probably need to pick the satsumas on the in-ground tree.  We have been enjoying them for breakfast for the last couple weeks and they keep on the tree very well---except if they freeze. I also picked the last of the butterbeans which we enjoyed last night.

We are feeding hay now to the cows and I have had to cut and burn a tree that fell across the lower farm road blocking the tractor. And I am enjoying a fire in the annex each day of this cold rainy spell. Will this be a cold year and I can burn all the wood we have cut?

I plan to cut some camellias for the Thanksgiving table before the freeze. There is one white Japonica in bloom so most of the cutting will be sasanquas. I also cut the ligularia blooms. Ligularia tussilaginea is not planted here for its bloom; like hosta it has a bloom but the plant is a foliage plant primarily. Mine does well in the early morning sun spot at the front walk.

The Ginko is in full color this week and that is where I began this year in the garden at Holly Grove.

But that hard freeze came Thanksgiving Eve and when I awaken on Thanksgiving day I drank my coffee and watched as all the yellow leaves fell from the Ginko—all the leaves! By mid-morning we had a bare tree. The sasanqua blooms all turned brown as well.  Winter is here.