The end of 2015
Gardening Holly Grove ‘15
5 August
The other computer is non-functioning at the moment so I have moved my gardening journal.
The heat continues---100º each day for the last two weeks on the rear gallery. No rain in maybe a month. The pastures are dry. The azaleas on the north side of the allèe are wilted. I water the pots on the patio and gallery every two days or so. To leave them for several days even with a departure heavy watering is to risk loss. I have gotten the hose out to water the north side this year which I did not do last year. The hydrangeas struggle even in the shade. I am also watering the potager.
In the potager the field peas and okra are producing. The first planted peas waning but the 2nd are taking their place. The green beans are fading. The long beans have been sparse this year again. The tomatoes are all long gone. There are peppers. I have had cucumbers, a few. I get lots of squash blossoms but no zucchini to speak of again this year. Good plants and no squash vine borers but no fruit either. The peanuts are doing well. I did not get any sweet potato slips. I have planted runner beans but again no go really. The red blossomed ones have bloomed but no beans. I planted the tepary beans from Arizona and they seem to be prospering. Plant in July with the monsoons (my sprinkler) and then leave them without too much water; we’ll see. I am weeding in preparation for fall planting. Will put out compost and manure and get ready to dig in. I have weeded the blueberries.
In the park the crepe myrtles are blooming. The white Natchez to the north of the house is large and now has many blooms. The Wilson white from Wilmington is also blooming. The plant has struggled with deer for several years. The light pink that I moved to the southeast corner of the house is at it’s best this year. The dark purple Catawba by the well house is again blooming. Some along the allèe are blooming for the first time this year. I have planted several of the Indian ones but don’t know which is which: Muskogee (lt. lavender), Tuscarora (dark coral pink), Miami (dark pink), and Catawba (dark purple). The old pinks bloom but those in the north border are hidden in the trees.
The lantanas along the drive bed are blooming.
On the patio things are waning. The white Alabama lilies, the Philippine lily, L. formosanum, has finished. The dahlias have been disappointing. Only the white one in the white bed seems to bloom every year. The Bishop of Landof has not done well in the hot bed and the new dark leaved one have also succumbed to the heat. One may be dead and the other I have moved. The cannas are fading and the solidago is only tall ugly branches. The ixia is in bloom. I have a couple zinnias yet and marigolds. The tropical hibiscus never bloom well. The torch lilies are doing ok and the new tibuchina plant is well; I await fall blooms. I have seen a couple blooms from the night blooming cereus.
Pots are a nice idea decoratively but are not very practical in this hot dry summer climate. The Abyssinian glads, Acidanthera, is one bulb I bought that has bloomed well! The impatients on the gallery need water daily. I have taken it in when I leave to relieve stress. One is dying?? And they have not bloomed well.
The red pineapple in the large blue pot looks good. The purple petunia that goes well with it is dead. I have put one of the plumeria in a new ceramic pot and it is blooming nicely. I should do the same with the others. Plumeria rubra, frangipani, do well in pots and like heat and humidity. One book I have says they like ample water in the summer but I don’t find them to suffer when I don’t water for a week when I am gone. The white-flowered species, P. obtuse, is known as the temple flower or pagoda tree.
31 August
I have been back several days since our trip to Ireland. There was a big rain when we left and it greened things up but dry by our return. Not the daily 100º of July (the hottest July on record in the world according to a news report. But 90ºdaily is still hot. I have been mowing daily despite the dust. Still picking up the cut up trees from before.
In the potager I am weeding and trying to get ready to plant the fall garden. Williamsburg says plant when the goldenrod, Solidago, blooms and it hasn’t yet. I am harvesting peas and okra and peppers. I have had a couple luffa. The birds are getting the figs before they ripen. I am having to water also. I have cut some sunflowers for the house and the sesame is doing well. Both are from seeds from Tucson.
The patio needs water. The big bloomer there is the sweet autumn clematis, Clematis paniculata, which has grown to have a big show. Some tropicals are in bloom but they do not make a big show. The yellow flowered banana in the hot bed is in bloom for the first time---different. I am slowly converting the plumeria to ceramic pots---looks good. I hope to visit Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh when we go to NC later in September and maybe get some agaves for patio pots. He has several crinums and some palms. They are all expensive. We’ll see. And while I am traveling in the area, maybe a stop at Camellia Forest. Shipping adds so much to any purchase it is good to pick up when passing through.
In the park the crepe myrtles are perhaps at their best since I planted them but I see some that are really nice in certain places around the area. I am mowing and picking up sticks---the last of the season I expect. The state mowed the highway in my absence! They did a good job. It is better than the spraying which was causing erosion. Joe says they realize this and have quit.
I saw the first spider lily coming up in a bed under one of the oaks. I have seen a few pink rain lilies around.
The drive bed has the lantana, Lantana camara. I need to weed the daylily beds on the allée and put some of the lantana in as well. The deer or rabbits still get the daylilies. And there is a nice bloom of a milk and wine crinum in the drive bed. The white crepe myrtle are arching over the drive bed.
The Joe Pye weed, Eupatorium purpureum, which I like, is blooming in the pastures. It does not work so well as a cut flower.
The altheas, Hybiscus syriacus, are throwing an occasional bloom and the Rosedown Cape Jasmine have put out a few blooms by the front steps. Is this due to the variety as the other Cape Jasmine are not re-blooming? The Gardenia thunbergia, hip gardenia, has become associated with Rosedown Plantation in West Feliciana Parish where I got these cuttings.
There is a bloom on the new Tibouchina, T. urvilleana, that I planted earlier in the summer. I had one to die last winter. I first began my search for this plant when I saw a standard in a pot at White Flower Farm in Connecticut years ago. I tried in Wilmington but not to great success. I did have one in Alabama and it did very well surviving the winters. I tried to bring it with me to Mississippi but to no avail. We’ll see how this one does in the tropical bed near the rear gallery. Aka Princess Flower, Glory Bush. Odenwald says it is Z 9-10 so I certainly need to mulch well.
2 September
A pretty good rain. I have almost finished mowing---all but the hayfield and the cemetery. I figure this will be the last time this year. Maybe the highway. The state not only mowed it about two weeks ago but today the convicts were picking up the trash! First time I had seen that here.
8 September
This past weekend was Labor Day, the traditional end of summer. Amos Pettingill of White Flower Farm sent an email this morning, “Our summer has been as close to perfect as we can remember with patches of heat but none long or severe, adequate rain in manageable doses and a great many cool, misty mornings that yielded crystalline days.”
It is not the end of summer in the deep South. Every day is still in the 90’s and we have had droughts. With temperatures in the 90’s or a 100, it doesn’t take long for plants to stress with lack of rain. And July was probably our hottest on record. But Pettingill continued, “…..we have next year’s hay in the barn, 8 new Angus calves butting their mother’s bellies to drink.” We have our hay in the barn and 7 new Devon calves.
I have been following White Flower Farm since the 70’s or so. They were the first I saw that recognized that hardiness did not depend on just how cold the winter was. They started giving a range in which the plant could be grown. Some plants do not do in the higher zones. And they recognized that the same zone on the west coast was different than the south. They have been selling a daffodil mix called The Works for many years and here too they recognized the need for The Works, Southern Style.
Since it has rained I have been weeding in the various beds. The allée bed was bad. One bed has some decent stands of daylilies and the lantana is good. The other has less daylilies, the lantana is not good, the lespedeza is short and did not bloom and even the Jerusalem artichoke plants are short and without bloom.
Although the goldenrod haven’t yet bloomed, I did make a trip to Naylors last weekend and bought some of their new broccoli (Packman), kale (Tuscano) and collard (Georgia) plants and have put them out. I am waiting to seed the rest of the fall garden. I also bought two more sorrel plants. They are good for salads and I like them in quiches but not so much in soup.
In the patio there was a cereus in bloom, and the white brugmansia. The blue Duranta repens, Golden Dewdrop, is blooming better than usual but no yellow berries. The first one I saw was at City Park in NOLA. It was a standard and had the blue flowers along with the yellow berries. I have tried to duplicate, but not to be. The pentas, Pentas lanceolata, continues to bloom. The orange Ixora, I. coccinea, blooms all summer if I don’t miss watering it.
9 September
We have been having almost daily showers of various degrees so the lycoris have sprung up all over and many are blooming. Lots of pink zepharanthes in the west lawn.
16 September
The weatherman opined this morning that today will be hot, humid and sunny. We had about 10 days or so of decreased temperatures; we’re back to hot, reaching 90 each day. I have been doing a lot of weeding; finished the allée beds, weeding in the blueberries, potager and drive bed.
In the potager I am still harvesting okra and peppers, both of which have been good. There has been a little flush of late pole beans. The peas are slowing. The butterbeans have never kicked in?
I saw my first sasanqua bloom the other day. The lycoris is going strong. There are some roses. I have a pot of marigolds that has decided to bloom beautifully. The goldenrod has not yet bloomed. Many of the crepe myrtles are fading.
Joe bush-hogged the front pastures. They look nice. I know the cows need to eat it and trample the rest but despite the fact I have been better this year in rotating, I am nowhere near achieving intensive grazing. The mowers cut mostly the stuff the cattle are not eating. In an article in the Devon magazine, a definition was given of a landlord, a person who likes bush-hogs. Likes things to look nice even if it is not so helpful with improving pasture.
I watered the pots on the gallery yesterday and will water the patio today in preparation for leaving tomorrow for a week. No rain predicted and temperatures to the low 90’s. I hope to visit Plants Delights nursery and Camellia Forrest to pick up some treasures without having to pay for shipping.
Thursday, 24 September
There was some rain while we were gone this past week to NC so things don’t seem too stressed. The now non-blooming impatient that I have been moving to the kitchen was wilted this time. Revived easily enough.
The tea olive is bursting with bloom outside the back steps. The grass has grown and I think I need to mow some areas. The lycoris are out all over now. A few more sasanqua blooms along the drive. Two peach colored gingers near the porch.
The goldenrod were in bloom in the piedmont but not here yet.
In the potager, still a lot of okra, a mess of peas and a half mess of butter beans. Lots of arugula and the peppers keep coming. The brassicas that I planted have grown and I picked a mess of greens.
I did buy at Plants Delights and Camellia Forest. It was my first time at Plants Delights. They are only open 4 weekends a year. The staff was very solicitous that I know how to plant my purchases this fall. Camellia Forest has some open weekends but I didn’t like it the last time. They are open on Saturdays and I was the only shopper when I went and was able to find more. They had most of the japanicas I had picked out of their catalogue but did not have the sasanquas so I acquired only japanicas. The two I bought and repotted last fall only to have the deer amputate, have come out this summer but I may keep them potted another year.
Last year:
Alba Splendens: white, semi-double flowers, medium to large. Growth habit loose and upright. This Italian cultivar was first listed in the Jacob Makoy et Cie Nursery Catalogue in 1849.
Kumasaka: One of the oldest Camellias recorded in literature, grown in Japan since 1695. US, 1896. Medium to large size peony form blooms of deep rose color, opens late.
I bought two crinums at PD. They are pretty good sized plants, larger than what the bulbs from McClure and Zimmerman produced this year. I have repotted them for the time being. I want to put them out in place of the roses at the head of the azalea allée. The roses have not done well there and are not the right size. The crinums there are good and the lantana----so.
Crinum erubescens, South American Swamp Crinum Lilly, z 7a-10b, ($21). PD notes that this is “one of the classic pass-along plants of the Deep South, ….the South American equivalent of our native Crinum americanum.” They say it will make a sizable colony in moist soil (note: add water to my dry location). Spidery white flowers from July to frost. Scott Ogden notes that the native crinum of the South, Crinum americanum is a rarity and needs adequate flooding. “An old garden plant recognized by many collectors as Crinum americanum ‘Robustum’ is in reality the South American C. erubescens. These two species are so close in appearance, it’s a wonder botanists ever separated them.”
The second crinum is C. macowanii Malawi, MacOwan’s Malawi Crinum, z 7a-9b, ($20). These are chalice-shaped white flowers and come from an original Dave Lehmiller collection. Ogden calls this the Sabie Crinum coming from the Eastern Cape of South Africa to Zimbabwe and especially common along the Sabie River near Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga. He talks about tulip-shaped, white May blooms with light rose stripes. “This species in uncommon in the South but may be found occasionally in old gardens, usually growing as a solitary bulb. It grows easily from seed and can assume enormous proportions. The fountains of leaves exceed five feet in height and spread says Ogden but PL talks about 24 inches.
The other sun loving plants I got for pots on the patio. I have potted them up in Wilmington and will leave them there until after the October house tour.
Yucca linearifolia ‘Line Dance’ (Line Dance Linear-leaf Soapwort), z. 7a-10b, ($20). This will grow to 4 feet and will need repotting later. I plan to take these in for the winter to protect them from the “wet cold” that we have, along with the Tucson Arizona plants. This is a 2013 introduction of a Hans Hansen creation.
Agave striata ‘Live Wires’ (Live Wires Porcupine Hardy Century Plant), z. 7b-10b, ($18). Origin Mexico. Native to the Sierra Madre mountain range in northern Mexico. Selected by Yucca Do Nursery because of its blue-grey leaves.
Agave Americana ‘Mediopicta Alba’ (white-Centered Mexican Century Plant), z. 8b-10b. ($24). Origin Mexico. It is slowly offsetting.
Agave ‘Aristocrat’ (Aristocrat Century Plant). Z. 8b-10b. ($16). Origin hybrid (Agave mitis (celsii) x Agave polianthiflora). Olive green leafed century plant that sports a red and gold finely-serrated leaf margin. I notice some dying leaves after the wet Wilmington visit. I have cut them off. Hopefully not permanent damage.
The camellias were all $20 despite different prices in the catalogue. I have repotted them in my compost.
Adeyaka: bright red, medium-sized, single flower blooms from early to mid-season (Dec. until March). Upright and compact habit. (Died in 2016)
Benten Kagura (Var.): A sport of Daikagura with early fall (maybe early October) blooming habit with red and white large-sized peony form flowers. Benton is added to a cultivar in Japan to denote a leaf with a dark center and a light border. (Died in 2016)
Imura: Large, semi-double is snow white, blooms open mid-season. The growth rate is vigorous with an open, upright habit and a tendency for pendulous branches. Originated by K. Sawada, over 50 years ago. Stirling Macoboy (in his Illustrated Encyclopedia of Camellias) says syn. Diana and Dr. Allen Ames, 1938. A masterpiece from Alabama’s Overlook Nurseries. (Died 2016)
Royal Velvet: The saturated red color is unique. Semi-double, large flower. The plant has large leaves and a vigorous upright growth habit. Macoboy gives syn. Huangjia Tian’erong, 1987. Originated in Nuccio’s Nurseries in California.
Sawada’s Mahogany: Dark red with white petaloids was rediscovered by Bobby Green. Blooms early and late, often blooming in the early fall.
Tama Americana: A seedling of Tama-no-ura has a broad and distinctive white border on the rose-red peony form flowers, early to mid season blooms are medium. Bushy plant. Macoboy: 1993, Nuccio’s Nurseries of California. Japanese epithet ‘Tama’ is bejeweled.
I also looked up these old names:
Nuccio’s is a family concern in California growing camellias and azaleas since 1935.
Kosaku Sawada came to Mobile Alabama in 1914 and started his Overlook Nursery in 1918. In 1916 he married Nobu Yoshioka who brought as a dowry a chest of camellia seeds from Japan. When the US government tried to confiscate his nursery during WWII his friends and neighbors came together and so strongly defended him that he was left alone. With sons named George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, who could be more American?
Bobby Green came from Chicago to start his Fairhope Alabama nursery in 1932.
Other nurseries in the Mobile area include Long View and Spring Hill.
I have also repotted-up a camellia from the west side of the Gantt house and what looks like a sasanqua that I have not labeled, probably a seedling from here.
Saturday September 26
The golden rod is showing a little color. Rain is expected in a few days so I am trying to dig and plant some.
I have harvested the first of the Tepary beans. They seem to have done well. They were planted on 3 July and got some rain but not too much, I guess. Tepary Bean, Phaseolus acutifolius, Santa Rosa White, from an old collection from the Tohono O’odham village of Santa Rosa. They have been cultivated in the Southwest for millennia. They mature quickly and are tolerant of the low desert heat, drought and alkaline soils. They are to be harvested as the pods dry for the mature pods will pop open and drop the seeds if left on the plant. I bought the seeds at Native Seeds in Tucson.
Wednesday September 30
No rain afterall. I have mowed the highway which was quite high---and dusty. And, of course, a lot of trash. I had hoped not to have to mow again but some is necessary. I need to mow the west lawn and the driveway and parking area. The lycoris are fading fast and their leaves are coming up.
The lantana on the allée and in front of the azaleas on the front lawn look good as do those along the drive wall. A few ginger continue to bloom. The potted marigold and the potted orange zinnia look good. The angelonias continue to bloom but not so great. Perhaps I should have cut them back. The goldenrod are at their peak. They are so tall. The hot bed needs to be thinned of canna and goldenrod for next summer.
12 October, Monday
I’ve been gone a week to ILM and some of the pot plants are in bad shape. I have the opposite problem in Wilmington. I had left the new yucca and agave from Plants Delights and they have suffered from the 14” of rain in the last week. I brought them back to dry them out. No rain expected here in the coming week and I am leaving again for a week in the Hudson Valley.
The solidago is in full bloom. I need some perennial sunflowers to add to that mixture. But the lack of rain has the sasanquas blooming slowly. The marigold is a star. Do they need this cooler fall weather. The day highs are still up in the 80’s but down to high 50’s at night.
The lack of rain means less grass in the pastures.
A good harvest in the potager: peppers continue and the okra is ok. Peas about gone but the first real mess of butterbeans and plenty on the vine for when I get back. The brassicas suffer from worms but they are growing and I picked a mess of pot greens. Also a salad from mostly arugula. They are going quickly to seed—in full bloom now. Still picking tepary beans.
I remain interested in the history of the camellias and azaleas in America. I was reading an old ‘Architectural Digest’ October 1978. In an article on Middleton Plantation’s garden, they noted, “That peripatetic botanist André Michaux was a friend of the Middleton family. In 1786 he brought a gift of four Camellia japonica specimens, the first to be planted in an American garden. Almost two hundred years later, three of his original four still bloom luxuriantly,…” It is said that every one of the two hundred tree varieties that were introduced to the Western world by Michaux is represented at Middleton Place.”
André Michaux was b. 1746 in Versailles and d. 1802 in Madagascar. In 1786 he established (and maintained for a decade) a botanical garden of 111 acres near what is now Aviation Avenue in N. Charleston SC. He also established a 30 or so acre garden at Maisland in Bergen Township, NJ, across from NYC. He is said to have introduced to America beside camellias, the tea olive, crepe myrtle, sweet bay (Laurus nobilis), pomegranate, ginko and mimosa.
In Southern Garden History’s magazine, ‘Magnolia’ I read that the Rev. John Grimké Drayton (1816-1891) introduced the first azalea from Philadelphia in 1843 at Magnolia. The azalea and camellia collection there is the finest in the world---900 azalea varieties and 300 camellia varieties. The azalea was introduced to Middleton 3 years later in 1846.
Wednesday, 28 October
We returned from the Hudson Valley last Wednesday to a still dry landscape. Pots in patio stressed.
The Hudson was a pretty place with the mountains and the river and the fall color. The gardens were all beyond fall even though the first frost occurred while we were there—a hard frost with ice in the B&B fountain in Newburg. The fall color is nice but I still think the cottonwoods of New Mexico superior. This is the land of big pumpkins and some were on display in restaurants. 7,000 had been carved and lit in Croton on Hudson for their annual display. Couldn’t get tickets.
At the Vanderbilt Mansion they touted their Ginko as one of the oldest/largest in the US. One can suppose it planted about 1800 when the land belonged to a plantsman. I measured it as 11’10” in circumference compared to ours at Holly Grove at 16’4.” We toured nearby Rokeby and discovered another big Ginko but only at 9’10.” Most of the gardens at these estates were really parkland with views of the Hudson thrown in.
At home I just watered the pots and even the wilted hydrangeas on the north side. Can’t weed as the weeds are held by the concrete/clay.
Connie and I went to the Southern Garden Symposium Saturday. Three very good speakers and I came away wanting to plant trees and shrubs. I would like to increase the fall color around here and that means planting some certain trees. I bought a book by one of the speakers about native plants of the Southeast. I didn’t buy any plants.
The afternoon tea was at the Underwood cottage at Rosedown and that was where the rain began. It just ended this morning. There was heavy rain Saturday and Sunday to total between 15-20.” Monday was mostly sunny, but a misty Tuesday.
I did visit Naylor’s on Monday; bought more Tuscan kale and broccoli plants and put out in the mud in the garden in the area I had dug peanuts. I bought violas instead of pansies: Sorbet-orange and Sorbet-fire (a tricolor) and have potted them. The Magic strawberry plants have been heeled in awaiting a time I can dig in the potager. I also bought a pomegranate, a blackberry, and a blueberry. I need to go back with the truck to get a couple more trees: apple and mayhaw.
In the potager the butterbeans are at their height. The peas are finished and I harvested the last of the okra. The peppers continue to flourish. The lettuces are up as well as the arugula I planted. Those plus the perennial arugula, sorrel, beet greens, and young kale make for good salads. The pot greens from the plants I put in a month ago have grown well with irrigation but are worm eaten. But enough leaves remain and these have been added to the new mustard greens.
I am doing some cleanup on the patio: clipping the solidago and worn cannas as well as some of the summer pots that have suffered from lack of water.
I am trying to clean up my citrus. I have used saucers to try to hold water when I am gone and that doesn’t work on the hot patio. I think they should be on the patio in winter and off the hot bricks in the summer. They have done poorly this year. I am clipping and trying to get rid of the wooly ageldid which is, I think, one reason they are so poor this year. I learned of this foreign bug at the symposium. I am spraying with oil. I have noticed that some have also gotten on the nearby perilla (which has died now and I am pulling up). I need to be sure to fertilize next February---maybe with a commercial citrus fertilizer.
I have noticed the first of the white sasanquas. The old and new colored ones are in full display. I see a few yellow leaves on the Ginko. The variegated peach blooming impatient that has spent the summer on a table on the back gallery (suffering from drought off and on) has decided to re-bloom----maybe it’s the cooler weather. The tea plants are blooming and the white sasanqua that I planted to the north of the house drive. It was damaged by deer this past spring but has come back nicely.
The McClure and Zimmerman bulb order came. I have planted the bonus 10 Crocus sieberi tricolor near the rear steps. Scott Ogden says “it’s a real challenge to find early crocuses that persist in the South for more than a season. Crocus sieberi….can be successful in the middle and upper South but these do not last near the Gulf. He further notes that “The one early crocus that regularly makes itself at home in the South is Crocus tommasinianus, a species from the stony limestone hills of Serbia, Bosnia, and Dalmatia…..Gardeners have dubbed these little blossoms Tommies.” I have put 24 of these to the north of the front steps and to the north of the camellia in front. Ogden says their flowers “appear over a long season, from mid-January to early March.” Carolina gardener Elizabeth Lawrence described the captivating movement of the Tommies in response to fickle Southern weather: “The flickering color is delightful in the pale sunlight of late winter and early spring, and as soon as the sun stops shining the petals are furled again into thin silver spears.”
I love the name, Chinese sacred lily, Narcissus tazetta subsp. Lacticolor. The Chinese sacred lily or ‘Grand Emperor’, is a first cousin of the paperwhite and can be forced. It is believed this variety originated in the Mediterranean. Presumably, Middle Eastern traders brought these bulbs to China centuries ago where they are held in high regard and the fragrant flowers are picked as decorations for winter festivals. Ogden notes the white petals are accented by substantial orange cups. These tender narcissi’s January flowering season puts them at risk from cold and “only in regions where winter lows remain faithfully above 20º will the flowers appear dependably. In the South this limits them to gardens south of a line drawn from Austin, Texas, to Charleston, South Carolina.” This should make them ok here at Holly Grove.
“One of the real garden opportunities available to Southerners comes from an odd group of dwarf narcissi native to the hills and mountains of the western Mediterranean….These miniatures flower over a tremendously long season and prosper mightily on acid sands or reddish clays.” Although “a tiny one, few narcissi are so prolific in warm climates.” I bought 12 Narcissus bulbocodium var. conspicuous, “the most abundant and vigorous of all the hoop petticoats.” Scott says it “is a good doer in the South…..This one has been in gardens for a long time and is probably the form Jefferson had at Monticello.” Ogden says they finish flowering in late March or April. These I planted near the front door.
I also bought 48 N. x odorus, “Single Campernelle.” “An old fashioned favorite often found naturalizing in southern gardens,” according to McC&Z. Ogden says, “The larger jonquils common to the South are actually old hybrids between Narcissus jonquilla and other wild daffodils. The favorite of all is an antique called the campernelle, N. x odorus. It originates from southern France, Spain, and Italy…Campernelles provide more springtime gold in the South than any other flower, and they have done so since the earliest days of European settlement…..More delightful and suitable bulbs for naturalizing could hardly be imagined…..Clusius recorded it in 1595, and Parkinson discussed this variety in his Paradisus….it has that wonderful hybrid vigor (heterosis) common to many sterile crossed. These…show around the first of March.” These have been planted in a sunny spot south of the allée.
I put out the new blueberry from Naylors, Brightwell, a rabbiteye, to the blueberry bed to replace a dead Tifblue. The blueberry is native to eastern North America; the rabbiteye, Vaccinum ashei, is native to the southeast. I have Brightwell, Climax, Tifblue, Premier. The Southern Highbush blueberries are a hybrid with the Northern Highbush, V. corymbosum, and a native Southern species, mainly Darrow’s evergreen, V. darroni. They are low chill. I have Misty, Sunshine Blue, Sharpblue, and Jubilee. Some of these I brought from Alabama.
I also planted another pomegranate, Wonderful, in the orchard. I have one from last year to replace one dead a couple years ago. I have had trouble with pomegranates here as well as in Wilmington. They I think do better in a more Mediteranean climate. Good drainage may be essential.
I am moving the roses from the front of the allée. They have not done particularly well there and they do not look good with the large azaleas. I moved the Pink Grootenhorst (Rugosa, 1923), Granny Grimmetts (Hyb. Perpetual, 1955) [not much of a plant], Archduke Charles (China, <1837) and, Mlle Franziska Kruger (Tea, 1880), Heritage (David Austin 1983) to the lower steps. These are large old bushes I brought from Alabama and may not transplant well and in this location may not perform either. Since I had to trim (probably not enough) I put some cuttings to root. I am also rooting the Cherokee which I wish to plant in other locations. It grows on the roadsides here but I have only one. I am topping off the transplants and the few older ones there with compost. I shall finish weeding the beds and mulch.
I have moved Perle de Jardins (Tea, 1874, yellow) [It is sans label and in bad shape.] to the upper steps. And I broke my shovel!
I have now put one of the potted crinum, Crinum macowanii Malawi, from Plants Delights in the old rose bed with the other crinums.
I have laid the pulled-up St. Augustine in bare spots of lawn to maybe root with this weekend’s rain.
31 October
I planted the Magic strawberries in the potager this morning. They look bad. I have tried this bare root product at Naylor’s before and they did not do well.
Another big rain began about noon so no more digging for awhile.
2 November
I don’t know the numbers but a lot of rain this past weekend. Beans and benne pods have the seed sprouting on the vine.
The paperwhites in the lawn are coming up. The south drive sasanquas are full.
3 November
I cut back the tree branches on the north side of the annex and cleaned the very bad gutters. This led me to cleaning around some of the trees north of the annex and the chestnut rose which had a large pecan in it. I also trimmed lower branches on the pear and the old crepe myrtles so I can mow better. I also did a little cleaning of the north border and worked on the old downed tree which is now rotting. Maybe I can get it burned this winter. I need to clear out some so my fire will not get away into the shrub border to its north. Connie bought me a new shovel---the $20, not the $14.
I seem to make so little progress each day. Can I ever get things in order? And in between work spurts I am reading Larry Mellichamp’s Native Plants of the Southeast, to pick out some trees for the park for fall color or spring bloom. He was a speaker at the Southern Garden Symposium and inspired me and also gave me the name of a nursery that can supply me with some of these and close enough on the trip to Wilmington that I could pick up the plants so as not to have to pay postage which is so bad. I looked at Plants Delights sale to see what postage was and it was far more than the sale---$20 per plant!
4 November, Wednesday
Rain is predicted this weekend—probably Friday so I have changed tactics—finish moving the roses and plant the other plants that I need to take advantage.
I moved Mrs. Anthony Waterer (Rugosa 1898) and Ferdinand Pichard (Hyb. Perpetual 1921) from the allée to the upper steps. I am trying to weed these beds as they haven’t been in a couple years or more. I can’t find the La France that was once in the northern bed. I also transplanted 2 roses from a bed near the north border where they have never done well. I think they are rooted from my Alabama roses but I can’t find any record of a name. Louis Phillipe seems to root as easily as any, but I will need to wait to see if they flourish and bloom.
I put the other Plants Delight’s Crinum erubescens, South American Swamp Crinum Lilly, in the southern allée bed and finished weeding that bed.
In cleaning up the upper steps bed I dug up some glads, Gladiolus dalenii, parrot glads and replanted them. There were several in the steps which I am going to take to Wilmington.
At the Main Street meeting the other night Polly Rosenblatt told of her plowed lawn by about 30 feral hogs. Tom managed to shoot one in the middle of the night. Fortunately I haven’t seen any damage here in awhile.
The sun came out this afternoon. I haven’t seen it in more than a week I think.
The grass I pulled, I took and put on bare spots in the pasture. Grass farming is part of the agricultural picture here. My cows would do better if I could get my pastures better.
Thursday November 5
I am again moving roses and cleaning up nearby areas. I have dug up several roses in that north rose bed that I think are what I call Pat Aplin (our neighbor in Gantt, Alabama where I got the rose). The bloom looks like the picture of Marjorie Fair in the Antique Rose Emporium catalogue but they describe theirs as a 4x4 feet shrub rose and remontant. Mine is definitely a climber and a spring bloomer. I have one on the south farm drive fence and think it looks great. I had planned to root some more but I will get a better show by transplanting these. I have planted 3 on the fence and I also put three more small plants in pots--- location to be later determined.
The roses on the south side of the well house have been overtaken by the cannas and solidago so it is time to move them. One is dead, Teasing Georgia. I moved Graham Thomas (David Austin, 1983) and Golden Celebration (David Austin, 1992) to the upper step bed.
When looking for a spot I discovered a rose on the fence, not doing great, and hidden among the dewberry vines. An old label showed it to be Shailers Provence from Monticello. I moved it to the upper steps rose bed. Then I looked it up. It is not sold at Antique Rose Emporium. A Provence rose is a centifolia. Henry Shailer of the UK bred this rose in 1799 and it was introduced in the UK in 1802. It is also known as Rosa gracilis. The Provence or centifolia roses are popularly know as cabbage roses which were first cultivated in Europe before 1600. In 1791 Jefferson at Monticello ordered a large Provence from William Prince Nursery on Long Island.
I have now transplanted all the roses that I wished. Now to fertilize and water and see if I can get them to flourish. I like roses but they have not done particularly well for me here at Holly Grove. I did my best roses at Belvidire in Pender County, NC.
I also discovered that the dead Hewes crabapple has a water sprout. Maybe it will decide to grow! I looked back and unfortunately this does appear to be a grafted crab apple from Trees of Antiquity---so this is probably the rootstock coming out. In the Monticello website: This cider apple, known as Hewes crab and Virginia crab was the most common fruit variety grown in the 18th c. Virginia. It is thought to be a cross between the native American crabapple, Malus angustifolia and the domesticated European apple of horticulture. It produces a delicious cinnamon-flavored cider that is both sugary and pungent. Thomas Jefferson planted his entire north orchard exclusively with this variety.
The white formal double camellia north of the house is blooming---the first of the japonicas to do so. The Mexican tarragon is also in bloom.
The sun finally came out mid afternoon.
Saturday 7 November
A big rain again this weekend. I took the truck to Naylor’s and purchased three trees: an apple, Malus pumilis, Anna, low chill, developed Israel, to replace one I had that died? from Trees of Antiquity; a Asian Persimmon, Diopyros kaki, Fuyagaki; and a mayhaw, Crataegus opaca, said to be native but Mellichamp does not give this variety in his native plant book.
Monday 16 November
No rain last week in my absence and the impatient on the porch wilted again even in the cooler weather. But rain is expected for the next three days.
More sasanqua blooms. The white formal double camellia north of the house has more blooms and a small plant that I have as a Woodville Red has two nice pink blooms. Makes me highly suspicious that I did not get what I ordered.
The purple lantana along the drive bed are very good.
I brought back from Wilmington my usual supply of Spanish moss. Two crab apples which do do well in ILM and therefore maybe that is the crab apple I need here at Holly Grove I have potted up since they have limited roots and I think I need to keep them close through next summer. I also brought a ‘first breath of spring’ winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, from the Lazarus House. Probably leave it potted through next summer also. And I brought some water hyacinths to see if I can overwinter them here.
I made a side trip to Aiken SC to Woodlanders Saturday to get some fall color. They were closed. I will try again. Fall color is questionable here even with the most colorful trees. I have my most color with the Ginko but that is very short lived. The Chinese tallow tree does provide color but it is such a weed I would dispense with it if I could. But I am going to try a couple of trees that promise color.
I am planting again this week to get ahead of the rain. I put the Naylor’s Anna in the orchard near the Golden Dorset and a metal fence around it. And down by the west fence I put the mayhaw. The persimmon goes near the others SW of the potager.
No frost yet but I am beginning to bring plants in so I won’t have to do it all at once. But Joe has already started to feed hay. I hate to transport all these pots and yet I have added more this year. I do need to restrict the heavy ones. A big rain Tuesday night, and all day Tuesday and Wednesday I have been moving pots. And I have some soreness in my back. And I still haven’t moved the biggest pots. I now have all the pots off the gallery---and the pillows---winter mode.
Wednesday 25 Nov
It’s the day before Thanksgiving and the Ginko is just beginning to turn. We had our first frost, 30°, on Monday morning the 23rd. The weather looks mild for the next several days. I remember last year we were robbed of the Ginko color by a hard freeze on the night before Thanksgiving. We are getting more camellias blooming, primarily those south of the house but also two whites on the north side.
My gardening has consisted primarily of moving pots inside. I did a whole lot of those not done on Sunday night. The 30° burned the bananas and brugmansia but that is ok as they loose their leaves in the winter anyway. The cannas are burned and I need to clean up more on the patio and it is time to trim the hedge. I moved pots yesterday and the day before and have a few more. I will move the ferns and then in January the agave for a couple of months. It is more the wet than the cold for them that is harmful or the combination.
I have cut the overabundant wild grape in the herb garden so I can walk under it with more ease and am removing the wild grape on the north potager fence as well as the overhanging oak branches. I should plant more grapes and blackberries here as well as the south fence.
The potager continues to yield salad greens and pot greens. I cut all the peppers before the frost and also I got 3 mirleton from one of the 2 new ones I planted.
Comments
Post a Comment