Luna and Trixie helped with the tour, this time, so they're in several of the photos, fulfilling their plant-inspection duties.
We start with a familiar scene-- looking to the right after exiting the covered patio area. As you can see, I haven't cut things back here, yet.
We have a few evergreens in this part of the garden. The gardenias, for instance (though the new ones are not looking in tip-top condition, I'm afraid). The 'Golden Goddess' bamboo (down at the end of the path, past the trellis) has also stayed beautifully green all winter. Our Louisiana iris seems to die down very briefly every winter, but the cemetery iris is either evergreen or very nearly so. (This year it was, for certain.)
Several of the daylilies here and elsewhere in the garden are either evergreen or semi-evergreen. The umbrella palm hung in there for a long time before some especially chilly temperatures bit it back. Likewise, the variegated flax lily and African iris were almost evergreen this year. I'm a little worried for the flax lily... If it doesn't come back, I guess I won't bother with it again, which is disappointing, as it did so well until that cold spell.
As I mentioned in my last blog post, the snowflakes (spring snowflakes?) I transplanted last year are blooming, though I've read that sometimes they sulk after being moved. They are among the very first flowers of the year in our garden-- tiny but charming.
Now we're looking back the other way down the Straight and Narrow Path.
It's a bit messy here... Did I mention that I've been lazy about clearing up last year's debris? I think the night-blooming jasmine did die to the ground (as usual), so I need to cut that back, too.
Turning slightly to the left...
It's not looking its best, but what garden does, this early in the season?
I'm surprised that they bog sage (Salvia uliginosa) stayed so green over the winter! It definitely needs pruning, but I'd expected it to turn brown long ago. I'm still thinking of moving it somewhere sunnier, but I'll need to settle on where it's going (and probably wait until slightly warmer weather has settled in).
Seeing the lomandra ('Breeze') reminds me that it appears a rabbit has been nibbling it! It's supposed to be rabbit-resistant, but I guess it didn't resist strongly enough! I've already potted up the two clumps of Japanese sedge ('Everillo') I'd put in the ground, nearby. Rabbits had feasted them down to a tattered shadow of their former selves. Oh well, they'll just have to make do in pots, I guess...
But the lomandra! I don't think I want to keep that in a pot! Darn rabbits! (Sometimes I wish Trixie and Luna were "outside dogs" who would make sure the rabbits minded their manners, but they don't really like staying outside for long unless The People are keeping them company. No telling what fun things might be happening inside the house!)
Another slight turn to the left...
I've just finished weeding those pots of daylily seedlings. I'll wait for warmer weather before putting them in the ground. (Still not positive where they're headed, but there are plenty of places that could use more daylily "filler".)
Last year, I kept most of my succulents grouped around that little plant stand beside Luna. I'm not sure if they'll go back there or not. They'll have to find a spot somewhere... Succulents are still not my strong suit. They need lots of sun, right? But too much sun sometimes burns (some of) them-- though too little starves them or makes them leggy. Then there's the issue of how much water they need... They have a reputation for being foolproof, but I'm never sure of myself when dealing with them.
Along the front of the house...
This area needs mulching. The new azaleas seem to have made it through the winter alright. The 'Little Lime' hydrangea hasn't shown signs of new leaves, but I think it took it a while to leaf out last year, too. (I need to prune it before that happens, ideally.) However, I'm feeling less optimistic about the 'Endless Summer' hydrangea (out of frame/not pictured). It's just never taken off and barely looked alive by the end of last summer. It might be time to replace it. I have some options in mind, including yet another hydrangea that I rooted from one of our existing plants, last year.
Turning to look the opposite direction...
The banana shrub has been slowly growing-- and it's not the only thing. You may not notice it, but the flower bed along the fence there has been creeping out to cover more ground.
There are also two small trees newly planted in this recently expanded bed-- an unknown rose of Sharon and a 'Red Hot' Black Diamond crepe myrtle. I plan to eventually fill in the bed with a mix of workhorse perennials and possibly a small shrub or two. Also, I'd like to edge them all with monkey grass, but that will take time, because I intend to do so "on the cheap", by dividing what I have every year or two.
...and I do have a lot of area to cover!
For the next photo, I've turned to the right. This is what used to be the small, new island bed in the front yard. I've connected it to an existing bed (the one containing, among other things, a sizable sago palm and an ash tree). Now it's one really long island. It looks fairly empty at the moment, but recent plantings include three 'Pure White' Black Diamond crepe myrtles and two gardenias rooted from the standard-size one in the back yard.
If you're not familiar with the Black Diamond line of crepe myrtles (and I wasn't, until last year), they have much darker (described as black!) foliage than the usual crepe. They grow 10-12 feet tall by 8 feet wide and are available in a range of eight colors, at the moment.
Our color choices were largely based on what was available at a discount-- otherwise I probably would've opted for a pink or purple rather than red. I like red flowers in some applications-- and I think both the red and and the white will be pretty-- but sometimes it seems that pinks blend with other colors better. I'll be curious to see what this red looks like in person, because flower photos don't always tell the truth, as we all know. Anyway, my garden is already such an informal crazy-quilt of colors that it should be okay.
Are there times I wish the garden were more strategically laid out-- more "orchestrated"? Sure. But I've come to realize that I'm just not that much of a planner in the garden. I like to extend flowerbeds a little at a time, which makes having a master plan tricky (especially because I never know exactly where/when I'll be inspired to change something).
And when it comes to plants-- I know it's frowned upon by fancy gardeners, but I want a little bit of everything; I have neither the discipline nor the inclination to live within a restrained palette of plants or colors. (You only live once, after all!) So a mishmash it is! Or to put a more positive spin on it, it's an exuberant, carefree, anything-goes Southern-style cottage garden. I'm sure it looks like a disorganized mess to some people, but the beauty of living in the country is that I don't have to care what anyone else thinks about it. No homeowners' associations to appease! Not even a disagreeable right-next-door neighbor to look over the fence with a scowl or a sneer.
Well, back to the tour...
Facing the front of the house, with just the tip of the new Long Island Bed ;o) showing on the left-hand side...
Not much to see, here. I'm leaving this area of lawn be for now. I think the plan is to try to leave a path for a moving truck (or similar) to back up fairly close to the front door. There's still some room to expand the growing area on the right, though, if desired.
Off to the right, that part of the yard has changed drastically in just the past couple of years. The growth of the banana shrub and some new plants (especially the bamboo) have provided a pretty effective screen from the easement. When someone drives down, they still have something of a view into the Straight and Narrow Path, but unless they're creeping along, really looking, it's a fairly private spot. We don't get much traffic down the easement, anyway, but I do like a sense of privacy, when I'm enjoying the garden...
Slight turn to the left...
And one more turn to the left...
There's a lot of shade here in the morning. Of course, this is early February, so it's more shade than at many other times of the year, but even in the summer, the tall pine trees cast a dappled shade here in the early hours.
Here you can see some of the island bed's plantings. Very skimpy-looking, at the moment.
Eventually, the trees and shrubs will grow, and in the meantime, I'll try to fill in the bare spots with tough perennials and annuals. Plants in the front yard can't expect as much tending and special care as those in the main garden beds. I'll try to get them well-established in their first year, but beyond that... It's just too much work to haul the long water hose up there!
Here's the grassy path between the front foundation planting and the Long Island Bed...
Have I ever photographed the new island bed on the septic pad? I can't recall. Here it is, now.
The winter/early-spring weeds have begun to green things up in this part of the yard, and because I didn't mulch the new bed very heavily (as suggested on that info-sheet from Clemson), the weeds are already encroaching on the new island, too. I can do some weeding, but I may apply a bit more mulch, too.
I've actually changed the plantings slightly since this was taken. I removed some of these orange daylilies (put them on the back of the back-patio trellis, where nothing else seemed to want to grow, except for weeds) and replaced them with a few other daylilies and Crososmia 'Lucifer' corms. The bamboo stakes are marking where I've planted bulbs. Already, there are many green shoots poking up-- spring starflower (Ipheion) and Gladiolus italicus.
It's not much to look at, right now...
But then again, neither are most of the other flower beds much to write home about, in late winter/early spring. Most plants have either died to the ground or lost their leaves. Even the ones that have kept their leaves tend to look shabby.
I'm in the process of cutting back the no-ID rose bushes. I had intended to cut back nearly all the roses, but I wonder if I've waited too long. The Knock Out roses have already put out new leaves. I'm not sure if it's better to cut them back anyway or wait. I feel so guilty cutting off new growth!
The new island bed from the other direction...
This one really needs a monkey grass border, pronto!
I'm going to do something with that circular bed, but I just can't settle on what... The gravel wasn't really ideal. I had thought of planting it with purple heart. It could look lovely in summer-- sort of a faux circular pool with a tall potted plant in the center acting as a "fountain"-- but then I was reminded that purple heart dies back completely in winter... I'm not sure what I'll do, yet. Something...
Here's the final photo for this abbreviated tour. I didn't take photos of the curvy path beds, because there's not much happening. Roses are leafing out and some daylilies are re-emerging, but that's about it. Oh, and there are tons of rosettes of swamp sunflower popping up like crazy. I'll probably need to remove some of them to keep it from taking over too much...
Spring is right around the corner, if it's not already here.
