Author Archives: jtrema

PANICLE HYDRANGEAS

Some of the least fussy hydrangeas of all come into their own in mid-summer. Hydrangea paniculata is a staple of many summer gardens where the gardener wants masses of flowers with little upkeep. Gardeners reference these plants many ways, calling them by different names in different locales: “PeeGee” Hydrangea, Panicle Hydrangea or Panicled Hydrangea. By any name, these shrubs are gems. Some of the newer cultivars are real superstars in my borders.

 

The pale flower heads of panicle hydrangeas make a huge impact when the garden is bursting with the hot colors of summer. They provide a serene backdrop that shows off the yellows, oranges, purples & reds of black-eyed Susans, daylilies, coneflowers and roses that explode in the heat. Panicles soothe.

 

“Panicle” refers to the cone shaped flower heads that generally cover this deciduous shrub in creamy white or pale green in mid-late summer. The flowers on many varieties fade to varying shades of pink as they age. The flower heads are popular for floral arrangements. They can be used either fresh or dried in everlasting bouquets. They are popular in holiday decorations – dried panicles tucked back into the branches of a Christmas tree provide a lovely ‘snowy’ effect.

 

Panicles are not the old-fashioned pink or blue round mophead hydrangeas that likely grew alongside your grandmothers back porch in the South. Those hydrangeas are still lovely and worthwhile but they need shade and moisture-rich soil to thrive. They really need water!

 

Panicle hydrangeas like the sun and they need it to flower heavily. They can grow well in partial shade – especially if conditions are dry. But they actually handle dry soil & drought conditions very well once established.   Water regularly the first season or two to get the plants settled if rain is minimal. But after that initial year or two of settling in, you can expect that panicles will likely thrive in hot, dry conditions.

 

They need little pruning – usually it is sufficient to simply cut out dead wood. They are unique among hydrangeas in that they can be trained to a tree form. When grown as a tree, it is important to prune out suckers as soon as they emerge to retain the tree form.

 

Panicle hydrangeas are hardy in Zones 3-9 and bloom on new wood, so late season frosts rarely impact summer blooms.

 

There are many excellent hybrids of panicle hydrangeas available. I grow five cultivars currently and have a total of eight plants. My two favorites are relatively new cultivars – Limelight and Little Lime.. These two are especially heavy bloomers in my garden and they are popping up everywhere in public gardens and landscaped areas.  

 

Limelight is a large shrub that easily reaches 6’-8’ tall and wide. It is loaded with pale green cone shaped flower heads. Limelight can grow even taller when trained as a tree – and it trains well to tree form, though it will be easier to purchase one already grown as a standard if you want that tree shape immediately.

 

Little Lime offers the same abundance of pale green flowers. Flower heads, however, are more rounded than those on Limelight. Little Lime matures at 3’-5’ and is ideal for a smaller yard or under a window.

 

A new cultivar I’m growing for the first time this year is Sugar Puff. This little plant was available for the first time in my area earlier this summer and is offered as an HGTV endorsed cultivar. Sugar Puff is reputed to be even more compact than Little Lime. Sugar Puff literally covered itself in small snowy white blooms in my garden. It should mature to about 2’-3’ tall and 3’ wide.

 

I like these smaller panicle hydrangeas as they are so suitable for pots or to tuck into the landscape somewhere you want reliable low maintenance mid-summer blooms, but can’t really handle a mammoth 6’x6’ shrub.

 

I love, love, love the look of the smaller panicle hydrangeas in pots on a deck, terrace,walkway or patio. Here’s what I like about them as container plants:

 

  • Bloom for weeks and weeks nonstop
  • Less demanding of water than containers filled with annuals
  • Good for hot, sun-drenched locations or locations that get morning sun
  • Create a major impact immediately
  • Cost less to fill really large containers than annuals/perennials
  • Can be planted in the garden at the end of the season for long term enjoyment

 

I am growing Sugar Puff in a large container on a sunny deck and it’s done remarkably well there. I am noticing, however, that it does need consistent water for the flowers to remain looking good. If it gets too dry, the flowers begin the turn brown.  Growing new cultivars in containers the first year allows the gardener to become very familiar with each plant’s unique needs.

 

I am also growing Little Lime in a large pot on the same very sunny deck. Little Lime is a larger plant and in a larger pot in the sunniest, hottest part of the deck – much less protected than Sugar Puff. Think baking afternoon sun for 6+ hours without any shade cover whatsoever. It, too, has needed some extra watering, but while its leaves have drooped at times, its flowers have not faltered or turned brown and remain a lush, cool lime green

 

I grew another Little Lime in a pot on the same deck last year in the location where I am growing Sugar Puff this year. It did not burn and needed very little water even though the summer was the hottest and driest on record.

 

Both of these specimens will be transplanted into the garden in the Fall. I’ll make sure Sugar Puff gets less afternoon sun if the site is especially dry.

 

If transplanting into the ground is not an option, I have wintered over specimens of Limelight and Little Lime in pots outdoors in the past in Central Virginia and Northern Virginia. They’ve need no protection and have thrived year to year in pots if given some fresh soil and potted up to larger pots when needed.

 

I’ve heard very good things about two other small cultivars: Little Lamb & Bobo. Maybe next year I will try one of them on a pot on the deck. Since Little Lime seems to be my ‘control’ group against which I am judging all other small panicles, I will likely get another Little Lime and pot it up as well and do a bit more ‘research’.

 

Other cultivars I grow include Fire & Ice (which has the added bonus of fragrance) and Chantilly Lace, an older cultivar. Fire & Ice ages to a rosy red, Chantilly Lace remains very white. Both are larger plants. Neither bloom as heavily as Limelight, Little Lime or Sugar Puff in my garden. But they put on nice displays.   If I had to replace them, I would use Limelight.

A NEW TAKE ON CONTAINERS

I have dozens of containers of all types that I look forward to filling each year. Some go on my large backyard deck in full sun, some go on the shaded concrete patio, one or two go by the front steps.

 

I buy dozens of bags of top soil – probably 500#s or so each year – to fill these pots. I add in some organic matter and sometimes some water retention additives.  

 

Many of my fellow gardeners create gorgeous containers filled with colorful annuals and tropicals using the old “thriller, filler, spiller” formula to create stunning displays. No question, this formula makes for pretty pots.

 

But I tend to use annuals sparingly, preferring to fill my pots with shrubs and perennials that I can transplant into the garden somewhere at season’s end and enjoy for years to come. I spend the same amount of money as my friends do, but the long term benefit – I think – is greater!

 

Inevitably, there are the plants I want to grow somewhere in my garden, but I’m not sure if what I want to grow can thrive in that site. So I buy two closely related varieties and plant each in a large pot. Then I watch them up close for that first Spring/Summer growing season to determine what they can handle.

 

This year, for example, I have two panicle hydrangeas: Sugar Puff and Little Lime that I’m watching. Hopefully one will do well in a sunny, dry site where I want a hydrangea. Early indications are the Little Lime is more drought tolerant than Sugar Puff, so it is likely to go in the sunny, dry site and Sugar Puff will be planted in a less sunny area.

 

I have a place I’d like to grow about five Goldmound Spireas, but I’ve never grown this plant and my instinct is that it needs more supplemental watering than I can give this site. So, I have a lovely Goldmound Spirea in a pot on the deck that I’m studying and enjoying. It is gorgeous, but it does drink ferociously to keep those pretty lime leaves looking lush.

 

I also have one of the new black leaved crape myrtles (Black Diamond Blush) growing in a pot. It is underplanted with a Miss Huff lantana that I’m assured is perennial here and a couple of pretty salmon geraniums I picked up for 75 cents each on sale.   Both the crape myrtle and the lantana are looking like they will become favorite plants for hot & sunny locations. Neither require much supplemental water.

 

 

On my shaded patio, I have pots of astilbe and a few hostas. Well, to be truthful I have a few new hostas in pots EVERY year. I love hostas. I love the endless variation of green, white, gold, blue, yellow that their leaves offer. So I always have a few new hostas in pots every summer that will eventually get transplanted out to the garden. One can never have too many hostas.

 

There is also an Endless Summer hydrangea macrophylla that is currently blooming in a big pot on the same patio. I’ve much admired this hydrangea, but have never had a place to grow it. But my ever-patient hubby is ripping out a bed on the side of the house because it is the one place that is ideal for big leaf hydrangeas, hardy gardenias and camellias. The new hostas, astilbes and Endless Summer will be planted in that bed in the Fall.

 

A new rose often finds its way into one of the containers on my sunny deck. Roses can be so finicky.

 

My husband loves bright colors and the gorgeous orange of the new “Anna’s Choice” Downton Abbey rose really captivated him. We brought it home and put it in a huge glazed ceramic pot on the deck. It is showy and very fragrant.

 

It bloomed heavily in early June and then I deadheaded it. Well, it bloomed even more on 4th of July. It was covered in flowers – at least 25 big peachy orange double blooms. I’ve deadheaded it again and powdered it a few times with Sevin dust to rid it of Japanese beetles.

 

The leaves are gorgeous and blackspot-free – the only damage is from the pesky beetles. It likes a drink, but it doesn’t wilt in the heat. We’ve given it a bit of 10-10-10 – but not much. If it buds up again and blooms as generously as it did in June and July, I’m going to be in LOVE with this rose.

 

In addition to shrubs and perennials, I plant my herbs in pots and then transplant them into the garden in the Fall. Many inevitably make it through the winter and come back to grow as perennials year after year. But I love the convenience of having rosemary, thyme & lavender growing in pots on the deck near the kitchen during the summer.

TAHITIAN GARDENIA

Last January, on a vacation to the Keys, I saw a Tahitian Gardenia for the first time. I loved it on sight! Its fragrance drew me in like an intoxicant and I knew I had to have one. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know its name. But I had to have it.

 

I searched and searched and finally found a reasonably priced 3-gallon plant up near Delray at a home improvement store. It came home with us on the back seat of the Honda.

 

Since it grew outdoors in Florida, I crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t be insect infested. That first night in Virginia, I sprayed it with bug spray and watered in some systemic pesticide, wrapped it in a sheet and put it in the garage. It stayed in the garage 48 hours since the temps outside were not below 40 and the garage relatively warm. Then I brought it indoors.

 

I kept it in our unheated sunroom until I could put it outside on the deck in late April. It did great inside, never got bugs nor dropped a leaf.

 

This gardenia is a gem! It has NEVER stopped blooming since January. It’s produced hundreds of huge 5” creamy white single blossoms since we purchased it. They perfume the air and hold their fragrance when cut. And it keeps putting out more buds.

 

It’s gotten bigger and will need transplanting. I’ve been waiting for it to stop blooming before repotting – but it looks like its going to keep on blooming. I’m looking at all the large planters I have on my deck and considering which one I will transplant this new favorite into at the end of the season.

 

There are very few plants I winter over – just one good sized standard gardenia and a couple of small citrus. But this Tahitian Gardenia plant is a keeper and is worth the time and effort it will take to drag into the house for winter and out to the deck for Spring/Summer/Fall. It asks for little – it cannot take weather much below about 45 degrees and it drinks water constantly – my guess is that if it ever dries out it will die.

 

I watered it carefully initially, as I didn’t want to overwater it. But it is very happy sitting in a bucket of water in the blistering summer heat, so it’s care is easy enough for almost anyone. I’ve given it a very little bit of 10-10-10 fertilizer, lots of water, sun and heat this summer. It is thriving. It did equally well in the unheated sunroom in February where it was sunny & ~50 degrees. It’s one consistent demand seems to be water and a lot of it. Otherwise this is a happy, easy plant that delivers abundant flower and fragrance.


 

NEW PLANTS

One of the real joys of gardening is that there is always a new plant to discover. I will never have enough land, enough money, enough time or enough energy to grow everything that catches my fancy, so the discovery of something new to grow is a perennial pleasure.

 

Every year, I eagerly look over all the new award winners written about in the various gardening magazines I read. And I make a list of those I want to study and purchase –IF the real live plants look as good as they appeared in my magazines.

 

This quest for certain cultivars sends me out to nurseries & garden centers early and often until I find what I’m seeking. Inevitably, I will read about something one year that doesn’t appear locally in my area and it gets put on my list the following year.

 

This year, I was captivated by the newer ‘black’ leaf crape myrtles…especially those with very pale flowers. I wanted Moonlight Magic or Black Diamond Pure White – both offer nearly black foliage with clear white flowers. But I settled on Black Diamond Blush, which should look more like apple blossoms when it blooms. I bought this plant early this season and hope that it will bloom later this year or next year. I’m crossing my fingers that the label was correct and that this will have a near white bloom.

 

Normally I buy crape myrtles and other blooming plants in full flower so I know what I’m getting. I have many lovely plants over the years that were mislabeled and bloomed in a different color than desired. But the only (near) white flowered/black leaved crape myrtles I found were early in the season at a large home improvement store and there were very few of the Blush variety as it seems most gardeners prefer the reds and pinks. So I broke my cardinal rule and purchased a plant not even in bud.

 

Along with the new cultivars, I often come across a plant or two in a nursery or botanical garden that I’ve never noticed that catches my fancy. This year, Vitex (commonly called Texas Lilac or Chaste Tree) and Valerian are two plants I am growing for the first time.

 

Valerian is in a pot on my deck and I’m loving its spicy clove scent. But I doubt I’ll be buying more of this plant as it is taking a LOT of water to grow well. It will be hard to find place it can thrive here.

 

The vitex proved difficult to find. But I just kept my eyes open and looked for one wherever I happened to be. I finally found one on sale this week. I’m not going to try to transplant it in the burning July heat. So, it will summer underneath the huge old maple in its pot until Fall. Then we will plant it. I keep a ‘nursery bed’ in the maple’s shade against the fence for latecomers and pots of trees/shrubs I am growing from cuttings.

 

Every once in a while, I hear of a brand new hybrid I can’t wait to grow…and can’t find — despite my best efforts! This year echibeckia is that elusive plant I could not find. It will be on next year’s list. I read about this cross between Echinacea and Rudbeckia this year, but have found it nowhere. Since I grow scads of echinacea and rudbeckia in my garden now, this hybrid cross which sounds amazing, really intrigues me. I will grow it as soon as I can find it.

 

Sometimes new plant adventures come when least expected. Last January, on a vacation to the Keys, I saw a Tahitian Gardenia for the first time and loved it on sight. I finally found a reasonably priced 3-gallon pot up near Delray & brought it home with us in the car. Wow! I kept it in our unheated sunroom until I could put it outside on the deck in April. It did great inside and never got bugs or dropped a leaf. (I did use some systemic pesticide on it.)

 

That gardenia is a gem! It has NEVER stopped blooming since January. I’ve had hundreds of huge creamy blossoms since I purchased it. They perfume the air and hold their fragrance when cut. And it keeps putting out more buds. I’ll need to pot it up to a much larger pot at the end of the season.

 

This Tahitian Gardenia plant is a keeper and is worth the time and effort it will take to drag into the house for winter and out to the deck for the rest of the year. It cannot take weather below about 45 degrees and it drinks water constantly. But it’s not fussy about over watering, so anyone should be able to grow it if they can supply light, warmth, water and a little food.

WILDLIFE IN THE GARDEN

We own a few acres here in the country. About an acre in back of our house is securely fenced and this is where we grow the majority of our perennials, bulbs & flowering shrubs. The fence is sturdy wood and hardware cloth, 4’ high and impossible for my terriers to escape.

The dogs will tromp the flowers and weave their own paths through the beds and lawn, but mostly they leave what we have planted alone and seem to enjoy the evolving display of color, scents and foliage as much as we do. We can’t use many natural fertilizers, as one of the dogs believes in her heart that these were meant to be in her food bowl. So we use a limited amount of inorganic fertilizer and some organic stuff in the Spring or Fall when we can bury it under a deep layer of mulch.

Birds of every type – plump cooing morning doves, brilliant cardinals, bluebirds, jays, darling little house wrens, titmice, chickadees, finches of all colors, nuthatches, sparrows, grackles, cowbirds, juncos, all three sizes of woodpeckers, flickers, thrashers, robins, mockingbirds, two kinds of hummingbirds, crows and even the occasional hawk and eagle stop by. And we’ve heard owls at night, but have yet to spot them. 

We feed them all, have shallow watering troughs for them and seem to spend more on their various foods than we do on food for the house pets.

Of course, the same terrier that thinks organic fertilizer is part of her diet, believes the cracked corn we feed the doves is meant for her, as well.

Until this Spring – our garden was a haven for birds, squirrels, lizards, tree frogs, toads, the occasional friendly stray cat and our beloved house dogs. Oh – and the occasional snake. Ugh. Yes, I’m trying desperately to make my peace with black snakes just as I am with lizards, frogs and toads. But it is an effort and one I haven’t yet mastered.

Our fence has been doing its job daily and proven impossible for other animals to penetrate.

Or so we thought.

My beloved Labrador died last winter. He was my dog, not my husband’s. My heart still aches for him. After nearly 15 years of mutual devotion, there is emptiness to every walk. Even on moss, there is a lonely echo to every footfall.

With his loss, we have found our fence is not so impenetrable as we believed. It seems the darling little woodland creatures preferred to remain outside the big dog’s domain and beyond his reach. Who knew? Of all the animals, wild and domestic, he held the biggest chunk of my heart and was obviously at the top of the pecking order of all the animals on our acreage. Benevolent but respected.

Now we have a pair of darling baby rabbits that visit inside the fence nightly. Well, they were babies when they first arrived. Now they are fat, happy adolescents nearing adulthood and full of my asters, poppies, phlox, daisies and liatris. Undoubtedly they are feeling their oats and thinking about fathering their own little brood of aster-eating baby bunnies.

Hubby – good man that he is! – has added more hardware fencing on the bottom half of our gates – which has not yet foiled the darling creatures.

Today hubby’s plan was to add additional hardware fencing where the fence meets the garage.

 

The spaces hubby is dutifully plugging with mesh are considerably smaller than than 4”, but our wildlife seems to delight in squeezing themselves flat like pancakes to fit through. We know because we have installed motion sensor lights and have gone out in the night with flashlights and caught the little escape artists in the act.

We have also wrapped areas outside our fence with poles strung with fishing line and tacked up pieces of Irish Spring soap. And when I groom the terriers and the old Persian cat, I gather up all their fur and throw it outside the fence around the things we’ve planted. These tactics are the best we’ve found to keep the deer away from the things we’ve planted outside the fence. Cheap, effective and inoffensive to us.

I have numerous lists of deer resistant plants which I know by heart. But sometimes an area outside the fence simply calls out for hosta, daylilies, hydrangea, camellias or azaleas – all of which are deer candy. Our deer gobble up these lovelies on odd days when they get a taste for them. Usually stringing a few strands of clear fishing line around trees under which perennials and shrubs are planted is sufficient to deter Bambi and all his little friends. But sometimes, it’s not.

We’d had NO damage all season from deer using these measures until about two weeks ago –even though we had proof that deer cavorted happily all over the unfenced front and side yards. Then one night they decided to devour three clumps of fancy specimen hosta down to stalks — in an area where at least 25 other big, lush clumps of old fashioned, un-named hosta thrive and are now blooming. Those three clumps of stalks without leaves are an anathema. They irk me no end every time I glance that way.

The deer do the same thing every single time I plant new azaleas outside the fence or along the woods. Huge old azaleas 4’ tall will be growing luxuriously next to a 1-gallon or 3-gallon specimen recently planted and the deer will opt to eat every leaf off the recently planted shrub and leave the old established plant untouched. And I’m convinced, the rabbits happily help them!

Wild turkeys visit our property as well with their offspring, sometimes in large groups. But they seem to do little damage. They rout around and may break a few perennials here and there but they tend to stay outside the fence. But I think they eat all the ticks, for which I’m grateful.

Friends tell me to mark the areas I want to protect with coyote urine to keep the deer and rabbits away. Other friends swear by the granulated repellent pellets that can be purchased at nurseries and home improvement stores. The labels say they are pet safe, but they also tell you to store them out of reach of pets and children. Still other gardeners swear by a concoction of eggs and other stuff that you let sit outside, ‘cook’ for a week and then apply. Were I to use these remedies, I’d need gallons and bushels of this stuff given the size of our property.

Well, the urine, the pellets and the gawd-awful homemade egg mixture stink! Truly awful stinky smelling stuff. I don’t want my garden – even my garden outside the fence – smelling that way. Even if only for a few hours. I know I’d toss up my cookies if I had to apply anything that smelled that bad. So, I don’t.

We stick with motion sensor lights – which I secretly think the deer and rabbits like as the light helps them to see exactly what looks tastiest to them – and clear fishing line; Irish Spring soap, pet fur and the occasional intervention from me, hubby or the terriers. Certainly not a foolproof system, but we do seem to be experiencing less damage than our friends. And we can still smell the roses.

 And perhaps one day there’ll be another Labrador… to even the odds, dog my footsteps and fill the void.

SOUTHERN MAGNOLIA: FLOWER OF THE MONTH FOR JUNE 2015

Few plants are as quintessentially Southern as Magnolias. And few flowers are as lovely. Magnolia grandiflora is truly a grand towering tree with immense, creamy white, fragrant flowers up to 12” across. In my part of Virginia, trees usually flower in June. Fruit that resemble large upright cones with red seeds appear after the flowers.

This broadleaf evergreen has few drawbacks and makes a statement wherever it is planted. It has been prized by Virginians since Colonial times.

Magnolias need space. They can grow up to 80’ tall and 50’ wide. There are some smaller cultivars available, if space is limited. Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’ grows about 20-25’ tall and 10-15’ wide.

The leathery leaves can be as much as 10” long and 5” wide. They are shiny, dark green on top and brown, gray or paler green on bottom.

Leaves with a brown reverse are especially favored by gardeners during the winter holidays. These leaves are a popular choice to back traditional boxwood and evergreen wreaths or to use in holiday garlands. Flowers are lovely floated in a large flat bowl.

There are many reasons to like Southern Magnolias and few negatives.   They are native to much of the Southeastern United States and reliably hardy in zones 7-9. They are rarely bothered by insects and are not disease prone.

They grow in most locations. Magnolias love full sun, but can do well in partial shade.   In full sun, the dark leaves may bleach a bit.

They tolerate damp areas and a fair amount of moisture, but will grow well in drought conditions once established. They do not like to stand in water, however, so the soil does need to drain well. Like other broadleaf evergreens, they prefer an acid soil.

Take the time initially to plant a magnolia with care. Dig a wide, relatively shallow hole – about 3X or 4X as wide as the container or root ball. Ensure the young tree sits at the same depth as it did in its pot. The soil line should go no higher up the trunk.

Fill the hole with water. Wait and let it drain. Mix good soil and/or compost in with the clay, if not planting in a prepared bed. Break up all soil clumps before packing soil around the root ball. Water heavily and wait for the soil to drain again. If soil sinks around the plant due to air pockets, fill in with more a bit soil.

Water newly planted magnolias as needed during the first season or two to get them established and growing well. After magnolias have settled in, they benefit from a simple 10-10-10 fertilizer applied a couple of times a year.

While evergreen all winter, Magnolias do drop leaves and cones every year and can be considered messy.

A stately magnolia anchors one corner of the village Memorial Garden maintained by the garden club of which I am a member. It is in full bloom now. What a glorious flowering tree!

Daylilies!

Lovely, lushly green cool mornings and warm Spring afternoons are a distant memory.

Instead it’s hot and impossibly muggy. Gnats abound and — oh yes, ticks seem to fall off every tree. Day after day is a blistering 90+degrees. And as I look out at my garden, I just hope to see more color than weeds in my beds. Because heaven knows, I’m not going to get out in this heat and weed for hours!

I’ve cut back the roses and they are setting new buds. In the one or two places where I have shade and a tiny bit of dampness, the hostas and hydrangeas are doing their best to show off.

Of course, the deer managed to get through the fishing line hubby strung up to foil them, so a few hosta plants are munched down to naked stems. And a couple of baby rabbits managed to squeeze under the fence and eat some asters down to the ground.

But the garden isn’t a total loss. Over by the fence and next to the deck… scattered at the wood’s edge…even along a more formal bed, I’m beginning to see bright pops of color.

It’s daylily season in the garden again.

Everyone who has a flower garden knows something about this popular perennial. Most folks in the country have a clump of old fashioned orange or yellow daylilies somewhere on their lot. And suburban beds are filled with the short, school bus yellow Stella d’Oro daylilies so beloved by landscapers.

My garden is no different. I have clumps of old fashioned double orange daylilies and gleaming coral daylilies with chartreuse throats. I have peachy double flowered plants, a clump with deep purple blooms and pale melon colored miniatures with 3″ flowers.

Some gardeners don’t want to plant daylilies because inevitably the plants grow too large and need to be divided. And it’s true, they do. Every 3-5 years, a clump will benefit from division. Dig around the clump in the fall, lift it up with a shovel, divide it into two or three pieces with 3 or more eyes each, then pop it in the ground where you want more daylilies. Or trade clumps with friends who garden. Water the transplants well to help them acclimate.

Daylilies are super hardy and usually thrive, whether you buy them bare rooted, in a pot or as a division. Since they will need dividing, they are not completely fuss free, but they are easy. Dependable. Cheap. And come in so many colors, shapes, sizes and varieties that no gardener could ever grow them all.

One of my all-time favorite daylilies is a bright lemon yellow spider flowered clump with blooms 10″ across that I can see from my desk. It’s in full bloom now and the clump will need dividing this autumn. Oh well!

It beckons me with its ‘happy face’ blossoms as surely as the intoxicating Tahitian Gardenia I grow on the deck beckons me with its scent. And, just like the gardenia… when I get up close, I can’t help the big, silly grin that spreads across my face despite the sweltering heat.

The garden manages to lure me outside regardless of the weather & delight me. It’s a quiet joy. Life is good.

LATE SEASON SALES

I just can’t resist a really good sale! I’m hardwired to stop, look, pick over and purchase. And – in my experience – late autumn end-of-season sales for nursery plants are my favorite and the very best sales for low, low prices.

 

That’s why last week just before our weather turned awful and frigid this week, we were frantically digging holes and planting a 5-gallon redbud I picked up for $6. And a 7-gallon Jane magnolia I picked up for $10. And a couple of 1 gallon purple Encore azaleas, I picked up for less than $3.

 

We still have ten 8” pots of ‘Neon’ sedum in the garage to get into the ground when it warms up again this weekend. My husband picked those up for 75 cents apiece. Normally they would have cost us $60. So, for an investment of $7.50, ten of these babies are hiding out in the garage until we can get them in the ground. Since the temps will go back up into the 50s/60s/70s this weekend, they shouldn’t be hiding out for long.

 

End of season (truly END of season) sales are hard to resist – so I don’t. It is a great way to pick up something you really want but just haven’t been able to justify the expense. But when you can pick something up for 70/75/80 or even a 90% discount, then my philosophy is to take a shot at it. You potential loss is very little and your potential reward is very great.

 

Trees and shrubs are my favorite late season rescues. Our property is heavily wooded, so I always have a place to plant them immediately alongside the woods, in wooded areas just outside our fence, etc.

 

I plant them and water heavily to get them to settle. I mound up shredded leaves around them. If they are broadleaf evergreens and I’ve planted really late, I may loosely wrap them in burlap during the coldest weeks of the first winter to protect them fully.

 

Occasionally, I will pick up a small tree or shrub and winter it over in the pot. When this happens, I move it to the north or east side of my home and put it somewhere it won’t get wind-whipped all winter and mound leaves, mulch or soil around the pot. Again, if it is a broad-leafed evergreen, I may loosely wrap it in burlap to protect leaves from wind damage. Even with very cold winters, about 90% of the time, I end up with a healthy specimen to plant in early Spring as long as the pot is plastic or foam and at least 1 gallon in size.

 

If you live in an area with a prolonged Indian summer that has a habit of turning cold and then warm for several days/weeks again before staying cold, you still have a good shot at getting all those ‘rescues’ into the ground and settled in even if you purchase plants in mid November. Beware, however, that you may have missed the opportunity to truly get a ‘jump’ on Spring.

 

I find that if I plant very late in the fall, I need to give the new transplants a little more attention that first year to get them acclimated. The following Spring, I may not see the profusion of flowers or new growth I anticipate – or at least not nearly as many as I’d hoped.   But I rarely lose something by planting late.

 

Fall planting just makes more sense for me. I lose a lot more when I plant in Spring and it gets hot more quickly than anticipated than I ever do by planting in late Fall.

 

I don’t tend to do a lot of supplemental watering in Summer. I live on a well and I expect plants to settle in if they are sited appropriately, mulched properly and planted in Fall or early Spring. Those planted in the Fall have had a longer time to acclimate to the site and set roots, so tend to be happier overall once Summer descends and the temps soar.

 

A couple of things I do that help get my plants through that first summer: I tend to add water retentive soil mixes when I plant to help moisture loving specimens make it through the dry spells. And I do water heavily for the first few weeks. But I don’t water much after that initial week or two.

 

I also harvest rainwater in barrels throughout the year for those plants (like my fussier roses and hydrangeas) that need more consistent watering than rain provides.