Grandmother's Camellia

Several years ago my Grandmother passed away. She loved to garden and her yard always had some type of color in it. Her house was put on the market and before it sold I dug up three things from her garden to place in mine, an English Dogwood, an antique rose and a teeny tiny camellia. Right before she had her stroke she had broken off the tip of a limb on one of her camellias and put it in the ground to root. I found it and dug it up. At the time it was a mere six inches tall at the most. I’ve pampered it for seven years and it’s reached a size of about three feet by three feet. Every year it’s made buds but the blooms never open. They would simply fall off the bush. This year, it decided to bloom! I can hardly believe it. The flower is a beautiful deep pink with a light purple border that fades inward from the tips of the petals. It’s absolutely beautiful! I have no idea what the name of it is and I’m really hoping someone out there will see the picture and identify it. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Grandmother's Camellia

Feeling a Need To Be Cozy

All of our outstanding plant trades are finally in and I can hardly wait until next spring. The weather has cooled down to a point that I really don’t feel it’s safe to be planting things any more. We still have some tulips that need to go in the ground. I’m sure we’ll get around to it in the next couple of weeks. I’ve worked in the garden non-stop for the last few months and I’ve reached a point where I feel I need to take a couple of weeks off to rest. We still have plenty of winter projects that need to be done and as promised I’ll be posting pictures of them as we do them.

Jamie and I have steadily been raking and shredding leaves for mulch. It’s so nice not to have to bag them up anymore. I’m thinking since we have a nice thick layer of them in all the beds that they should last thru next summer. A new friend of mine sent me a ‘Journeys End’ canna and I planted it this afternoon. Every time I rake back the leaves to plant something I find earthworms. Every thing I’ve read says that they are a good thing to have in your flower beds. The way it was explained to me is that the worms eat the leaves and then the leaves exit the worms as a nice fertilizer. We will see…

I find myself being more tired than usual lately. I suppose it could be that the constant rushing and rushing and continuous working has finally caught up with me or it could simply be my deep rooted mammal instincts coming to surface wanting me to hibernate. I’m also craving warm foods and time to snuggle under a cozy throw or blanket during my inactive periods. At any rate I’m listening to my body and getting more rest and enjoying the down time.

Wild Blackeye Susan



Wildflower

The Last Blooms of the Year

The cold weather has finally made it here. We dipped down past freezing last night. I went out this morning all bundled up to plant the last Canna tubers I received in the mail and some Hyacinth Bulbs. I also planted a Sprekelia, Peacock Orchid and a Caribbean Lily. I can’t wait for the show next year. The posts on the garden blog will be slowing down for the next few weeks as the garden goes to sleep. We have several projects planned for the winter and I’ll be posting pictures as we progress with them. I also be popping in from time to time just to let you know how we are doing and I’ll post a picture or two to remind you of the past summer and the spring to come. Below are no doubt the last blooms for this year.

'Desire'

'Red Lion'

Pods, Nuts and Berries

Fall is the time of year when all of our plants go to seed. They produce fruits of all types, berries, pods and nuts of all natures. I took a few pictures of some in the yard. I thought it would be interesting to give you a few legends and myths about the plants pictured below. Enjoy…

The Cherokee Indians believed a miniature people lived amidst dogwoods that were a divine race sent to teach the people to live in harmony with the forests. The dogwood people were extremely kind, took care of the old and infirm and protected babies. When the Cherokee came to speak English, they began to call the Dogwood People "brownies."

Dog Wood Berries

Mock Orange

The Canna is often called the "Indian Shot Plant" because, legend has it, lead shot was difficult to come by for early Native Americans and canna seeds were used for bird shot in shotguns.

'Indian Shot' Seed Pods

The Acorn has also been associated with couples and love divination. Dropping two Acorns into the same bowl of water will provide the inquirers with news. Should the Acorns float together then the couple will marry, the reverse being true if the Acorns drift apart. An ancient Pagan belief that is thought to be connected with the Druids tells that to carry an Acorn at all times will ensure that you are prevented from growing old. This was said to be most successful for women.

Acorns

Nandina is considered the 'friendship plant'. Legend says that a Nandina beside the front door serves to listen to the worries of the head of the household.

Nandina

In Greek Mythology, Liriope was the mother of Narcissus who having come to a pool to quench his thirst, saw his reflection in its smooth surface, and fell in love with it. And since he could not obtain the object of his love, he died of sorrow by the same pool.

'Liriope'

In Greek legend, the rose was created by Chloris, the Greek goddess of flowers. Chloris found a lifeless nymph one day in a clearing in the woods. To honor the nymph, she transformed her lifeless body into a flower. Chloris asked the help of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who gave her beauty. Dionysus, the god of wine, added nectar to give her a sweet scent, and the three Graces gave her charm, brightness and joy. Then Zephyr, the West Wind, blew away the clouds so that Apollo, the sun god, could shine and made this flower bloom. And so the Rose was born and was immediately crowned the Queen of Flowers.

Rose Hip

The New Bed Is Finally Mulched

Well, the new bed is finally mulched and I am worn completely out. I walked outside this morning with the intention of only planting some white Siberian Iris and some white Dwarf Iris. I walked over to the table to spread out my rhizomes and I just happened to look up and see one of my neighbors that I’ve never spoken to in the 12 years I’ve lived here getting ready to gather up his leaves with the lawn mower. I’d been looking at his back yard thinking all those maple leaves in it would be just what I needed to finish mulching that new bed Jamie and I have been working on. Never having spoken to him before, I was a little nervous to go up to him and ask about the leaves. Finally my desire to get those leaves out weighed my fear of talking to him, it’s only been in the last couple of weeks that he’s ever even acknowledged my presence when we were both in our backyards at the same time. I walked up to the fence and asked him for the leaves and he said that I was more than welcome to them. Turns out he’s a pretty nice fellow. He even loaded the bags up in his truck and drove them around the block to my house, five 55 gallon bags full of stick and trash free ‘Silver Maple’ leaves. I had to take my leaf vacuum and mulch them up some more, but I didn’t mind. It was just enough leaves to finish that bed and it looks wonderful now! While waiting for the leaves I also planted some pretty ‘Cast Iron Plants’ that Sonny and Lewis were nice enough to share with us and I trimmed up the ‘Don Juan’ rose. After all that I raked the back yard, so I could fully enjoy the new bed free from yard debris. Since I’ve just recently posted pictures of the new bed I’ll show you the ones I took today at a later date. Meanwhile, here’s the ‘Desire’ amaryllis I found blooming in one of the other beds we made this past summer. It's slightly lighter than the 'Red Lion' I purchased from the same place.

‘Desire’ Amaryllis

Our Moonflowers

It's a cool Sunday morning today, currently 50 degrees outside. I had some plants that I'd been holding inside until the weather warmed up a few degrees. We had a little cold snap and the temperature dropped down to the low thirties. I put the 'Giant Red Crinum' in the ground, along with a 'Black Magic' and 'Imperial' taro that I also received in trade. The 'Black Magic' is a tiny thing so I'm hoping it makes it okay. Right now it seems so fragile and vulnerable. Today, Jamey and I will most likely be planting white Siberian and dwarf Iris. I think we'll also plant the Daffodils today if we have time. We have bulbs for 'Ice King', 'Ice Follies', 'Professor Einstein', 'Tahiti', 'Pink Pride', 'Dutch Master', 'Intrigue', 'Texas' and 'Yellow Cheerfulness'. Meanwhile, you guys can enjoy the 'Moonflower'.

Buds Just Starting to Open

Full Bloom

New Bud

Seed Pods

Macro Moon