My Patio Garden

From college until we bought our home last summer, my gardening was limited to windowsills, patios, and balconies. Even though I have plenty of ground to dig in around our new home, I continue to do a lot of container gardening on our patio. Some of the plants on our patio I've had for a few years. Others are recent additions. 

I've always loved herbs, and they're well-suited to pots. Some herbs I have simply because they smell nice, even though I have no idea how I'd cook with them (such as chocolate mint, lemon balm, and lemon-scented geranium). It's nice having them in arms-reach on the patio where I can enjoy their scent while relaxing with a cup of coffee in the morning.

Clockwise from top left: Strawberry, basil, rosemary,
jalapeno pepper, lemon-scented geranium, chives, and
lemon balm.

 It's nice to have the more useful herbs on the patio, too, for a quick snip while I'm cooking. Currently I have basil, chives, and rosemary there. I have some strawberry plants that I've grown in the same pot for a couple of years. They're not very fruitful, but it's fun to pick a fresh strawberry on my patio. I planted a jalapeno pepper plant in a pot upon request from my husband. He wanted to do an experiment to compare how they grow out in the raised bed versus how they do in a pot. I'll let you know how it turns out.

My godmother created this lovely seashell planter for me when I was in high school. I held onto it for years until I finally was able to decide what I wanted to plant in it and get around to putting it together. When I saw a remarkable collection of succulents for sale at Walmart last fall, I knew I'd found the perfect thing. The shallow planter dries out very quickly, but succulents don't need much water anyways. One of the plants died, but the others have more or less thrived.

'Knock Out' rose (left) and snapdragons (right) are in
bloom on my patio right now.

Normally I grow a lot of flowers in pots. I've been so busy with the rest of the garden, I haven't gotten around to planting all my summer annuals yet. I was given two Knock Out roses by friends last fall. I planted one in the ground, and the other I've decided to keep on the patio for now. The snapdragons I've had for a year and a half! I thought that they were supposed to be annuals (which means they should be dead by now). I didn't have any other plans for that pot, though, so I just cut them back when they looked sickly and they kept coming back. There's a Carolina jessamine in the lion planter next to the snapdragons that came with the house. It doesn't look like much now, but it had stunning flowers in February.

Camellia (left) and hydrangea (right) are happy in the
shade under the covering on my patio.

In addition to the rose, I have some other shrubs on my patio. I bought a camellia on sale a couple of years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed its white flowers on my patio this winter. It won't grow very big in its little pot, but it's happy enough for now. I decided to keep one of my hydrangea cuttings on the patio this summer. It likes shade, and I can baby it while it gets a bit bigger and I decide where to plant it. Who knows, it might even bloom on my patio!

Some tips for container gardening in the South:

• Buy good potting mix. It's worth the extra dollar for Miracle Gro brand.
• Buy large pots, especially if you want to grow shrubs or vegetables. Smaller pots are fine for annuals or some herbs, but just remember: the smaller the pot, the more often you have to water it. In July, that can mean watering twice a day, depending on the plant.
• Choose plants suited to how much sunlight your patio/balcony gets. (See my post Flowers Anyone Can Grow for more on how much light your plant needs). Patios and balconies usually get a lot of shade from the building and nearby trees.
• In the summer, expect to water flowers, herbs, and vegetables once a day (unless you get rain). I've killed more plants just because I forgot to water them in the summertime (or went out of town for the weekend and didn't get someone to water my plants for me).
• If you want really lush plants, fertilize regularly with a water-soluble fertilizer like Miracle Gro (either all-purpose, or one specifically for flowers, depending on the plant).

Vegetable Garden Update: It's been 33 days since I planted my vegetable garden, and I think it's looking lovely, don't you? We added a homemade trellis for the tomato plants (on the left side of the picture). I'm not sure the radishes are going to be edible. I remembered reading they have a really short harvest time, so I checked my book to see when they would be ready. It said 4 weeks from seed until harvest. It's been more than 4 weeks, so I kept reading until I found my answer:  "Don't let radishes stop growing or dry out;  lack of water causes hot-tasting and pithy radishes." I'm pretty sure I let the radishes dry out several times (hey, most plants like to dry out a little between waterings!), so that would explain why they're not getting fat and round. I'll have to try again in the fall (radishes don't like the heat of summer, either).

A Peak into Local Gardens

Every year on the first weekend in May, the Hay House, a local historic home and museum, hosts a tour of gardens at five private residences in Macon. It's always a delight to see what horticultural gems are hidden away in nearby neighborhoods, created by devoted homeowners. I wanted to share with my readers some of the inspiration I found on the garden tour this year. Unfortunately, you'll have to tolerate my cell phone photography for now. One day I'll get a fancy camera so I can take beautiful garden pictures for my blog.

Vegetables and herbs grow in raised beds.

The first home resembled a traditional farmhouse with roses climbing up the porch, flower beds along the front of the house, and a large, meadow-like lawn out back. The most notable part of the garden, though, was the beautiful way they grew edible plants. Vegetables and herbs were neatly organized in raised beds within a white picket fence. Blueberries grew just outside the fence. Nearby was a bed with well-maintained blackberries and herbs. Everything was labeled with small signs. When I was young, I dreamed of a kitchen garden inside a picket fence. Maybe one day my vegetable garden will look like this one.

Annuals, perennials, and herbs co-mingle in a cottage garden.

The second garden was a lovely example of cottage garden style. The landscape was decorated with a pond and a small gazebo. Flowers and herbs overflowed in beds that wound throughout the landscape under the light shade of old pine trees. Usually people keep their flowers in borders at the edge of their lawn, but in this garden long beds came out in the middle of the lawn. The effect was that visitors could meander back and forth among the flowers. I'd like to try something similar in my own garden one day. I was also amazed how well the normally sun-loving annuals and perennials thrived in the part-sun conditions--it inspired me to branch out with my plant choices. The third thing I noticed was how they used pots throughout the garden to add variations of height in the beds, as well as a decorative element.

Roses surround a reflecting pool full of water plants.

The third garden was very formal, surrounding what looked like a Mediterranean mansion. Tall walls divided the garden into three or four "rooms".  Something that formal would never really suit my garden, but I do like the idea of dividing the landscape into garden rooms, perhaps with trees or shrubs instead of walls. In the first room, climbing roses covered a pergola, Spanish lavender and roses filled large planters, and water plants crowded a long reflecting pool. In the second room, wide, grand steps led to a long lawn with a small statue at the end that drew the eye and beckoned visitors. Unfortunately, due to the mud from recent rains, we weren't able to see much of the other rooms.

Hostas, Lenten rose, and other flowers grow behind boxwoods.

The fourth garden was a beautiful shade garden. The "lawn" was covered in a carpet of thick moss, sprinkled with wild violets.  I had never seen anything like it! A large collection of hydrangeas wasn't in bloom yet, but I'm sure they will be stunning in June. Among the hydrangeas, the landscape was dotted with groupings of smaller shade plants--columbine, Lenten rose, Solomon's seal, coral bells, and more.  The shade plants gave me some ideas for what I hope to eventually plant under our large oak tree.

Foxgloves and roses line a wall of shrubs.

The fifth garden was recently designed by a landscape architect, and it looked like something out of a landscape design magazine--a blend of formal and informal. A low boxwood hedge framed a collection of camellias and hydrangeas, and a small statue stood at attention among Lenten rose along a small hidden pathway.  My favorite part was the English-style flower border that struck our view immediately upon stepping through the garden gate. Purple foxgloves grew among old-fashioned pink roses along a wall of green shrubs. (This picture doesn't do it justice). What I learned from this garden is that I need more foxgloves and roses in my garden!

Well, I hope you are as inspired by these local gardens as I was!

Curb Appeal

My foxgloves started blooming this week. I've heard they're hard to grow here in Middle Georgia, but I had to try anyways. They're one of the few really beautiful, showy flowers that like the shade. I love the color on these, too. They start out creamy and get a hint of pinkish purple as they open.

Foxgloves in my garden

In our neighborhood we get a lot of walkers--people walking the dog, going for a jog, or just enjoying an evening stroll. There's a retaining wall along the sidewalk at the front of our yard, and I've long thought how nice it would be to have flowers cascading over the wall for passers-by to enjoy. My house is up a hill, so you can't see the garden very well from the street except for what's immediately by wall. The roses I won in February have a low, spreading growth habit, so I thought they'd go perfectly near the wall. Since visibility is an issue with backing out of our driveway, I needed some lower-growing plants to go in front of them, closest to the sidewalk.

The 'Flower Carpet' rose didn't look like much when
I planted it by itself in March.

I love the purple and red combination, so I chose heat-and-sunshine loving purple verbena ('Homestead Purple') to go with my red roses. I saw some dwarf lavender ('Munstead') at the garden center I couldn't resist. I've heard mixed reviews about whether lavender will grow in the South, but I thought if it will grow, the sunny slope by my retaining wall might offer the best possible conditions. I bought a couple of lavender plants to fill in between the verbena, spacing out the plants according to their expected final size. Since the flower bed is so far from the house (and right next to the hot concrete), I chose plants that are all drought-tolerant in case I forget to water them. Roses like a lot of water in general, but these low-maintenance rose varieties ('Flower Carpet' and 'Red Drift') will tolerate drier conditions.

Verbena 'Homestead Purple'  with 'Red Drift' rose (left)
and 'Munstead' lavender (right)

If your garden is limited to a patio or balcony, this flower combination would also be beautiful in a large pot in a sunny or part-sun location. I bought the 'Red Drift' rose a couple of years ago, and it lived and bloomed quite happily in a pot for the past year. It's the red rose that's blooming in the pictures (the 'Flower Carpet' rose I won hasn't bloomed yet.) The dwarf lavender might also lend itself well to a container with its compact size, and verbena is always a winner in container plantings.

'Red Drift' rose, 'Munstead' lavender, and 'Homestead
Purple' verbena complement each other.

After figuring out the approximate spacing of my plants, I roughly planned out the size and shape of my bed. I decided it would be a nice extension of the current holly/ivy bed on the corner. My husband dug up the grass in March, and I prepared the bed with plenty of compost. I finally finished planting and mulching it last week. So far the mulch hasn't been washed down the slope by the rain. I'm crossing my fingers.

I expect the plants to fill in the entire bed by the end of
the summer.

It doesn't look like much yet, but it should be quite eye-catching when the roses and lavender double in size and are covered in blooms. Being a gardener requires a lot of patience. What have you planted to add to your curb appeal?