Back to the Cottage Garden

While I've spent a lot of time on my vegetables this spring, the thing that really got me into gardening was the ornamental part of gardening. I love the beauty of gardens--from the flowers to the shrubs.

If you read some of my old posts, you'll see I spent a lot of time planting shrubs and perennials during those first couple of years in our house. I wanted a cottage garden look fitting of our English-style cottage. Since they come back year after year, they don't need quite as much attention as the vegetables, but they still need upkeep from time to time.

I spent much of my last two weekends working on some of the flower beds. I started on the rose bed in the very front. I planted two lavender plants there back in 2013. One of them died last year (or so I thought), so I bought another one. When I started cleaning out that bed though, I found that the lavender plant had started growing back from the nub that was left. I planted he new one in there anyways, hoping to fill out the bed a little more in between the two.

I thought this lavender plant was dead, and cut it back to a nub. It rewarded me with new growth this spring. Now I just need to keep the oregano from taking over.

I tucked the lavender plant I just bought back between the two old lavenders.

A side note about lavender. French lavender is notoriously hard to grow in most of the Southeast. It doesn't like our heat and humidity. If anyone wants to grow lavender here in Georgia, I recommend Spanish lavender--it tolerates the humidity much better. But I liked the look of French lavender better, and somehow, seven years later, it's still alive. I swear I found the right variety and the right location. I bought 'Munstead,' a dwarf lavender variety, from my favorite local nursery. I planted it against a retaining wall along the sidewalk, so it gets plenty of sunshine, good air circulation, and good drainage. The other secret: I water it as little as possible. Most of what it gets is rainfall and whatever runs down the hill. During the hot summer months, I'll water on particularly dry weeks. Somehow that formula has worked.

Lavender with the roses

In my garden I mostly tend to stick to perennials and shrubs, since they're a gift that keeps on giving. However I have a couple of spots in the front where I'll rotate through annual flowers to get an extra splash of color, and I'll usually plant a few in pots, as well. For this summer, I decided on lime green coleus, white fan flower, and this Calibrachoa whose color I just couldn't resist.

'Colorblaze Lime Time' Coleus

'Whirlwind White' Scaevola - also known as fan flower. I liked the upright growth habit of this hybrid.

'Superbells Holy Moly!' Calibrachoa

I find it hard to find flowers that will stay beautiful through our scorching summers, but I had good experience with coleus and fan flower in the past. Both manage to still look healthy in July and August. The calibrachoa was more of a toss up. Fingers crossed that it makes it. I also changed out one of my planters with a coleus and fan flower, plus this fuschia ivy leaf geranium I loved. Maybe it's because I spent so much time in Florida's Palm Beaches, but I think lime green and hot pink is a great summer color combination.

It's going to be good year for my roses. I never got around to giving them their annual pruning or fertilizer, but they look as happy as can be at the moment. I think it was because of all the rain we got this winter/spring. They just soaked it up and gave them a nice healthy start to the year. Even when plants look dormant, they're still "growing," it just looks different.

'Soaring Spirits' is looking particularly healthy this year.

Well, my work on the flower beds is far from over, so more on that soon!

Plant of the month: Coleus

I must admit, between the rain, the heat, and traveling, I can't remember the last time I really worked in my garden (outside of watering, of course). Fortunately, all the rain we've had has kept my plants happy, at least. If I catch a break from the rain this weekend, I need to pull out some weeds that have also flourished with the extra water.

When I worked at Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, AL, as a summer intern, they had an extensive coleus collection. The horticulture director had a particular fondness for these widely-varied plants and, since they root quite easily, he took cuttings every time he saw a new variety. That was when I realized how many unique and beautiful coleus hybrids there are.

The hybrid wasn't labelled when I bought my coleus, so
I'm not sure which kind it is. 'Wasabi', perhaps?

I bought this chartreuse coleus plant in April when it was just a little guy to fill in a temporary hole while I waited for my hydrangeas to fill out. A couple of months later, that little coleus is over 2 feet tall! It's actually slightly taller than my hydrangea next to it. I love how it brightens up this shady flower bed, even from a distance.

Coleus' foliage colors range from burgundy to green to yellow, depending on the hybrid. Leaf shape and texture range from smooth to ruffled. No matter your tastes, you're sure to find a coleus hybrid that pleases you. As they mature, they get flower spikes (usually tiny blue flowers), but most people prefer to cut off the flower spikes before they develop to keep the plant full and bushy. 

Coleus can be planted in the garden (like I did), or it can make a nice accent in a container planting with other flowers. If you're concerned about size, there are many varieties that don't grow as large as mine. Coleus mostly prefer some shade, but many newer varieties like full sun. Since it does like shade, it works well for patios and balconies (which are usually pretty shady). Coleus prefer a lot of water, but they're pretty tolerant. If it wilts, water it, and it will bounce right back.

The best part of coleus for the South is that it loves the heat. In subtropical climates like South Florida and Mobile, it can be grown as a perennial, but elsewhere it makes a great summer annual (it doesn't tolerate freezing temperatures). Since it roots so easily, I'll probably take a cutting in late fall and grow it on my windowsill to preserve it over the winter. You can root coleus just by sticking a cutting in a glass of water.

What are some of your favorite annuals?