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?

The Cottage Garden Begins

Well, it's been quite a week in the garden. Two of my roses started blooming, I've planted a bunch of new things, and two young deer (an unexpected garden "pest") seem to have taken up residence in the neighborhood. Fortunately, they've mostly stuck to eating the weeds in our backyard. They did start nibbling on the beans, though, so we'll be building a cage for the vegetable garden this weekend.

'Knock Out' Rose, and a climbing rose I can't identify.

Yes, that's a deer frolicking in my backyard.

When we bought our home last summer, I decided our quirky little Tudor Revival cottage needed a cottage garden in the front to match.  At the time, Indian Hawthorne shrubs were planted across the front of the house. Indian Hawthorne is the kind of shrub that's planted on roadsides and around apartment complexes because it's hard to kill. It gets nice flowers, but I get so tired of seeing it everywhere--it had to go. I decided to start with the area to the east side of my front door, probably because it was the biggest challenge. It gets shade most of the day, and most beautiful flowering perennials and annuals like a lot of sunshine. But I would find a way.

Front of house, summer 2012

So I started doing my research. I researched what makes a cottage garden. I poured through my plant books, cross-referenced my findings online, and made a list of cottage-garden-style plants that would tolerate shade. From there, I narrowed it down to a few that I liked the best and would look good together, and I drew a loose diagram of my bed to figure out spacing and how many plants I needed.

Then came the real work. We tore out the shrubs and prepared the beds last October. I planted a few things my friends had given me--hostas, irises, and bugleweed. I divided up my lemon balm and planted part of it in the new bed. I found a good deal on a hydrangea that needed some TLC. I added some pansies for a splash of color. I fertilized everything to help it get established.

And then I waited. Most of the plants on my list wouldn't be available until spring, and even the plants I had wouldn't really fill in for a while. Most everything went dormant.

Spring came, everything has flushed out with new growth, and I found the plants I was looking for...and then some. I just finished planting everything this week, and mulched it to keep in moisture and prevent weeds. Here's the final product:

Of course, it's not really final. The hostas and bugleweed will spread more. One of my hydrangeas is only six inches tall right now--it was from one of the cuttings I took last fall. It will eventually grow to about four feet tall and wide. My spindly little climbing hydrangea will eventually cover that trellis and then some. Some things will start blooming, some things will stop blooming. After the summer I will assess what died (if anything), or what just needs to be moved to a different spot, and I might try some new plants. It will always be a work in progress.

For reference, here's my plant list (roughly left to right):

Hosta spp.

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Iris spp. (I have no idea what kind--my friend dug it out of her garden for me, and I haven't seen it bloom yet)

Columbine (Aquilegia caerulea 'Origami Mix')

Endless Summer Twist n' Shout Bigleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla 'PIIHM-I')

Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomola petiolaris)

Coleus (Solenostemon hybrid--I don't know which one)

Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)

Wishbone flower (Torenia hybrid)

Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans 'Purpurea')

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)

Happy gardening!

Flowers Anyone Can Grow

My garden is chugging along. The radishes have sprouted, the onions are putting out shoots, and my bugleweed (Ajuga reptans 'Purpurea') started blooming (and spreading) this week. The bugleweed came to me as a clump that some friends gave me out of their garden, and it seems to have established itself splendidly.

My bugleweed has little blue-purple flowers.

 Not only are the plants I planted doing well, but I also have some volunteers! My compost pile hasn't given me any compost yet, but it has a handsome tomato seedling growing out of the side.

A 6-in. tomato seedling is growing out of my
compost pile.

I have friends that keep insisting that they kill everything they try to grow. Well, I'm here to turn anyone who wants to be a gardener into a gardener. I posted last month on the 5 Things "Green Thumbs" Know, and went into more detail about how to put some magic in your dirt and how to plant a plant. I'll talk about how to water your plants soon, but I thought maybe my good readers would like a list of a few flowering plants that aren't too difficult to grow--to increase your chances of gardening success here in the hot, humid South.
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Before you figure out which plants you can grow, the first question you need to answer is how much sunlight you have. There are roughly 3 categories: full sun, part sun, and full shade. Plants that prefer full sun need direct sunlight almost all day--8 hours or more. Plants that like part sun like to be shaded half the day--only like 4-6 hours of direct sunlight. Part sun areas also include areas that get light shade all of the day--like under a pine tree where plenty of sunlight comes through the trees. Plants that like full shade don't need any direct sunlight. If you look at the label on any plant at Home Depot or Lowe's, you'll see a little symbol that tells you how much sunlight that plant prefers. If you're at a local garden center, they don't always have those commercial labels, but the people who work there will be happy to tell you what the plants need.

The universal symbols for the sunlight needs of a plant.

Here in the South, those recommendations aren't set in stone. Sometimes plants that prefer full sun in cooler climates will benefit from afternoon shade here in the heat of summer. They won't bloom as much as they would in full sun, but they might survive July and August!

One more thing before you run out to your garden center--make sure to pick plants that look healthy and don't have too many flowers. While your instinct may tell you to pick the most beautiful plant, a plant with mostly buds and only 1 or 2 flowers will adjust better to its new home than one that's covered in blooms.

And now...drumroll please...The List:

Full Sun
Daylilies (Hemerocallis hybrids)*
Lantana (Lantana hybrids)
Knock Out roses (Rosa 'Knock Out')
Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides)
Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)
Verbena (Verbena species and hybrids)
Annual vinca/Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Gaura (Gaura lindheimerii)
Lily-of-the-Nile (Agapanthus species and hybrids)
Moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora)

Part sun
Everything in the full sun list can tolerate part sun, they just might not grow as big or bloom as much.
Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)
Camellia (Camellia japonica or Camellia sasanqua)
Azalea (Rhodendron hybrids)
Geranium (Pelargonium hybrids)
Begonia (Begonia hybrids)

Full shade
Plantain lily (Hosta hybrids)
Periwinkle (vine) (Vinca major or Vinca minor)
Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans)
Coral bells (Heuchera species and hybrids)

*The words in parantheses are the scientific name for the plant. Since common names can sometimes be confusing--a plant can have more than one common name, or two plants can have the same common name--the scientific name will help you know you're getting exactly what you're looking for.

Are you a novice gardener? Do you have any questions for me?

So much to do, so little time!

Here in Middle Georgia, April is the main month for gardening. Almost everything needs to be fertilized because it's starting to grow like crazy, it's prime planting time for summer vegetables and warm season annuals, and perennials have returned to the garden centers (and need to get planted before it gets too hot). To add to it all, the weeds are growing faster and the plants need to be watered more often. If only I could take the whole month off from work and just work in the garden...

I planted some tulips with my violas in some pots in December. I wasn't sure how the tulips would do. Fifteen weeks later, they bloomed beautifully! The only thing I would do differently next time is plant them earlier, so they'll bloom a little earlier. My violas stopped blooming for much of the winter (I don't know exactly why), but I kept watering them. They started blooming again when springtime arrived.

'Happy Generation' tulip planted with violas

I got most of my vegetables planted yesterday. Since I really don't have much experience with vegetable gardening, I wanted to do a little bit of everything to see what works. I'm doing the square-foot gardening method, where you plant things within a grid of squares instead of rows, so I planted something different in almost every square. So far I have cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, bush beans, onions, carrots, and radishes. I bought seedlings for the tomatoes and peppers (I didn't want to bother with starting my own seeds this year), and planted everything else from seed because radishes, carrots, and beans don't transplant well.

Who says a vegetable garden can't be beautiful?

Well, we're halfway through April, so I guess it's a good time to see what's left on the April gardening checklist!
     Plant warm-season vegetables
     Fertilize vegetables
     Plant summer annuals
     Fertilize annuals
     Fertilize lawn (late April)
     Plant, transplant, or divide perennials
     Fertilize perennials
     Plant or transplant shrubs
     Fertilize shrubs
     Prune camellias and other shrubs that have just finished blooming
     Fertilize trees
     Mulch new beds or refresh mulch on existing beds

It looks like I have a lot left on my list! Of course, if you're not starting three new flower beds and a vegetable garden this year (like I am), your list may be much shorter. For my friends who live north of me, your time to do all this will come after your last frost date (so you can start planning for it now!). If you're not sure, you can look up your last frost date here.

What are you planting this spring?

Project #2: Raised Bed

Spring is finally here! The hydrangeas and roses started leafing out a week or so ago, and the hostas followed shortly after. The cherry blossom trees bloomed late this year, but mine finally came into full bloom last week, followed by the dogwoods.

The hostas and hydrangeas are emerging from
dormancy (finally!).

Dogwood (left) and cherry blossoms (right) in my yard.

This spring I decided it's finally time to really try my hand at vegetable gardening. Even though I've been gardening for many years, I never really got into vegetable gardening. When I was a teenager, vegetable gardening probably didn't appeal to me because it can be so labor-intensive--preparing the soil, pulling weeds, treating diseases and pest problems. Over the years I made several half-hearted attempts at growing vegetables in pots with little success. My most successful crops in containers were the hot peppers I grew in the summer, and the mixed lettuce greens I grew in the spring.

I've been carrying around my grandfather's copy of Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew for years with dreams that one day, when I had a yard of my own, I would have a beautiful vegetable garden like the book promises. A couple of weeks ago I ran across Mel's All New Square Foot Gardening and picked it up with much excitement. After more years of experience, and adapted for the busy modern gardener, Bartholomew rewrote his recommendations, and the new recommendations include raised beds, which I like because they're pretty.

Isn't it pretty?

Now, I will say, if you ask 20 successful vegetable gardeners what their secret is to growing amazing vegetables, you will probably get 20 different answers. The square-foot gardening method, of course, has sentimental value for me, so that's why I want to try it out first. After reading the new book, here's my quick review. Even if the cover looks a little gimmicky, Bartholomew's methods are based on both years of experience and solid research. The book is full of photos and has very detailed instructions, plus a great appendix with information about each kind of vegetable, perfect for the beginner. I think he goes a little overboard on some things (I'm a little lazy if you haven't noticed), and you could probably grow half-decent vegetables without following every step. It's definitely not the most traditional method, but it's designed to grow a lot in a smaller space, which I like.

So, after reading the book, I set out this weekend to create my vegetable garden. I picked a spot that gets plenty of sunshine (which vegetables love), except for some light afternoon shade (which is great in the heat of a Georgia summer). I put it in the back of the yard behind the treehouse (so if it turns out to be a disaster, I don't have to look at it while relaxing on my patio). Instead of following Mel's instructions for building a raised bed frame yourself, I bought an easy-to-assemble kit from Home Depot because I was in a hurry. Also because I was in a hurry, I did my math wrong and bought too much material for the soil mix. But hey, at least I can still find plenty of uses for vermiculite and peat moss--like making the perfect mix for rooting cuttings! I found everything I needed at Home Depot except for the vermiculite--I found that at Johnson's Garden Center here in Macon.

My 4-foot pile of supplies--vermiculite, peat
moss, compost, and a frame.

Instead of using existing soil, Mel recommends skipping all the tilling, soil testing, and finding the right amendments, and just making your own soil mix to fill your raised bed--a mix of peat moss, vermiculite, and compost. It's full of nutrients, and has the right balance of water retention and drainage. After assembling my pile of supplies, I mixed it up batch by batch in my wheelbarrow with my handy trowel.

It took probably eight batches with the wheelbarrow, but I finally filled up my raised bed.

And there it is, my lovely 4' x 4' raised bed ready to fill with vegetables this week. Stay tuned to see what veggies get planted!