It seems that most plants I want to buy like well drained soil but sometimes I really need one for a wet spot in the garden where many plants have tried to grow but failed because of excess moisture. It is nice to know that there are some fine plants of all sizes and colors that actually like wet soil and will thank you for putting them in a moist spot by growing quickly and producing an abundance of flowers. Some of these plants will even do well in boggy soils. [click to read full post]
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Hardy iceplant is a tough little plant as long as it doesn’t get too much water. The succulent leaves form a dense low growing mat and appear to have tiny ice crystals on them, hence the name. In spring, intense purple-pink daisy-like flowers begin to bloom and by summer when the temperature heats up they almost cover the mat of foliage. The flowers like their beauty sleep, however, and close in the early evening so I have to remember to go out by afternoon if I want to take their picture. Iceplant never seems to be a thug but spreads steadily. It tolerates most soils as long as they are not wet and requires little maintenance. I use it at the front of the border in my formal garden but it would look great in a rock garden, as an edger or ground cover, or in container where it could drape over the edge. 
We are back to high temperatures; everyday is well over 90 (as high as 99) with high humidity and evening showers. I think the plants went on vacation and I don’t blame them. I have stuck to morning and evening to complete gardening chores and have stayed out of the heat as much as possible. The head gardener, on the other hand, seems to thrive in the heat and works all day in the sun, this week weaving the canes of climbing roses into the arbors. 
If you have driven down a highway admiring swaths of red, rose, purple¸pink and white disc-shaped flowers growing on wiry stems above finely feather foliage, you will understand when I say “I love tall cosmos.” They are so tough and easy to grow I don’t understand why more people don’t grow them. The seeds are easy to buy in any store, including even The Dollar Tree, and germinate rapidly with little fuss so can be planted out in time for a nice long blooming season. Or, if your climate is very warm in summer and they run out of steam, you can sprinkle the seeds where you want new plants and quickly have a second crop that will give you color through fall. The long stems make them an ideal flowers for arrangements and the large simple flowers give an old fashioned romantic look to any bouquet. Flowers are also good for pressing. If all this is not enough to convince you to give cosmos a try, think butterflies and birds; yup, it will attract birds and butterflies including those beautiful monarchs. I grow these every year from seed and wouldn’t be without them. 
This simple game tests your gardening knowledge by identifying five plants shown in photos from a list of possible names. Photos of each plant are accompaned by a clue describing the type of plant or its broad characteristics. 
At certain times of the growing season you may have an abundance of roses and what better way to enjoy them than to make a simple basket arrangement that you can put on the dinner table. The more different kinds of roses you have, the better, but also look to see what else is growing in your garden or in a nearby field or ditch. And if you have no roses or not enough to make an arrangement you might check the grocery stores because roses are usually inexpensive during the summer when they are abundant; this week one of my local grocery stores advertised a dozen for $3.99. 
Love-lie-bleeding is a very special plant and not just because of its melodramatic name. It’s red flowers grow in rope-like tassels 12” long or longer all over the coarse leaved bush-like annual creating a look in the garden that nothing else can equal. It is a real showstopper, if you like that sort of thing, and I do. I have always grown it in a border but it is very effective in a basket where the long tassels can drape over the edges. It is easily started from seed indoors and set out right after the last frost so that it can start blooming by mid summer. The flowers will last until frost and are attractive in both fresh and dried arrangements. I used them in my son’s wedding flowers, my daughters-in-law’s baby shower flowers and a corsage for a florist’s dinner where it was the hit of the evening. 
For weeks I complained about the lack of rain and finally it rained; now I am complaining about too much rain. The soil is soupy, there is standing water in low areas, the grass is developing brown spots, the squash are drowning, and pests are multiplying like wild fire. I can’t believe we are having this much rain in mid July, a time that is traditionally fairly dry. The bright side is that the temperatures have been tolerable and there has been plenty of sunshine as the rain has come in torrential showers, especially in the evenings (how the blackspot fungus must be rejoicing!). 
The first time I saw this plant was at the gardens of Hestercome in England. The grand dame of perennial border making, Gertrude Jekyle, had designed the garden with Edwin Lutens and I was taken by both the design and choice of plant material. Jekyle, known for her bold use of plant materials had used bergenia extensively as an edging with lavender. The large shiny, leathery leaves of the bergenia were striking growing in full sun, but that was England. Here in the North Carolina piedmont, I have to provide it with considerable shade or the leaves become tinged with brown. I grow it for the foliage but it does have attractive clusters of flowers that many people treasure especially since they come early in the gardening season. The foliage is as attractive in flower arrangements as in the garden, plus, as fall arrives the leaves turn deep burgundy and persist into the winter until they are damaged by the weather. I have used bergenia on the edge of a border and as a ground cover equally well. It would do well any place hosta thrive and in fact tolerate more dryness than hostas. The rather unattractive common name, pig’s squeak, comes from the sound made when the thumb and forefinger and rubbed across a leaf. 
This simple game tests your gardening knowledge by identifying five plants shown in photos from a list of possible names. Photos of each plant are accompaned by a clue describing the type of plant or its broad characteristics. 
