Is There Anything Better Than a Field of Country Daffodils?

What could be better in the spring than traveling along a gravel road in the country and running into a field full of daffodils?

The cows are right around the corner.

The birds are singing in the old oak trees and life is great.

Perhaps your very own daffodils blooming in your garden could be better? The 'Tete-e-tetes' finally showed up in Tiger Gardens. They are a very welcomed sight.

But really the only thing better than a field of daffodils at this time of the year is a blood red camellia growing and blooming....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Mild Winter

BY SKEETER

These Doves are enjoying a sip of water from one of many bird baths we have here in my Georgia Gardens. Our flock of Dove never seem to grow beyond about a dozen or so. The resident Hawk, sees to that. Click HERE to see the hawk. I spotted the Hawk with a squirrel in its talons as it flew off into the woods this past weekend. Poor Squirrel but one less to dig in my gardens. Such is the cycle of life.

Well, hello there Miss Sunshine!

Even though I feel the Narcissus and Daffodil's are opening up early, looking back to last years files, I see they are blooming about the same time. Although, last year we had an early spring as it seems we may repeat this year as well.

Crocus are new to my gardens this year.

They are popping up along with weeds. Weeds=Not Good...

I planted 265 bulbs of Narcissus, Daffy's, Crocus and Muscari using my trusty Auger/Drill.

The Lilies are popping up and I hope they are not bit by Mr. Jack Frost in the coming weeks.

This Lily is way beyond where she should be. I have yet to clean this planter so the old remains.

 The Camellia's have never bloomed so long for me!

They started blooming in late Oct and continue to give me blooms today. I really do enjoy these beauties as they are at the front door and we see them every time we go outside.

Yep, we are having another MILD WINTER, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Two Garden Bloggers and a Saint Visit the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens

On a recent visit to Columbia South Carolina I was able to hook up with my good friend and fellow blogger for a visit to the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens. Her husband, the Saint, also joined us for a day of visiting some neat animals and even neater plants. A word about my friend, Skeeter, before we go further. I don't think I mention to her enough how much I enjoy blogging because she is an partner on this blog who really helps to motivate me. We have worked so darn well together for more than five years now with no end in sight. That says a lot! Many blogs that have more than one partner are commercial or professional blogs. This blog is neither. Skeeter and I simply enjoy sharing our little pieces of garden heaven (at least to us) and we do our sharing together so well that we complement each other and always have. Many of you don't know she and I met through this blog and over the years the friendship has developed to the point we know each other pretty well. I have to say she is a very special friend whom I enjoy spending time with, talking with, blogging with, and not the least, touring gardens with! Thank you Skeeter!!

Okay, on to the gardens. I consider the camellia the quintessential winter plant. Many think of hellebores as the quintessential winter plant; mainly because they bloom at the end of the winter IMHO. No other plant (that I am aware of) will be blooming at both the beginning AND the end of the winter besides the camellia-for me that makes it THE quintessential winter plant. Camelias were in bloom everywhere we looked at Riverbanks. There were some awesome camellia blooms such as the white one pictured above.

The holiday spirit was in its full effect as well. This welcoming wreath with its red bow greeted visitors to the garden.

Fall and winter plants such as kale, pansies, and chard livened up the garden beds.

I am not sure what kind of palms these were but I think they are in the windmill family of palms. I love love love both palms and yuccas for their architectural qualities. They really bring so much to the winter garden that no garden should be without one or the other. And believe it or not palms can be quite hardy. I grow one here in my Zone 7A garden.

More winter color.

Paperbush, aka Edgeworthia chrysantha was a big presence at Riverbanks. The little white buds hang off from the bare cinnamon colored branches like Christmas ornaments. They are absolutely delightful! When they bloom the yellow and white bloom perfumes the air around it and really livens up the winter garden. Here, the curators of Riverbanks have used Paperbush in the large blue containers.

Finally, my traveling companion sans the Saint (he was close by I am sure)....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The Camellias Bloom and A Talk to the PPSMT Members

The fall blooming Camellia sasanquas are in bloom! And boy are they gorgeous!

They are one of the plants I will be highlighting when I speak to the Perennial Plant Society tomorrow night at 7:00 PM in Cheekwood's Botanical Hall in Nashville. The meeting is open to the public so come and and have fun! My topic is "Winter Gardening" and I will cover everything from first and last frost and freeze dates to winter plants, winter greenhouse, winter sowing, winter chores, and winter fun....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

A Wonderful Winter White Camellia

As it is so often happens here in Tiger Gardens I am surprised by what is blooming in the garden. No surprise is as grand as a five foot tall white camellia in full bloom as viewed in the woodland garden. What a shock it was for me to find this camellia blooming! Usually this white camellia (and the other spring blooming camellias here) will get zapped by a freeze. I expect at some point this one will too but for the moment I am reveling it its glory.

Camellias are quite easy for us to grow here in northern Middle Tennessee. I've been growing them since 2003 even when our zone was classified as a 6B. I was told by many gardeners and at least one camellia expert that you can't grow camellias in Zone 6B. Enter the USDA and their new updated zone charts. My zone went from a 6B to a 7A. I guess that now explains why I can grow camellias-tongue in cheek of course. If you wish to read about how I grow my camellias you can check this previous post. 

Skeeter posted about her white camellia and how it always gets zapped by a freeze. I find the white camellia blooms do look the worst once they are frozen. It's a messy sight. With gardening we don't always have only happy days in the garden and on this blog we like to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. While frozen blooms are not necessarily bad or ugly, they aren't always good. I expect this stunning shrub and its blooms will be here but for a fleeting moment because freezing temperatures are in this week's forecast.

If you wish to grow camellias you need to be aware of the types of camellias you can grow. Predominantly there are japonicas and sasanquas. I personally like the sasanquas for my garden here. Once you know what kind of camellia you would like to grow you then need to know whether your chosen camellia is a fall or spring bloomer. There are fall blooming and spring blooming camellias. The words fall and spring are really not too terribly applicable because the camellias, at least in my experience, bloom during the winter. But! When I refer to fall and spring you can expect 'fall' bloomers to bloom before the end of the calendar year and the spring bloomers will bloom in the new calendar year. I have had fall bloomers bloom anywhere from October to December, and spring bloomers will bloom anywhere from February to May. Again, spring and fall blooming words to describe camellias are relative. If you wish for a sure bloom with longevity then I suggest you get a fall blooming sasanqua camellia. The fall blooming sasanquas seem to avoid or at least withstand the freezes better than the spring bloomers. They have worked best for me.

The winter bloomers sure can be stunning though. The evergreen leaves add so much to a landscape even when the camellia is not in bloom.

The bloom of a camellia tree is something that can be indescribable. The camellia bloom is for sure a most rewarding part of winter gardening. I could not imagine a southern garden without a camellia.

The wonderful white of this unknown camellia ties in with winter so very well and even if we don't have snow I still have the winter white of a camellia....


in the garden....

Every spring since 2002 I have marveled at the peeping frogs here in my neighborhood. For me the spring peepers signify spring and guess what? I heard the first peepers of the season Saturday night, February 4th. Spring is near. On warm nights I'll sometimes sleep with my bedroom window open just so I can drift off to sleep listening to the very loud peepers calling....

in the garden....



Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Camellia Seedlings In The Garden

With the advent of fall things in the garden have been happening rather rapidly. I've been very busy planting many new plants, creating a new garden, dividing and filling in, and preparing the greenhouse for the winter. While scurrying about doing all my chores I passed by my very large fall blooming pink camellia and I happened to notice some evergreen plants growing below the tree. There were seven evergreen seedlings growing under the camellia and I thought to myself-dare I hope? Dare I hope for seedlings from the camellia? I have had camellia seedlings before and tons of camellia apple seedpods but I have not had luck really getting more camellias from the existing camellias-until now.

Still skeptical these seedlings were camellias I dug through the pine needle mulch until I reached the seed. And sure enough! These seeds are clearly the apple seedpods I posted about a few years ago. I now had confirmation that these seedlings were indeed camellias. It seems the conditions were just right for the camellia apple seeds to sprout and give me two clumps of several baby camellias. And do you know what that means? Yup, another chore for me to add to my already long list of chores to be accomplished in the garden-and time is running out. Like I need another chore this time of the year. I now have to dig these seedlings and pot them up until they get big enough to either give away to friends or sell at a plant sale. Still, it was a delightful chore and one I surely should not complain about since mother nature did all the propagating for me....


in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Plant of the Month-November 2010

From In the Garde

Despite snow and ice, drenching rains, and freezing temperatures the camellias have come through the month of November so admirably they are my only choice for the Plant of the Month for November 2010. I took this shot to show you all the ice and snow we woke up to the day after Thanksgiving on 26 November 2010. It was a very early snow for us here and not all too welcomed. It is all gone now though and the camellias have bounced back as big as ever. If you'd like to see a better picture of them please look at my 'Snow Rose' post found here. The fall blooming camellias here at Tiger Gardens have been blooming since the 24th of October and show no signs of letting up. Now that is what I call a true Plant of the Month!


What is your best and longest bloomer for the month of November...


in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, 
 
In the Garden

Snow Roses, aka Camellias, and Happy Thanksgiviing

From In the Garden

"A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose..." (Gertrude Stein)

From In the Garden

But this is no rose....

From In the Garden

Still, I can't help but think of roses when these bright and cheery camellia blooms lighten the garden....so very much during these drab, cold and dreary days of late fall.

From In the Garden

Everyone have a fabulous Thanksgiving and take time to really appreciate the little things in life....in the garden.

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Some Fall Pictures from Tiger Gardens

From In the Garden

I thought I'd share a few fall pictures from Tiger Gardens with you today. I have cut back on posting a bit but that so doesn't mean I'm not still getting out and enjoying (and working) in my garden. Today we'll look at a few random scenes that caught my eye this very week. First but not least is an unknown Japanese maple seedling-just splendid! I have five unknown type Japanese maples out front and this one is the only one that is orange. Seedlings are quite variable I tell you. Three of the others are red, and one is a plain old green for fall. I think I'm liking the orange best.

From In the Garden

Here is a long shot of it. This J. maple seedling grows in my Walled Garden. The last time I posted on my Walled Garden was when I first planted it back in 2007! This vantage point shows both the Crabapple Garden (in the foreground with the Crabapple Tree) and the Roadside Shrub Border (in the background just in front of the green split rail fence-the other side of the split rail is a state highway). The orange just glows!

From In the Garden

Here is another vantage point looking north toward the Northside Shrub Border. You can also see a 'Nova Zembla' rhododendron in the foreground. This rhododendron is part of the walled garden as well as several PG hydrangeas, azaleas, mums, Solomon's seal and other plants including a 'Forest Pansy' redbud. This garden gets pretty much full shade. The seedling was planted in 20o7 when I planted the entire garden. The seedling is finally getting a bit of height on it-if I can just watch out for those voles I'll be golden with this small tree.

From In the Garden

Here is Christine's Japanese maple (really 'Sango Kaku' but I call it her tree). It colors up completely different from the red leaved Japanese maple. This tree turns a pure golden yellow in my garden. It is magnificent backlit! See the red veining? A nice feature. You can just make out one of the fall blooming camellias in the background.

From In the Garden

And here it is! It is an unknown camellia along the northern side of the deck. It is slowly gaining more girth than height-kind of like me I guess; which is not good for me but great for the plant. Eventually it will grow to above the deck rail so that we can enjoy the blooms at eye level when we are on the deck.

From In the Garden

'Jean May' has no problem gaining height as this shrub is more of a tree than shrub. It has one main trunk and has grown phenomenally in the 8 or 9 years it has been growing in Tiger Gardens. I have posted on how I grow camellias here if you are interested in learning how I do it (besides good luck:). Be sure to click on 'camellias' on my sidebar label section for more informative posts on growing camellias from all of here at In the Garden. I'll tell you regular readers and bloggers, if you do not have a label link on your sidebar you are missing a ton of traffic. The labels are used quite often on this blog and I'm glad I have kept them up-many that there are though. I know when I visit blogs it is one feature I sure appreciate-more than any other feature on a blog.

From In the Garden

Here we are looking west along the Northside Shrub Border. The blueberries in the foreground have colored up beautifully and my yellow button mums are blooming in mass quantities. The color combo is nice and I sure appreciate these late blooming mums.

From In the Garden

More of the yellow button mums in the corner of the Northside Shrub Garden. I mainly show you this picture of the Amsonia hubrectii a favorite perennial for my garden. It is very drought and shade tolerant. The blooms come in the spring and are not so much to look at but the foliage is great! It has taken several years for it to reach this size but I think that is good since the root system has plenty of time to develop nicely. This plant is extremely drought tolerant. I have several smaller seedlings scattered around and I am so enamoured of this plant that I've begun spreading it around the rest of Tiger Gardens.

From In the Garden

Another shot of my 'Jean May' camellia. As I was peeking around the shrub looking for a good vantage point a few song sparrows were most worried about my presence so I decided to investigate further. I'm sure this nest is not used for eggs but more for roosting. The evergreen leaves of the camellias and other multiple shrubs in my garden provide a fantastic hiding and warming place for birds to roost during the long winter nights-and even during the day. I can usually find the birds in this tree since it is so close to my house and I can tell you all types of songbirds including cardinals have nested and lived in this tree. It is a wonderful habitat tree for a wildlife garden. If you do not have a lot of evergreens like camellias, arborvitae, viburnums, eleangnus, hollies, boxwoods, yews, and multiple other types-plant some now to provide shelter for birds....

From In the Garden

One last shot (fittingly it is an orange one like the opener) of one of the three crabapples in my garden. This tree was planted as a twig seven years ago and it has really taken off. The 'apples' are a light orange and provide some great color in the garden-not to mention the birds love these little apples. Crabapples-any kind of fruit tree actually-are also excellent habitat trees for wildlife....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Red Camellia: It's a 'Black Tie' Event

From In the Garden

The spring blooming japonica camellias have made their presence known here at Tiger Gardens. There are three and while I really like them all, my heart belongs with the sasanqua camellias. I like the sasanquas reliable bloom time in the fall when the blooms are pretty much perfect and not damaged by cold weather like the spring blooming japonicas sometimes have to endure. The three japonica camellias I grow here are: 'Black Tie' camellia (double red camellia and it is pictured), 'Nuccio's Gem' (a double white one that tends to get damaged by the cold just as Skeeter posted about), and an unknown peachy double camellia. All three are attractive shrubs even when not in bloom.

My garden is rated Zone 6B and most of my seven camellias are rated to Zone 7. My secret for growing them in my garden has been to place them on the north side of something-like my home or a tree. This winter had me worried that my camellias might be damaged with all the talk of "it being the coldest winter in a l-o-n-g time" . That has not been the case. There is very minor damage to some leaves that can be easily cut off but all mature shrubs are in fantastic shape. The cold winter has not affected the bloom and all seven shrubs look pretty good. 'Black Tie' has to be my favorite. It has reliably bloomed each year, is undemanding, and a real standout when there is little else blooming in the garden with the deep red blooms. The picture above does not rightly do the deep red justice but take my word for it, the bloom is blood red. It is a very attractive plant that is quite dense in glossy foliage too. I planted 'Black Tie' in 2005 as a one gallon pot plant and it is now about 5'+ tall and 3' feet around. It is most happy here....

From In the Garden

in the garden....enjoying these springtime blooms.

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden