Viburnum Snowball Bush

BY SKEETER

 The Viburnum Snowball Bush is shining bright in my GEORGIA GARDENS. This bush is located in an island planter in the driveway. I have to keep it pruned somewhat due to the island being in front of the boat shed. The saint would like for me to remove that island but he has finally given up on that battle as he knows that will NOT happen. Last season, I did not prune it from the top and just let it go to see what would happen. Look at what happen.

Here is the same bush a few years ago. Which look do you prefer? Pruned to round shape or let it go? I will keep it pruned up from the bottom though to keep snakes from taking refuge under it.

 I am not sure which I prefer just yet. I will give it this summer to see what happens.

 The only problem I see thus far, is a few of the branches are hanging in the pathway of the Saint backing the boat into the shed. They may need to be removed.

 It amazes me how the branches stand tall with that much weight on them. I do not know what type bush this is other then Snowball Viburnum as the previous homeowners planted it.  

 I do nothing other then prune it and add a fresh layer of pine needles as mulch. Each Spring I look forward to the show of this beautiful VIBURNUM SNOWBALL BUSH,

In the Garden...

On a little side note, I have 3 flats of annuals that I would like to get into the soil. Coleus, Pentas, Angelonia Serena, Zennia and Mandevilla to name a few. The weather forecast has possible light frost for the next few days. Mother Nature missed the memo that it is Spring in our neck of the woods. Frost is not normal but could happen. Geez, this gardener is itching to dig in the dirt...

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

Bloom Time

BY SKEETER

 The Snowball bush in my GEORGIA GARDENS has never had so many snowballs! I can hardly wait for them to turn completely white.

 First Iris of the year!

 The few Tulips that return each year have bloomed.

 Mama ducky has her babies lined in a row and enjoying the fresh mulching and blooming wild Violets.

 Always the first profuse bloomer in my little Rock Garden. 

And the Azalea's are ready to explode! Well, the ones the deer did not nibble are ready to explode. Yep, it is BLOOM TIME, In the Garden...

 

Happy Easter from my Garden to yours!

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

Spring Shrubs

Spring has arrived big time in Middle Tennessee, and despite the storms it has still been a lovely spring! Here are some blooming shrubs that help to make the season bright in my gardens. What's blooming in yours?

White Azalea

This azaleas is one of 20 that was transplanted to the farm. It grows in acid soil in part sun alongside a small vernal pond on a slope. 


Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium)

The 'Blackhaw' was moved to the farm last fall. It has done extremely well in its new growing conditions that see it near some deciduous trees, yet in some sun, in rocky, organically rich, acid soil. 


Florida Flame Azalea

All of the azaleas were moved to the farm a few months ago before the big freeze and ice storm. They are all doing well except one or two, but nothing seems to have slowed down the deciduous azaleas as they are all preparing to bloom. The 'Florida Flame' azalea is a deciduous azalea.


Double Kerria (Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora') 

The kerrias were recently moved alongside the driveway. I dug up one plant and came away with eleven new plants. All but one have survived the transplant and are now blooming. They grow in well draining acid soil under some deciduous trees.


Single Kerria (Kerria japonica)


'Athens' Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus 'Athens')

The two sweetshrubs I grow are in full shade in my current garden. I did not have the heart to dig them up while they were in full bloom. Sweetshrubs are easy to grow, very reliable, and drought tolerant. In their current positions the two I grow are next to one another right next to a mature oak tree. These sweetshrubs get no sun, yet they bloom wonderfully. I plan to move them to the farm where they will get some sun alongside the driveway. Sweetshrubs will be fine with more sun as some are found growing in full sun, though I am not so sure I would recommend that you grow them in full sun.


'Raulston' Sweetshrub (X Sinocalycalycanthus raulstonii) 'Hartlage Wine'

'Raulston' sweetshrub is a nice counterpoint to the yellow of 'Athens'.

For me shrubs and trees are the mainstay of my gardens and I so adore them all for their blooms, their differences, their colors, their strength, and their variety....

in the garden....

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

The Viburnum Collection

The process of moving a large garden to another location is a big and complicated process. Sometimes I just want to throw up my hands and give up but still I continue on with the garden move. The reason I do so is because while it may be easier to buy all new plants, I just can't do it. I don't want to start all over brand new because I have nurtured all of these little plants here in my garden for years and now they are big plants. I want to continue to see them grow and mature--in my new garden. Plus, I want to start with a large, and mature garden. Moving my existing plants, the ones that I can reasonably think will make the move, is the only logical solution for me.

Today we shall talk about the new viburnum garden. I call the new garden the 'Viburnum Collection'. It is the only area that is completely visible to the public because our main living area is about 300' feet off from a dirt road behind trees. You cannot see into the main area of the garden from the road, but some of the driveway garden area will be visible at some point. So right now the viburnum collection is the face of my new garden.

I came up with the idea several months ago while Farmer Fix-it and I were evaluating our site for clearing and building. We happen to have an area on our property that borders a road that the county has a right of way on, even though the road is technically our property. Along the road are some power lines that were, at one time, cleared beneath. When we purchased the land the area was not cleared. We had to bushog and remove a great deal of trees and weeds from this area. Once bushogging was complete we had to box blade to level the area. I don't have any pictures of the overgrown area but do have a picture showing it cleared and box bladed to level it out. This work was completed on June 16, 2013. I won't bore you with the photo because it is not much different than the one below. Just take away the shrubs and cannas and there you have it.

The area is about 200' long by 40' wide (from the woods to the road). The county has a right of way 20' feet from the centerline of the small road you see here. As such that took about 10' from the grassy area. This is where I started the garden. Since the area slopes slightly to the road then levels out under the power lines, I thought I'd plant some old fashioned daylilies on the edge of the hill. There are two types planted here. The shorter ditch lilies are closest to the road, while the double version 'Kwanza' daylilies are planted right behind the old fashioned daylilies. These form somewhat of a border and start the level area. They should make a grand statement next summer. There are also daffodil bulbs planted in and amongst the daylilies for added early spring color.

I decided to plant the viburnums in this area for several reasons. The most important being the space. There is more than enough space for all of my viburnums to grow here comfortably. Also, the light is perfect (full to part sun), the pH is acidic, and the soil is fairly good. The area still has tree roots, weeds, and rocks but for the most part it is perfect for the viburnums; which aren't really picky about soil. Once the viburnums are established I should not have to water them. Watering will be done by hand if needed. Another consideration is that the viburnums will never get tall enough to interfere with the power lines and I can easily maintain this area by mowing once or twice a month. At first I considered finding a spot for the viburnums in our main living area (field), but due to the varied amount of viburnums I just didn't see how I could fit all the shrubs into a partly finished landscape and make them look good. Plus, I am anxious to get as many shrubs and trees moved as soon as possible. Hence, the public area and a new viburnum collection.

With all of the rain we've received this summer I felt fairly confident I could plant the viburnums here. I dug several viburnums at one time, always after a rain, and transported them to this location for planting. I love viburnums and find their genus to be so diverse and wonderful in so many aspects that I had begun collecting viburnums several years ago. Viburnums are easy to grow, grow quickly, bloom wonderfully, have good fall color, fragrant flowers, and sometimes they even get berries. 

In order to get berries you usually need more than one cultivar of the same type of viburnum. For instance, 'Count Pulaski' is a Viburnum nudum type viburnum so I would need to have another nudum viburnum close by. In my case I have used 'Winterthur' V. nudum as a counterpart to 'Count Pulaski'. Some viburnums are self fertile but most aren't, or at least they have improved berry production when there is more than one kind planted close by. The pollination thing has really confused me so I tend to just grab a lot of viburnums and try to get at least two in the same group. That may be how I wound up with eighteen different types of viburnums. I am not sure if I will be able to take them all with me but I have a good start on moving the collection. So far fourteen cultivars have been planted in this area under the power lines.

All of the viburnums are labeled with their type and cultivar with my long lasting homemade plant labels. They are arranged in a manner that I think will be pleasing to me. I also tried to space them according to my knowledge of how big they will get. Some viburnums are quite small staying around 3-4'x3-4' while others can grow as large as 12'x12'. The viburnums are spaced 10-13' feet apart on center. The kinds already planted include: 'All that Glitters' (V. bracteatum), 'All that Glows' (V. bracteatum), 'Summer Snowflake' (V. plicatum) (also blooming in the first picture), 'Reiflers Dwarf' (V. obovatum), 'Emerald Triumph' (cross between V.x rhytidophylloides 'Allegheny and V.burejaeticum), 'Downy' (V.  rafinesqueanum), 'Conoy' (V. x burkwoodii), 'Mohawk' (V. x burkwoodii), 'Winterthur' (V. nudum), 'Count Pulaski' (V. nudum), 'Autumn Jazz' (V. dentatum), 'Leatherleaf' (V. x rhytidophylloides), and 'Allegheny' (V. x rhytidophylloides). 

Still to go include: 'Doublefile Viburnum (V. plicatum var. tomentosum), Japanese Snowball bush (V.
plicatum var. tomentosum), 'Mount Airy' (V. dilatum), 'Blackhaw' (V. prunifolium). I am not sure if I am going to be able to take all of these due to the fact that some have gotten really big and I have had difficulty digging them up. Namely, the Blackhaw viburnum is being extremely stubborn and the Mt. Airy is really way too big to move. I may be able to split off a piece but I am not sure.

Two of the newest viburnums in the collection, though not the newest planted ones, are 'All that Glows' and 'All that Glitters' bracted viburnums (V. bracteatum). These two cultivars are pollinators for each other and were trial plants from Proven Winners this June.  As soon as I received the plants and had the viburnum collection area ready, these two small viburnums were planted. They survived all summer long with little to no care from me. I must say I am quite happy with these two viburnums. The foliage is quite shiny though you can't tell it from my picture. This time of the year everything starts to look a bit weary. And, as promised by the label on the plant, these two viburnums have not been bothered by the deer. I am ever so happy about that because deer and rabbits and other varmints are a new to me garden hazard that I am having to adjust to. So far none of the viburnums have been browsed and all have adjusted well to their new home. This includes some shrubs that are over five feet tall. I have no qualms in saying viburnums are fairly easy to transplant, unlike some other shrubs I have already moved. The only viburnum that has had trouble has been the Downy Viburnum (Viburnum rafinesqueanum), but I think it will recover with time....

in the garden....

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

Odd Things Happening

BY SKEETER

I have noticed some odd things here in my Georgia Gardens lately. One such odd thing is the blooming of some Azalea Bushes! These are NOT the Encore Azalea's which are expected to bloom a second time in the year. This happen one other time in the 11 years we have lived here but that time it was only one bush. I have noticed several of the bushes with some blooms on them this week.

 

Another Odd thing is the Viburnum Snowball bush is blooming! This has never happen in the 11 years we have lived here. It only blooms in the Spring.

I found this odd thing happening as well.

Rudbeckia without a stem! That's a first for me.

This is a sight that is not so odd but I wanted to share it with y'all today. Since I have added more plants to the backyard area, the deer are more of a common sight in this area. Before, they only went to the birdbath for a drink and to nibble the blooms of the Liriope Grass in the planter to the right. Now they come to munch on such fun things as Purple Queen and my Knockout Rose bushes! Grrrr, on the rose's but the season is just about over so we are allowing them to munch down for now. I hope to show you more things in bloom on Tuesday. My neck has really been bothering me for a while now and I find sitting at the computer painful but I shall do what I can in blogworld as I so enjoy talking about my pretties. Do you have any ODD THINGS HAPPENING, In the Garden....



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

New Friends

BY SKEETERWe have new friends here in our Georgia Gardens! As you may know, we hosted two couples from the United Kingdom (England) during this past week. They came to America to partake in the Masters Golf Tournament and we invited them to stay with us. We met the couple on the right in the above picture, at a Bed & Breakfast while staying in Charleston, SC. I posted about that vacation we had a few years ago and about us staying in the room with a Ghost. Click HERE to see that funny story. I had on a Tee Shirt from the Augusta National as we had attended The Masters. They had been to the event and were now enjoying some time in Charleston. So the tee shirt brought us together as they noticed it and started to chat with us. They sat with us during breakfast and we had a wonderful time visiting with them. They mentioned how difficult it was to find a hotel in Augusta during this huge event. They ended up staying an hours drive away and had to drive that twice each day. And after a full day of walking a golf course, I am sure that drive back to their hotel was awful. We exchanged emails and I told them if they ever came back to the Masters Tournament, to contact us and we would host their visit.

Last fall they contacted me and wanted to know if we could refer them to a hotel. I insisted they come stay with us. They informed me another couple would be coming with them. I again, insisted they come and stay with us. We have two guest bedrooms and why not? I sent pictures of our house and gardens so they would know they would not be staying in a Grass Shack but rather a modest home that would be neat and clean! A bit of persuading and they agreed to stay with us.

The Saint and I upgraded one bedroom that was not so great at the time. I took away some clutter in the house as well. We also did tons of work in the gardens to give our guests a nice welcome. I know that people in other countries hear a lot of negative things about America and we just wanted to show them that all the stuff you hear on the news is not what "all" America is about. We in return wanted to learn more about England. We have visited England twice but actually having a person in your home, we seem to learn more then just being a tourist in a country.

It was a bit odd to have strangers in our home but remembering how nice this couple was when we met them, the Saint and I both felt like it would work out. To give them a Welcome, The Saint painted a Sign to welcome them to our home. Those of you familiar with British humor, will know John Clease and his wacky adventures running Fawlty Towers. As soon as they saw the sign at the end of our driveway, they knew this was going to be a fun visit! Ah, some times, it is just the little things in life... I picked up fresh Rose's for the dining room table. It only took Sheba 2 days to find them. I caught her in the act and was most upset that she was on the dining room table. That is so off limits to the girls! The Rose's had to be put higher up and now they are opening up for me. They are so beautiful and brighten up the room.
**The above photograph was borrowed from "Google Images" off the Internet. I did not take these pictures nor am I promoting any type of financial gain by using it. I am just borrowing it to show you the winner of the event that keeps our City on the map...
Bubba Watson a former golf player for the University of Georgia won The Masters! It was nice for us to have a Georgia connection (he is actually from Florida) win the competition but our guest were not too happy with how their favorites played. They were happy for us and one of the 4-some had chosen Bubba as a pick in a little cash pool. So all were happy in the end. It was a really good game that went into Sudden Death as it ended in a tie. Bubba was the winner with receiving a huge cash prize and the coveted Green Jacket. The Augusta National Golf Course was missing something this year. Color! Spring came too early and all the thousands of spring plants had already lost their blossoms for the millions of guests that arrived for the event. The year we attended (2008) the place was flowing with beautiful colors. Click HERE to see that post. Of the many Azaleas we have in and around our woods, these two (Above) were a welcome sight to our guests. As we toured them all over town, we spotted a few here and there but nothing as our city is known for during this time of year. On the bright side of things, that pesky pollen was not around either! My Easter Display brighten up the woods a bit.
I hid the wooden eggs I had painted amongst flowers. It was fun creating this display but now time to take it down and get a summer display ready. This was such a Easter to Remember for years to come.The Snowball bush was a big hit with our guest. It had started to turn brown before I had the chance to snap a picture of it. The balls were smaller this year then in years past but more snowballs then ever before! It was stunning and just glowed with the bright sun shining on it.
I just love this bush! It had rained upon their arrival but they insisted on wading through the wet gardens. Recon, Rain does not bother them. Ha...They enjoyed the gardens and spent lots of time strolling about each day taking in all the colors. They were most impressed with all the green in our area. They had left winter in England and found spring in America and that alone should perk anyone up! One in particular, was fascinated with our birds. She was so excited to see the Cardinals, Woodpeckers and just any bird. She became excited over a little sparrow! I had the best time telling her all the names of the birds. It was also fun naming the flowers together. They mostly go by the proper name while I go by the common name. Some of our plants are a bit different then their version of the same plant. We shared in garden talk, family talk and all types of wonderful conversations to include some Royal stories that we are sworn to secret not to share. Hee hee... They were captivated by the beauty of the South with all the trees and lush green. The landscaping in front of housing developments was impressive to them as well. They enjoyed the beauty surrounding our river and lake.

We treated them to dinner each night but one as they insisted on taking us out to dinner. PF Changs was a hit and we were so happy as we were not really sure where to take them for a good experience when millions of visitors are in the area. The evening was perfect! I cooked them mostly Southern foods and they were adventurous to try anything! We grilled hamburgers and made potato salad and baked beans. None of which they had experienced before. I must admit, it was funny to see them eating it with a knife and fork. hee hee. I cooked cubed steak (minute steak) in gravy simmered until you could cut it with a fork. Mashed potatoes with the gravy and green peas. They loved this meal and kept raving about the gravy and meat! They mentioned Hot Dogs so we made them dogs with side fixins of chopped onion, grated cheese and chili for Chili Dogs. They loved the potato chips! We also treated them to Pimento Cheese, Marinated Shrimp, fresh Marinated Olives, Crab Spread and cooked Breakfast each morning! They loved the Bacon. Easter Sunday Dinner was Spiral Ham, Pasta Salad, Black-eyed Peas, Deviled Eggs, Cornbread and Strawberry Short Cake for dessert! They scraped their plates clean with each meal. Only thing left was the hotdog bun on one plate. I got the impression they do not care for American breads much. Don't blame them as the European fresh made daily breads are the best! I made English Muffins at breakfast and they had to laugh as they did not know what they were! Ha ha. We took them to our local ice creamery, Bruster's and they had a fit over the amount of one scoop in a fresh waffle cone. They loved free samples at Costco and went on and on about them. We ended the visit by taking them out for Breakfast as that is not so popular in the UK and they wanted that experience. We chose Cracker Barrel as we thought that would be fun and it was a total hit for them. After our wonderful meal, they had to shop in the store! They just went on and on as to how much food we had for such a small price. I do believe The Saint and I did a wonderful job of showing our guests the better side of our wonderful country and some true Southern Hospitality. They have invited us to visit with them so they can take their turn to show us their country. They presented us with a lovely Tea Pot from England. This is a very nice tea pot of the Queens Diamond Jubilee. We shall cherish it and be most careful when using it.Of course what is tea without biscuits (cookies) and favorite teas! They tossed in a tea towel with famous dates for the Jubilee.A Sycamore wooden bowl hand crafted by a local artisan in their village. We had a most interesting conversation about sycamore trees. I had to get the tree book out to show them our sycamore tree. They are not like the English Sycamore tree. They said they hope this book of their area of England would entice us to come for a visit. I have yet to sit and read this book but am most anxious to check it out. Today after Breakfast, they presented us with a Gift Card to a Garden Center and told us to add something beautiful to the Garden. What wonderful gifts from some great people that 5 days ago, we did not really know! Some times I get brave and do something that some may consider a bit crazy but all I know is that we now have some NEW FRIENDS, In the Garden...

** I am getting the rooms ready for our next company which should arrive on Friday. I so should open up a B&B as I just love this entertaining!

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

One of My Favorite Nurseries-We Du Natives

Are you a plant collector? If so it is possible there are many plants on your list of must haves that you might not be able to find locally. I myself have this problem. It seems most of the usual suspects (viburnums, hydrangeas, evergreens, and spiraeas, etc) are mainly what I can find locally in any big box store. I rarely shop at local nurseries but when I do I find they rarely have anything all that different from the local big box stores but they have much higher prices so I pretty much only buy the majority of my plants at big box stores-generally marked down 50-75%. Yes, I am a bargain shopper and you might call my garden a bargain garden but the plants don't know I purchased them cheaply-shhh-don't tell them okay?





I do occasionally order hard to find plants from mail order nurseries that have fabulous prices. If a nursery has shipping costs higher than my order for plants I am most definitely not going to buy plants there-even if their plants are on sale. I just can't justify the expense so I am very careful with where I order my plants. Enter We Du Natives, aka Meadowbrook Nursery in Marion North Carolina.


I first came to be aware of this small nursery in the mountains just off from I40 at exit 85 when I was looking for witch hazels back in 2006. There were two nurseries I found that carried witch hazels. One was the We Du Natives and the other was a nursery in Louisville Kentucky. Both were doable for a road trip but since my in-laws live just east of Marion North Carolina around exit 110 I decided that upon our next visit with them that I would make a trip to We Du Natives. I was not disappointed and purchased two witch hazels for my garden. Ever since then whenever I could I would travel to We Du for more unique native and non-native plants. Some of the plants I have purchased there are: Japanese roof irises (the best iris of all!), silverbell tree, heath aster and a few more that don't come to mind right now. While visiting the nursery I signed up for the emailed newsletter.



This month's newsletter said their hydrangeas were on sale. Hydrangeas are a favorite shrub of mine so I decided to investigate further. Come to find out they had two gallon 'Silver Dollar' and 'Phantom' Hydrangea paniculata on sale for $9 each. I researched the two hydrangeas and found that 'Phantom' was the one for me and went to order it. Well, when I ordered I was informed the nursery has a $35 minimum order. Ah ha! That meant I could do more shopping and shop I did. I really only wanted the hydrangea but managed to find two other shrubs that I thought would make good additions to Tiger Gardens-especially since I was reworking a rather big bed that needed some structure in the form of shade and drought tolerant shrubs. Those two shrubs are Adina rubella, aka Chinese Buttonbush and 'Reifler's Dwarf' Littleleaf Viburnum, aka Viburnum ovatum. The Chinese buttonbush is pictured above and the Littleleaf Viburnum is shown below exactly as they came out of the huge box they arrived in from UPS. The dried seedpods (I'm guessing) on the buttonbush look just like spent blooms on brown eyed Susans and really make the shrub very interesting even without leaves! This buttonbush is supposed to be more drought tolerant than our native buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) and is also supposed to be shade tolerant. It will slowly grow to about 10 feet tall with an 8 foot spread.

The littleleaf viburnum is supposed to be a small viburnum that will grow to about 3-5' tall and wide. It is supposed to have good year round interest and hey, I believe it since it is a viburnum. Viburnums are a genus I am particularly fond of due to their ease of cultivation and wide variety of types. The fall color on this viburnum looks great so I am already impressed.



I chose the 'Phantom' hydrangea because it is supposed to be similar to 'Limelight' but with bigger and better blooms. I love love love 'Limelight' hydrangeas so this one will fit right in. This shrub arrived with a few leaves still attached and I was so excited to see this! All three shrubs look great and were well wrapped. They looked as though I had simply driven to a local nursery and picked them up in person. I was so totally shocked by the good condition and LARGE size of all three of these shrubs for $54 (shipping and cost of the large shrubs) that I decided I should finally write a post dedicated to We Du Natives. I had been promising I would do a post on them to Jamie Oxley for like forever but somehow it always slipped through the cracks. The size of the plants shocked me because normally when I order mail order plants-even from good quality nurseries-the plants arrive looking dead (many are) and are so small they succumb to the shock and give up the fight pretty quickly. I then wind up losing the money I spent on the plants. This is very frustrating. Have any of you received pitiful mail order plants that died no matter what you did? If so you might check out We Du Natives for great prices, good selections, and fantastic shipping and handling. These three shrubs are all safely tucked into my Front Perennial Garden and I am looking for good things from them in the future. It is not too late to plant shrubs in Middle Tennessee-this is actually an ideal time to plant most shrubs. The ground is still wet and fairly warm so the roots will be able to establish rather quickly.


There is another reason I am writing this post now. The gathering of all garden bloggers (who so desire to gather) will be held in Asheville North Carolina from May 18-20. Both myself and Skeeter already have our hotel reservations and are looking forward to meeting all other garden bloggers who attend. I also wanted to let you all know about this nursery that is very close to where our meet up will be held. I for one plan to visit this nursery during my visit and personally thank Jamie for taking such good care of my mail order bargain plants....


in the garden....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

P.S. I did not receive any compensation in any form for this post from anyone. I paid for all of my plants I purchased at We Du.  

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