Bearded Iris

BY SKEETER

 Last year I added a new Iris to my GEORGIA GARDENS. This is its first year to bloom and I am very happy with it.  

 "Before the Storm" Bearded Iris is a beautiful addition to my garden.

Is it Purple or is it Black? Depends on how the sun hits the bloom. It is healthy and the roots have multiplied greatly in the past year. After it is finished with blooming, I will do some dividing and placement throughout the garden. I love this BEARDED IRIS, In the Garden...

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

Jimmy Williams Tennessee Dixter Garden Tour Week

It is spring in Middle Tennessee so you know what that means for a garden lover and award winning landscape designer (more on that soon)? It means it is garden tour season! A season I look forward to all year long-of course one need not tour gardens only in the spring but the springtime seems to be the season. 

My garden club members (Beachaven Garden Club) and I recently toured a special garden located in Paris Tennessee. The garden is known as 'Tennessee Dixter est 1974' and is lovingly tended by the one and only Jimmy Williams. 

Jimmy Williams is a well known gardener here in Tennessee because not only does he do many speaking engagements in the area but he and his garden have been on Tennessee's very own TV gardening show called Volunteer Gardener.

I first heard Jimmy speak several years ago at another garden club's function. I was entranced because he is VERY knowledgeable about plants and enjoys sharing his wisdom. Many folks can be knowledgeable about plants and don't share that wisdom well so it was with great joy that I learned from Jimmy's talk. Ever since then I had planned to visit his fairly nearby garden (one hour from my home).

Finally, this year was the year and I was not disappointed. I am also very excited to have visited it this month because next month Jimmy will be speaking to the Perennial Plant Society of Middle Tennessee. I've been a member of that organization since 2004 and enjoy it very much-mostly for the speakers who are varied and usually very good. I was honored when I was asked to speak to them last year and was doubly proud to hear my speech was one of the top three for the year. I spoke on Winter Gardening. You all know we can garden all winter in Tennessee right? Jimmy Williams knows that and he will be sharing his perennial border from February through December. I can personally vouch it is a lovely border.

Everywhere you look there is something wonderful to see. Jimmy and his lovely wife Peggy have lived in their home for nearly 39 years. Can you imagine living and gardening in one place for that many years? The garden is very mature and robust and happy.

When we visited, the garden was a patchwork of chartreuse, blues, yellows, and pinks. Conifers played will with sedums, grasses, perennials, wildflowers, and groundcovers.

Textures were varied and melded together nicely.

Structure was present so as to give the viewer some interest all year long.

Our visit was awesome! A good great thing about blogs is we bloggers can share as many or as little photos as we want. Unlike magazine articles and televisions you'll see a lot more of Jimmy's Tennessee Dixter. Can you by chance figure out where the name Tennessee Dixter came from? 

I'll share that in another post because there are two more posts covering Jimmy's garden....

for now I'm in the garden....

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