Plant of the Month-June 2010-Reds, Whites and Blues

From In the Garden

This month's Plant of the Month sees three plants as all stars-and appropriately enough their colors are: red, white and blue. The red, white, and blue theme colors not only showcase my patriotism (a favorite color scheme) but allow me to highlight three top plants for the past month and continuing this month. The three plants are: hardy amaryllis (Hippeastrum x johnsonii), oak leaf hydrangea, and mophead hydrangeas.

The hardy amaryllis pictured above was given to me a very experienced gardener here in my small town of Woodlawn. Each time I look at it I think of her and her generosity. It is to these experienced and generous gardeners that I owe a big thanks to for a good many of my most special plants; plants that may be hard to find in nurseries and plant catalogs. Most know these hardy amaryllis as passalong plants so you almost have to know someone to get some. If you ever acquire a hardy amaryllis you might ask "Is it hardy?" Yes indeed! I grow mine in partial shade in a couple of spots. There is a fabulous stand of them near the road that is paired with Verbena 'Homestead'. This soil is fairly poor but those flowers shine for more than a month in the tough conditions. I don't do anything special for them-although I do try not to plant over them! Each year these bulbs multiply and the flowers just shine even more in their bright red colors. Hardy amaryllis come in other colors too and I think I like them all.

From In the Garden

My white plant can be no other than the oakleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia). This year has been an excellent year for all hydrangeas in my garden. We did not have that typical late freeze to come and kill all the flower buds. To say the show is stunning is an understatement. My mother's blue hydrangea in the first picture is simply a taste of what is to come. We'll save the other hydrangeas for a later post because today's post belongs to the oakleafs. There are several cultivars you might chose from when choosing an oakleaf hydrangea; which makes them even more interesting. I grow 'Alice', 'Snow Queen', and 'Vaughn's Lillie'. All of the oakleafs make a stunning white when in full in bloom. They need acid soil that is well drained, can take sun or shade, and are drought tolerant once established. This is a super hydrangea-er-white plant of the month.

From In the Garden

Following along with my patriotic theme my blue plant is the hydrangea. The hydrangea pictured above is my mother's hydrangea and a miracle plant if ever there was one. This hydrangea started life as one of three cuttings I took in December 2003 when I visited my mother in Maine. I left her home and forgot the cuttings in her refrigerator. My mother then mailed them to me in Tennessee. One of the three cuttings was rotten but I tried to start the other two and was successful with this lovely. It is now a ripe old age of 6.5 years and has finally reached a glorious stage. It is a beautiful blue that goes right along with my red white and blue these for this month's Plant of the Month. Or should I say Plants of the Month?

Okay, now that I have highlighted my three Plants of the Month I bet you are thinking I'm cheating a bit-huh? Yes, just a bit, but blogging is like that-we set our own rules. The true top Plant of the Month for June is, appropriately enough since it comes first in the patriotic colors, the hardy amaryllis-the reds!

What is your choice for Plant of the Month in your garden?

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Always Growing and Changing

By SkeeterThings never seem to stay the way they start in my Georgia Garden. I have showed you my little Wishing Well Garden in the past. Things change over time, some for the good, some not so good. This picture above was snapped on Oct. 2, 2009. Canna, Daylily, Ginger and Sage are the main plants in this garden.
Three days later, the baby bananas were added extending the garden to the swing and other end. This picture shows the Good of time and change.
We now jump to spring of 2010 and we see the not so good of change. The Ginger and Bananas did not return.
But never fear, because I had more Free Lilies to plant!
In this picture you can see how I moved the Wishing Well off what will one day be the pathway linking this garden to the Butterfly Island (as well as another garden). The Well is now nestled in the middle of the Canna and Daylily.
One month later, the Lily are standing tall and the grass filled in as a frame for the garden. Also added to this planter; Gerbera Daisy, Purslane, Christy Speedwell, Apricot Twist Wallflower and the red Sage, which the Humming birds love!
In this picture, you can see I have another thing to add to this Garden. I had a few baby Bananas in pots over wintered inside the house. One small banana was planted near the swing but you cannot see it as it is so small. You can see the one in the pot to the left of the garden. I had intended to plant it in the Beach Planter where it was removed from last fall. After reading Tina's post on how her bananas grew and spread, (Taking down the Bananas) we feared the bananas were too close to our house foundation so we opt out of planting this fella so close to the house. We will instead, extend the planter a bit to add the bananas leaving plenty of room for them to grow and spread.
The Angel Garden is close to this Garden so they will be attached via a gravel pathway some day in the future. I also have a plan for that cement slab of a sidewalk you see in the background. The orange thing on the ground is an extension cord.
Another Freebie you see added to the planter is Iris. I am so happy I finally have Iris in my Garden. Iris reminds me of my hometown in Tennessee but I have never had any in my garden. Thanks to Tina, I now have Iris in my garden! Thank you, thank you, thank you Tina!
Vines are climbing up the grapevine of the swing and I am ever so happy for that plan panning out for me! I have another plan for under the swing in the future. Here you can see I am already removing the grass.This is where this post ended as of Thursday when I wrote it. Now the weekend has come and gone with more yard work. Ah, this Garden was extended and the banana planted! I dug all that sod out by myself in the humidity and with dry soil, it was a tough job. I used my brain a bit and had a fan blowing on me and lots of water near by. The Saint collected the sod and placed it on a large bare spot in the front yard. I left plenty of room for the Banana Trees to take off if they should desire. I also spread pine straw mulch in the planter. As you can see, I still need to tweak the shape of the planter but not in this heat. I am finished for now. Also since Thursday, some of the Free Lily have started to bloom. Yes, this one is Orange as I was told they would be. But lookie here, this one is NOT orange!And this one is NOT orange either! I have multi colored Lily and for Free! I am so excited about these beautiful freebies...
I will soon be off Blogging as I plan to get back to Tennessee with my family. My niece will be getting married soon plus my parents need some help and support during the flood rebuild. So here is something that I will show you now as it is related to the Banana Trees.

This Beach Planter is where I had the Banana Tree. The hot Georgia sun faded the fish so they will soon have a fresh coat of paint. I also finally found a Pelican to add to the planter. The metal cat silhouette to the right was a bargain find at the Humane Society Yard Sale. As I mentioned, the main banana did not return after our abnormally cold winter. The baby banana's I wintered in pots inside went into the Wishing Well Garden so this left me an opening in the Beach Planter. Lola had given me a lily and it is located to the right and even though growing slowly, still growing for now. The Saint and I went on a quest this past weekend to find something Tropical looking to fill in the empty spot. We found this "Silver European Fan Palm" with a tag that reads Cold Zone, one of the worlds most cold hardy palms. Full sun to part shade, low water, Temps to 0-degrees. We decided to give this palm a try as we think it will be fine in this spot. Only time will tell though. Wish us luck.....

Tina, the root ball of the Mother Banana, after one year of being in this spot, was as large as a bowling ball. It took the Saint some time to remove! Thanks for the warning...

Things are ALWAYS GROWING AND CHANGING, In the Garden...

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