Dirt Therapy

'Donation' The camellias are very nice this year, probably due to the mild temperatures and lighter rainfall. I adore camellias and have eight varieties in the garden. Of course, the flowers are lovely but I like the foliage just as much.     'Donation' 'Donation' is one of the most popular camellias. It is a hybrid and has been around since 1941. It is very dependable, with blooms appearing continually for a long period (about a month). I've seen very large specimens of 'Donation ' in photos, but for me, it has been a slow grower, not yet surpassing 4 feet tall.  'Nuccio's Bella Rossa'                  The award for most blooms on a plant, however, goes to 'Nuccio's Bella Rossa' . This red-flowered camellia is dense with flowers.  It has bloomed reliably over the years but sometimes the weather can interfere. This happened last year but this year, it is making up for lost time. This camellia has a very neat, compac...

Anemone blanda and Orange Sedge ( Carex testacea ) The first day of spring is not until tomorrow, but the garden is ahead of the game. The blooms are everywhere. Some of them are minuscule and require looking very closely. I was thrilled to see a new addition in bloom—Epimedium 'Amber Queen.' I have many of these plants, but this is the first with orange blooms. They are not that easy to spot on a new plant, but the orange makes it easier. Epimedium 'Amber Queen' Another new one, this was a gift from my friend Linda Rectanus. It is Haquetia epipactis , a plant native to the woodlands of the European Alps. Haquetia epipactis I forget how early some of the groundcovers are, in this case, Lithodora and Omphaloides cappadocica  ('Blue -eyed Mary') - Lithodora 'Grace Ward' Omphaloides cappadodica  (Blue-eyed Mary) No blooms yet, but I love the foliage of Potentilla 'Orange Starlit' - Potentilla 'Orange Starlit' The most spectacular native...

I’m back from my annual visit home to Alabama. The weather was… interesting. While I was there, we had two nights of thunderstorms (including a tornado warning on my last night), several blustery days with temperatures in the low 80s, and a cold front that brought bone-chilling winds. I was anxious to get on the plane, just to get warm. A record low was forecast for Monday night (after I left), which was unfortunate since things were just starting to leaf out and bloom. All of these photos were taken in the woods behind my childhood home. The land slopes downhill to a creek that runs along the edge of the property. My brother likes to go there every day, and we did—except for a few days when it was too muddy. We spent many hours in those woods and at the creek, and it hasn’t changed much. I wasn't into in plants then, but now it is interesting to see what actually grows there. It is not a very diverse landscape and is mostly filled with cedars, pines and oaks.  One very common plan...

I rarely remove a plant from a pot unless I'm transplanting but last year, I noticed that a few of our potted Japanese maples did not look as good as they have in the past. My first thought was root compaction. However, after sliding the tree out of the pot, I immediately saw something interesting. The obvious culprit was the hole in the bottom of the pot. It was stopped up by roots. Looking closer, I could also see an area that looked different. You can see a layer here that has a thinner, almost transparent quality - First, I sliced off the bottom fourth of the root ball, right below the layer that looked thin - Looking at it from the bottom, you can see that the roots are not that extensive. It certainly wasn't root bound. It shows why they are good candidates for containers. There is also a creeping wire vine ( Muehlenbeckia axillaris ) in the pot as well, and I suspected that it could have been causing problems. However, I didn't see any indication of that either. I th...

Ah, the clematis, one of the most beautiful and frustrating of plants. I counted five books on my shelf devoted to them, and I still have to consult them every year when it is time to prune. This year I'm doing something new - moving a few that are obviously not doing well (lack of sun, more than likely). I'm worried about one of my favorites - 'Jackmanii Superba'.  First, I had to dig it up when the new gate was constructed. This clematis was massive, and the bottom stalk looked like a small tree. I divided it to give a piece to my neighbor. Somewhere along the way, it was cut back all the way down to the trunk . I'm still asking myself how this happened.  Only time will tell if I've killed the poor thing.  It has been replanted, and so far, no signs of life. Others that I decided to move were not subjected to that abuse and were moved immediately after I dug them up.  This is 'Etoile Violette'. This rampant variety was along the front fence and it alwa...