Dirt Therapy

  It is hard to believe that October is almost upon us. We had a really wonderful weekend with mild temperatures in the 70s and not a drip of humidity. I loved it! Today it is rainy and about 75 degrees.  Yesterday morning I took some photos before breakfast. You will notice that everything is uncommonly green and lush right now. Normally it is parch-dry this time of year and a few drops of rain are cause for celebration. This has been a wet year and the garden and myself are greatly relieved. Looking through the pergola, you might notice something amiss. That would be the rose "Buff Beauty" directly behind the urn. I pruned the heck of it about a month ago. The rose, although one of my absolute favorites, has had a lot of die-back on the lower branches. The rose is also much larger than I envisioned. I wanted a view through the pergola so that the eye could travel past the rose, to the statue of Efebe and to the garden wall farther behind. "Buff Beauty" ch...

On Sunday, we had a busload of 50 visitors from the UT (Tennessee) Master Gardeners! They were a wonderful group of people and left us with a great gift basket full of jams, soaps, books, windchimes, fans, etc. A truly spectacular gift and put together with much thought and care. Thank you all so much and thanks for making the trip! Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Firecracker Vine ( Manettia cordifolia ) brightens the otherwise drab late summer garden with its hot red flowers . The small tubular blooms are profuse and adorn a vigorous but well-mannered vine. (Think Cypress Vine but without the headache of the invasiveness . ) Hummingbirds love it! This plant came to me from my great aunt Lesbie who loved to garden as much as I do. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

  This is the first time I've grown these bulbs. I just picked them up at Home Depot early in the spring. Gladiolus murielae is also known by a variety of common names including "Peacock Orchid," "Sword Lily," "Acidanthera" and "Fragrant Gladiolus". It is native to the mountain areas of East Africa. They grow about 2 feet tall and bloom in late summer. They are supposedly hardy in our zone (zone 7). So far, not as much profuse bloom as I'd hoped but there has been a scattering of blooms during the past weeks. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

  There are a few blooms this week on Passionflower ( Passiflora incarnata ) "Waterloo Blue". I'm always amazed by the architecture of the blooms. The vine has become quite vigorous over the years and shares an arbor with Sweet Autumn Clematis and a "Rev d'Or" rose. Unfortunately the blooms have never been profuse with lack of sunshine being the probably culprit. It also has a tendency to scamper over other plants. However, it is easy to pull out. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Behold Lycoris squamigera , known by the following common names - "Surprise Lily", "Naked Ladies", "Resurrection Lily", "Magic Lily" and who knows what else. I always heard them referrred to as either "Naked Ladies" (due to the fact that there is no foliage) or "Surprise Lily" (because they seem to appear out of nowhere).  They are fascinating plants. According to "Garden Bulbs for the South" by Scott Ogden (a book every Southern gardener should own!), the bulbs first came to America by a Rhode Island doctor who grew them in Shanghai, China. In late July, the bulbs produce stalks that rapidly grow 1-2 feet in just a few days and then produce lovely clusters of soft pink flowers (this unusual vigor is caused by an extra set of chromosomes). They don't like warm soils so they do not perform as well in coastal areas or the deep south. In north Alabama, they prefer shadier spots and do well in woodland gardens.  ...

  Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy