In Search Of Spring

I am on a mission to find spring this year.  Looking out the window I see nothing that would announce its arrival, but on closer examination, it is just waiting to explode!

The buds on the Rhodies are puffing up but gives no hint of that beautiful pink color beneath.

PJM Rhododendron

The fuzzy little buds on the Star Magnolia look plentiful this year after a severe limbing up last fall so we could walk on the narrow path.  I think it will be fine if we control it each year, hate to do this but the alternative is taking it out.

Star Magnolia

There are daffodils, hyacinths and tulips poking through.

Daffodil Itzim

Daffodil Early Sensation

I had a chance to spray my Euonymus Wintercreepter and Rhus Armomatica with a dormant oil spray to control the scale which is always one step ahead of me.

This is my only Hellebore coming up on the north side of the house.  I am redoing this area with a combination of shade plants among the hosta.  I have ordered some more hellebores for planting this spring.

This is how Heuchera Southern Comfort looks now after a winter under the snow.  This is certainly a four season plant in zone 5!

I decided I needed to have a little more spring outside so I headed to Home Depot.



Pansies are quite cold hardy and will survive temperatures below freezing even with a little snow covering them.  However, in my zone, they will not take high heat so do not put them in too late in the spring.

I kept going with this spring theme and brought some indoors - I feel much better about all of this waiting and waiting.

Iris on the kitchen table and purple candles, purple candles?

Tulips on the dining room table

Not A Trend In Sight

Each year I try to attend the local Wannamaker's Garden Show just to see what they do with this space in an attached greenhouse.  It was a blustery day so it was a treat to go inside among the plants and ponds.

They are known for their supply of colorful containers and there are hundreds more on racks outside.  I do see lots of tall containers, maybe I do see a trend!

Do these remind you of the sculptures at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show? 

The show is small and draws in local people from surrounding suburbs.  Wannamakers is about twenty miles west of Chicago and is an easy ride on the expressway from the city.

They bring in some well known vendors like Proven Winners, Baileys and Monrovia.  There are many others who represent garden equipment, small growers, seed companies, ponds and barbecues.

Self-contained pond (operates like a fountain but you can grow plants in it)

This is the only type of deer we would enjoy seeing in our gardens.

This is a new annual Phlox called Intensia Blueberry from Proven Winners

Sunsatia Nemesia (improved variety stands up to summer heat) from Proven Winners

I did spot some tropicals in the Monrovia display, but the rep didn't seem to know this was a new trend.  The prices are high because these containers are gallon size ($20)

Croton

A variety of succulents from Monrovia in smaller containers so maybe the pricing is more appealing.

On the way out I stopped in another area to select a trellis (they were on sale just during the show) as was just about everything else in the store.

Obelisks

Trellises

Resin Containers

Spring is definitely around the corner!

Memories

In this age of digital photography with the touch of key we can revisit our gardens anytime we wish.  This is my veggie garden a few years ago.  I could barely harvest my bounty so I have scaled down a bit.

I had two areas of New Dawn Rose, on my arbor at the back of my garden and on each side of the pergola.

Needless to say, it was a beauty, but constant maintenance to keep it within bounds.  It did not bloom throughout the season for me and was just about to take down the structure with it's weight.

I still have my Persicaria but each year I rethink if I want to keep it along the path.  It is very impressive and blooms most of the summer, but the first storms wreck havoc on it.  I will try anchoring it to the fence with some thin wire, however, the stems are hollow and bend easily.

I used to have Phlomis tuberosa planted in front of the Persicaria and it was very lovely for about a month.  It also was quite fragile and would end up all over the ground.  I have ordered a stronger variety this year, Phlomis russelina, although it is yellow.

Pholomis russelina

I still have May Night Salvia but it tends to thin as the years go by.  I think it may need a rejuvenation this year because it really does like this hot spot on the south side of my home.

Just because it is a perennial does not mean it lasts forever.  They require care, many times more than annuals, deadheading and dividing.

This was my Nepeta Walker's Low with Foxglove Grandiflora coming up through it.  I kept the foxglove but the Nepeta went up to Wisconsin.  It took over the small pathway, lots of bees and did not look good for most of the summer.

I just love this Echinacea Orange Meadowbrite but it is the least hardy of the bright colored coneflowers.  I have replaced it a few times and many nurseries have stopped carrying it.  The lighter Mango Meadowbrite is much hardier.

I am going to make some changes on the north side, too many hosta.  Some hosta will remain but I am going to insert some various shade plants for more interest.  For now, the carex grass will remain even though it takes trimming throughout the summer.

Things are always changing in the garden sometimes by choice and other times by necessity!

Visit Tootsie today for Fertilizer Friday . . .

Looking Up In The Garden

I guess if there was one last trend to highlight from the Chicago Flower And Garden Show it would be VERTICAL INTEGRATED GARDENING (not as complicated as it sounds).

 

Those of us with smaller properties have been gardening vertically for years but never on the scale that I saw displayed at the show.

Integration of herbs, veggies, wheat grass lettuces and flowers

The beds are actually mounded in an upside down "v" shape with plantings on the top and sides.

As you can see, there is a blending of flowers, herbs, spring bulbs, ivy and succulents.  This is an imaginary garden to stimulate your own ideas.  I don't think many of us would be planting rows of cyclamen out in our summer gardens.

There are plantings everywhere on this tepee shaped trellis, plants in pockets of moss, plants around and underneath.

Even the window boxes have taken on a more vertical effect.

The evergreens and sculptures keep us looking up in the garden.

Juniper Nana

Smith and Hawken Potting Bench

I know, this bench has nothing to do with vertical gardening, except it will certainly assist in your gardening life.  I just had to show it to you.

A garden show is not a recipe but an inspiration!

Tropicals In Your Garden

Another trend noted at the Chicago Flower And Garden Show is the use of TROPICALS throughout the garden and in containers.

Elephant Ear

Along with tropicals go a variety of water features, ponds, container fountains and even walls of water.

This floating island of plants was eye catching but not very practical, looks like juniper, marigolds and snapdragons with stones encircling it.  I am not sure how they did this.

This is a wall of lighted water showers.

I am not sure where this dry ice effect is coming from!

Many of the plantings being used outside, we think of as houseplants.  This is a fern I have in my dining room (Bird's Nest).

Rex Begonias are old fashioned houseplants in my zone.

Rex Begonia

They do look beautiful in the outdoor landscape.

It does make sense that intense colors are back in the garden palette if tropicals are being used in just about every area.

Lots of Scheffleras to give height, Crotons and Algerian Ivy

Be careful how you combine your tropicals, some love full sun like the Crotons, sun coleus and ivy will work, but the Schefflera may burn.

Calla Lily, Rieger Begonias and Tulip and muscari, not plants that bloom at the same time, but I think you get the idea.  Use unusual combinations and create height.  Rieger Begonias will sun scorch.

Kale with Algerian Ivy

I use this ivy each year, when I can find it, beautiful all summer long.  It is expensive and also comes in a not as interesting solid green.

I grew Crotons and some succulents in my south side containers.  They require at least fifty degrees at night to survive and thrive.  They did hold up in the heat and I have wintered them over inside my house.  Tropicals are expensive but with more popularity they may come down in price for the consumer market.

Dracena, Mums, Rieger Begonia and Croton

Orchids in Containers

Orchids in Baskets

Do you recognize that spiller houseplant?

Succulents, Heuchera, Kale and Tulips

This would work if you stuck in a pot of later blooming tulips.

What I did notice is that the majority of containers used for the show had a lot of height and not width, closer to eye level so you did not have to look down to observe the plantings.

Succulents were used extensively in the window boxes on display.  This is a good idea since it is difficult to keep the windows boxes and hanging baskets irrigated during the summer heat.

Tropicals in outdoor window boxes

Bromeliads in garden beds

Succulents in garden beds

A Potting Party for charity with a variety of tropicals

Well, I think we get the message that what was inside will be outside this season, but the garden show is always state of the art in trends.  It doesn't mean we have to fill our gardens with tropical plants but it is kind of fun to try out a few of them, especially if we have the heat of last summer.

Take an idea and have fun!