Change of address

Garden Thoughts has a new address, as the blog is tied to my email address, and I just recently got a new Gmail account. The new blog is at:

http://inrudysgarden.blogspot.com

Thank you for your patronage and interest!

Poinsettia pics

Here are pics of the poinsettia I grew at the campus greenhouse. I think it turned out much better than what you'd find in the stores. It was a very rewarding experience, given the strict requirements poinsettias have.

Seeds for spring

This afternoon I walked back into the garden, which is now hunkering down into slumber for the winter, and picked seeds from my Euonymus alatus "Burning Bush" and Nandina shrubs. I decided a few days ago that I would see if I could grow them from seed, MAYBE by chance discover a new variety. So I pulled a bunch of seeds, extracted the seed from the berries, and mixed them with damp Promix soil in large ziplock bags. They'll be in the fridge for a few months, as Nandina and Euonymus seeds require a chilling period in order to germinate. I will report my findings over the next several months. In the meantime, I will have pics up tomorrow or Saturday of the poinsettia I grew at the campus greenhouse, and the Christmas cactus.

Coming soon...

With little activity going on in the garden, I've been putting together a new website that will be less of a blog and more of a guide to plants and shrubs that will grow in zones 6 and 7, specifically, Virginia. Right now I'm working on the sections for various shrubs and trees that are drought tolerant and cold hardy. I already have some pictures and will be including information on growth habit, growing requirements, noteworthy varieties, etc. The site should be up in another few weeks and I will post a link when I have that available.

Knockouts still swinging

Just had to get some pictures of my Knockout roses with the beautiful autumn sun shining down on them. The cold weather has done something to cause the plants to put out bigger, much more intricate blooms than during summer and spring. Enjoy!

A closer look: Sedum

One of the plants in my garden that I have all too frequently taken for granted and dismissed in favor of more flamboyant plants like hibiscus and Knockout rose, sedum is not only one of the most drought tolerant perennials around, it is just getting started in late summer/early fall as everything else is shutting down. Sedum tend to be categorized as succulents for their thick, rubbery texture that allows the plant to hold in water much like cactus do, and consequently they require little to no watering even during periods of drought. According to my books, there are at least 100 different species and varieties of sedum, many of which are groundcovers that folks use in rock gardens. Most people are familiar with 'Autumn Joy', an upright type that forms broccoli-like flower heads that fade from pink to red as the weather cools in September and October. The nectar-rich flowers attrack all kinds of beneficial insects as well. It gets about 3 feet high and grows in clusters that can get 3 or 4 feet wide, and might require some staking after a hard rain, as the bulky flower heads can become top-heavy. Groundcover types only get a few inches high but spread along the ground in neat clumps and mats, between rocks and crevices.



Given their hardiness and heat/drought tolerance, and their ability to adapt to poor soils, sedum deserve more attention and consideration than they get. If you feel like you're always having to run out to the garden in hot weather to rescue wilting plants, introduce some sedum to your garden and spend more time enjoying it than pampering it.

Fixing the sedum

Went out to the garden earlier this afternoon and got started on trying to get the sedum to stand up again, after being waterlogged and top heavy from all the rain the last two weeks. Our sedum is massive compared to most...about 5 feet tall, and 4 feet in diameter. And when it rains, the water hits the broccoli-like blooms and pulls all the stems down and outward from the center. So I took some gardening stretch-tape/tie wraps, stuck a long stake in the middle of the sedum, and tied the leaning stems to the stake. I then cut off several stems, to free up some space and also to have some to transplant elsewhere in the garden. Wonderful plants...never have to water them, very tolerant of heat and drought, not bothered by pests. Provides neat color in the fall when other perennials and shrubs are finishing their show.

In other news, my classes are getting real fun. In Greenhouse Crop Production, we're growing several varieties of poinsettias to sell around Christmas. We have three groups....one is a control group which will only get water. The second will get a general fertilizer, and the third receives a special formulation of fertilizer and pesticide/insecticide. Our project is to take measurements of how the poinsettias are growing in reaction to these conditions. And in my Plant Propagation class, we are learning how to graft the branch of a shrub that otherwise can't root, and attaching it to the under-stock of another shrub that is able to root. The end result is that you can duplicate plants that are otherwise hard to reproduce by cuttings, and at the same time, possibly create a new hybrid plant that shares characteristics of both shrubs. Interesting stuff! And this Wednesday my agriculture class is going up to my professor's farm to look at crop planting methods, how to rotate plantings, all that good stuff. And in between all this I have to keep several journals....which shouldn't be that hard, as I love to blog and journal about things anyway.

Wrapping up the season

As the season begins to wind down, there's not much to report at the moment. Most of the perennials and shrubs are starting to go into dormancy, with a few exceptions. Still am enjoying the roses, hydrangea, seedum, and butterfly bush though. I wish I had remembered to fertilize this spring...a lot of the plants did not look as happy as they did last year. The black-eyed-susans in particular seemed to struggle.

I'm giving some thought to buying a small greenhouse for the backyard, to overwinter seeds and grow cuttings for next spring. This is the one I'm looking at, on Home Depot's website:


It's 6.5 ft x 6 ft. x 6 ft and costs $169. I would just need to get some good greenhouse benches and some shelves. This would be immensely helpful in that instead of buying more $20+ plants at the nursery, I could make more of what I already have, and for free. Or I could take cuttings and grow them for friends and neighbors. Additionally, I could take some plants that are not doing so well and put them in there to ensure they'll survive the winter.

In other news...dropped one of my classes (landscape drawing) and have replaced it with four seasons food production, which is essentially how to grow crops and prepare vegetable beds. The design class was just way more than what I want to get into. I'm more the type of person that can visualize in my head anyway, and make a quick sketch on a notepad. Also, the herbaceous perennials class was dropped due to not enough people signing up for it, so I enrolled in Greenhouse Crop Production as a substitute. This is really looking to be quite a fun semester. I wish I had been able to do a bit more landscaping this summer, but I'm grateful for the opportunities I did get. Hurry up spring, come again soon!

Taking a stab at propagation

Decided to get a head start on some propagation last week, after taking a look at my plant propagation textbook for one of my horticulture classes. Took a cutting from my Endless Summer hydrangea, about 4" long, removed the lower leaves, dipped the base in Rootone, and stuck it in a pot of quick-draining, lightweight potting mix, and then covered the pot with a clear plastic sheet held up by coat hangers taped to the side. Have been keeping it misted all week, and have it in the shade out of direct sunlight. So far so good, only very slight browning of part of the edges of the two leaves I left on the stem. My second propagation project is some Rose of Sharon (hibiscus syriacus) seeds I collected and put in another pot of lightweight potting soil mix. Set it out in the sun and keep it pretty moist. The few Rose of Sharon shrubs I have are have been growing with little help even in this intense heat and lack of rainfall, so I have no doubts that the seeds will germinate shortly and start growing. The question will be how to overwinter it, as its already started to get cool. Found some neat greenhouse kits on Home Depot's website and am considering getting one, to keep cuttings and seeds going through the fall and winter for next spring.

Will post again later about the cutting and the seeds when I see some more progress.

Nothing new, looking ahead

Not much new to report from the garden...just doing a lot of deadheading right now, seeing if I can get some more blooming before the weather turns cool and the plants go into dormancy. The hibiscus syriacus I got from my neighbor seem to have gotten adjusted and are looking good. I can see new leaves poking out, and they aren't wilting as much as they did two weeks ago. Note to self: patience pays off.

Other than that, just looking at what I'd like to replace, and considering taking some cuttings and doing some divisions to overwinter for next spring. Some plants, I've discovered, need to be divided to maintain their vigor and stimulate the roots. Such is the case with our rudbeckia (Black eyed susans) which are blooming but are only half as tall as they were last year, and are looking rather sad. Same story with the shasta daisies. Some plants that have just barely been hanging in there I'll probably dig up next spring and put in pots, give to some friends and replace with more drought and heat tolerant shrubs. Had a thought earlier today about perhaps a dwarf crape myrtle with some knockout roses around it. Anyway, this summer has just whizzed by. I never feel like I have enough time to enjoy what I planted back in the spring, always want a few more months to take it all in. But that's the way it goes. Gives me something to look forward to at any rate.

Latest undertakings

A few pics from my latest undertakings out in the garden. The first one is of a paulownia tree (also called Empress tree) that is very weedy in the south. The neighbors behind us had one growing amongst a forest of Rose of Sharon saplings. They invited me over to dig up and take home some of their rose of sharons. This is not the best time of year to be planting or moving flowers and shrubs, but I couldn't pass up the offer for more of my favorite shrub. I bought some tree and shrub soil, wet the ground with the soaker hose, and planted three of them at the end of the driveway. Watered them good and cut back about a foot or two from each one, to help them focus more on root development. Lastly, I sprinkled some Espoma Triple Phospate around the base for additional help with rooting. Today, the leaves were still a little droopy, but I don't worry too much. Rose of Sharons are traditionally very hardy and tough and adapt to whatever soil they're planted in. The other two I put in next to the first one I bought, back in the corner of our garden. The original one I brought home finally bloomed again!


Also, I'm beginning to pick up some landscaping work of my own, apart from the work I do for Francis Services. A friend from church has a yard that slopes down into a drainage ditch, and the erosion is pretty bad. He wants to put up a fence, and put in a bed with crape myrtles and slow shrubs and flowers around those. A neighbor across the street has a patch at the end of her driveway that flows around to her front porch that has a few seedums, boxwoods, and a number of other small plants, and a lot of bare space that could be filled in nicely. So I drew up a plan for her and will be working on that as well. All in all, a very fulfilling and productive summer so far. Good thing about living in the South is that it really doesn't start getting cold until mid-October, so there's still lots of time to enjoy those blooms!

Deck the dirt with shrubs of holly, fa la la la la

On a trip to Home Depot the other day for unrelated business, I made a quick run through the garden center, to see if anything was on sale for the fall yet. Among all the plants and shrubs begging me to take them home were some dwarf Burford hollies on sale for $10. Exactly what I had been looking for to screen the foundation that had been exposed when we took out a diseased boxwood several years ago. The hollies were in great shape, and the sale was just too good to pass up. Brought three of them home and planted them to the left of our front porch, under the living room windows. It was tough work...had to contend with very hard clay soil. But I had also bought some tree & shrub planting mix, and threw in some Holly Tone, to improve the soil.





The dwarf Burford holly, despite the 'dwarf' in it's name, can reach 10 feet high and 6 feet wide. But they take pruning well and most people are able to keep them at a more managable 5 or 6 feet. Once established, dwarf Burford hollies are tough shrubs that can tolerate poor soil, heat, drought, and the cold. In winter, these hollies put out massive clumps of red berries.

Crape Myrtles for small spaces

If you've always wanted a crape myrtle, but don't have the space for one in tree form, you're in luck. There are two options for having a small to medium sized crape myrtle bush. You can either buy a regular crape myrtle, one that is still only 4-5 feet high, and keep the two or three largest stems/trunks pruned down to the ground, then let more little stems grow up from the base. This will prevent it from growing the large trunks that allow it to become a full sized tree. Your second option, particularly if you are really tight on space, is to buy one of the new "Razzle Dazzle" series that was recently introduced. Razzle Dazzle crape myrtles are "mini-shrubs" that only get about 3-4 feet high, and 4 feet wide, with a nice rounded shape. The leaves and foliage still look like what you would find on regular crape myrtles, but smaller. And, just like their tree-form siblings, this new cultivar comes in several shades of pink, red, and white.

Growing these crape myrtles is easy. Like most other shrubs and flowering plants, it needs well-drained rich soil in full sun. Once it is established (usually after the first year) it is fairly drought tolerant. Deadhead to keep it blooming into early fall.

Rose blooms

Some pics from two new blooms on my Knockout roses. Since I planted them back in early June, they've grown at least half a foot...and with very little pampering. I highly recommend this type of rose for anyone who doesn't have a green thumb or have the time to keep up with spraying for black spot or aphids, neither of which seem to affect the Knockout rose.

Ideas for next spring

After taking a look at a few things that haven't worked out so well in the garden this summer, I can't help but think ahead to next spring and ponder the possibilities. I know for sure I'll be getting rid of the foxglove. It is a biennial and dies after it finishes blooming and throws down its seeds. Even though new ones start growing almost immediately, the old plant looks too ugly once it starts it's decline; it wrinkles and turns brown. I'd like to replace it with some kind of hardy hibiscus, perhaps the "Lord Baltimore" variety, to complement the Rose of Sharon and Chinese hibiscus I already have in that corner. I really believe that God designed hibiscus to be the "grand finale" of the garden. It blooms late in summer, as most other annuals and perennials are finishing up, and then continues until first frost. On certain types of hibiscus, the flowers are as large as dinner plates, reaching a full foot in diameter.



Next, I would fill in the empty space to the left of our front porch (under the living room windows) with three "Chuck Hayes" hardy gardenias. This size is perfect (4-5 feet), and the white flowers that smell heavenly contrast beautifully with the dark green, glossy evergreen foliage. The last house I was doing some landscaping work at had two big gardenias in the back, and I could smell the flowers from the front yard. What a great way to hide the foundation!

Finished product

Pics of the butterfly bush I just put in to replace the boxwoods. With the boxwood gone and these nice bushes in place, I feel good about calling it quits for the year, in terms of planting.

Goodbye boxwoods!

Yesterday I took out two huge boxwoods along the side fence of our yard, that have been there since we moved here in '95. I never really liked them that much. They acted as a good screen for privacy, but otherwise didn't contribute much towards the look of the garden. Plus, it collected a messy pile of leaves under it, that would blow all over the yard. So I cut them town and pulled up the roots, and now there is a lot of space to replace the boxwoods with something a little more exciting. Current thought is maybe two more Butterfly bushes:

Butterfly bush is one of my favorites. It's very easy to grow (requires practically no watering after it's first year), can be pruned to shape it to your liking, and the columns of pink and purple blooms attract bees and butterflys like crazy. Additionally, like gardenia, the flowers have a very pleasant scent. Buddleia tolerates even prolonged heat and drought without wilting. It's one tough shrub and flowers continuously (with deadheading) from mid-summer through fall. They generally grow from anywhere between 5 and 7 feet tall, about 5-6 feet wide. But like I said, they take heavy pruning well.

The other option is perhaps two or three more Rose-of-Sharon hibiscus. I already have one further back in the garden, that is about 3 feet tall right now and just starting to put out new buds.
Rose of Sharon grow into a tower of beautiful maple-shaped leaves and profuse pink, purple, white, or blue hibiscus-like flowers that bloom from mid-late summer all the way to first frost. Once they are established, they thrive with little care or attention. They'll get about 10-11 feet tall and about 6 feet wide. What I love about butterfly bush and Rose of Sharon is that they start their show while the rest of the garden is finishing up, so you have more blooms to enjoy into the fall.

Changing the color of hydrangeas

Here is an interesting article on how to change the color of the blooms on a hydrangea, from pink to blue, and vice versa.

http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/colorchange.html

If your hydrangea is planted in acidic soil (lower pH), the blooms will be blue. If it's in alkaline soil (higher pH), the blooms will be pink. In some cases, from the hydrangeas I've seen around the neighborhood, a plant will have blooms that have a mix of pink, purple, and blue on the same flower head, like a tye-dye effect. Enjoy!

Bloomin squash!

A friend of my mom's gave her a container yellow squash about two months ago, not knowing at the time that it was in fact yellow squash. After doing a search of the web, I first thought it was some kind of melon or cantaloupe, based on the appearance and habit of the foliage and flowers. Upon closer inspection, as the weeks went by, it began growing small yellow tubes behind the flowers, and then I realized it was squash. It was our first venture in vegetables beyond our annual tomato plants. We moved the pot into more sun, and watered it every other day. Soon it started overflowing out of the pot, so we dug a hole and put the pot in the ground, mounding some dirt up around it. The plant exploded in size and was putting out buds and flowers like crazy, even without fertilizer! Then I noticed the squash buds starting to rot and shrink. So I got on the web and did some research, finding numerous theories and explanations that ranged from not enough calcium in the soil, to the flowers not getting pollinated by bees. In the meantime, I decided to try giving it more water, to keep the soil constantly moist. Sure enough, it did the trick and the squashes have been growing bigger, as evidenced in the pictures below.

Two new favorites

Over this past week, I've added some hydrangea and hibiscus to the garden. Both are becoming my favorites of all the plants I have back there. The blooms are breathtaking to say the least. The hydrangea is "Endless Summer" which supposedly will continue to bloom until fall. I might sprinkle a bit of lime around it and see if the blooms turn pink, just for fun. The hibiscus in the second picture I brought home from Kroger. Excessive water on the leaves from the overhead sprinkler had caused it to drop almost all of its foliage, but I figured I would try and turn it around. A month later, and it leafed out again and put out beautiful hot pink blooms. The last pic is a Rose of Sharon hibiscus. I've always had a thing for tall flowering shrubs like rose of sharon, camellia, hollyhock, etc.