Thursday, May 21, 2009

Shade Garden Updates

Although the bright morning sun has washed out the detail of the these white 'Candidum' Caladiums, in person they are stunning. As a bonus, they were planted last spring and have graced us with a second year of beauty. I think this little vignette has all the layers needed for interest. The trees overhead aren't visible in this shot but their canopy offers a nice "frame" for the scene. The shrubs, Firebush, Hamelia patens, are a serene backdrop for the statuary and annual plantings in the tiny circular bed. Around the time the caladiums melt in our summer heat, the Firebush grab the attention with their red and orange blooms. They love, love, love our heat!


I am excited to see that all the Yaupon Hollies, Ilex vomitoria, have bloomed heavily this spring. Planted in 2005, they are yet to produce one single red berry! Yaupon Hollies are dioecious, which means some bloom with male flowers and some bloom with female flowers. In other words, you need a male and a female in order to get berries. However, these were labeled 'Pride of Houston', which are supposed to be self-pollinating. One nurseryman, Al, suggested that I plant more Yaupons (I already have 5) - of any variety. So just upwind of these, there is now a border of 7 or 9 Dwarf Yaupons.

In the meantime, I am checking the plants for berries- and have found a few very tiny green ones where the flowers were. I'm holding my breath, but I have hope for red berries at Christmas time!

This is my "Lasagna Garden Bed" one year later. Even though it is the middle of the "Shade Garden", there is ample afternoon sun to grow a healthy crop of Cosmos. The bed is bordered with Dusty Miller, Senecio cenerario, which was planted last August. A couple of the plants didnt' survive the winter and their replacements haven't filled back in yet. Plus, I trimmed them all back by about 1/2 in April. Don't you love their silver color? Such a nice contrast to everything else. The everything else (whether you can see it or not) includes Cat's Whiskers, Orthosiphon aristatussome, some fat-fronded Ferns, and Coleus. All the hummingbirds are hanging out on this side of the house this year. I haven't come up with a plan for this area yet - so these free and nearly free items are serving me well.

4 comments:

Betsy said...

beautiful pics, Mary Beth! just love your "shade" garden! my shade garden is under about 6" of water right now but the rains of slowed and i'm sure everything will dry up quickly. thanks for sharing.

Jan said...

Your first photo is gorgeous. It reminds me of an area in a park. Your shade garden is coming along nicely. My hollies bloomed very well this year, too, but I am going to have to trim back a lot of the green berries, unfortunately.

Jan
Always Growing

Mary Beth said...

BETSY - I hope you're standing water is now gone - but it looks like you got rain ALL WEEKEND LONG. It's always too little or too much . . .

JAN - I feel for you having to trim off those green berries! But I often need to remind myself to see the big picture . . .

Anonymous said...

Here's hoping you get those berries.....finally! -Aud