Pottery

I've been inspired by Jodi and others to add colorful pots and various and sundry things to my garden. I spied these at a not-so-local nursery an hour away and fell in love with them. I did not buy them due to their cost, but loved the idea of them.

Color is so important, but I find myself oddly at a loss when planning and planting for color. It seems to be a deep-seeded fear of "letting go," of "letting things take their course," or giving up control. What is it? Does anyone else have this phobia? My gardening direction seems to be in giving back to nature, putting in native plants but few cultivars. Zero or very little cute garden items, or colors in pots or blooms, seem to bloom in my beds. What does this mean? Am I dense, or frightened, or caught up in some old drama I cannot exorcise?

More importantly, what is the cure? I'm not one to wax on about these things, but the more I read other's blogs and see other's "throwing caution into the winds" in order to create a profusion of colorful chaos all I think about seems to be "LOVELY, but in ____ months there'll be h*ll to pay!"

Laziness, or phobia? Hm. Pondering.....................

The Constancy of Change

The Sentry has moved on even though the Starlings were dispatched with haste. I miss their raucous cries and flashy nature. I was heavily invested in the RHW as you know, witnessing The Sentry fashioning her nest hole with great care for months, find a mate, and begin setting up house.

What makes a RHW work for months on a nest cavity, defend it from squirrels and bluejays and all manner of beasties only to be chased away by birds half their size? It wasn't in the cards for me to witness baby red-headed woodpeckers this year, sadly.

The nest cavity has been vacant for weeks now. The RHW's do visit from time to time. They never go inside, but perch close by and watch. Nevertheless, they obviously had to nest elsewhere as Mrs. RHW was getting fat.

I've been so sad about it all. However, recently we witnessed a new development. A pair of birds began not only investigating the nest cavity, but filling it will all manner of flotsam and jetsam. I wasn't familiar with the bird, but it is beautiful. Bright yellow breast with cinnamon tail and feathering. Slightly smaller than a jay, larger than a cardinal, sort of robin-sized. High in the tree canopy. My first thought was a flycatcher, and I nailed it. Please welcome the Great Crested Flycatcher. The only flycatcher that nests in cavities, but is native and lovely. Check 'em out on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Great_Crested_Flycatcher.html

I'm no longer hopeful about watching nests, but perhaps these guys will stick around. They are more elusive than the RHW's, but this morning having coffee on the deck I saw Mrs. GCF fly inside the hole and she stayed there. I'm hoping they'll be here for awhile.

The sign on the door reads...

Three years of drought and no real spring and injuries and no gardening all came to a screeching halt several weeks ago. We have had the most glorious, perfect, exhilarating Spring we've seen in a long, long, long time. Folks, I had to go out and garden! I've hauled rocks for new borders, I've planted roses, lantana, geraniums, tomatoes and herbs. We've cleared the bank and are preparing it for the native azaleas. I've weeded and mulched and pruned and created paths. Every day I hit the garden before dawn and worked most of the day. I simply could not sit down in front of a computer - it was not possible!

Today, it is raining so I have to stay inside and do indoor stuff....hence my first post in weeks. I've taken a few shots and will take many more in days to come.

My front porch with the ferns, coleus and geraniums and sedums and dwarf alberta spruces, fresh mulch, new rocks. Time to pressure wash the ole' sidewalk, I see.

I love the way the sweetspires cascade over the sidewalk. These long white blooming tassels attract all manner of butterflies, especially the Red-Spotted Purple swallowtails which I've not seen yet but watch for them with great anticipation.

This is one of two baby Rainbow Knock-Out Roses. They bloomed on the second day after planting and have bloomed every day since! These will be exquisite when they're fully grown. This particular rose will only get up to 4' high and wide, is completely resistant to black spot, mildew and rust. How perfect is that?

My guilty pleasure - sedums. I blew too much money early this spring on sedums simply because I love them. The kind of cabbagy looking plant in the tall blue pot is called "Hobbit's Foot," which is all I had to read - that was going in my yard in some capacity. The green pot upper left is a Silky Dogwood received for free from TVA upon attending a seminar on riparian zones. That will go on my bank along with the native azaleas. Most of the rocks I'm still in the process of placing came from a bank next to Wheeler Dam and are filled with all manner of fossils.

These are Virginia Sweetspire "Henry's Garnet." They are indigenous, sporting chartreuse leaves and white tassel blooms in spring. The word "garnet" comes into play during the winter, as the leaves shed to expose these amazing reddish-purple/burgundy stems. They turn 5 years old this year, and this is the prettiest they've ever been. They are literally stopping traffic. If I'm outside people ask what they are. Why they're not planted more I'm not sure. They do tend to colonize, so I'm constantly uprooting new shoots, but they root easily and I sell them in the Master Gardener annual plant sale. And give to friends! They're great on our banks.

Just so you all know that I'm still alive. In fact, I'm more alive than ever and outside playing in the dirt! (excuse me..."soil," for all you master gardeners out there - LOL!)

Beauty in Small Things

The Huntsville Botanical Garden has designed a new trillium garden, complete with a trillium propogation center. They have created an area strictly for trilliums nestled deep within their woodland nature area. Stumbling upon it was a delight. A few were blooming, so I'm sharing them with you all.

The trilliums of my childhood were the common woodland variety. I confess that though I love them I'm not up-to-speed on identification. Naturally, I Googled "trillium" and found a plethora of information and a gazillion photos which served only to confuse while at the same time making me giddy with all the varieties out there.

I can share some discovered facts: "Since Trilliums may take years to produce seeds and they can not survive exposure to full sunlight and so are killed by clear cutting, plus the fact that they were harvested for medical uses by Native Americans and white herbalist alike, it is a wonder that any of the plants survive. While many species are quite rare others are fairly common in rich woods that have never been cleared. Deer will sometimes browse the leaves leaving a stand of stems." (www.2bnthewild.com/plants/H37.htm)

Their subtle beauty is the appeal to me. Subtle shades of green on meaty textured leaves, with glorious spikes of rust, yellow, white and reds...even some pinks. They practically beg you to get down on their level, as some of the blossoms occur underneath their leaves. Mass plantings of these will stop a passerby in their tracks.

Some identification was possible. Above is a Yellow Wakerobin, which can reach 12" in height. I LOVE that name "Wakerobin!"

The above is a Trailing Wakerobin, which hugs the ground not rising above the earth more than 4".

Trilliums grow slowly. According to several sites, many trillium species are on the endangered list due to overpopulation of deer, which love grazing on their leaves. I read that it can take up to 20 years for a trillium plant to get established and bloom. Thank you, Huntsville Botanical Garden and other organizations and sites for helping preserve these precious flowers.

Huntsville Botanical Garden

Ancient Dogwood

I took my daughter to the Huntsville Botanical Garden to see the ancient dogwood bloom earlier this month. At the perfect stage of bloom, with leaves not yet showing, the dogwood was a show-stopper for everyone who witnessed her glory. People were sitting in the grass just gazing in its direction as she stood tall and bright in the sun like some goddess.





To get there, one walks along a pathway through a long green that's lined with trees and flowers. Turn left past the Aquatic Garden and there she is. However, her blazing white canopy is clearly visible long before you arrive. The sight that greets you above is her western side.


However, the prize to me is the eastern side where the massive trunk and branches peek through in grand silhouette. Walking up and ducking inside, you enter into a completely different world. The sunlight filters through huge white blossoms and dapples the ground, branches and trunk like a fairyland. All sounds are muffled, muted. Lying down beneath her and looking up is spiritual to me - I could stay there forever.


However, others want to do the same thing so I must share her with the masses. Her branches are so thick and heavy they touch the ground in places, and stretch out very much like Live Oak branches.

A view of the ancient dogwood and a distant pink dogwood through the Aquatic Garden.

A pretty garden bench surrounded by tulips and yellow flowers.

The Aquatic Garden

The Summer House
(this is where I was married)

The Garden is my all-time favorite spot. I may say that about a lot of destinations, but this one is good for my soul. Walking through the kaleidoscope of color, smelling the heady fragrances, touching textured blossoms and leaves, sitting by the fountains letting the wind carry the spray in your face, hearing the laughing children among the buzzing of bees and birdsong and wind in the trees is healing, spiritual, zen.