Month: May 2024

More Beheadings Overnight

| Flower Roberts

I admit it. I cried. The herd is one step ahead of me. The Easter Lily buds were eaten along with Strutter’s Ball buds and even one Tiger Lily.


I will show you my “Moving Rings” method of protection. This requires proper timing. Too late is too late.

In early spring the rings are low. To protect the tender new shoots as they emerge. Deer do not like putting their head inside a ring.

As the bloom stalks rise, the ring must rise higher. I place a stake against the ring and hang it around the buds.



A lot of trouble you say? Yes it is. I was here before the deer. I would never have knowingly planted a “Deer Delicatesan” had I been aware of their presence.

I will be moving my favorites, like Nutmeg Spice (below) into the safety of the bunny yard without bunnies.

Nutmeg Spice

Poles and rings are everywhere. Not the scene I had envisioned. Ghetto Gardening is my name for it. I am not too proud to use junk to save my treasures.

We must all adapt as changes come.

FLOW

P.S. Local gardeners: I have been trying to hire a garden concierge to help care for my gardens. Hip surgery may be in my future.

If you know of a young, energetic, quick learner, please show them this blog.

That Fuzzy Face

| Flower Roberts

This Verbascum is dreamy. I want to make its blooms into jewelry and wear them.

It is not just the colors that get me, although I find the dusty plum and creamy peach delicious.

Its the little, fuzzy faces that make me want to wear it. Like a delicate corsage close to my face or in my hair.

When I spied this plant in a pot I grabbed it up and did not let go. Sometimes you just know!

FLOW

Leaving the Garden

| Flower Roberts

Next week I will be leaving the garden again. It is much like leaving pets. I circle the yard thinking of the future.
Will this pot be too small by next week? Will this stem need a stake as it grows? Will there be rain?
The deer have all ready be-headed a daylily I failed to fence in. Some roses have black spot. Many amaryllis bulbs have not bloomed.


Which brought me to this morning’s epiphany.

I caught myself saying, “They are too tired to bloom.”

I am too tired to bloom, too.

My garden has good bones. My plants have been planted and cared for properly. It must survive my absence while I rest and recharge.

I trust my work to endure.

FLOWER

The First Monarch

| Flower Roberts

I watch every spring for the first Monarch. I know they will come. I have prepared a place for them.

I have scattered Butterfly Weed/Asclepias among the weeds on the bank across the drive, where the wild and hybrids battle for space.

I can always find wildlife among the weeds. This is where I belong really, in the unkempt zone of life.

Where life does its thing without boundaries; no judgement, no primping, no pruning.

Just growing under the sun with the wild ones.

FLOW

Rose’s Lilies

| Flower Roberts

My daughter, Rose, loves Asiatic lilies.

Her garden contains only lilies and roses.

She waits for them to bloom and tiptoes out in her bare feet to photograph them.

She loves her small garden full of her favorite flowers.

I love my Rose.

FLOWER/Seizure Mama

A Gorgeous Menace

| Flower Roberts

I fell in love with Fallopia’s variegated leaves. The white splotches on bright green were irresistible. I put it in a featured location so I could see it from all angles.

The red twigs, with bright white and green are gorgeous in any light. I loved its tiny, white, aromatic blooms covered in bees during June.

Fallopia japonica ‘Variegata’ /Japanese Knotweed/ DO NOT PLANT

I did not know I had allowed in a menace for several years. The first problem was the Japanese Beetles. They prefer these leaves to any other plant in my garden. I do not like to provide food for pest, as you know. So each summer when the beetles arrived I simply chopped down the stems and burned them.

But the something else occurred. I kept finding those beloved leaves in miniature away from the parent plant. Further and further away. I put the parent plant in a pot and buried it. This has slowed down the appearance of escapees.

If you look up Fallopia japonica ‘Variegata’/Japanese Knotweed. You will see it is a menace in the south. A gorgeous menace.

FLOW didn’t know!

Sly Foxgloves

| Flower Roberts

Digitalis purpurea is one species of plant that is unpredictable. It changes location and form. Just when you think it is in the right place in a border, it moves or changes height or color. Then you have tall plants in the front and short plants in back.

Where you planted a soothing white ends up hot pink with spots. I will not complain simply because I love them any where they show up no matter the height and color.

I did count on a white version called Dalmation to brighten a shady spot, but pink has been just as nice.

The blooms are magical to me. The ones with the pointed bottom lips remind me of elf hats and the ruffled blooms look like fairy bonnets.

It is one plant I intend to have in my garden forever. Shifty and sly as they are, they are still one of my favorite flowers.

FLOW

An Arboretum in North Carolina

| Flower Roberts

If I could stop time, I would have done it on Saturday. I was with my husband and two children in the midst of 8,000 different plants. This is where I belong. I was among the familiar faces of many of my green friends. Every turn of the paths was a new discovery of delight.

We visited J.C.Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, North Carolina which has an amazing collection of plants. I wish I had been more able to focus on the flowers, but was distracted by a bride and dozens of beautiful young folks in prom attire. They were like human flowers moving through the gardens in their colorful and sparkling garments.

I have a habit of photographing the plant and then a close-up of its markers. I will pair up the photos and names of some of my favorites. You may want to click on the markers to enlarge them.

Attention Local Friends. I have two Century Plants that produce pups each year. You can adopt one.

Here are some I that I found unusual.

This is a giant version of a Bee Hotel that was lovely.

Random flowers in good light.

I am always interested in garden art. Here are some concrete leaves that add interest.

I loved this lady in blue. She reminds me of the lady sitting among the flowers in Blowing Rock.

What a perfect day!

FLOW

FOR MORE INFORMATION visit jcra.ncsu.edu

Using the Rain

| Flower Roberts

It is raining again for the third day in a row. The gardens are much too wet to be in them.  Everything is green and thriving, including the weeds.

I use cardboard as a weedblock under mulch. I prep it by removing all tape and labels. Then I season it in the rain so that it is less stiff and more rough to adhere to the soil below and mulch above, especially on hills. This cardboard block lasts a year or more before it decays.

I also have various containers to catch rain for house plants and potted plants. I cover these to keep out oak chains, leaves or curious lizards.

The rain is doing its work while I am dry inside.

FLOW