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| Camellia Lady Vansittart |
March is almost over, and the Camellias are still blooming. With this old-fashioned Southern favorite, one can have blooms in the garden from Fall all the way to Spring. Camellia Lady Vansittart has been blooming for more than a month in front of my home with Northwestern exposure. Yesterday I noticed red double blooms remaining on a couple of large camellias that came to me with no label many years ago.
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| Japanese Quince Toyo-ishiki |
Flowering Quince is one of my favorite shrubs for the late winter garden. Texas Scarlet began blooming a few weeks ago with its bright red blooms. Toyo-nishika is an eyecatching shrub with blooms of white, pink, orange, and red all on the very same plant. All I can say is "Wow!"
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| Loropetalum Zhuzhou |
Loropetalum never ceases to amaze me. Loropetalum is a Chinese Fringe Shrub that blooms several times throughout the year. Also known as Chinese Witch Hazel, you can see the similarity in bloom to our native Witch Hazel. Often here in Georgia, just as the shrubs get ready for their first (very early) Spring bloom, a late freeze will turn the buds brown before we can enjoy them. Loropetalum shrubs don't give up though and will form more blooms to try again just a little later. This has been a great year for the Loropetalum. Every one we have is just covered with brilliant hot pink blooms! There's a white-blooming Chinese Fringe shrub too.
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| White Chinese Fringe Bush |
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| Native Redbud |
Redbud is one of my favorite native trees. The largest one I have planted itself right in the middle of the path to the arbor next to my greenhouse. Of course, I did what any native plant freak would have done, and I moved the path, not the tree. That little seedling has grown several feet tall in just a few years. I knew she'd be thankful to me for not disturbing her.
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| Crabapple |
The Crabapple Trees I have were bought several years ago from a nurseryman who is no longer living. I don't remember the cultivar, but the leaves are purple and the blooms are hot pink. In fall, small red apples develop, but the birds and squirrels quickly devour every one of them.
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| Creeping Phlox |
Creeping Phlox is absolutely gorgeous on a slope or spilling over a rock wall. I have tried growing this tough little groundcover to spill over the brick retaining wall beside our driveway. But these pesky chickens (whom I love very much) won't let me have anything planted there. So far they've destroyed creeping phlox, loropetalum pixie, oregano, and ice plant in that spot. I have managed to keep some Lamb's Ear there by surrounding it with rocks. Wish me luck on that. But if you don't have free-range chickens roaming around in your garden scratching up your plants, Creeping Phlox will thrive for you, wherever you plant it. There's a fragrance too!
Bridal Wreath Spirea is spectacular this year. This shrub is completely covered with pure white blossoms that look like tiny white roses. Spireas are surprisingly easy to grow. I don't think this one has ever received any water other than rainfall. It's growing in full sun on a bank in our roadside garden with clay soil as hard as a brick.
