April Blooms in My Georgia Garden: Week 2

Piedmont Azalea

Piedmont Azalea, Rhododendron cansescens, is a native azalea found in the Piedmont region of Alabama and Georgia. This plant has many common names. Piedmont means "foot of the mountain" which is where this native azalea is usually found. Hoary or Wooly Azalea is another common name, coming from the hairs in the tubes of the flowers. Sweet Mountain Azalea has to be because of the sweet fragrance of the blooms on this azalea that enjoys growing in the mountains. This shrub is often called Wild or Bush Honeysuckle, because the blooms look and smell like those of the honeysuckle vine. There are a few other common names which I cannot understand. But this is one plant that belongs in your garden.

Florida Flame Azalea

Blooms on the Florida Flame Azalea, Rhododendron austrinum, can be just as varied as those of the Piedmont Azalea. Flowers on the Florida Flame Azalea, as the common name suggests, are the colors of a flame and can be anywhere from pure yellow to pure orange, or anywhere in between. This one has flowers that are reddish orange and yellow. Florida Flame Azalea lights up the garden when in bloom. Although the native azaleas naturally occur in the shade of a woodland, Florida Flame azalea will bloom much more profusely when grown in full sun. By the way, although as its name implies, Florida Flame is native to the state of Florida, but you might not ever see it growing wild there. This deciduous Azalea is rare and endangered, so purchase it from a native plant nursery.

Lonicera sempervirens John Clayton

Our John Clayton Honeysuckle, a named cultivar of the native wild honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, is showing out early too--ahead of the species known as Coral or Red Trumpet Honeysuckle.  The native honeysuckle is just as easy to grow as Japanese Honeysuckle, but it is not invasive, and this vine will not plant itself all over your whole neighborhood.

Viburnum Korean Spice

Viburnum carlesii Korean Spice blooms are beautiful--round flower clusters in the snowball arrangement consist of pink buds that open into white flowers with a yellow center. I wish computers had a "scratch and sniff" feature, because the Korean Spice Viburnum has a wonderful fragrance.  Like most viburnums, Korean Spice will grow very large over time, up to about 6 feet tall and just as wide. It is lovely at the back of the flowerbed or in a mixed shrub border. In Fall, the foliage turns a brilliant red and bright red berries develop. Here in Georgia, give this shrub partial sun, and it will grow very well for you.

Memorial Garden: My Ideas to Honor my own Mother

After the passing of my mother last year, a friend brought me a gift of a lovely garden bench with the suggestion that I start on a memorial garden in honor of my dear sweet Mother.

Mama's sudden death was very painful for me, so it took awhile to be able to bring myself to begin the project. Each time I would think on it, memories would overtake me and I'd be unable to get started toward any real progress. I'm a thinker, a ponderer, a daydreamer. When I begin a new garden area, I spend lots and lots of time just thinking, as I wander around in the garden.

It took a long while to pick the spot for this memorial garden. Recent years of drought kept reminding me of how many plants I have lost over the years because I could not keep them watered enough. I knew I had to choose a spot that could be reached with the hose.

Once I picked my spot, I began to consider plants I wanted to include in my memory garden. Since most available garden space here is in the shade, I would need shade plants. Certainly, I wanted plants that would live and flourish. I wanted plants that would be beautiful in every season. Plants that would provide privacy would also be best, as my intention was to end up with a secluded spot to sit and remember my Mother. And finally, I wanted to include some of her favorite plants and her favorite colors. This would prove to take a lot of time and planning. I wanted shrubs that would grow large over time and fairly quickly. They would need to be thick shrubs that would offer seclusion and screening. Perhaps I might want to hide in there some day to be alone with my thoughts.

I tried to make the area large enough to include a spot for the garden bench I mentioned, as well as a birdbath or some type of statuary which I might want to add later. I ended up lining out a rectangle about 10 feet by 15 feet.

Red Knockout Roses 

Initially I planned on having only white blooms, which is most often used in memorial gardens, meditation gardens, and prayer gardens. But since I needed plants that are dependable, I began with Knockout Roses and Ruby Loropetalum.

Loropetalum Ruby

I placed the evergreens in the foreground for privacy. The roses and loropetalum were planted on the corner of the spot that will receive a good bit of sun. I knew I could depend on them to at least double in size the first year. (Yes, that's right...our climate does that to Knockout Roses and Loropetalum.) 

At the back of the garden, I placed some larger specimens: Mock Orange,

Mock Orange, Philadelphus coronarius

and two types of Doublefile Viburnum, Shasta and Mareisii.

Viburnum Shasta

Although they are not evergreen, they leaf out very early in Spring and will have lush, thick, green foliage until frost. There will be plenty of privacy when weather would permit my sitting out there for any length of time. 

To finish my enclosure, I planted  a few more evergreens.

Banana Shrub, Michelia figo

Leucothoe axillaris

Viburnum Sandankwa

This project will be ongoing. Mama loved hydrangeas, so several types will certainly be included. They will be protected and accentuated by the evergreens.

I will post pictures of the finished project once the shrubs have grown.

Invasive Plant Alternatives #3: Shrubs with Colorful Fall Foliage

As written in my previous posts, many popular landscape plants seem harmless, yet they are actually invasive plants that move quickly into the surrounding areas to crowd out native plant species. Once established, these plants are capable of strangling trees and covering up native plant species on which many of our beneficial insects and wild animals depend for their survival. This change to our environment could drastically alter our eco-system.

In this third installment of my 3 part series on Invasive Plant Alternatives, I intend to share with you my suggestions for a fall color garden using some lesser known native plants instead of invasive shrubs and trees.

Most of the invasive species sold and planted have a native counterpart that is much more desirable in both appearance and behavior!

Chinese Tallow Tree, or sometimes called the Popcorn Tree, (see photo above) is prized for its fall color, but is one of the worst invaders into our forests because of the rapidly dispersed seed. Although Chinese Tallow is a lovely tree, consider these alternatives which are much better for the Southern garden:

Fothergilla – a native American tree/small shrub that is beautiful in all seasons. Showy and sweetly scented, white bottlebrush flowers in spring, and excellent fall foliage in shades of orange, red, and burgundy.

Sassafras – a native small tree with beautiful fall color and large unusually-shaped leaves. It is easy to grow and tolerant of a variety of growing conditions.

Serviceberry – another native tree noted for its spring flowers and fall color with the addition of beautiful berries which are food for the birds.

Viburnum – there are many varieties, both native and non-native, that are lovely. All Viburnums have beautiful, showy blooms and many also develop berries in shades of white, blue, pink, and red that provide wildlife food. Some viburnums are evergreen, and deciduous varieties develop beautiful fall foliage. Viburnum is never invasive!

And finally, Sourwood cannot be beat in my opinion. It’s my favorite native tree, because after showing off in early summer with fragrant blooms that look and smell like Lily of the Vally, Sourwood develops beautiful maroon foliage that brightens up the Fall garden.

I hope you will consider some of these suggestions, and instead of invasive exotic shrubs and trees, incorporate some of these beautiful natives into your landscape. Thus you will be helping to preserve our environment as it is, for our wildlife neighbors and for our children.

Invasive Plant Alternatives #1: Evergreen Shrubs

Many popular landscape plants seem harmless, but they are actually invasive plants which move quickly into the surrounding areas to crowd out native plant species. Once established, these plants are capable of strangling trees and covering up native plant species on which many of our beneficial insects and wild animals depend for their survival. This change to our environment could drastically alter our eco-system.

Most of these popular invasive species have a native counterpart that is much more desirable in both appearance and behavior.

Privet, or Ligustrum, is a highly invasive species found growing all over the South. Once it moves into an area, privet is very difficult to eradicate. It seems this problem will never go away, since to my surprise it is still sold in big box garden centers and planted in enormous proportions by landscapers and home owners everywhere. It can be found in almost every landscape. Once one person plants it, it will eventually be all over the neighborhood, since birds eat the small dark berries (see photo shown below) and drop seeds anywhere they deposit their droppings.

Privet Berries are eaten by birds, therefore privet seeds
are deposited in bird droppings all over the neighborhood.

In my opinion, privet is not even pretty, and I don’t know why people plant it, unless it’s because it’s evergreen. Our property is surrounded by thickets full of privet which, since it is not our land, we can do nothing to eliminate. And believe me, when it blooms, it really wreaks havoc on my sinuses and I keep a migraine until the blooms fade, because I cannot escape the strong fragrance permeating our entire garden.

There are certainly many superior alternatives to this pest. I could go on and on with a list, but any fine, textured evergreen would be better than privet. Here are just a few suggestions, all evergreen, some of which also have beautiful flowers or bright berries for the birds to eat:

• Boxwood is much slower-growing, making it far superior to privet, since privet must be pruned every few weeks to keep it tidy. Boxwood is also available in dwarf sizes and variegated forms, making it absolutely unnecessary to ever plant any variety of privet.
• Hollies are excellent in any garden. Dark green glossy leaves in a variety of textures with beautiful berries in shades of yellow, orange, or red provide plenty of interest. Dwarf yaupon holly is a native holly with small leaves giving a fine-textured appearance similar to privet, but without the maintenance.  When choosing holly for the garden, the possibilities are endless. 
• Yew is a lovely evergreen plant that is available in a variety of forms: upright, conical, or spreading. (Also, deer will not eat it--Yay!)
• Viburnum is available in small-leaved evergreen varieties such as Davidii, Compactum, or Sandankwa as well as some deciduous species with bright fall foliage color. Many varieties have hydrangea-type bloom clusters and some put on a bright display of beautiful berries in the Fall. 
• Itea, Virginia Sweetspire, is a lovely shrub available in large or dwarf-growing sizes. Sweetspire has fragrant bottlebrush blooms in spring and one of the showest fall color displays of any shrub, native or not!

Itea virginica Henry's Garnet
Shady Gardens Nursery

I hope you will consider some of these suggestions, and plant shrubs that are not invasive instead of invasive exotics. Thus you will be helping to preserve our environment as it is, for our wildlife neighbors and for our children.