Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel: drought and xeric

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February 8, 2014

Yes, The Deer Ate the Yucca

Deer damage. February 2014

Well, not the entire yucca. Not yet—and there's no sign of spring around here.

It's been a cold winter and food is scarce, so hungry deer seek out plants that aren't on the regular menu. The deer ignore the yucca from spring through fall. This is not the first winter when the yucca was ripped up, so I wasn't surprised. I should have put a cage around it, but I didn't. While the yucca is ragged, it will recover and bloom again this summer.

The victim here is yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' but the deer will nibble the tips on any variety of yucca. For photos of this particular yucca in full glory, refer to my past post "Rays of Sun, Leaves of Yellow." I love this yucca and am keeping it in the deer resistant garden. Not only is it an easy-keeper (ignore it except to protect it from deer in winter), it's a great evergreen companion to shrubs, annuals and perennials in my zone 7b garden.

So, gardeners beware—protect your prized yucca from deer in winter.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

May 30, 2013

Gravel Garden Versus Hardwood Mulch for Japanese Iris

A. Japanese iris. May 2013

B. Japanese iris. May 2013

Compare the two photos. Both clumps of iris are healthy and happy. But if you look at the companion plants, you'll guess which one is mulched with gravel and which is mulched with ground hardwood.

Iris "A" is planted between a hedge of rosemary and butterfly bushes in the sunny gravel garden. The gravel garden was installed in 2011 and I've not had to add additional gravel mulch around the iris. A little raking or leaf blowing is all that is required to keep the gravel garden looking tidy.

This spring has been cool, but even in the hot 2012 spring, the blooms were just as lovely. A month ago, I cut the clump in half to share with my son as it has grown so well in this location. The iris is planted in the dip that makes a dry stream, so in heavy rains, the runoff water is channeled here.

Iris "B" is planted with astilbe, flowering tobacco and bee balm in a part shade garden where I use ground hardwood mulch, replenished in the spring and fall each year. More work, not to mention purchasing the mulch. However, I'll never use gravel here because I think the hardwood looks better in this particular bed. A design choice.

The surprise is that I have never watered the iris (or any other plant after being established) in the gravel garden, but I have to water the hardwood mulched garden for each week without significant rain from spring through fall.

Iris "A" different view in gravel garden. May 2013

Bright morning sun on gravel garden iris. May 2013

February 22, 2013

The Orange Garden

It's not a secret. I'm not embarrassed by it. I have an orange section in the deer resistant garden—seldom mentioned on the blog because it's so darn difficult to photograph the plantings together as one unified design. When one bloom looks great, another is declining.

Orientation:

To the left of the plants in the photo below, is the red and white garden seen here. The yellow St John's Wort divides the two color themed gardens. Not because I planned it that way, but because I didn't want to move this glorious shrub. Bees literally bathe in the pollen of the St John's blooms. It self-sows minimally and I'm always scouting for seedlings to use in other sections of the deer resistant garden.

The orange garden is on the east side of the house, receiving full sun until very late in the evening during the summer. This garden is watered only when I'm establishing new plants. All plants are drought tolerant.

The plants are shown in order of bloom.

The orange garden early in the season. May 12, 2012.

Blanket flower (gaillardia). May 2012.

Blanket flower (gaillardia) is allowed to self-sow and can easily take over a section of the garden, so I thin and transplant seedlings. These plants are attractive to pollinators, so all the named varieties in my garden have crossed to the point that I cannot give you a specific name. If it's an orange blanket flower, I plant it here. Deer and rabbit resistant. Drought tolerant with a long bloom season. Zones 3-9.

Orange milkweed (asclepias) is a host for Monarch butterflies. May 2012.

Milkweed (asclepias 'Gay Butterflies' mix) is a host plant for Monarch butterflies. This patch of milkweed has been here since 2005 and continues to return and bloom each year. Deer and rabbit resistant and drought tolerant. Zones 3-9.

Coneflowers (echinacea 'Sundown') may be nibbled by both deer and rabbits. I've had great luck with minimal damage until late summer. These orange coneflowers tend to fade to the pink-purple color as the blooms age. I've transplanted these at least four times and they continue to perform. Drought tolerant and suitable for zones 4-9.

Orange coneflowers (echinacea). June 2012.

Bronze fennel behind coneflowers.

Bronze fennel (foeniculum vulgare 'purpureum') is a great swallowtail butterfly host plant, although praying mantis also love it—and they eat butterflies. I grow it for the foliage, too. If the deer don't deadhead the yellow blooms for you, do it yourself! Otherwise, it will self-sow everywhere. Drought tolerant. Zones 4-9.

Crocosmia spreads quickly and needs to be divided every few years when the corms push the plants out of the ground. I love the foliage as much as the blooms. Occasionally, a deer may nibble the blooms. Rabbits don't seem to bother this plant. Drought tolerant. Zones 5-8.

Crocosmia in full bloom (looking uphill). June 2012.

Lantana 'Miss Huff'. July 2012.

Lantana 'Miss Huff' is still getting established and was late to bloom in 2012. It can grow into a huge shrub when it overwinters for several years. Butterflies love the flowers for nectar. Drought tolerant, deer and rabbit resistant. I'm in zone 7b and this plant is best for zones 7-10.

Marigolds are self-sown from seeds in the past, so I don't have named varieties. Also loved by butterflies, these short annuals are great in the front of the garden when the other plants are losing color. Deer and rabbit resistant as well as drought tolerant. Sow the seeds early in the summer.

Marigolds (in front of lantana). August 2012.

The kniphofia was planted in 2012, so it didn't bloom the first year. The orange agastache was also new and the blooms weren't yet large enough to adequately photograph.

I love to use blue around orange and yellow, so I'm throwing seeds of perennial ageratum all around this garden section.

So there. Showing my orange bloomers wasn't too painful.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

September 30, 2012

Favorite Flower Combinations in 2012 - Part One

Cottage garden. May 1, 2012

Shades of purple and pink tumble and intertwine along one of the paths in the cottage garden. In the correct zones, these perennials are reliably drought tolerant and will provide a long bloom season.

To recreate this combination in a hot, full sun location, use the following plants (Click the links for each plant to read previous in-depth articles):

Perennial heliotrope (heliotropium amplexicaule). Zones 7-11, deer resistant
Wine cups (callirhoe involucrata). Zones 3-9, NOT deer or rabbit resistant
Salvia greggii 'Diane'. Zones 7-9, deer resistant
Salvia nemorosa Bordeaux 'Steel Blue'. Zones 4-8, deer resistant

View Part Two.

May 30, 2012

Blooms in the Gravel Garden

The hollies in the foreground will
mature to create a hedge behind the bench. May 2012.

Je ne regrette rien. I regret nothing. The conversion of several hardwood mulched garden beds and gravel parking space to one large gravel garden is working. Over one year later and I'm a very happy gardener. The history of the gravel garden can be viewed with this link.

Gravel gardens aren't for everyone. We don't live in the southwest or west coast where gravel is widely used. This is the southeast where folks love lush lawns, flower-packed or woodland gardens.

We live on a large rural property of over four acres with two acres of meadow grass out front while the back half is in woods. We have a sufficient proportion of soft grass, forest and gardens to balance the portion of gravel used.

Our house is English-inspired, but adapted for our climate. The same is true for the gravel garden. The inspiration comes from England, but it must work here in the southeastern United States. When using gravel, I had to use something locally quarried to be affordable. No expensive pea gravel here. Our house is gray cedar shakes. Our gravel is gray.

Looking through container lavender to a low hedge or rosemary.
Purple Japanese iris grow from the gravel in the dry stream.
Buddleia hedge in the gravel garden along the meadow edge. May 2012.

Rosemary, Japanese iris, Buddleia are all
thriving with gravel instead of hardwood mulch. May 2012.

The gravel entry garden is easy to keep tidy and weed-free.
View is looking away from the house to the driveway. May 2012.

Yes there are a few weeds now and then. The roots have to reach a long way down to find soil. A gentle tug and wiggle easily removes unwanted weeds.

So far, I've not watered the shrubs, herbs or perennials that are planted in the gravel. The exception was to get the rosemary and hollies for the hedge established with one or two waterings around the time of planting. The buddleia, crepe myrtles, existing hollies, nepeta, salvia greggii and Japanese irises were already mature and have not been watered at all since we added the gravel in April 2011.

View (from rosemary hedge) to cottage garden front gate.
Existing hollies, sedum and dusty miller around crepe myrtle (left).
Nepeta, patches of thyme (front & right) were existing. May 2012
Containers on right are barely visible (see next photo).

April 2012, containers were added beside flagstone path.
Euphorbia (front) container hasn't done well and will be replaced.
Lavender (middle) is now in bloom.
Salvia (large container) has been blooming non-stop.

To keep the gravel from looking stark in some spots, I'm gradually adding containers of plants that are drought-tolerant. The salvia jamensis hybrid (large container) and lavenders (various containers), junipers and succulents are doing great.

We've been getting regular rainfall so far this year, so I've not had to water the containers. Even without rain, I've selected plants that don't need to be watered often and I'm enjoying the low-maintenance. All plants used in the gravel garden, whether planted in containers or in the ground, are deer resistant.

Perhaps one of the best rewards from changing to this gravel garden is that so much of my time has been freed up to focus on the deer resistant meadow garden and the cottage garden. (We also changed the mulched flagstone paths to gravel/flagstone paths along the deer resistant meadow garden in March 2012.)

Due to this gravel garden and path conversion, I've not been working in the garden full-time. This redesign has considerably downsized the work that I was doing when I tried to grow more plants in many beds along the driveway, parking area and sidewalk—not to mention all the weeding that I had to do in the mulched paths along the deer resistant garden!

Gardening has been much for fun for me in 2012. Je ne regrette rien.

Along the dry stream, a clump of existing monarda will soon bloom.
The salvia greggii is also quite happy to mulched with gravel. May 2012.

April 26, 2012

Sages Spring in the Garden

A mix of salvia greggii and salvia nemorosa
in the cottage garden, viewed across the blooms,
but there are many companions surrounding these sages.

I'm not a collector of plants, but one look across my garden in spring, a visitor might think that I have a sage in every color. My favorite variety is salvia greggii and there are many reasons why I love this plant.

When I began my research into deer resistant plants, salvia topped the list. The first salvia greggii planted in my garden is the beautiful 'Navajo Bright Red' (difficult to find). A grouping of five is still flourishing and delivering masses of blooms in spring and fall. During the heat of the summer, the blooms are sparse, but the foliage of the plant, evergreen in my zone 7b garden provides year-round satisfaction—characteristics of all greggii varieties.

Maintenance is similar to butterfly bushes (buddleia). I cut back and shape salvia greggii in late winter, removing the dead wood and to keep the plant flexible and full of foliage to produce the blooms.

The plants are tough as long as they aren't overwatered or stand in wet soil. Drought-tolerant, deer and rabbit resistent, the results of using the sages for gardening in full sun is rewarding.

I now grow salvia greggii in the cottage garden, the deer resistant garden and in containers—in planned vignettes, randomly mixed and literally contained. For the versatility and low-maintenance, salvias are among my perennial favorites.

Is there a downside? Yes—salvia greggii is very difficult to photograph! My photos are rather dark because I had to wait for evening or cloudy days to capture the colors and shapes of the blooms!

Salvia greggii 'Navajo Bright Red' began in full sun
and is now partially shaded by a mature weeping willow.
Companions, monarda 'Jacob Cline' and crocosmia 'Lucifer'. April 2012.

Salvia greggii 'Texas Wedding' is a creamy white.
Planted at the edge of a path in front of roses, a potted hosta (shaded),
daylilies and saliva farinacea 'Victoria Blue' (yet to bloom) are companions. April 2012.

Salvia greggii 'Diane' (dark purple in front of burgundy loropetalum)
surrounded by other sun-loving companions in the cottage garden. April 2012.

Salvia greggii 'Autumn Sage' and 'Dark Dancer'
randomly mixed across the deer resistant meadow garden.
April 2012.

I purchased this salvia last week, but when
I got home, there was no ID tag!
The color is a creamy white with pale peach tones and dark stems.
Planted with salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens' and thyme.
April 2012.

April 21, 2012

A Simple and Sweet Lavender Container

Flowers spilling out of a container add instant charm to a garden. However, I'm not the best model of how to tend containers that require trimming, watering and feeding. Over the last several years, I've opted toward a more permanent solution by using drought-tolerant, water-wise perennials. With this approach, it takes a bit longer for the container to mature. Patience, but little work is required once my containers are planted.

While shopping at Big Bloomers Flower Farm in Sanford, North Carolina, I fell for a sweet planter that was too French for me to pass up. I purchased the planter (it was on sale for 30% off). I chose a variegated lavender, lavendula x intermedia 'Silver Edge' that should mature at twenty-four inches high in bloom—what I consider the right scale for this planter.

The lavender is just a sprig right now, but I have visions of purple blooms at the end of the wands. Being a water-wise plant, I won't have to fuss over the container to keep it looking good. The fragrant foliage is a wonderful thing to brush with my fingers when I go onto the front porch. Although I am planting the lavender in a container, it is deer and rabbit resistant should you choose to plant it in a sunny, dry space in your garden.

Rated for zones 6-9 (according to the tag), 'Silver Edge' is well-suited for my zone 7b garden. I will let it over-winter on the covered porch to keep the container from freezing and thawing during winter rains.

Given that birds, especially Carolina Wrens love to nest in my planters, I added gravel to the top of the soil. Wanting a dash of color, I spray painted ordinary crushed gravel with purple—to coordinate with the future lavender blooms. Sure enough, I saw the Wren checking out the container this morning! She rejected the lavender pot as a nesting site when she realized the rock was a deterrent.

I put the gravel in a square plastic pot with holes in the bottom. I shook out the excess dirt, then sprayed the gravel. I kept shaking and spraying to cover throughly. I let the paint dry, but kept shaking the container several times while I was out gardening. This kept the gravel pieces from sticking together.

For now, I have to use my imagination for the future of this container. I'm pretty happy with the dream!

The pale green color and the design (a season on each side)
reminded me of France, so I had to plant a lavender in this pot!
I will rotate the pot as the seasons change for this perennial.

Gravel, spray painted purple for a splash of color,
deters the birds from nesting and squirrels from digging.

April 3, 2012

Le Jardin Botanique de la Villa Thuret

The garden was created in 1857 by scientist Gustave Thuret.
Photo: 3 April 2012; Cap d'Antibes, France.

The third time is a charm. Well, the garden is charming and on my third trip to Cap d'Antibes, I finally visited Le Jardin Botanique de la Villa Thuret. This is not a "oh my, look at all those colorful flowers" kind of place. This garden, created in 1857 by scientist Gustave Thuret, is a collection of exotic Mediterranean trees and shrubs. The garden will intrigue those with a keen interest in botany or offer tranquility to those simply looking for a lush place to stroll.

There are "2500 individuals belonging to 1600 wild species and 145 botanical families." Every year, another 200 new species are introduced in this five acre garden. Newly-introduced plants are tested for their ability to adapt to the volcanic soil and local climate conditions. The new plants are watered for two years and only during extremely dry summers. Dead plant matter is left to drop and add humus to the soil. There's no mulching or mowing as wildflowers dot through clover and grass. Only the gravel paths are maintained to allow visitor access.

Only the main paths are well-maintained.
The garden is "natural" without mowing, mulching and pruning.

Dead leaves and wood are allowed to drop to add organic
matter to the soil. Wildflowers dot the natural, grassy areas.

A lovely peony.

Being an American and accustomed to "staying on the path" I didn't venture into the grassy meadows to read the labels on the shrubs and flowers, such as peonies, agapanthus, clivia and crocosmia—nor all the plants that I can't identify! Given that we were the only visitors and everyone else had clipboards with eyes focused intensely on the plants, I had no clue as to the proper protocol.

We weren't even sure if we were supposed to pay an admission fee. We walked into the open gates and saw no ticket stand. Since no one chased us down and demanded Euros, we assume that there was no charge.

For a lovely, sunny day, a leisurely stroll through the gardens was worth the trip to Cap d'Antibes.

To find Jardin Thuret from the town of Antibes, we headed west along the promenade at Ponteil. We crossed Boulevard James Wylie to follow Boulevard du Cap to Chemin Raymond. There is also an Enviro-bus that makes a circuit through the area for 1 Euro. The garden is closed on Saturday, Sunday and some holidays. Verify through the website.

Crocosmia blooms beneath a grove of bamboo.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

March 15, 2012

The Gravel Garden Expansion

We're rocking around the garden again! After the April 2011 gravel garden project proved to be such a success, we were shoveling and raking again on the first sunny days of a very early spring. I have to be more specific with the work credit—my husband did the heavy hauling and shoveling and I raked the gravel to smooth it into place.

We did nothing to the last year's garden (photo below, click to enlarge) except raked it a bit and tugged out a few weeds that were easy to pull. All the shoveling and raking work of the last week was done to extend the use of gravel in the front entrance, upgrade the path through the deer resistant garden and create a Zen-inspired garden where a chaste tree was removed.

The gravel garden/guest parking on 15 March 2012.
View is looking toward driveway from the garden gate.
Constructed in April 2011.

The Pros of Using Gravel

My husband is an enthusiastic supporter of gravel projects because he is in charge of mulching. Over the years, the application of hardwood mulch had to be repeated at least twice a year. That was a lot of work and expense. Voles love to tunnel under the hardwood mulch and they were slipping into the garden and devouring nearly every root they found. In Winter 2010, the vole damage was devastating! In Winter 2011, after we'd increased gravel mulch, the vole damage was ZERO! Of course, we still use hardwood and compost mulch in some garden spaces.

The maintenance of the gravel garden has been easy and I certainly needed to downsize my work! We've not added gravel to last year's locations and the weeding was minimal. We use a wide plastic rake and a battery-operated blower to keep the gravel clean. The ground beneath the gravel stays relatively moist, making it easy to pull weeds (and flower seedlings). In fact, I easily wiggled out larkspur, poppy and nigella seedlings that were then transplanted into proper spaces in the garden beds.

We mulch Japanese irises, monarda, nepeta, salvia greggii, perennial heliotrope, amsonia hubrichtii, rosemary, sedum, buddleia, crape myrtle and hollies with gravel. When I left the irises and monarda in place last year, I was sure that the perennials would bake and die since the gravel garden is in a southwest location. However, the opposite happened! I never once provided supplemental watering to any of the gravel garden plants during the summer drought. The gravel is permeable, allowing water to slowly seep into the soil. The gravel then reflects the sunlight, keeping the soil shaded and moist far better than hardwood mulch.

The gravel makes it easy to walk in the garden year-round. It is especially nice on moonlit nights!

The Cons of Using Gravel

Not everyone likes the look and it's difficult to remove gravel once it is in place. While I'd love to use an expensive pea gravel for a prettier look, the cost is prohibitive, tripling the price of what we are using. The gravel that we use is $50 per CUBIC yard.

You must keep the edges separated from grass. Grass will creep and crawl across the top of gravel, so using edging will help keep the grass at bay. We use a flexible metal edging (dark brown color) that is easy to drive into soil using the provided stakes and a rubber mallet. If you've got rock beneath your soil, it will be more difficult.

You must have a way to keep the gravel from washing away during heavy rains. We have buried French drains around our entire garden perimeter, uphill from all of our gravel.

Entry Garden: 15 March 2012.
View is from the gravel/guest parking
looking toward cottage garden gate.
Container gardens will be placed on the
right side of the existing flagstone walk.

The Gravel Garden Expansion Projects

Entry Garden: We removed the unwanted plants and hardwood mulch on either side of the flagstone walk that leads to the cottage garden gate. In areas where we want in-ground plants, we do not use landscape fabric beneath the gravel. Sedum and dusty miller are at the base of a crape myrtle (on the left behind birdbath). I am going to use container gardens, placed on top of the gravel on the right side. Nepeta, crape myrtle, Japanese irises, amsonia and a clumping bamboo remain planted in the ground.

Deer Resistant Garden Path: We set aside our existing flagstone while we worked. We hammered the flexible brown metal edging in the ground. The edging curves along the bottom of the deer resistant garden on the slope on the right side. On the left side, around the carrisa hollies and the crape myrtles, we replaced hardwood mulch with gravel to integrate with the new path. We raked the gravel into place and then placed our flagstones on top.

Deer Resistant Garden Path: March 2012.
Hollies and crape myrtles mulched
with gravel while metal edging
keeps the gravel out of the thickly planted
deer resistant garden on the right.

Zen-inspired Gravel Garden: After seeing a Karesansui garden at Villa Ephrussi in France, I wanted to create a similar space here at home. At the willow tree on the far end of the deer resistant front garden, there is a left turn on the outside of the cottage garden, east side of the house.

In that location, we had a large chaste tree that littered the ground with millions of seedlings each year. The seedlings were horrible to pull, requiring a shovel for the long roots. (We transplanted a few offspring out into our grassy meadow where they can no longer cause a problem in the garden.) Removing the large tree freed up my space for the Zen-inspired gravel garden.

While it is still a work in progress (I want to add evergreen hollies behind the pagoda and find more large rocks for the edges), we're already enjoying this tranquil space. An existing clumping bamboo (fargesia variety) was left in place.

Osmanthus fragrans provide a green, fragrant wall on the left side. Another osmanthus fragrans on the right side creates the entrance to the this garden after passing the willow tree and a garden space filled with red monarda 'Jacob Kline' and crocosmia 'Lucifer'. I must say that the fragrance from the osmanthus is heavenly right now! We moved our curved concrete bench to the space to provide a place to sit. The willow tree, large oakleaf hollies and osmanthus provide afternoon shade.

Zen-inspired Gravel Garden:
work still in progress, March 2012.

Early spring is the perfect time for construction projects. While the edging looks stark right now, the plants will grow and flourish to soften the edges as the garden wakes up from winter, fills in, greens up and blooms. We have some tweaking to do as the gravel settles. We'll level out the flagstones and rake the gravel again after a few rains. Then, we'll enjoy the new space year-round.

December 3, 2011

A Carpet of Snow in December

Drifts of snow white blanket the cottage garden in December. On a sunny winter day, the few remaining pollinators buzz among the blossoms. So far undaunted by frost, Sweet Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow' still flourishes.The honey fragrance of the blooms makes it nearly impossible to resist picking a stem to deeply inhale the scent. Braving the cold morning, I snapped a few photos of the alyssum, just before the sun warmed up the garden.

Sweet Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow'
(8:00 am, December 3, 2011)

Alyssum with burgundy leaves of loropetalum.
(December 3, 2011)

I sow seeds the tiny seeds of Sweet Alyssum (lobularia maritima) from October through March. Known as a cool climate annual, the small investment in seeds was worth the effort here in zone 7b of North Carolina.My cottage garden is a micro-climate more like zone 8a.

The alyssum patches spread remarkably wider in 2011 compared to 2010 and I believe this is due to some self-sowing. The height is relatively low, less than twelve inches. Beginning in April, the fresh and new alyssum sprouts bloom and they gradually spread over the next few months.

The focus of my mass plantings is an edge of the cottage garden path that is seldom seen until September. The heaviest blooms crank up from September until...we shall see!

During the hottest, scorching months, I grow taller annuals and perennials to shade the south side of alyssum. The blooms take a break on the hottest days, but the foliage is still lush until re-bloom. I've found the annual to be remarkably drought-tolerant and rabbit resistant. Given that the rabbits haven't touched the alyssum, I've sown seeds outside the fence in deer territory. I'm optimistic that the annual will be deer resistant.

I am so enamored by alyssum that I have already sown seeds in a new cottage garden bed that is based upon white with nandina 'Alba', phlox 'David' and a few other favorites.

Alyssum is the perfect plant for hiding the stems and ankles of taller plants. I've given thought to growing this versatile annual in so many spots! It is a wonderful companion for annual dianthus and verbena 'Imagination' as both are still blooming on this December morning.

With the low cost of seeds, the many months of blooms, fragrant scent and food for pollinators, Sweet Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow' has earned a permanent place in my garden.