Easy, Safe Way to Carry a Phone in the Garden

Losing or breaking my iPhone while in the garden has been a concern when I carried it in my back pocket. Turns out, a travel accessory that I've had for ten years turned out to be the perfect way to carry my cell phone and seed packets in the garden.

My undercover travel pouch keeps my phone handy, dry and free from dirt. Mine is old enough to be made of nylon and has three compartments (intended for a passport, foreign currency, etc.). Newer styles are typically in silk and I have one of those, but decided the nylon is easer to wipe off.

Made to wear around the neck, I wear the pouch in a cross body style beneath my shirt so that when I'm weeding, it doesn't fall in my way. The neck strap is adjustable to the length that works best for an individual.

Undercover travel pouch can be used while gardening.

I discovered that the pouch is also the perfect size for stowing seed packets. Although I don't need to carry meds in the garden, it could also be used for something like an EpiPen® for those with insect sting allergies.

My pouch has a Velcro® closure, so it's easy to rip open while wearing gardening gloves.

Although my pouch is repurposed, new pouches from different manufacturers range in price from twenty to thirty dollars. A good investment considering the cost of replacing a cell phone.

Happy Gardening!

My iPhone in the front and seed packets in the larger pocket.

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.

Wild Quinine, A Native Plant

I'm wild about Wild Quinine (parthenium integrifolium) after seeing mass plantings at The Battery Gardens in New York in June 2011. In fact, I was so mesmerized by the tiny white pearl blooms that I failed to take one photo, but found a few on the gardens website!

I returned to do a bit of research and decided that this is a native wildflower to try in my meadow garden for 2012. Quinine is a perennial that blooms in summer. Seed heads can remain over the winter.

zones:  3a-8b

height: 36-38"

light:    low to full sun

soil:      medium

Finding the plants is not impossible, but I decided to try seeds for next year. According to the instructions on my seed packet, it is best to plant quinine in the fall or cold stratify for two to three months. 

Fall sowing has always given me good results as our weather can often turn too hot, too soon in the spring. I'm not one to pamper pots, so I prefer to direct sow into the ground. 

With the moisture from autumn rains and daytime temperatures forecast for 60-70° F for the next two weeks, I'm ready to sow!  I have cleared a section of the garden for a mass planting of the quinine. 

I will add a mix of organic soil, compost and conditioner to the area; rake it smooth; sow the seeds just below the soil line; walk across the area; water with a gentle spray to keep the soil moist.

The test in my garden will be to see whether or not quinine is deer and rabbit resistant and can tolerate the droughts here in zone 7b. I'm optimistic!

Quinine is an attractor for pollinators and food for chickadees, so I'm excited about the birds, bees and blooms for next year.

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.

Answers to Recent Questions from Readers

I am frequently asked for the house paint colors!

Although I try to answer questions sent to me by email, I have a backlog lately due to other distractions. Here are a few recent questions with the answers.

1. What is the exterior paint color used on your house? I still receive this question quite often due to my past participation on the GardenWeb forums. The sage-gray body color with off-white trim is a custom mix and I posted the formula here: House Paint Colors. A reader who saw the story about my deer resistant garden in the July 2010 issue of Southern Living Magazine even wanted to know the house plan! While the outside looks similar to the plan, I completely redesigned the interior of our house so that it bears little resemblance to the original plan.
2. Do deer eat zinnias? The deer tend to leave my zinnias alone until August, when food is scarce. Once they have little food, they will eat the zinnias. I grow Benary's Giant variety. The rabbits, on the other hand, will take down the four-foot high plants, at any time, as though they are cutting down trees!
3. How to Grow Lavender? This is a frequent question and an excellent story, written by local lavender farmer, Annie Greer Baggett, provides the best information. Annie wrote the story for my blog and I keep it linked in the left sidebar under "Reader Favorites".
4. Companion plants for rose campion? After lavender, I receive many questions and blog searches for information on rose campion (lychnis coronaria).This flower is a self-sowing annual and will winter over as a perennial/biennial in warmer zones. I like to use yarrow (achillea 'Pomegranate'), big lamb's ears, and autumn sage (salvia greggii), nepeta and Spanish Lavender as companions. Larkspur, poppies and cornflowers—self-sowing annuals also look good with, and bloom at the same time, as rose campion. 

There are links in the left side bar to BLOG PAGES of popular topics which will also answer many of the search terms/keyword searches on my blog. I created these pages for my own record-keeping as well and make updates from time-to-time.

Flowers from Seeds:  Flowers that I grow from seeds (with bloom photos).

Deer Resistant Plants: I try to update this list as the information changes and when I add new plants. Your results may vary from my results.

Rabbit Resistant Plants: By far, rabbits do more damage in my garden than deer.

Agastache Garden Plan: This is a labeled planting plan (photo) with a grouping of some of my favorite agastache varieties. I have more favorites, such as agastache 'Cotton Candy' that is not shown on this plan.

Monet's Gardens and Paris: This is a page with links to all the stories (with many photos) that I wrote about our visit to Paris and Monet's Gardens in Giverny, France in May 2009.

Monet's Gardens in Giverny, France

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.

Sedum Tips: All Grown Up and Blooming

Sedum 'Green Expectations' grown up.
This was just a tip off the old plant in 2009.

Buy one. Make more. Sedum keeps on giving and giving. In June 2009, I wrote about pinching back the tips of tall sedum to make more plants while keeping the mother plant sturdy and shaped. Those tiny tips are now mature and blooming for early autumn.

A tip taken from
last year's tip!

Of the three sedum varieties that I pinched back, 'Green Expectations' has performed the best in one year. So well, that I have also pinched the tips of the new plants this year!

I actually use my pruners to make a clean cut, remove the bottom leaves and just stick the cuttings straight into garden soil.

The sedum performs best in drier soil and full sun, though they do well with afternoon shade. Choose companions that also work in the same conditions.

I grow sedum with salvia, perennial heliotrope, lavender, four o'clocks, agastache and purple heart.

The good news is that the rabbits leave the tall, blooming sedum alone, so I can grow these quite well inside the cottage garden fence. The bad news is that deer will probably eat the blooms, just when you are ready to enjoy the plant. Late summer and early fall is prime time for the deer to forage for food in flower gardens as the wild vegetation diminishes. Plants that deer ignore all summer may be more interesting in early autumn.

My 'Purple Emperor' sedum tips are doing well, but are not maturing as quickly as the 'Green Expecations'. I have blooms on only one of seven tips that I started in 2009. Sedum 'Bekka' has not done well in the summer humidity.

I would happily add more sedum varieties if I had the space! These are economical and carefree plants to fill a sunny garden.

Sedum 'Green Expectations'
with deep pink Four O'Clocks and
lavender-blue perennial heliotrope 'Azure Skies'

Sedum 'Green Expectations'
with salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'

Sedum 'Purple Emperor'
with gaillardia 'Grape Sensation' and foliage
of cottage pinks (dianthus)

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.

Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush'

The weather is hot and humid and Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' is in full bloom. Even with all the rain storms of the last few weeks, this perennial is standing straight and blooming profusely.

'Autumn Blush' is a butter yellow coreopsis with a strawberry red eye that changes with the seasons. When the cooler temperatures arrive in autumn, the strawberry "blush" will cover more of the bloom.

Terra Nova Nurseries sent me four small trial plugs of Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' in September 2009. I made no heroic efforts to overwinter the coreopsis. Three were planted together in the butterfly garden (southeast) and one was planted by my sidewalk (southwest).

Not only did the coreopsis survive our zone 7 wet winter, torrential rains and snow, but all four plugs were fast-growing to an impressive size. A group planting of only three coreopsis makes a huge impact!

Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' is rated as a perennial for for zones 5-9 in full sun. The mounding habit spreads to around 32" with a height of 24". In my garden, this coreopsis is also proving to be both deer and rabbit resistant.

Coreopsis prefers a well-drained, sunny location. I plant these in locations that are also favorable for agastache—which is a great companion for coreopsis.

I already had an Agastache 'Summer Glow' that I purchased at a local nursery. The agastache, coincidentally another Terra Nova plant, is just beginning to bloom. I recently moved it to a grouping of three coreopsis. The colors are perfect together—probably not a coincidence, after all!

Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' plants, provided by Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. were planted on September 29, 2010. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Buying Online: Perfectly Packaged Plants

Ordering plants online can be confusing and sometimes the results are very disappointing. There are always those nagging questions. What is the price of the plants? How large are the plants? Will they be healthy? How are they shipped? I'm happy to report my wonderful experience with Lazy S'S Farm Nursery in Virginia.

I had a list of plants that I had coveted, but couldn't find locally. My web search led me to Lazy S'S Farm online store. I checked the Dave's Garden Watchdog list and they are ranked in the Top 5 for perennials.

With their huge selection of plants, I had no problem finding everything on my wish list. (By the way, you can save a wish list on their website and come back later to purchase.) The prices, based upon the description of the plants and shipping methods, was reasonable. I got out my credit card and placed an order.

A few days later, I decided to add a few more plants to the same order. Easy to do.

On April 8, my box of plants arrived on my covered front porch. Opening the box was surprising—in a good way. The health and size of the plants exceeded my expectations!

Look at the packaging—stakes to support the foliage; plastic covering the soil meant moisture was retained and no soil dumped out; no damage at all.

I followed the instructions to let my plants adjust in a sheltered place and gradually move them to the sunshine and then plant in the garden after danger of frost had passed (April 15). Of course, we had no significant rain in April and early May, so I had to be diligent about giving the plants a deep, thorough watering until established.

Now that all of the perennials have been in my garden for over a month, I'm still thrilled with the plants. Each is growing well, still healthy.

Would I order from Lazy S'S Farm Nursery again? Absolutely! I have no hesitation in giving a recommendation as this was my best online plant ordering experience—ever.

No free products or discounts were received from the vendor, nor was the nursery notified in advance of my review. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

European Garden Envy

It's for the sake of research. At least that's my rationalization for adding new plants to the deer resistant garden. To be perfectly honest, I have a case of "European Garden Envy."

There's a subscription card to BBC Gardens Illustrated sitting in my kitchen, waiting for me to give in to the temptation. That's one of my favorite garden eye candy magazines. Several times a year, I purchase a copy off the rack. I also pick up The English Garden when I can find it. If the French had equivalent magazines available in this country, I'd pick those up, too. Maybe it would help with my understanding of the language.

The reality is that I live in North Carolina, not Europe. Gardeners living in the Pacific Northwest have suggested that those with my affliction move there if I want to grow an English Garden. To be clear, North Carolina gets more measured rainfall than Seattle, we just have more sunny days. We have humidity and hot summer nights—the usual reasons why some of those plants won't like living in my garden.

There are a few plants that I just couldn't resist trying this year. I may be violating the rule of "right plant, right place." However, I'm willing to gamble. Perhaps these are the right plants for my garden?

After my visit to France last year, I started lusting after the French Blue ceanothus (California Lilac). I had dreams about this gorgeous blue shrub.

Imagine my delight to find a mail-order nursery, Lazy S'S Farm in Virginia, that carries several varieties of ceanothus! Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 'Victoria' is now planted in my garden.

English lavender 'Vicenza Blue' and stipa 'Ponytails' (purchased from a local nursery, Multiflora Greenhouses) are the companions to my ceanothus.

All of these plants have low water requirements, prefer well-drained soil, can withstand hot sun and are deer resistant.

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 'Victoria'
zone 7-9
height 6-9 feet

Lavandula angustifolia ‘Vicenza Blue’
zones 5-9
height 10-12 inches

Stipa tenuissima 'Ponytails'
zones 7-10
height 24-36 inches

Stipa, or Mexican Feather Grass, was featured in several stories in the English magazines and caught my attention. The swaying softness, the short size for an ornamental grass are desirable traits. I decided to give the grass a try here after reading about gardeners in similar zones using stipa. It is possible for this grass to be invasive in some states, so check the invasive species list in your region before planting this grass. Deadhead to prevent seeding.

Several varieties of lavender are grown here in my garden, but the 'Vicenza Blue' is supposed to be short (10-12 inches). Finding a compact size is the big attraction as I have grown monster lavenders in my garden! If this one is easy to grow and is short, then I have more uses for this lavender.

Only time will tell if I am successful with my "research" to satisfy my European Garden Envy.

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

DoLeaf—Young Gardeners with a Fresh Idea

Three young entrepreneurs are on a mission to bring small, independent and specialty nurseries together for a new online shopping experience for gardeners. I like the spirit of the DoLeaf community. Sarah, Ryan and Micah not only created a different business model, but they are gardeners as well.

The advantages to the seller are apparent. The small businesses do not have to create and maintain a website to sell their plants. The DoLeaf staff takes care of the web development and support. By joining with other nurseries, a wider audience of customers is attracted to the site. When it comes to selling on the web, generating a high volume of traffic is crucial to success.

Browsing the interesting variety of plants at DoLeaf is similar to wandering through the nursery section of a farmers' market. Each nursery has a "store" where you can browse their plants. Or, you can search the selections by keyword, category, zones and other criteria. There are plants and seeds—veggies, herbs, annuals, perennials and houseplants—featured in the stores.

Micah sent me an invitation to try DoLeaf for free. Realizing the opportunity for the unique, I decided to shop for plants for my new hot colors, tropicalesque bed. The Green Sunshine store offers a good selection of intriguing plants that I have never grown.

For each plant in the Green Sunshine store, there are multiple images as well as details on growing conditions and care. I selected a Golden Lotus Banana and a Shampoo Ginger.


Both plants arrived carefully packaged and in perfect health. Information and instructions for the care of the two plants was also included.

The ginger was sent bare root as it is dormant until May. It was carefully wrapped and bagged so that there was no damage to the root. The banana arrived with beautiful foliage that was supported by cardboard. The soil was not only moist, but it arrived completely secure inside the pot instead of scattered in the box.

The two plants are now in my garden where I watch with enthusiasm for my tropicalesque bed to flourish—with red, orange and yellow blooms and lush, tropical foliage.

Based on my positive experience with DoLeaf, I now routinely browse all of the stores for interesting and unique plants to add to my garden.

The plants featured in this story were provided by DoLeaf. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

A Pink and Purple Pulmonaria Bloom Bouquet

Dainty pink and purple bells of blooms grace the frosted foliage of a new pulmonaria. A mass planting of this lovely perennial makes a perfect deer and rabbit resistant ground cover for a shaded or woodland garden.

Pulmonaria 'Silver Bouquet' is a 2010 introduction from Terra Nova Nurseries. I received four small plants in September 2009 to trial in my gardens. My plants have not been pampered and are blooming the first season! In fact, these are the first spring flowers in my garden this year.

The beautiful foliage remained evergreen throughout the winter here in my zone 7b garden. Planted on the east side of my house under a sweetbay magnolia, the silver foliage shines brilliantly in the understory. My plants receive dappled morning sunlight and are growing in average, well-drained soil. Grooming is simple—I removed a few of the older leaves beneath the fresh spring growth.

In addition to the lovely blooms, the foliage forms a nice, clumping bouquet that will be twenty inches wide at maturity. I can already see that the foliage growth rate will be fast. 'Silver Bouquet' is suitable for zones 4-9 and is heat and humidity tolerant.

While I would grow this pulmonaria for the foliage alone, I adore the spring blooms of pink and purple—perfect colors for my garden!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Plants courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Saving Seed Packets - Art and Information

Watercolor paintings of flowers, herbs and vegetables grace the seed packets from Renee's Garden. These are packets that I really hate to destroy by opening! Nonetheless, I am more excited about the contents.

Renee graciously provided kitchen herb and annual flower seeds for plants to be used in the deer taste test in my garden. We want the deer to dislike the plants so that they can be added to my deer resistant list. I will not send invitations to the rabbits, but they are party-crashers and will horn in on the taste test, too.

While the seed packets are little works of art, the back flaps contain a wealth of gardening information.

Variety and species name
Plant type and bloom season
Planting chart and instructions
Growing, thinning and transplanting notes

There is also a descriptive flap on the back of the envelope that provides a great introduction about the plant. All-in-all, there is more information packed on to these packets than I've seen anywhere. Useful information that I want to keep for my plant documentation.

Between the art and the information, I'd like to preserve these seed packets. I don't want these to end up all muddy and crumpled in my wheelbarrow or garden apron.

I think photo sleeves are a possible solution. A three-ring binder and enough sheets of photo sleeves to store all of my seed packets would be truly organized, but not very portable. A plastic recipe/index card box that can remain with my gardening gear might be a better option.

How do you store your seed packets?



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

Paris - The City of Love for Dogs

The City of Lights is also The City of Love. But, it's not all about lovers kissing passionately on the romantic bridges. My non-scientific observation is that Parisians really, really love their dogs. You can tell that the dogs are real sweethearts!

Dogs are literally everywhere you look - streets, shops, handbags, cars and restaurants.

While walking in the Luxembourg Gardens, an elderly lady picked up her precious pup, kissed her and placed her in her large handbag. Hair coiffed in a perky Paris style, my photo thrilled the little dog's owner.

A petite Italian Greyhound, donned in a stylish collar and coat, had her own matching blanket to lie upon while dining indoors at a fabulous cafe. As thin and trim as a runway model wearing the latest haute couture, the fabulous dog shunned my attempts at puparazzi when we passed later on the street.

Just like movie stars, dogs know when you're trying to take a photo and look away. I had to adjust my photographic maneuvers in order to capture my subjects unnoticed. With a great zoom lens and a swivel viewer, it was easy to keep my camera low as I photographed the canine companions.

Dining Dogs

Don't be fooled by the prissy pupulation. Not all of the dogs were decked out in haute couture. Most dogs, sans fancy collars, hairstyles or coats - wore standard leashes or were freely working at their owner's shops. It is clearly a culture where dogs are considered family members. They live indoors. With all of the walking on city streets and parks, the dogs must get plenty of exercise, just like their Parisian owners.

Paris is The City of Lights and The City of Love. Many Parisians wear their hearts at the end of leashes!

Working Dogs

Dogs as Beggars and Beggers

It's fun to watch dogs, shoot dogs (with a camera) and garden with dogs.

For the love of dogs everywhere, please take time to review and bookmark this list of toxic plants provided by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
♥♥♥♥♥

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

How to Automatically Add Your Blog Name to Each Post

May I see your identification please? Theft comes in many forms and recently garden bloggers have discovered that there are bad guys who will steal our content.

Including a blog name and link in a "signature" on your posts allows the reader to click back to the original source. It would take some effort for a thief to remove a signature from every post, so they may move on to easier targets.

Using a blog post template is an easy and automatic way to add that "blog signature" information for all new posts!

With a template, you don't have to retype the same information over-and-over again. However, you are still free to change the wording slightly if you want to make the information unique for a specific blog post.

My instructions are for using Blogger from Google™. If you are using another host, such as Wordpress™, then there is probably a similar option available.

Go to your Dashboard in Blogger. Listed under your blog name, choose Settings

Click on the tab Formatting

Scroll down to Post Template

In the box to the right, you can enter text and code that you want to appear in the Blogger EDITOR whenever you create a NEW POST.

My example links to my blog so that a reader can always click back to the original source. You don't have to include a link, of course. Save the settings when you are finished. You can come back and edit this again at any time and it will be used on all subsequent new posts.

The example in the purple box below shows the code magnified. You can copy and paste this code into your post temple, then just substitute your information where I have included my name, blog url address and blog name.

Since I'm a freelance writer, I include my name as a byline. Many bloggers want to remain anonymous and will not add their real name. Edit the information to fit your needs.

Remember - Only include the information that you want to share with the world!

(Note: I typically put the period outside the blog name url as shown in the magnified code. To make the code easier for you to read in the next examples, it is part of the blog name)

Below is the coding shown line-by-line so that you can see the different parts of the example.

I use a smaller font size than my blog post by applying the "-2" html coding. I also use italics for my signature. These are optional codes that you may not want to use. Please note that each line has a wrapper, meaning that there is code to begin the formatting and code to end the formatting. The matching codes are shown in matching font colors.

When you create a NEW POST within the "Edit Html" mode, then the text will automatically appear in the Blogger EDITOR window as Html code.

If you create a NEW POST with the "Compose" mode, then your text will appear as normal without the Html codes shown. (You may click back-and-forth between the html and the compose modes if you wish.)

You may edit the text and code if you want to add a date, location, other information to change the wording to apply to an individual post. To write your post, just start typing in front of the automatic code.

Html Mode:



Compose Mode:

The result:

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

We Won the Battle Against the Blog Content Thieves

Dear Readers,

Before I left for a week in sunny Southern California, the content of my blog, other garden blogs, as well as garden magazines was scraped off (stolen) by another website. With the help of fellow bloggers and big corporations, the battle was won! Here's how:

Carolyn at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago was the first to let me know about the content theft. Thank you Carolyn!

I posted a story about the theft and contacted Google via some instructions posted on ProBlogger (link provided by fellow blogger at Secrets of a Seed Scatterer). Thank you, ProBlogger and Nell Jean!

I also contacted, and received a response from, The Home Depot®. The thieving website was also misusing that company's name in order to steal page ranking from them as well as my garden blog. They were happy to know and joined the battle. Thank you, Home Depot!

Meanwhile, rather than writing new content to be stolen, I reposted past stories (scheduled to post during my absence) and turned off comments and gadgets to subscribe to my blog with RSS feeds. Since I was away on vacation to have fun, I didn't want to deal with more drama!

I did have my iPod Touch with me, so I was able to check on the progress of the battle against the content thieves.


Due to the efforts of Google™, the website no longer has our content and with a little indexing wizardry, that url redirects to the legitimate website of The Home Depot.

Google, who owns Feedburner and Blogger, apparently blocked the IP address of the thieves so that they couldn't scrape content off of my blog. I imagine that they probably blocked that IP address for all feeds and blogs under their power. Thank you, Google!

To make sure that your blog posts are always attributed to your blog, I recommend that you "sign" the post with your blog name. I have been adding my name to my posts for well over a year and am now including a hyperlink back to my blog. It is easy to create a hyperlink:

1. Write your blog name at the end of your post (i.e. Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel)


2. Highlight the blog name


3. Click on the "link" icon in your editor (it looks like a chain link in Blogger)


4. Type the url address of your blog (i.e., http://definingyourhome.blogspot.com)
in the link box

You can also include the information in your blog template so that you don't have to always remember to add the information to each post... and, I'll tell you how to do that in my next blog post!


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

The Perennial Care Manual: Review

Review by Freda Cameron

The package arrived on my doorstep one summer afternoon. I immediately sat down and started reading the book. All other plans were put aside for the day as I consumed the information. I read all of Part One, Perennial Care Basics and skimmed every page of Part Two, Plant-By-Plant Perennial Guide, before putting the book down for the day.

The Perennial Care Manual by Nancy J. Ondra is indeed a page-turner for every gardener. So engaging, it is easy for any gardener, beginner or experienced, to get caught up in the plot!

Oh, and the photography! Photographer Rob Cardillo not only captures the details in the how-to photos, but provides drool-worthy eye candy in the photos of spectacular perennials and combinations.

This isn't your average plant care manual! Reading the book is like going into the garden with Nan as she explains her methods and tips on creating, caring for, and keeping up appearances in the perennial garden. She guides you through the basics of designing and creating a new garden or reworking your established garden. All the while, there is underlying light-hearted humor that makes the book lively, fun and easy to understand.

The perennial reference section of 125 popular plants is an absolutely wonderful resource to have on your bookshelf. There's no skimpy, incomplete information as each plant receives 1-2 pages of coverage. There is a description, photo, and sections on growing tips and seasonal care for each plant. With some perennials, Nan includes a section on troubleshooting common problems. Nan also does an excellent job of mentioning special considerations for zones, conditions and care in her "Relatively Speaking" sections.

The Perennial Care Manual won't be put away on the shelf to gather dust. But, it may gather some muddy finger prints when I take it into my garden!

Rain Gardening in the South

book review by Freda Cameron

Where was this wonderful book when I built my rain garden two years ago? I had to scour the Web and bookstores looking for information on how to build a rain garden. There would be no crispy plants in my rain garden right now if I could have read this book first!

Rain Gardening in the South: Ecologically Designed Gardens for Drought, Deluge, and Everything in Between was written by Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford.

As I read this book, I kept having those "ah-ha" moments as the authors helped me understand what I did wrong, and right, in building my rain garden.

Kraus and Spafford explain everything from the importance of rain gardens to the fun of designing the garden and plant selections. The authors walk you through the process of understanding how water runoff flows across your property to digging out the site for your rain garden.

The book is filled with great illustrations and an abundance of photos that make it so easy to understand the concepts. There are many color design plans, such as this one by Anne Spafford, to provide inspiration for creating a beautiful rain garden. Advice is given on basic design principles that can be used for other gardens as well.



Pages and pages of ground covers, perennials, vines and shrubs are listed by sun or shade categories. These tables also provide the important details about each plant - such as size, habit, foliage and useful notes.

Finally, there was a chapter written just for me. Troubleshooting! The problem? Drainage too fast; established plants dying. Kraus and Spafford walk through the possible problems and offer solutions. And, I know they are right!

No matter where you live, Rain Gardening in the South is a great resource. Rain gardens are not only good for the environment, but solve runoff and erosion problems while being beautiful displays of flowers and foliage.

♦♦♦
About the book authors:

Helen Kraus holds BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Horticultural Science from North Carolina State University, where she currently teaches.

Anne Spafford holds a BS degree in Ornamental Horticulture and an MLA in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois. She teaches in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at North Carolina State University.

Published by: www.enopublishers.org

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Garden Inspiration: Black Flowers

Black flowers? Really, why not? I was curious about the varieties of black blooms as well as black foliage plants that are potential candidates for gardeners after seeing the interesting black and white flower gardens in Giverny, France.

All it took was a bit of web surfing to come up with a few example candidates to add a touch of black to the garden. There are many more seeds, bulbs and perennials available from a variety of sources. All you need is your imagination to add the intrigue of black to your gardens.

First up, unique "jewels" in the hellebore collection from Terra Nova Nurseries captured my attention.

The black Helleborus Winter Jewels™ Onyx Odyssey and the white Sparkling Diamond could be used for a beautiful late winter to early spring display.

Cottage gardeners may be interested in growing black hollyhocks, angel's trumpet, poppies or bachelor's buttons. While traditional cottage gardens are known for color, I can see using a dash of black with blue or white. Some of the gardeners who are fond of a "red garden bed" may find a touch of black fits well into that color scheme, especially when using red and black poppies.

Hollyhock 'Black Beauty'
Black Peony Poppy Seeds
Black Ball Bachelor's Button Seeds

Bearded irises are on my list of plants to add to my garden. After seeing photos of stunning black irises, I am very tempted to find a suitable space in my sunny gardens. I'd like to use the black irises with blue flowers, perhaps more irises or use salvia guaranitica 'black and blue' as a tall background perennial. Two black irises from Schreiner's Gardens bloom in mid and late season, which may work with the timing of the bloom on the salvia.

Iris 'Before the Storm'
Iris 'Anvil of Darkness'

Those looking for more exotic plants with black blooms have some interesting possibilities. How about a black agapanthus or jack-in-the-pulpit? Plant Delights Nursery, located here in North Carolina, offers these unusual plants.

Arisaema triphyllum 'Black Jack' (Black Jack-in-the-Pulpit)
Agapanthus 'Back in Black' PP 16,244 (Back in Black Lily-of-the-Nile)

For a black and white combination in one plant, why not black foliage with white blooms?

Terra Nova also offers a black bugbane with fragrant blooms, Actaea simplex 'Black Negligee'.

Annie's Annuals has a very unusual geranium with black foliage and tiny pink to white blooms. Geranium sessiliflorum ‘Nigricans’ (Dwarf Black Cranesbill) is a tiny, dwarf perennial for front of the border.

Another ground-hugger with black foliage and yellow blooms is Ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussy' (Brazen Hussy Lesser Celandine), a spring ephemeral from Plant Delights Nursery.

Black Current Swirl Angel's Trumpet from Swallowtail Garden Seeds has black stems and purple swirled blooms.

If you prefer a more familiar black foliage plant, then Heuchera Obsidian from Bluestone Perennials may be a good option. Although the blooms are pink instead of white, they also offer an elderberry, Sambucus Black Beauty, that has near-black foliage in a shrub to small tree form factor, depending upon the growing conditions.

Speaking of tall plants with black foliage, Colocasia esculenta 'Black Runner' (Black Runner Elephant Ear) and Black Castor Bean are great candidates for making a huge impact in the garden. Castor bean is a poisonous plant, so use with caution.

Finally, if you'd like to recreate the black and white tulips for a spring display similar to that in the garden inspiration from France, then you can get a paired combination from White Flower Farm with their black and white tulips in the Nuit Blanche Tulip Mixture. Even the name is French!

Photos are courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries. Words by Freda Cameron. August 2009

Gardening on the Edge with Perennial Heliotrope

Hot sun, drought conditions, deer, rabbits - bring on the harsh conditions and this perennial heliotrope will stand up to all of them. In fact, it will bloom non-stop from early summer until a few frosts take it down in late fall.

I discovered this plant three years ago when visiting a local nursery in Chapel Hill. I had never heard of perennial heliotrope until that time. It is nothing like the sweetly fragrant, annual heliotrope. You may not want to stick your nose into these blooms because they will be covered with honeybees and butterflies. You won't like the fragrance anyway, so don't bother to put your face to the ground to try to smell this heliotrope!

Heliotropium amplexicaule 'Azure Skies' is the official name of this perennial. I have written about it so often that my regular readers are probably thinking "oh, not THAT plant again." Of course, when you're on to a good thing, it is difficult to stop talking about it.

This perennial heliotrope is a fantastic ground cover. The foliage and bloom shape is similar to verbena 'Homestead Purple' though the blooms never stop and it is very hardy.

This plant is now part of the Southern Living™ Plant Collection. When Southern Living's Grumpy Gardener, Steve Bender, and photographer, Ralph Anderson, were here in July, they got to see my overuse of this perennial!

The heliotrope edges one bank of the stream in the cottage garden. It is now started, and should completely edge the hellacious guest parking bed next summer. It is also here-and-there in spot plantings around the garden. Why not? It is just so reliable for me.

There's only one little downside to this plant. The taproot grows really, really, really long! If you decide to move it later, you may still grow little kids back at the location of the original mommy plant. I've not found that to be much of a problem, though I don't recommend planting it near roses like I did the first time. It may crowd the roots a bit.

If you live in zones 7-11, find it. It is now carried at Lowe's® Home Improvement garden centers and perhaps other retailers in your area, too. Give it a try for your hottest and sunniest locations. You don't have to prune back the blooms at all. I give the edges a trim (when I can get the bees off of it) only to keep it from taking over the bridge!

Let me make this perfectly clear - Heliotropium amplexicaule is totally deer and rabbit resistant!


Photos and words by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; July 2009; This is NOT a paid advertisement and no products or discounts were received for recommending this plant or sources.

Locally Grown: North Carolina Plant Nurseries

As a gardener, I am fortunate to live in North Carolina. Here in the Piedmont, I am surrounded by wonderful plant nurseries that provide everything from annuals to exotics to native species.

Beyond retail nurseries, there are also the plant experts who are breeding new plant varieties or going on expeditions to collect new varieties that will grow well here. The wholesale growers provide plants for many local retail garden shops.

The individual and family-owned gardening businesses in North Carolina are often well-known throughout the country. Additionally, our universities provide so much in the way of research and conservation to help improve plants for our home gardens and preserve native species.

Niche Gardens in Chapel Hill is one of the first nurseries to specialize in native plants. Visiting Niche Gardens is also a treat given their different display gardens that include wetlands/bogs, sun and shade gardens. Niche sells plants through mail order and are open most days at the nursery.

Plant Delights Nursery is located just outside Raleigh. Tony Avent, the owner, is well known for his plant finding expeditions and exotic plants. Plant Delights Nursery sells through a catalog, online and during open house days several times a year.

Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel Hill is renowned for introducing their own camellias. The Parks family continues to expand their nursery to include other trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.

Rich DuFresne is a Candor, North Carolina plantsman who has introduced and bred salvia and agastache. He also goes on plant-finding expeditions for new salvia varieties.

Big Bloomers Flower Farm in Sanford has greenhouses that are overflowing with annuals, herbs, perennials, daylilies, hostas and so many other plants.

Green Hill Hostas in Chapel Hill is a reliable source for hostas, including new varieties. The Solberg family sells both wholesale and retail.

Holly Hill Daylily Farm in Moncure is a daylily breeder who also sells crinum and a few other plants like verbena and red hot pokers. As with many nurseries, they have special days when they sell to the public. Holly Hill is known for daylily introductions.

Multiflora Greenhouses in Hillsborough has six acres of container, bedding annuals and other plants that they grow for both wholesale and retail. The same family has been operating the business for over 25 years. They are a "green sensitive" grower using bottom heat and capturing rainwater, then recycling the runoff from the retention ponds.

Witherspoon Rose Culture in Durham has been selling roses for over 57 years! They have a display garden for their gorgeous roses. Witherspoon sells online with great photos and information about the roses.

Dickinson Garden Center in Chapel Hill is a local retail garden center and family-owned business has been in the same location for over 55 years. They use North Carolina wholesale growers, too.

Lowe's Hardware is a North Carolina company that was founded in 1946. They also sell plants that are grown by North Carolina wholesale nurseries.

The NC Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill has a daily plant sale (April through October) of native plants that they grow and propagate.

JC Raulston Arboretum performs research to determine which landscape plants perform best in our southeast gardens. There are sometimes special plant sales at the Arboretum that may include rare varieties.

Another wonderful source of North Carolina plants can be found at our many Farmer's Markets in towns and cities. There are flower farmers who sell at the larger State Farmer's Market in Raleigh and the Western North Carolina Farmer's Market in Asheville, too.

Story and photo by Freda Cameron

I'll Have a Cement Bunny, Please

Looking through the airplane window, I couldn't believe my sleepy eyes. Through the early morning mist, I saw grassy fields dotted with adorable, lop-eared bunnies.

That was many years ago on my first flight into Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris, France. The airport grounds were literally overrun with rabbits. Back then, the rabbit count at the airport numbered over 50,000! I haven't followed the story since then, but I've been to France enough times to know that lapin is listed on many menus and served numerous ways.

With the image of thousands of rabbits in my head, I know that I must put a stop to the midnight snack raids underway in my cottage garden. These rascally rabbits are squeezing under the fence and trying to burrow beneath the bushes. During these nocturnal raids, they are clipping hardy geranium, asters, allium foliage and heuchera to the ground.

Option one is to add a smaller gauge fence guard around the perimeter of the cottage garden fence. However, the cottage garden is our front yard, so the extra fence wouldn't look very good.

Option two is to replace all plants with rabbit resistant varieties. I'm not ready to give up my dream of zinnias and cosmos.

Option three is to trap, serve or relocate. I don't think I can handle this option in any form.

Option four is to try a rabbit repellant. As long as it doesn't repel me, I'm willing to give it a try.

A few days ago, I purchased I Must Garden® Rabbit Repellant at a local garden center. I decided to try the ready-mixed gallon size for $24.99. This product was created by a local Chapel Hill, North Carolina gardener. I've never used it before, but I like to support local businesses whenever possible. I also like natural products that won't harm the environment.

The spray has a minty fragrance - not bad at all. Since applying the repellant, I have not seen any signs of new damage by the rabbits. I have high hopes for a product with a name of I Must Garden®! As with any repellant, I know that success will also depend upon a regular schedule of spraying.

Gardeners have an optimistic outlook. We look forward to the rewards of our efforts. With a little patience and vigilance, I hope to have a cottage garden full of flowers. As for my taste in rabbits, I prefer cement bunnies for garden decoration!

Story and photos by Freda Cameron

Community Supported Agriculture, Farmers' Markets and Market Days

The image of a table laden with a bountiful harvest isn't just for Thanksgiving. Local farmers' markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are available throughout the United States providing fresh, locally grown produce during the growing seasons. In other countries, markets are a part of daily life.

Even during the cold months of winter, some market farmers continue to sell products such as honey, eggs, cheese, nuts and meats. At the North Carolina Farmers' Market there are peanuts, pecans, cabbage, sweet potatoes and apples available for purchase in December. Additionally, there are jars of jams, jellies and other home canned goods.

Now is a good time to find farms in your area that participate in the CSA programs. With a CSA program, you subscribe in advance to receive shares of the locally grown, fresh produce from area farmers. By buying these shares, you help ensure that the farmer will be able to cover their expenses and salaries to grow and deliver the produce. By subscribing in the winter months, the farmer can plan how much to plant and order seeds for the next growing season.

Through a subscription with a CSA farm, boxes of fresh produce are sized according to the number of people to feed in your family. Many of the CSA farms will deliver the boxes to your home each week during the growing season, or provide a pick-up point in a nearby location. The CSA program is so popular in the Triangle Area of North Carolina that there are even waiting lists to subscribe with some of the local farms.

Whether you live, or travel, in another country, you're probably not very far from a market. For example, there are lists of market days for villages in France. Other countries publish similar lists. If you are traveling, you can also ask at the tourist information office. When my son lived in London, he shopped daily to purchase fresh produce from his neighborhood market.

Buying from a local market is not only a great experience, but a wonderful way to get to know the farmers who grow the produce. If you're a traveler, you may be introduced to fresh foods that you would not find elsewhere.

Story and photos by Freda Cameron