Garden Delights

Passionate gardeners know that sometimes the garden overflows with beauty, while at other times, it struggles to stay alive. My garden was inconsistent this year, ranging from plants stressing from too little rain, to an over abundance of rain in the late summer and fall. There are shrubs and perennials I can count on most of the time, like disease resistant roses and a number of low maintenance succulents. But I like to do a "garden review" at the end of each year to assess those plants that truly surprised me and made my head turn every time I spotted them from a distance.

Probably my favorite plant this year was my Bleeding Heart Vine (Clerodendrum thomsaoniae). Bleeding Heart Vine is a tropical plant that cannot withstand freezing winter temperatures. I bought this last year to add some color to my spring and summer garden. It was a real show stopper, growing with other summer plants like begonias, geraniums, and fuschia. The blooms start out as white with red tips, and as the season progresses, they change to more red, then a lovely mauve color in the fall. It truly catches my eye every time that I walk by. I brought it in last fall, and kept it as a house plant in my basement. Although it lost most of its leaves after the winter, they came back when I put it again outside this spring. I kept it growing in the pot, and watered only about once a week if there was no rain. (it grows well in part sun conditions). I have brought it inside again this winter, and it will hopefully grow well next year, and be a plant that I always look forward to appreciating in my garden.

My container plants were my second favorite garden items. I planted these containers in May, and they were still looking good through the end of October. This season, I decided to use easy care, reliable plants, like begonias and coleus. Begonias are one of my favorite plants of all time, because of their ability to withstand dry conditions. Many of the large leafed begonias can get by with being watered only once every week-10 days. And yet many will bloom continuously from spring to fall. Coleus needs a little more watering than begonia, particularly if they are in sun, but they will grow extremely well with very little care. Pairing begonias and coleus with evergreen, low maintenance shrubs, like boxwoods and small conifers, is a great way to achieve beautiful results all season. Fuschia is another plant that did extremely well this year. It was still blooming through early November!  They do appreciate a little extra water, but otherwise are very easy to take care of. Containers with beautiful plants simply cheer me up all year!

Finally, I love to plant seeds in the early spring, so that I can achieve summer and fall blooms without spending a lot of money on packs of annuals. My two favorites this year were my summer blooming larkspur, and cosmos. I plant larkspur seeds in early March. They are slow to sprout, but once they do, they grow pretty vigorously. I have noticed that it usually snows in Asheville once or twice in March, and the larkspur actually benefits from this light blanket! The beautiful blue, purple, and pink spiked blooms reach their peak in June and July. This year was a lovely show, and provided a nice setting for a prized garden statue. I planted the cosmos seeds in mid-April. Cosmos is very easy to grow from seed. The blooms really started coming in late July and have continued to last through November! They are a welcome site in the fall garden, and are good for cutting to use in indoor arrangements as well.

Winter will be approaching shortly, and I will miss the joys from my 2017 garden. I am glad that I took photos of these favorites, as it is nice to see what surprises me each gardening year. In the meantime, I will love seeing the foliage and blooms of the plants that I brought inside for the winter!