faulker042

Gaura  'Blushing Butterflies'™   With dancing wands of dangling flowers, gaura lindheimeri 'Blushing Butterflies'™ doesn't stop blooming in hot, dry summers. It has been years since I've grown gaura and I had forgotten how pretty she can be from late spring until frost. My past experience has been with the lovely white 'Whirling Butterflies', a fabulous perennial that I grew in the somewhat neglected mailbox garden at a previous home. I planted 'Siskiyou Pink' in this garden in 2007, but I kept moving her around—not a happy ending, but that was my doing and I can't blame the poor plant! 'Siskiyou Pink' has dark red foliage, can grow up to five feet and is a parent of the compact 'Blushing Butterflies'. 'Blushing Butterflies' fits into smaller gardens or containers with a height and width of 24 inches. Grow all three of these gaura in full sun gardens in zones 5-9. Neglect is okay with gaura. Handling drought conditions...

Annuals and perennials surround the sundial in the cottage garden. (click to enlarge photo) If sundials reflected temperatures instead of time, the one in my cottage garden would have registered 100°F on too many days for the summer of 2010. In spite of this unusual heatwave, the annuals and perennials that surround the sundial are handling the heat with a little extra water and good compost. The bronze sundial, a special gift, has been with me for over twenty-five years and in four gardens. For the last four years, I have moved it around my current garden in an attempt to find the perfect location. It has finally found a home in the south-facing cottage garden between the stream and the front porch. Selecting annuals on the right scale to surround the sundial was my goal for this year's spring plantings. All of the perennials were already in place and established. Sideways view from the cottage garden path to the front porch. Annuals include the beautiful blue mealy cup sage, salv...

Look at our hungry faces Deer Gardeners, We're not getting enough to eat here in Cameron's garden and we need your help. After you hear our pitiful story, we think you'll want to send us your hostas. We live in the woods and sleep in the meadow beside Cameron's house. Our fawns are born here every year. With more than 25 members in our extended Meadow Deer Family, that's a lot of mouths to feed! You see, the weather is just too hot to forage the countryside for food. We need delivery!  Our little fawns are learning what's good and not good to eat and it so difficult to teach life's lessons without a generous buffet so that they can pick and choose. In the last few days, we've sampled cosmos. It's definitely not one of our favorite foods, but we're getting desperate. The orange ones are really disgusting and we spit those out. But, the white and pink cosmos aren't too bad. Still, we're just taking the tops off and not destroying the plants...

Sedum 'Green Expecations' (back) with spires of salvia nemorosa Bordeau™ 'Steel Blue' Having doubts about what to plant for summer heat with little rain? When the temperature or heat index hits the triple digits—as high as 110°F, the strong survivors in the garden keep the color coming. Sedum and sage partner well to use under extreme heat conditions. There are sedum varieties available for zones 4-10 and in many shapes and colors. The succulent foliage of sedum is a perfect complement to salvias and neither plant requires much water after established in the garden. Sedum 'Blue Spruce', 'Angelina' and other low, ground-covering sedum can easily be tucked in at the front of a border. Divide the low sedums to make more plants and conquer space in short time. Sedums are great for the budget as they easily root when pinched and planted directly in the soil. Other succulents that can be rooted the same way include ice plant (delosperma cooperii) and the annua...

There is a path seldom seen in my cottage garden. On the north side of a flower-filled bed, the stepping stones allow the gardener access for the tasks of weeding or the pleasure of cutting blooms. The real performance faces south as the flowers grow into the summer sun, so this little path is equivalent to a backstage area. I want a soft edging for the stepping stone path for my own enjoyment. I've tried a few perennials there. Lavender performed well in winter and spring, but then the tall coneflowers, salvia, bee balm and zinnias shaded it out in summer. Perennials that prefer shade get too hot next to the stones on sunny winter days. Alyssum is an annual that is supposed to perform best in cool climates, but I decided to give it a try along the path. Using a few seeds, the experiment wasn't costly. Seeds of the Sweet Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow' ( lobularia maritima ) were sown in November 2009. I paid little attention to the patch that sprouted and began blooming in Ap...

Many times I have admired the patterns and textures of pebble mosaics. Creating one for my garden has often crossed my mind. I even have the perfect location. How difficult can it be? The photo was taken at the Picasso Museum in Antibes, France. Within the geometric design, wavy ripples of smooth rocks and pebbles give the design a sense of movement, just like the waves of the sea, beyond the ramparts wall. I'm sure skilled professionals created this particular patio for the Chateau Grimaldi, but artistic gardeners can construct pebble mosaics at home. In search of instructions, I found that there are many how-to resources available that include step-by-step instructions, photos and even videos on the topic. First of all, there are plenty of books listed at Amazon for pebble mosaics . Some of the books go into the history of pebble mosaics while others focus primarily on the instruction for DIY projects. Pebble Mosaic Pots  from Cultivating Life with Sean Conway , uses outdoor vi...

The dainty white lace flower looks like the wild Queen Anne's Lace ( daucus carota ). True. This is False Queen Anne's Lace ( ammi visnaga ) 'Green Mist'. True. My flowers were started from seeds two years ago. True. I cut the flowers to use in arrangements so I've not had a problem with self-sowing. True. Deer and rabbits don't bother this plant. True. False Queen Anne's Lace should be kept away from grazing animals. True. Be careful when cutting and handling the stems as the sap may cause skin irritation. True. False Queen Anne's Lace looks great with blooms of red, pink, purple.... All so true! 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.

Just mention "weed" to a gardener, and you're likely to hear moaning and groaning. It's too bad that a few good perennials have a common name that includes that infamous word.  I've created a garden section dedicated to three good weeds—Joe Pye Weed 'Little Joe', Swamp Milk weed 'Cinderella' and Iron weed . Although the top sections of my deer resistant garden are for drought-tolerant plants and lean soil, the bottom section is moist when it rains. Plants for the lower section are suited to rich soil and wet winters, but can survive drought with drip irrigation. This color-coordinated combination works well with blooms from pink to purple. All three grow to a similar size and bloom times overlap, from middle to late summer. But, I didn't plant these just for a good design. These perennials are bee and butterfly magnets! A new addition to my garden this year, Joe Pye Weed (eupatorium dubium) 'Little Joe' is standing trial in the deer r...

A had a plan for a purple and orange flower garden. The two colors are a favorite combination. I transplanted orange yarrow, coneflowers, agastache and blanket flowers to a section of the garden where I added purple salvias, agastache, allium and trailing verbena. This is the first bloom season for that garden and it will take a few years for the plants to mature and fill in the space. But, this is not a story about that precisely planned garden. This is a tale about a purple and orange flower combination created by a population explosion of self-sowing seeds from tall purple verbena and orange cosmos. The surprise is a mass planting of tall verbena that is interspersed with a perfect dose of tall cosmos.  The ankles of the two plants are discreetly disguised by canna foliage and blooms of blue ageratum. And, I like it! All of this haphazard self-sowing took place in an area that I replenished with fresh soil and amended with compost to prepare for tropical plants. T...

There's a new zinnia in the cottage garden this year. Magellan Ivory may be short, but the creamy blooms are 4-5 inches across. Standing below 14 inches, this is a great zinnia for containers or front edges of gardens. I'm using this zinnia around my sundial, combined with Magellan Yellow and blue salvia 'Victoria'. I couldn't wait to show you this bloom! There are three plants in bloom right now and every bloom is perfect, just like the one in the photo. When the companions in this garden catch up, I'll show you the group together. June 2010 holds the all-time record for the hottest month in North Carolina. The heat was rough on seed germination and seedlings. I am so pleased that this zinnia came through. Zinnias are easily grown from seeds with the right conditions, so I misted the ground after planting the seeds and watered the seedlings regularly. Fortunately, these are growing in my cottage garden with easy access to water. I ordered many colors of Benary...