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Japanese Garden Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens Pasadena, California The opening scene in a WWII war movie was filmed in this Japanese Garden. In the movie, the setting is Japan and the bridge is painted red. At the time that I took this photo in January 2010, I didn't make the connection. While watching this movie again today, I immediately recognized the garden. An all-star cast includes Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Hal Holbrook, Glenn Ford, James Coburn, Robert Wagner and Charlton Heston—and other popular actors at the time. Can you guess the movie? The Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens is a great place to visit while in the Los Angeles area. Located in Pasadena, California, it is worth a day trip to explore the collections, indoors and out. In addition to the Japanese Garden, other themed gardens include: Australian, Camellia, Children's, Chinese, Desert, Herb, Rose, Shakespearean and the Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Bota...

Crepe myrtle 'White Chocolate' in August 2010 A scorching summer doesn't deter the blooms of crepe myrtle, a "go-to" tree for southern gardeners. There are three varieties of crepe (crape) myrtle in my garden, but 'White Chocolate' is my favorite for mixing with perennials. I stumbled upon this unusual variety in 2006. This year, the blooms are fabulous and have been going strong for a month. 'White Chocolate' is a cultivar selected by Dr. Michael Dirr, University of Georgia, Athens. Rated for zones 7-9, this is a moderate grower to 8 feet high and wide. Although 'White Chocolate' is a difficult crepe myrtle cultivar to find, it is listed with  Monrovia . (Their website allows you to search for garden centers in your area that carry their brand.) Once established, this tree is drought-tolerant. It is also deer resistant. Japanese Beetles will chew on any crepe myrtle, but the damage is less as the trees grow larger. The dark burgundy foliag...

I love to eat blazing star leaves. Here I am, nibbling on the blazing star ( liatris ligulistylis ) while posing for my photo. This wildflower, blazing star, is a favorite nectar flower for Monarch butterflies. I think the leaves are yummy. I live in Cameron's deer resistant garden. I'm so cute and I hide out beneath the amsonia, monarda and agastache that is planted so thickly, Cameron can't run me out. There's always a place for me to hide. There's another perennial that I love to eat so much. It was blooming all summer, but now, linaria 'Canon J. Went' is nothing but stubs. Those pretty little pink snapdragon-shaped blooms are all gone. I have such a voracious appetite that I finished off the entire plant in three nights! Cameron caught me munching on a coneflower leaf. She asked me not to do that anymore or she'll spray bunny repellent on all the coneflower leaves. That stuff really tastes yucky, so I'm going to have to be really sneaky and just ...

A Black Swallowtail caterpillar (cat) munches on bronze fennel to prepare for the great metamorphosis. The opening act for the magic trick. Notice the attachment to the stem and the shape of the cat. Ta-da! Chrysalis (two) on clumping bamboo. The best count of Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars has been around 20. Today, there are at least nine chrysalis on the neighboring clumping bamboo or on the bronze fennel itself. Soon, there will be lots of butterflies! Each photo above is of a different cat. Caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly—all stages of metamorphosis in the garden this week. Please take a look at Randy Emmitt's website for great educational photos and identification of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Although I have many BST cats, I seem to always photograph the similar Pipevine, "dark form" of Eastern Tiger or the Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies—but, I never see those cats! Words and photos by Freda Cameron , Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel . Al...

Deciding which photo of Monet's Garden to use for the Gardening Gone Wild Photo Contest for August 2010 was difficult. A view of Monet's house, as well as the mix of flowers, reminds me of the Impressionist's paintings. The photo was taken on a cloudy day in May 2009 in the Clos Normand (walled garden) section of Monet's Garden in Giverny , France. 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.

Agastache for August color. There are at least six varieties in this photo and multiples of those. The hottest summer on record may also end up as one of the most colorful. The drought-tolerant agastache, the primary perennials in my garden are turning out a stellar performance! Recent rains revived the garden, making this the most colorful August yet for the deer resistant garden, established in 2007. Labeled as agastache 'Black Adder' but it looks a lot like 'Purple Haze' which I also grow. Zones 6-9. Agastache 'Heatwave' lives up to its name. (background includes purple fountain grass and foliage of perennial blue flax). Zones 5-10. Agastache 'Salmon & Pink' is my oldest variety that started out in the cottage garden in 2005. It rules the deer resistant garden. Zones 6-10. Agastache 'Blue Fortune' held on to its color better this year. Could it be that it liked the supplemental watering? Or, has it matured? Zones 5-9. Agastache 'Summer...

Joe Pye Weed 'Little Joe' (eupatorium dubium) Fluttering and floating—the garden is full of life with butterflies. It's a delightful experience to walk through a garden and be brushed on the cheek by soft wings. Although I'm using swallowtails for my photos, there are many more varieties in the garden. For a butterfly garden, success is guaranteed if you include agastache, cosmos, joe pye weed, milkweed, butterfly bushes, lantana, salvia and zinnias. There are many other nectar and host plants for butterflies, but these are the favorites in my garden. Agastache 'Blue Fortune' is a favorite, attracting many butterflies as well as Gold Finches and bees. Agastache 'Cotton Candy' is proving to be as popular as 'Blue Fortune' with me and the butterflies! Agastache 'Heat Wave', with tubular blooms is also loved by hummingbirds. Bog sage (salvia uliginosa) is great for moist areas in the garden, but can handle drought. Another hummingbird favori...

Coreopsis Big Bang™ 'Redshift' and salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue' Blue and yellow blooms partner well for a delightful color combination, especially in the heat of the summer. Finding the right shades can be a challenge. Many yellow flowers look gold and many blue flowers look purple. This section of my garden was another makeover in the fall of 2009. I rearranged plants and added a few new ones. Coreopsis Big Bang™ 'Redshift' begins blooming in July At the "core" of my yellow, blue and burgundy garden area is Coreopsis Big Bang™ 'Redshift'. I adore this tall, hardy coreopsis. It begins blooming in midsummer for my zone 7b garden, but it doesn't stop until after a few frosts. 'Redshift' starts out a lovely butter yellow with a burgundy eye. As the weather cools in autumn, the burgundy slowly bleeds into the yellow for a peach-yellow to burgundy bloom. I like the shifting colors , but the fresh yellow blooms are at their loveliest ...

Taking photos of the garden every month allows me to see what I want to change or keep the same for the next growing season. This is just one of several sections of the deer resistant garden that underwent a complete overhaul during the autumn months of September through November 2009. I did my best to photograph at the same angle each time, but there are some hits and misses in the exact position! I like cottage gardens and wildflower meadows, so I'm combining the two styles for my own look to suit the conditions. The garden is planted in a somewhat random layout, but I add groupings on a diagonal because of the approach when walking around the outside of the garden. I use primarily cool colors, though I'm gradually adding a bit of yellow and white to see how it works. During the summer, the area receives twelve hours of sun, so only plants that are drought-tolerant can handle the heat. All plants must be deer resistant since it is not fenced. My goal for keeping the garden in...