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Echinacea 'PowWow Wild Berry'. 16 June 2013 The cool temperatures and ample rainfall boosted the coneflower blooms to the best I've seen in years. After losing many coneflowers, including the variety featured to aster yellows disease in 2012, I'm happy to see healthy plants. One of the short varieties, echinacea 'PowWow Wild Berry' is blooming beautifully beside salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue' in the cottage garden. I love this combination when the blooms synchronize and peak in unison. The frilly, ground-covering lavender blooms are verbena 'Imagination'. These three plants bloom over a longtime, front and center, in the cottage garden. The echinacea reblooms through the summer (supposedly without deadheading, but I deadhead to speed up the repeat). It can be grown from seeds, though I purchased my plants. The salvia is another repeat bloomer, with the best show in early summer and again in the fall. Again, I purchased my plants, but you can g...

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 lik...

Ratibida columnifera (Mexican hat, upright prairie coneflower, thimbleflower) with Santolina pinnata (green Lavender cotton) in the background. June 2012 Debuting in my deer resistant meadow garden this year is the US native wildflower, ratibida columnifera , commonly called Mexican hat. According to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center database, the foliage of this native has a strong smell that repels deer. But wait—there's a catch! The same database says that deer will eat this flower. Hmm... Currently growing beside my open meadow where the deer congregate each night for slumber parties, there's nary a nibble so far. I've not detected an offensive smell—but I'm not a deer! The height at this point is just over two feet, but with the see-through quality of the airy foliage, it works well at the edge of the garden. I'm sharing photos before the entire plant is at peak bloom because I'm so excited over the flowers—and in case the deer do decide to nibble th...

Peony poppy Frilly blossoms weren't intentional, but reading the  May Dreams: Finished with the Frilly Flower Phase  post prompted me to take a look around my own garden. Yes, there are some fru-fru flowers tucked here and there that are blooming right now. I don't grow peonies, but I grow peony poppies and that was my criteria when selecting this poppy. The full flowers fit the frilly flower formula. Peony poppies self-sow if you allow the seeds to ripen. Just shake the pods around and wait until next year.  I'm still hoping my pale pink and nearly black (purple) ones will bloom. We had an incredibly warm winter and the poppy germination rate has (so far) been disappointing. Unlike me, poppies like a bit of a cold winter. A mix of dianthus. I scattered seeds of "mixed" dianthus in the cottage garden, for the fragrance, not the frill.  These sweet little pinks are so easy to grow and now that I take into account the frilly factor—I do find the form flattering on t...

Coreopsis is surrounded by ground covers with near-twin blooms of light purple verbena 'Imagination' and heliotropium amplexicaule. Shades of pink, purple and blue have dominated my cottage garden over the years. I shook things up a bit this year with addition of bold gold in the form of a native wildflower, coreopsis.  Yet, I'm not quite sure of the circumstances. The seed packet (I took a photo) said "coreopsis palmata" (prairie coreopsis), but the flowers look like coreopsis lanceolota to me. What do you think? Sown from seeds last year, the success rate has been almost overwhelming! While the coreopsis is great for poor soil, given the good soil of the cottage garden, the mounds are huge, full and extra tall (close to three feet high). There is another possibility regarding the seeds. I sowed a packet of "mixed cottage garden" seeds that included annuals and perennials. Perhaps this coreopsis came from that mix instead? The hint at this possibility ...

Verbena tenuisecta 'Imagination' blooms spring, summer, fall until... It's supposed to be an annual, but I'm not convinced!  Verbena tenuisecta 'Imagination' bloomed from early spring 2011 and there were still blooms around in December in some pockets of my garden. Rated as an annual by most sources, every plant returned, making this verbena as hardy as any zone 7b perennial that I grow. It must take a seriously cold winter to kill it off. Thinking that 'Imagination' was a tender annual, I allowed it to self-sow. Wait—there's more! I sowed seeds again in fall 2011. Maybe too many seeds! While it is lovely, meandering around tall plants and over short plants, it could easily takeover the garden. That said, it's easy to pull out. The color is a soft-purple, making it compatible with every color in my garden. Don't worry about watering or babying this 'annual' as it is a tough plant for full sun to partial shade. Never drooping or compla...

1.  Jenny's White Garden at Fearrington Village. Pittsboro, North Carolina. March 2012 2.  Duke Gardens, Duke University. Durham, North Carolina. July 2011 3.  Duke Gardens. July 2011 4.  Central Park, New York City. June 2011 5.  Musée des Impressionismes, Giverny, France. May 2009. 6.  In a Paris, France park. April 2011 Sprinkles, masses or entire gardens—the use of white flowers can be a huge success or a total fail. These six inspirations were gathered on visits to gardens at home and abroad. Jenny's White Garden at Fearrington Village changes with the seasons. Since this is located only five minutes from my home, I've seen the changes. In early spring, the white blooms are primarily daffodils and other spring bulbs. I've seen the Page-Rollins White Garden at Duke Gardens  only in the heat of July where it was splendid in the 90+°F heat of the summer sun. There are succulents, perennials and annuals as well as foliage plants. I've not locate...

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...

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 fr...

Zinnia 'Candy Mix' with Rudbeckia hirta and Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'. August 2011 I love the freedom of growing annuals. While I can certainly sing accolades about specific perennials, annuals give me the chance to change the look of the garden—in spring, summer and fall as well as from year-to-year —by simply planting seeds or buying a few small pots. Planting annuals is somewhat like playing with a box of crayons and cans of molding clay. I color the garden according to my latest taste in color schemes and shapes. I love the creativity and flexibility of changing the garden with annuals. While I use annuals in my meadow gardens , it is the cottage garden where I have the most fun. Sitting on the front porch, I overlook the cottage garden and ponder many different ideas to try in the future. I get inspired and excited about what to grow next year! A purple Persian Shield provides a dark background for the delicate and pale yellow California Poppies. May 2...

Blue flowers for spring, pretty foliage through summer, repeat bloom in fall—easy to achieve by sowing the seeds of perennial blue flax . This self-sowing perennial is wonderful for dry, sunny gardens. A deer, rabbit and drought tolerant perennial that can be mixed with other perennials as well as annuals. It is time to order seeds for fall sowing! Flax is a perfect partner for the blooms of annual poppies, larkspur and cornflowers from April until June in my zone 7b garden. I sow seeds anytime between September through November for spring bloom. I have allowed some of the plants to self-sow and gathered seeds to plant in specific spots in the garden. In 2010, I planted some seeds in summer instead of waiting to the sow the seeds in fall. The foliage sprouted and was evergreen through winter, then bloomed the first time this spring. If you try to collect seeds, it is a tedious task. Wait until the pods are brown and dry, then you must carefully pull the flat seeds out of the pod. I too...

Back to Front: Echinacea purpurea  'Pow Wow Wild Berry' Salvia farinacea  'Evolution' Rudbeckia hirta  'Prairie Sun' (not quite) Yellow, purple and raspberry—a combination of color and form so stunning that I wish I had thought of it! Actually, I did plant something very similar and there are a few interesting twists in replicating these blooms in your home garden. I photographed this labeled combination while out and about on one of my day trips around North Carolina and hope that my similar combination will look as lovely when mature. The echinacea , salvia and rudbeckia are all seed-grown plants. As such, the seeds may not always produce the plants to match the photo on the packets nor images you find in searching online. I am growing rudbeckia hirta 'Prairie Sun' with echinacea 'Pow Wow Wild Berry' and salvia farinacea 'Victoria (instead of 'Evolution' as shown in the photo). Rudbeckia hirta 'Prairie Sun' (maybe) peren...

Rose Campion ( Lychnis coronaria ) is a short-lived perennial for zones 3-9 but may behave like a biennial or an annual—depending upon your gardening zone. One way to make sure that you never run out of Rose Campion is to collect seeds or allow her to self-sow. If you heavily mulch and compost your garden in autumn, then you are likely to cover over seeds that disperse naturally from the pods. I find Rose Campion seedlings growing next to the base of other plants, in gravel and in my dry stream, so it doesn't take much soil for the seeds to germinate. In other words, this is an easy plant to grow from seeds. My garden is filled with Rose Campion because I gently scrape up the shallow-rooted seedlings and transplant them to better locations in my garden. I rely upon self-sowing and have never started the seeds indoors nor had to sow later in the fall, so here are planting instructions from three other sources (I have no affiliation): Diane's Seeds Johnny's Selected Seeds Bo...