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Eryngium yuccifolium (aka 'Rattlesnake Master'). Looking downhill in the deer resistant meadow garden. July 15, 2013 The first time I saw Rattlesnake Master was at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.  I saw it again in The Battery Gardens in New York City and was hooked on the architectural form of this native wildflower. This is now the third growing season and my plants have matured into tall, sturdy stalks supporting branches tipped by white globes. I grow mine in a meadow mix of flowers (daisies, coneflowers, bee balm, etc.). But I think the white globes would be spectacular against a solid green or burgundy foliage background or among grasses. The bluish rosette foliage at the base of Rattlesnake Master resembles yucca leaves, but don't use the leaves to fight off rattlesnakes. The eyebrow-raising common name for Eryngium yuccifolium originated from the Native American tea, brewed from the roots, used as an antidote for rattlesnake bites. The one-inch globes a...

White Phlox paniculata 'David' with 'White Swan' and 'Prairie Splendor' coneflowers. July 2013 Tall, sturdy and fragrant. I love phlox 'David' for so many reasons. While other varieties have cross-pollinated into different colors, David has remained pure white.  The show is big this year as I cut back the Knock Out® roses to give this mass of David more space. No regrets—the roses bloomed beautifully and will repeat. However, the crepe myrtles along the outside of the cottage garden fence will soon shade this area enough for me to replace the roses with hydrangeas. I hope David will continue to flourish here in part shade. Difficult to see in the photo: Spiky, deep pink persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail' is beginning to bloom behind David to repeat the purple coneflower color. I love this persicaria and look forward to masses of spikes as the perennial gets established in this new spot. (Note: After two years of growing the persicaria in the dee...

Monarda 'Blue Stocking' blooms in late June in zone 7b. With so many varieties of monarda (bee balm) available, it sometimes comes down to a color choice. I have three favorites in my garden and monarda 'Blue Stocking' is easy to incorporate into multiple color schemes. Growing in my garden since 2008, I've used this bee balm with purple coneflowers, agastache, baptisia and spirea. This summer, I've paired it with bright gold rudbeckia (susans) in the deer resistant meadow garden. Monarda 'Blue Stocking' zones 4-8 30" high full-part sun deer and rabbit resistant* This combination is viewed uphill and downhill. I planted the rudbeckia uphill as it is slightly taller than the bee balm (and the bee balm was already in place). These rudbeckia were grown from seeds and allowed to self-sow, so I can't give you a specific named variety—choose your favorite. I thin out the susans, and given the ample rainfall this year, I pulled enough to fill a few...

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...

A. Japanese iris. May 2013 B. Japanese iris. May 2013 Compare the two photos. Both clumps of iris are healthy and happy. But if you look at the companion plants, you'll guess which one is mulched with gravel and which is mulched with ground hardwood. Iris "A" is planted between a hedge of rosemary and butterfly bushes in the sunny gravel garden. The gravel garden was installed in 2011 and I've not had to add additional gravel mulch around the iris. A little raking or leaf blowing is all that is required to keep the gravel garden looking tidy. This spring has been cool, but even in the hot 2012 spring, the blooms were just as lovely. A month ago, I cut the clump in half to share with my son as it has grown so well in this location. The iris is planted in the dip that makes a dry stream, so in heavy rains, the runoff water is channeled here. Iris "B" is planted with astilbe, flowering tobacco and bee balm in a part shade garden where I use ground hardwood mulc...

Container hosta nestled between nepeta and Japanese painted ferns, growing beneath a tree-form Encore® Azalea. May 2013 Gloomy. Misty. Chilly. Where do I live? Not Seattle. North Carolina is having a cool spring. To find a bright side to this weather, I walked in the garden with the camera. Colors show true in photos when the skies are overcast. On a typical, bright sunny morning in my south-facing garden, it is difficult to catch the true bloom colors as the rays of the sun cast a yellow-orange glow. I compared the two conditions in this photo post in 2009 . So, I'll stop complaining about wearing a raincoat outside and running the heat inside and share today's garden highlights in the lowlight. Perennial blue flax, grown from seeds originally sown in 2009, continues to return or self-sow. Flax is a favorite and I have two varieties that, when transplanted early in spring, are welcome fillers in bare spots. Otherwise, I let it go where it sows as the slender foliage takes up l...

The cottage garden, bare compared to previous springs,  is ready and waiting for blooms. April 27, 2013. Any complaints about the weather where you garden? The cool temperatures, while delaying the blooms, provided the perfect weather for preparing the garden. I don't feel as rushed this year and gardening has been more enjoyable. It isn't ninety degrees already. Sixty and seventy degree weather could be worse as other parts of the country have been flooded and experienced late snows. Looking at photos from 2006-2012, peak spring bloom in the cottage garden happened in the first week of April.  Still waiting for blooms, but the plant foliage looks healthier and happier than ever. The centaura varieties (in the photo below) were tiny new plants in 2012, and now, they're starting out huge! In a future post, I'll tell you more about  centaurea gymnocarpa "Velvet Centaurea" as it blooms. It's one of my new favorites and hope it meets my expectations. Silver l...

It's not a secret. I'm not embarrassed by it. I have an orange section in the deer resistant garden—seldom mentioned on the blog because it's so darn difficult to photograph the plantings together as one unified design. When one bloom looks great, another is declining. Orientation: To the left of the plants in the photo below, is the red and white garden seen here . The yellow St John's Wort divides the two color themed gardens. Not because I planned it that way, but because I didn't want to move this glorious shrub. Bees literally bathe in the pollen of the St John's blooms. It self-sows minimally and I'm always scouting for seedlings to use in other sections of the deer resistant garden. The orange garden is on the east side of the house, receiving full sun until very late in the evening during the summer. This garden is watered only when I'm establishing new plants. All plants are drought tolerant. The plants are shown in order of bloom. The orange ga...

Rudbeckia (yellow blooms), loropetalum (shrub) and monarda (raspberry blooms). The burgundy foliage of loropetalum chinense rubrum anchors this color scheme and has been paired with monarda 'Raspberry Wine' for years. For 2012, I added a mass of rudbeckia (grown from seed) as the deep brown eye of the susans picks up the chocolate tones in the loropetalum. I was hesitant to add the gold-yellow color to the cottage garden, but the brightness of the blooms do brighten the heavy shades of burgundy. All plants are growing in full sun, south-facing in zone 7b in the fenced cottage garden. When hungry, deer will nibble the loropetalum , especially in winter since it is an evergreen shrub.  The rudbeckia are grown easily from seed, so I don't worry so much about the occasional deer nibbling and grow the susans outside the fence, too. Rabbits may also nibble rudbeckia foliage and blooms. Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' is a great bee balm and you can click here to see what'...

Cottage garden. May 1, 2012 Shades of purple and pink tumble and intertwine along one of the paths in the cottage garden. In the correct zones, these perennials are reliably drought tolerant and will provide a long bloom season. To recreate this combination in a hot, full sun location, use the following plants (Click the links for each plant to read previous in-depth articles) : Perennial heliotrope ( heliotropium amplexicaule ) . Zones 7-11, deer resistant Wine cups ( callirhoe involucrata ) . Zones 3-9, NOT deer or rabbit resistant Salvia greggii 'Diane' . Zones 7-9, deer resistant Salvia nemorosa Bordeaux 'Steel Blue' . Zones 4-8, deer resistant View Part Two. 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 p...

Coreopsis 'Star Cluster' in bloom with companions Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' (foliage left)  echinacea (multiple varieties back)  and purple phlox 'Nicky'. Three plants of Coreopsis 'Star Cluster' PPAF were added to my cottage garden in 2011. I was so impressed by the performance and beauty of this coreopsis, that I purchased five more plants this spring. This 2010 introduction in the Big Bang ™ series is from Darrell Probst. For several years, I've happily grown his taller Coreopsis 'Red Shift' in the deer resistant meadow garden. 'Star Cluster' is shorter at 18-14 inches high and wide, making it more suitable for the scale of my cottage garden. A few months ago, Darrell sent me an email about my experience with the color of the 'Star Cluster' here in the southeast. As expected, the coreopsis begins to bloom a creamy white and the deep purple eye spreads from the center during the cooler weather in the fall. Deadheading isn...

These "green" disfigured coneflowers were removed and destroyed. I didn't plant any new "green bloom" echinacea cultivars, so what's wrong with a few of my coneflowers? While most of the coneflowers in my garden are blooming and thriving, I watched three delinquent clumps and wondered: Did voles eat the roots? No Are they getting shaded out by the other plants? No Is it aster yellows disease ? Yes As difficult as it is, there's nothing to be done except to remove and destroy infected coneflowers to keep the disease from spreading by leafhoppers feeding on the plants.  Out with the bad to save the good. 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.

First bloom of 'Little Lime' Hydrangea. June 28, 2012. What's the most refreshing bloom color on a 100°+ summer day?  My vote goes to the huge, cool snowballs of 'Little Lime'™ hardy hydrangea from Proven Winners®.  I know! I know! I'm obsessed with refreshing lime and refreshed  light green  garden benches to cool down my garden! After seven years of waiting for shade, I finally have a spot for hydrangea, my favorite summer shrub. At previous homes, I grew so many different varieties, but here in my small cottage garden, the small sliver of all-day shade requires a small shrub. In late May, while on a plant shopping trip to Big Bloomers in Sanford, I asked for 'Little Lime' and they had it in stock! Fortunately, with deep watering, it is well-established in time for this run of triple-digit heat. 'Little Lime' is not that tiny—the height and spread will be between 36-60 inches. I'm totally okay with a bit of overlap onto my path and through...