It's September – temperatures are dropping. The fall planting season is upon us, and Wayside Gardens has plenty of fresh flower bulbs stacked and ready to go. You can smell them walking through the coolers, a crisp, earthy smell. By the middle of this month, we will be shipping to most zones, and these living packages of beautiful botanical potential will be nestled into your garden, waiting for spring.
Flower bulbs really are great – a fun and simple project for novice gardeners, and a wide brush full of bright paint for those veteran garden artists looking to dump huge amounts of quick color into their landscape design.
There are a couple of dazzling new and unique flowers in our bulb line-up this year. Please check out the tulips 'Black Jewel' and 'Doll's Minuet' – I promise, they are like no tulips you've seen before. Another featured favorite this year is Colchicum 'Water Lily' – these large sprawling bloom actually look like floating waterlilies. Make sure to check out the rest of our fall flower bulbs.
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Understanding cardinal directions in relation to your home and garden is one of the most basic gardening skills. The fundamental task of orienting your property will help you to plan a garden with the greatest chance of success. Above the equator, where almost all of our readers live, south-facing walls receive all day sun, and north-facing walls are shaded.
We all know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Orienting your own home is as simple as getting up to watch the sunrise. Face the horizon where the sun rises – this is east. Hold out your left hand – this is north. Hold out your right hand – this is south. And west is to your back. Now you can draw a simple map of your yard and draw a little compass with the cardinal directions to use as a reference for future landscaping projects.
So, if a plant needs full sun, it will probably need to be on the south side of your home as to not fall in the shade of your home. The plants placed along the north wall should be shade-loving plants because they will be in the shadow of your home for the entire day.
Bonus Trivia: “Cardinal” comes from the Latin Cardo with means “That on which something turns or depends” or “door hinge”. Anything described as “Cardinal” is very important, in fact, it is the most important thing of it’s kind. N,S,E, & W are the most important directions, Cardinals are the most important priests in Catholicism, and Cardinal Virtues are those which should be held above all others. Cardinal is a very important word.
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People often search for drought tolerant plants, or plants that can tolerate soggy soil to meet specific conditions of their local climate. But there are a few plants that satisfy both needs, plants that can take a lot of moisture abuse and still shine in your garden. These special plants are mostly varieties that thrive in wet soil type, but, when established, can tolerate periods of drought.
These aren’t extreme exotic plants either; they are particularly hardy varieties of every day favorites, like hemorocallis, viburnum, and hibiscus. For more information and variety check out our full line of weather tough plants.
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Whether it's brand new terra cotta pots, antique ceramic planters, dixie cups, or even an old pair of rain boots with holes poked in the bottom, if it will hold dirt, someone will think to plant in it. Why? What's wrong with the ground? Nothing really, but there are notable benefits to planting in containers.
Plants in containers are easier to control.
Container gardening gives you complete control over everything that your plants are exposed to. Soil, moisture, nutrients, pesticides, and to some extent, pests and disease are all easier to control when you plant in containers. You can also control exposure to the elements, bringing in your tropicals during the cold months.
Choosing a commercial planting soil mix or creating your own planting medium recipe will greatly reduce the chances of exposing your plant to fungus and soil-borne parasites.
It's just another excuse for gardeners to be creative (as if we needed an excuse).
You can use just about anything as a planter, and most gardeners will. I read a story a few days ago about a lady who got in trouble with her HOA for planting in toilets in her front yard. Personally, I've seen old boats, cars, and bath tubs, but of course, this is the south.
Click here to enter the Wayside Gardens Photo Contest!
If you've got a container garden that you are proud of, send us a nice photo and you could win a $50 gift certificate.
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This week's Wayside Gardens' Plant of the Week is one of the most popular climbing shrubs on the market and the best climbing hydrangea around, Hydrangea anomala ssp.petiolaris. It will climb any wall, arbor, or tree with no additional support, and will keep on growing for up to 80 feet! If it has nothing to grow on, it will also make an excellent groundcover.
Care is simple: just let it keep going! The foliage, beautiful white blooms, and dense habit make it interesting all season long. Hydrangea anomala ssp.petiolaris prefers rich, well-drained soil and performs best in partial shade. Water thoroughly, especially in warm or dry climates.
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Born in Cambridge, England, Graham Stuart Thomas was a world famous horticultural artist and garden design who studied in the University Botanic Garden at Cambridge University. He won many awards and medals for his work from The Royal Horticulture Society, the National Rose Society, and the Garden Writer's Guild. The famed rose breeder, David Austin, even named a rose after him.
He combined the art and science of gardening in perfect harmony. While beautiful and passionate, his paintings were accurate enough to be featured in the most scientific gardening publications. Mr. Thomas pass away in 2003 leaving a legacy of wonderful creations–making the wonders of nature a little more accessible for the rest of us.
Wayside gardens was fortunate enough to have Mr. Thomas create two series of exclusive limited-run print, one in the seventies, and the other one in 1988. Wayside is now exclusively offering limited-supply reproductions of these amazing historical garden prints for less than a third of the original cost of the 1988 exclusive prints, which, adjust for inflation, is an amazing deal.Graham Stuart Thomas Prints
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