Native plants used as "foundation" plantings

From left to right:coral honeysuckle, fothergilla, Euonymus, mountain laurel, Leucothoe, Aquilegia, with Christmas ferns and bloodroot, and Carolina jessamine on the front porch railAnd lots of water oak catkins on the front pa...

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A flourishing woodland garden

It's been wonderful to see how the front woodland garden along the path is flourishing this spring, along with the "foundation" plantings in front of the house.Even the assessor (from the bank of our buyer) on Tuesday (admittedly a plant enthusiast) admired the nice combination of mountain laurel, rhododendron, fothergilla, and coral honeysuckle in front of the house, as well as the native crested...

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A woodland garden

It was so nice to see the woodland border thriving, in spring guise, returning from the mountains to the Piedmont in the final stages of relocation.This was a created woodland spot; it was shallow dry grass beneath a water oak when we bought this house.  And there was no pathway to the front of...

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Paring down books

I've been paring down my gardening and natural history books, with upcoming consolidation to a smaller living space.It's an interesting process (not without angst).I think about and weigh (based on my de-cluttering inspirations):  have I looked at this field guide lately?  Do I really want to know as much about dragonflies as this very nice guide provides?  Ditto about caterpillars? ...

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Moving forward

As we get ready to pass on an old house (built in 1929) and relatively new garden (we've been here 22 years) to the next owners, I'm happy and wistful.  We accepted an offer last weekend, so it's now "contract pending."My dad, not a sentimental sort, reminded me this morning via email of Robert...

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Ready for a new gardener

I cleaned up the main vegetable garden in the Piedmont today.  I meant to get a photo this afternoon, but time got away, with pulls of other things.This is what it looked like getting ready a year or so ago.prepped for planting (main vegetable garden)It didn't need much prep, as I'd prepared and...

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Cool-season vegetable gardening (and moving forward)

I really like to promote 4-season vegetable gardening here in the Carolinas.There's no reason not to grow winter-hardy vegetables (kale, collards, and the like) through the winter, if you like greens.   The last two winters, though, have not been kind to even normally hardy (without any protection)...

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Honoring an old house

I signed the listing papers today for our house in the Piedmont of SC.The house looks good.It’s a great house, with good presence. Built in 1929, it’s not old, compared to living places in many parts of the world, but it’s an old house (even historic) house here.Our university (why our small college...

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Downsizing your garden

I spent the day at the Davidson Horticultural Symposium.  It was great, full of thought-provoking presentations and interactions with fellow gardeners.But a couple of the presentations, by very accomplished landscape architects, had me thankful for the opportunity and encouragement to downsize...

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Creating a natural garden

As my gardening companion and I prepare to leave a garden (really a low-maintenance native plant-dominated landscape) that we've created over the last 22 years, it's interesting to reflect on the changes that we've made -- all to the good, certainly, from the perspective of being good stewards of our...

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