Happy Valentines Day!

BY SKEETER

 Happy Valentines from my GEORGIA GARDENS, to yours.

 The Ever Red Loropetalum aka:Fringe Bush has a beautiful Red bloom that is very difficult for me to capture through a photo. But believe me, it is bright red and has a dark almost chocolate leaf. I planted 2 last fall and have 3 more yet to put into the ground. Maybe this weekend.

 My Royal Princess Nandina has beautiful Red Berries that no critter seems to want.

 And last but not least are the beautiful Nandina's in the Butterfly Garden.  

All I know about these beauties is, they were here when we moved into this house. I did move them to a better spot than the previous homeowners had placed them. I enjoy their beautiful Red Color on this HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Winter Damage

By Skeeter The sun is shining in my Georgia Garden today! A perfect time to take inventory of any damage the weekend snow fall may have caused. Above is the picture of my favorite Azalea Bush weighted down with snow. As you can see, she is a tough girl as she is once again standing tall with no damage! The Azalea's in the woods, even though protected a bit from the trees above, had a white blanket on them as well. Now standing tall and proud! I was not too worried about the front planters as the Camellia and Japanese Maples are stout thus, looked as though they were holding their own. However, the Nandina was a mere blob under the heavy snow. Upright she stands today! The snow really did weigh heavy on the Nandina's and I just knew there would be damage. But no damage could be seen by my eyes! The branches of the bush are pretty flexible to say the least. The snow covered planters were really pretty covered in white. I am thrilled to see them happy in the shining sun today! The Butterfly Bushes were so full of snow they were lying on the ground as if dead for sure. But a few hours with warm sunshine on them, and they sprung back to life as well... Since we do not normally have such snow falls in our neck of the woods, we do not own a snow shovel. In order to keep the snow off the front walk way to the house which faces north, I was sweeping the snow off with a broom every 40 minutes or so. One time as I was sweeping I heard this awful snapping. I turned to see this tree fall into our yard. Yikes, good thing we postponed our planned Virginia trip over the long weekend. We now had work to tend instead of playing. Arggggg, it never ends around here... The snow continued to fall after the tree was lying on the ground. It was a pretty piece of art work made by nature but must not stay in place. This tree is always the first to drop her leaves in the fall. I do not think she was healthy for a long time. She was leaning really badly towards our yard. I have talked about this tree in the past. If you missed that Posting, Click HERE to see the Winged Elm's story. As you can see, the tree was practically uprooted. The Elm was sitting in a pool of water. Look at the puddle under the root ball. We have had excessive amounts of rain fall the past several months and this ares is where the rain drains or should I say does not drain properly like most of our backyard. The tree is actually over our back fence and belongs to the land owners behind our property. They do not have a house on this land as it belongs to nature for now. So we decided to not bother the land owner and remove the tree ourselves. It also knocked over the fence post so we will repair that as well. We spent the day cutting the smaller branches and twigs and relocating them to the brush pile. The yard is so soggy that we were making ruts in the ground with the wheel barrow. We have decided that since the tree is arched and not too much of her is touching the ground, that we will leave her be for now. We fear we will do more damage to the yard if we cut up large heavy logs with the ground being so fragile. We will wait until the yard dries a bit to remove her. Gee, that condo living is sure looking good right about now. hee hee... Lookie lookie what I spotted today! The first bloom on a Spirea! Also the trees are budding! And my most happiest moment was when I spotted this bud on a Daffy! I never have luck with daffodils returning for me so I am most excited to see this bud...
Here are some of my friends that were not bothered by the white stuff falling last Friday evening.

Over all, One tree lost but no more WINTER DAMAGE, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Redneck Beer Bottle Tree

Can you all stand any more pictures of bottle trees? I hope so because here is my newest one. When I changed some bottles on the backyard bottle tree I had a bunch of green beer bottles leftover. These bottles are such a pretty color (green) and were a 'gift' from a former cherished neighbor. I thought I'd find another spot for them in the garden. They are all the same so this bottle tree is a change from my eclectic backyard bottle tree.

Enter the Front Foundation Garden. Yup, right there for all to see. The house on the post is a custom made Amish handcrafted log cabin that I fell in love with and purchased from-of all places-a flea market. Boy do I know all the good flea markets.

The crepe myrtle trunks you see in the background is 'Biloxi', a wonderful, vigorous, cultivar for me. You might be able to enlarge this photo and see the super good variegation on the bark. This tree was planted as a twig five years ago.

This area was an awkward corner of my front porch and foundation bed but has been fun to design. In front of the Byer's is Euonymous japonica 'Microphylla' and 'Firepower' nandina for interest and color. You cannot beat the euonymous. I find this one looks just like boxwood, but is much shorter and stouter and easier. Very little pruning is required to keep it below the windows shown on the house. The trusty bowling balls are hiding in the background.

I added white LED lights to the inside of the bottles and house so that it would literally 'shine' at night. After all, that is when most rednecks do their beer drinking isn't it? You have a great weekend and remember, drink responsibly if you must drink. :)

in the garden....

Pretty in Red Nandina's

Ah, nothing says Christmas is approaching like Red Berry's! I use red berry's in a lot of my decorations but with having indoor only cats, the berry's I use tend to not be real. The price one must pay for having pets.

Here in my Georgia Garden, I have Nandina plants. This Royal Princess was given to us by my parents in honor of our beloved kitty Skeeter. We called Skeeter our baby for almost 16 years when he left us to cross over the Rainbow Bridge.

We planted this Nandina by his resting spot and now when I am in the yard, I talk to the plant as if it were Skeeter. The squirrels occasionally strip a stem and either them or the birds eat the berry's each year. The plant is in full shade and seems to love this area as it is doing well. Slow to grow but still growing...

We also have other Nandina's in the yard but I have no idea what type as they were here when we purchased the house. We moved this one from the overcrowded front planter and it loves the new spot and gives us bright red leaves in the winter months.

The leaves are a vibrant deep color of red and once again, remind me that Christmas is just around the corner!

The 4 remaining Nandina in the front planters do not get as red as the one moved. I am thinking that the ones facing north and shaded by the porch and roof of the house need more sun in order to have more color. I sure do enjoy my PRETTY IN RED NANDINA'S, In the Garden...

More Winter Color-Red! Red! RED!

Skeeter sent me some pictures of her winter color in Georgia. Nandina is a great shrub for all season color and Skeeter really likes the way the red of the nandina shows up against the white of the crepe myrtle trunk. I love it too. Crepe myrtles have a great structure and color. Just look at that RED!

The second picture of a fern on her porch has some special color in the leaves with a message. It is saying, "I'm cold!" and finally done for the season. The recent cold spell really has done in most plants that have managed to stay somewhat green and growing up until now.
The third picture is of a butterfly bush in Skeeter's yard. Buddleia davidii is the botanical name though most people simply refer to it as a butterfly bush. These bushes are very common and are absolute butterfly magnets. Most butterfly bushes are showing a good amount of foliage this winter, much more than is normal for so long. You want to leave the foliage and branches alone until around March-April, then cut the whole bush back to about the heighth of your knees. Butterfly bushes bloom on new wood and while leaving the foliage isn't absolutely necessary, I have found it works best in my garden.

Great color Skeeter, and I am looking at those pine needles with longing because I am still not done with mine!

in the garden....