​As the weather finally begins to cool down, now is a great time to plant perennials and shrubs.  Unfortunately, since most sane people are tired of their gardens by this time of the year, garden centers stop carrying many of the plants that would benefit from being planted now.  They stock up in the spring when we are anxious to get outside and play in the dirt.
 
In the Lowcountry with our hot and humid summers, plants need to go into the ground very early in the spring to stand a chance to survive our summers.  Better yet is to plant in the autumn when they will have our cool winter to grow nice strong root structures without having to expend so much energy to survive.  What to do?  There are shrubs available locally as well as some perennials.  You can, of course get fall chrysanthemums, asters, and plants that will winter over such as ornamental kale.  I think the garden centers here are starting to carry more things for fall planting.  Do not be afraid to use online sources for plants.  It is important to check reviews to make certain that you are dealing with a reputable nursery.

​I really do love mums (Chrysanthemum indica -the most common species).  I think I associate them with fall and football games.  When I was in high school, everyone wore a “Football Mum” to Homecoming tied with ribbons in the school colors.  They are a flowering perennial that is sometimes referred to as a subshrub because they can get woody.  There are over 20,000 different cultivars worldwide and 7,000 in China.  The blossoms can be pompom shaped or buttons or even daisy like.
 

The cultivated varieties are much more colorful and interesting than the natives and growers are still developing new varieties with new colors and longer lasting flowers.  Chrysanthemums commonly bloom in autumn.  They are what is known as a short daylight grower – our shorter days trigger their blooming.   I find that if I over winter mine, they will bloom at strange times – early spring, midsummer, and then perhaps again in the fall.  I think our seasons and climate confuse them!  Up north, they took the cold like champs and bloomed faithfully every September.  I find it interesting that in Australia, they bloom in May and are a common Mother’s Day gift.  Down Under, May is in their autumn.
 

​You are probably aware of the unique and rather strong smell of chrysanthemums.  Their flowers in the past were made into a tea that supposedly had anti-bacterial and anti-fungal benefits.  Mums are also the source of a natural insecticide called Pyrethum.  Luckily for us, they are deer resistant for the most part.  Remember that a hungry deer will eat almost anything and they do not read the labels.
 
One of the best things about this perennial is its ability to last for a long time – both as a garden plant and as a cut flower.  I buy mums during the fall to decorate my porch and place in my garden.  Sometimes, I forget about my mums and they die from lack of water.  Other times when I am on top of my game and are not too involved in the holidays, I will plant them out in the garden, cut them back, and they will return in the spring.  They are difficult to kill.
 
As our days get shorter, consider putting a bright spot on your deck, porch, or patio and use chrysanthemums.   They also are great to bring into your house as a potted plant or a cut flower.

Lately when I am in the garden, those immortal words of the Wicked Witch of the West come to mind, but not because someone has thrown water on me.  Quite the contrary, I wish someone would throw a bucket of water on me!  The heat and humidity definitely “get” to me these summer days.  I am doing my gardening most days early in the morning before the sun hits my southwest facing yard.
 
Here are a few things to watch for in your gardens during this steamy time of the year –
 
Irrigation – For heavens sake, if we get one of those afternoon thunderstorms, turn off your irrigation.  More plants are killed from too much water than too little.  Rain water is much better for your plants than county water with its chemical treatments, but too much of a good thing is just too much of a good thing.  Root rot and fungal diseases are very real problems right now.  If you do need to irrigate, remember that early in the morning is the best time – before the sun heats up the soil. Our water department does request that you not water between 3AM and 9AM.  Water either earlier than 3:00 or after 9:00 although this is not ideal.   If you waterin the evening, moisture can cause some disease issues and if you water in the heat of the day, most of it evaporates before the plant is able to take the water up from the roots. When the night temperatures get above 70, our poor plants continue to engage in transpiration all night long.  Think of how exhausted you would be if you panted all night long.   Unfortunately, the symptoms of over watering and under watering are the same – droopy leaves.   If plants are too dry, the leaves droop because they are not getting moisture.  If plants are too wet and the roots have rotted, the leaves also droop because the roots are unable to bring water up the stems.  A moisture meter is a good investment although I just put my finger down into the soil to see if it is moist or dry. 
 
Mulch - Mulching is always helpful to keep the soil cooler.  I have been using mushroom compost as a mulch.  It helps to enrich the soil as the nutrients leach down, it keeps weed growth down, and it will keep the soil cooler.  Shredded bark mulch or pine straw are perfectly fine mulches and will also break down eventually to help the soil. 
 
Weeds - Weeds love hot and moist conditions.  The worst weed you will see now is Chamber bitter.  This innocuous looking little weed has hundred of seeds under its stems and can grow to six feet tall.  It spreads like crazy, but fortunately can be easily pulled out when young.  Dog fennel grows well here and looks like a small fluffy tree. Various spurges will try to take over your garden beds as well.  Pull, pull, and pull.  Do not compost these unless your yard waste goes to a professional composter where the temperature is so high that weed seeds will be killed.
 
Sad Plants—Some of your plants may look sad right now.  It is fine to cut them back.  I have cut my geraniums (Pelargoniums) way back and put them in the shade.  When the weather gets cooler, they will come back.   I have also cut down some salvias that look tatty.  It will not hurt plants to have a summer haircut.  Keep on with deadheading flowers.  This signals the plant to produce more blooms.
 
Fertilizer – With our poor plants in a constant state of transpiring (or breathing to put it in human terms ), you may need to fertilize.  I try not to and opt to just depend upon compost for nutrients.  In the middle of summer though, plants will need a pick me up.  Container plants will definitely need a slow release fertilizer.  Do not use a liquid as it will just wash away.  Granular is better to use.
 
These are just a few tips to help you get through these drippy, three t shirt, two shower days.  Remember to hydrate yourselves as well as your plants and we will survive.
 
 

​I have been fortunate to visit RHS Chelsea in London, England on three different occasions.  What is it?  Chelsea is the Royal Horticultural Society’s largest flower show and in fact, it is the largest and most prestigious flower show in the world.  It is held every May for five days and covers 11 acres of parkland with show gardens, balcony gardens, house plant displays, and at 2.9 acres, the world’s largest tent.   The tent or Grand Pavilion houses floral displays as well as vendors showing off their plants that can range from roses, South African proteas, and daffodils.  There is truly something for every gardener.

​The garden designers and growers are all vying for the coveted Gold Medal and I had dinner with one of the judges and believe me when I say that they take their job very seriously.  For the past few years garden designers have been matched up with a U.K charity. Their garden should somehow reflect the mission of that charity and when the show is over, the charity decides where the garden will have its permanent home.   It is wonderful to know that the garden – flowers, benches, hardscape, etc. will have a home where it can be enjoyed by many people.

​As far as what was in “vogue” this year?  I found it amusing that our tractor seat plant (Farfugium japonica) was a huge hit.  People were asking me what it was!  And hold on to your rakes – Spanish moss was much in evidence.  I remember seeing Spanish moss for sale in the gift shop at the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden, but they were having a display of plants from the southeastern United States.  At Chelsea, Spanish moss was used as a feature hanging from trees as well as on hanging plants in the House Plant studios.  Maybe a good retirement job would be to ship Spanish moss to the U.K.
Speaking of house plants- Since the pandemic, there has been a huge resurgence of interest in house plants.  With so many people living in urban areas without a large space to garden, house plants have been a way to bring a bit of the garden inside.  There was also an extensive display of balcony gardens using a small space.  Some even had edibles grown in containers for fresh herbs and vegetables.

​What can a home gardener take away from this year’s show?  Orange and rust tones seemed to be the “in style” color this year.  Moss was often used as a ground cover.  Plant material was often planted into gravel rather than directly into compost.  Gravel gardening seems to be taking off more and more.  My own gravel garden is doing quite well this year and is weed free. Bagged compost in the U.K must be peat free by law and that was very much in evidence with educational displays.  Their peat bogs are a valuable source for wildlife and the worry is that they cannot renew themselves quickly enough to be sustainable.   There were also displays about not rototilling your garden as science is showing that this destroys the soil structure and soil microbes.  Chelsea is set up to be beautiful and enjoyable, but also a learning experience for the visitors.

​Chelsea is the ultimate experience for a gardener with something for everyone.  It is also an event to relish the return of spring to England.  The gates open at 8AM and by the time my daughter and I arrived at the tent a few minutes later people were drinking champagne.  When my daughter remarked on it, a person next to her exclaimed “Well, Darling. IT IS Chelsea!”  Did we get champagne?  Of course, we did.

We are so lucky here in the Lowcountry to have three of the most beautiful iconic southern shrubs in our yards – camellia, azalea, and gardenia. Blooming from late fall to late spring, these shrubs provide a spark of color and/or fragrance that cannot be measured.  None of these shrubs are native to North America except for one variety of azalea, but all three had their beginnings in this country right here in the Lowcountry.

​Camellias are the first to bloom.  Camellia sasanqua flowers in late fall.  Their leaves are small and their blossoms are usually more open than Japonica.  Camellia japonica puts on its display from late January through to early March.  Camellias are native to Asia, particularly China south of the Yangtze River.  Most of the early plants were first brought to Europe and Britain by ships owned by the East India Company.  Camellia sinensis is actually the tea plant and their leaves gave the Brits their beloved “cuppa.”  The earliest camellias in America are said to have been presented to Charleston's Middleton family in 1786 by French botanist Andrè Michaux.  Middleton Place today claims to be America’s first formal garden. There are hundreds of species of Camellias worldwide and many are bred to be cold hardy for more northern climates.  Camellias are slow to grow and some are hundreds of years old.

​The second iconic southern shrub to bloom in our garden season is the azalea.  Azaleas are members of the Rhododendron family and most of our ornamental varieties are native to Asia.  There is one type of azalea commonly known as the “Piedmont azalea” that is native to the southeastern United States.  According to historians, in the United States, Azalea indica was first introduced to the outdoor landscape in the 1830’s at a rice plantation on the Ashby River near Charleston, South Carolina.   John Grimké Drayton, the owner of Magnolia Plantation, imported the plants for use in his estate garden. The director of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum encouraged Drayton to open Magnolia’s gardens to the public in 1871. Magnolia is one of the oldest public gardens in America. Since the late 19th century, in late March and early April, thousands visit to see the azaleas bloom in their full glory.

​Our third iconic southern shrub and my favorite is the Gardenia.  The only thing I really remember well about living in Louisiana when I was five years old was the smell of a Gardenia flower.  I also remember fishing for crawdads with string and a piece of bacon!
Gardenias are native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, the Pacific islands, and Australia.  It is a member of the coffee family and was originally known as Cape jasmine.  How the shrub got its name is an interesting story.  A Scottish physician named Alexander Garden (who incidentally graduated from my alma mater, the University of Aberdeen) moved to Charleston, South Carolina in 1755.   He had a busy medical practice, but his real joy and interest was studying flora and fauna.  He sent many plant specimens to John Ellis, a zoologist in London, and to Botanist Carl Linnaeus in Sweden.  In Garden’s honor, they renamed the Cape jasmine, Gardenia jasminoides.
 

​Of the three iconic shrubs, Gardenias are the fussiest and most difficult to grow.  I feel that it is worth the extra effort just for the fragrance and glossy leaves.  The shrub likes full sun, but afternoon shade in our hot climate is welcome and moist, well drained acidic soil. 
They like to be fertilized every two-three weeks during the growing season and I have found that extra iron keeps the leaves from yellowing.  If Gardenias are grown next to a concrete or tabby wall, they tend to receive too high pH and do not thrive.  I keep cutting off the blossoms and bringing them inside to float in a decorative bowl. This keeps them re-blooming as well as makes my house smell heavenly.  I am sure that there are people who find the smell cloying, but I personally love it.  
 
Even those these shrubs did not originate in North America, they got their introduction to American gardens here in the Lowcountry. All three of these shrubs can be pruned and shaped after they stop blooming but no later than mid summer.  Our soil tends to be acidic and these plants love acid.  The introduction of these lovely plants was a match made in heaven for our Lowcountry gardens.
 

​September may be the most difficult month for gardeners.   Not fully summer, but not the coolness of a real autumn month. The good news is that we are over the worst of the summer heat and by the end of the month, night temperatures are getting down into the 60’s.  Plants, like other living things, breathe.  They go through transpiration where they expel moisture to keep cool.  Think of how you would feel if you were panting all night long in the hot evening air!
To say that our plants are exhausted by the time that September arrives is an understatement.
And our gardens show it.
 
Many of my perennial plants have just given up and gone dormant.  Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp) have nothing left by seed heads, coneflowers (Echinacea spp.)  have their big cool pom pom like seeds, and my red hot pokers (Kniphofia spp.) are nothing but a few spiky leaves.  Some Salvia’s are dying at the top, but have fresh rosettes of leaves at the bottom of the stalks or might even have new leaves growing along the stalks.  I cut off what looks dead and when cooler days and nights arrive, I should have new growth and new flowers.

​The one plant that looks as fresh as a daisy (as the cliché goes) and is not a daisy, is a rose.  Roses seem so delicate and yet mine seem to love the hot weather.   I have two David Austin English roses that have bloomed all summer long without a break or rest.  I will be giving them a fall feeding for more blooms.  They seem to go dormant the end of December when the daylight hours are short and the temps are actually cold at night.  Yes, it does happen in the Lowcountry.  How can we forget that hard freeze last Christmas?
 
I cannot say that September is my favorite month to garden.  It is still too hot to tackle any large projects and there are still biting insects.  My garden is no longer lush and there are distinct gaps or holes in the foliage.  I also hate to see the days getting shorter and the mornings so dark.
 

​There are some things that do keep a smile on my face in transition September.  A type of salvia, known as forsythia sage (Salvia madrensis) blooms this time of the year.  It is a very tall (5-6 feet) plant with sturdy stems and long spikes of yellow flowers.  Asters (Symphytotrichum spp.)  and goldenrod (Solidago spp.) are coming in their own and who doesn’t like purple and yellow?  They are both native plants and pollinators love them.   I am finally seeing lots and lots of butterflies in my garden right now and they were quite sparse earlier in the summer. I also have one of the weirdest looking flowers right now on my pinecone ginger (Zingiber zerumbet).  They look, of course, like giant red pinecones.  This plant has been used as a shampoo and conditioner.  If you squeeze the “cones” a liquid is exuded so this plant is often known as shampoo ginger.  I have not tried it as a shampoo.  It is a fun plant to have just for interest.

​So, even though September is my least favorite gardening month, I have learned to take pleasure in what is growing and what is going through a transition from our H and H days to a more temperate season.

You may wonder where the Comya Gardener has been these past few weeks.  I was fortunate to play golf in Scotland for two weeks and then just arrived home from a 15 day cruise around the British Isles.  I got to check Orkney and the Shetland Islands off of my bucket list.   It was interesting to see what the gardens were like in those places since there is only a temperature difference of about ten degrees between winter highs and summer highs. Gardens were lush  with an abundance of flowers.  The entire landscape was very green although with the small amount of daylight in the winter, I am sure that will change dramatically.

If you are interested in purchasing my book on gardening in the Lowcountry for newcomers, it is available at LowCo Gardens in Port Royal, Bruno's and The Greenery on Hilton Head, and Southern Marsh Nursery in Bluffton.  

​Rain, Rain, Go Away!
I am saying that now, but by the end of next week with temps in the 90’s, I will be praying for some cooling rain.  It has been a soggy few weeks, but I think after a rather dry spring, we have needed it.  My flowers are flourishing and the grass has finally turned green as well as the many many weeds.
 
Chamber Bitter is our worst enemy right now.  It is easy to full so get it while it is small.  It can grow to six feet tall with thousands of seeds stored under the leaves. This weed thrives in wet conditions so it is quite vigorous right now.  
 
I have some interesting Black-eyed Susans right now.   There are two varieties – one perennial and one an annual.  The perennial version (Rudbeckia fulgida) is a new cultivar this year for me.  It is named “American Goldrush” and it is smaller than the annual with sturdier stems so it does not flop.  The flowers are bright yellow and large with a red interior.  Highly recommended if you see it.  I ordered mine online from Bluestone Perennials.

​The annual variety (Rudbeckia hirta) reseeds with vigor and I am finding that each clump is a little different.  This is because they are non-clonal so you do not get exactly the same plant as the parents were.  I even have one mutation where two blossoms are connected together.  Very weird looking.  I cannot understand that according to garden designers, yellow is the most unpopular color in a garden.  I love yellow.  Hot colors really work down here with our bright sun.  I find that because I do not have much shade at all, the brighter the color, the better it looks in my southwest exposure.

​My Coneflowers (Echinacea spp.) are also doing well.  Although they tend to be a short-lived perennial in hotter climates, they re-seed and I am giving Coneflower babies away.  The bees seem to particularly like them.

I must admit that I have not seen many butterflies this year.  Last year, they arrived later in the summer.  Usually I have tons of Gulf Fritillaries, but even with this favorite host plant, Passionflower vine, climbing up my porch screen, I have not seen evidence of them in abundance – yet.
 
After visiting the gardens and conservatory at the Biltmore Estate last week, I am attempting to under plant any container plants with succulents.  I hate to see the bare dirt under large plants such as my olive tree.  Succulents add a bit of interest plus they take so little care.  I will let you know how that works out. 
 
On a more personal note, my book, Lowcountry Gardening for Beginners:  How to Succeed as a Comya Gardener,  is selling well.  You can get a copy at LowCo Gardens, Southern Marsh Nursery, Bruno’s, and the Greenery.  These are all great garden centers and well worth a visit even if you are not interested in purchasing the book.
 
Stay ahead of the weeds, work early before it gets hot, and keep hydrated.  I will be in Scotland for 12 days enjoying the lack of humidity.  I will pay the price when I get back and  spend much time weeding and trimming.

We are fortunate in North America and particularly the southeast to have some really outstanding native plants that we can purchase at nurseries and garden centers.  Take one of my favorites, Baptisia.  Native to the southeast, this member of the legume family blooms in the early spring.  Even after blooming, I like the foliage and the bean like seed pods.  A cultivar known as “Carolina Moonlight” is stunning with pale yellow blossoms.  The native variety has purple flowers and is also attractive in any garden.  It is deer resistant as are most natives.  Otherwise, they never never would survive!

​Gaillardia or Blanket Flower is a heat and drought loving native that you can see along a sandy beach.  It is named for an 18th century French magistrate and amateur botanist, Maitre Gaillard de Charentonneau.  Its common name may reflect the colors used  in Native American blankets.  Make certain that this plant does not get too much water. It really likes to be dry.  The only problem with Blanket Flowers is that they are a short lived perennial, but they can spread and produce new plants given the right conditions.

​Coneflowers are among my favorites and although they are not native to the southeast, they are a native American prairie plant much beloved the world over.
You can see them from U.K. to Germany to Japan.  They do like cold in winter and mine look the best ever thanks to the December hard freeze.  They spread by seeds and if you are lucky, you will have baby coneflowers.  They bloom for a long time and now there are cultivars in many colors – the traditional pink, but also red, orange, lime green, white, and yellow.

​A southeastern native is Eryngium yuccifolia, commonly known as Rattlesnake master.  The basal leaves look a bit like yucca, but the flowers are little white spiky balls that are loved by bees and wasps and some butterflies.  It is not invasive and stays neat and tidy.  The legend is that Native Americans used its leaves to brew a tea as an antidote to a Rattlesnake bite.  I have no desire to experiment with that.

If you can find these native, give them a try.  They will add quite a bit of variety and color to your garden.
On another note, My book is now available at Lowco Gardens in Port Royal, Bruno's Garden Center and the Greenery on Hilton Head Island.

My garden has never looked better.   My Bottlebrushes are still sad, but they are coming back – slowly.  Everything else seems to have come alive in a very short period of time.  I turn around and something else is blooming or poking up through the earth.
 
So what is looking particularly good?  My roses.  I have one rose that I was about to give up on and it is blooming for the first time in three years.  Not just one puny little blossom, but lots and lots.  I just mulched them with composted cow manure and that should make them even happier.  My roses seemed to thrive after the cold spell and I have heard other gardeners say the same thing – that their roses have never looked better.

​I like the look of Gaura (Oenothera lindheimeri), but mine never has looked that full and had the flowers that they should have- until now.  They have come alive after just taking up place for a couple of years.  The cultivar is called “Whirling Butterflies” and the flowers look just like that.  Gaura is one of those plants whose DNA extracted by plant scientists called for a name change.  It is now in the evening primrose family.  I saw those busy scientists at work last May at RHS Wisley’s research facility, Hilltop.  Wonderful place, but I wanted to shake my fist at the scientists who are making life a little harder for those of us who use Latin binomials to identify plant families.

​I have tried a new type of allium that I saw in U.K. last year.  It is called Allium bulgaricum.    I always wonder if this is wise because our climate is so darn warm, but up they came and I like their odd look.

 ​I have replanted African bush daisies (Euryops chrysanthemoides.) this year.   I have always said that perennials are not forever.  In both my garden and in a pollinator garden that I maintain, the African daisies got woody and had mildew and just looked pathetic.  When I pulled on them, they came out with hardly any root structure.  Death by old age.  Fortunately, they are not expensive and easy to find at local nurseries.  I hope that my roots are in better shape.  When I bought the new plants, I noticed that they are now called “California bush daisy.”  This definitely sounds more native.  And that is why I use the Latin name.
 
All of my salvias have come back up.  Hooray.  They are some of my favorite plants since they thrive in heat and humidity and the deer do not like them.   Those new “Rockin” varieties from Proven Winners seem to be very tough.  I love a plant that blooms for an extended period of time and my salvias are blooming now and will until January.

​I did try something new this year – I planted a small gravel garden.  Gravel gardening is becoming very popular, but not so much in the U.S.A.  I had a spot where nothing grew.  The topsoil washed off in every heavy rain.  I put down several bags of compost to a thickness of about 8 inches and then put five-six inches of pea gravel on top.  You dig through the gravel and put your plants in the topsoil.  I used plants that like heat and full sun.  So far, so good.  I will keep you posted on how it looks in August!  That will be the real test.

​My pitcher plants are blooming right now.  Once the flowers are finished, the new pitchers come up.  I have added two new “pitchers” this year – Satchel Paige and Pedro Martinez.  I needed some diversity and they are tall and proud.  I buy my pitcher plants from the Pacific Northwest even though they are native here.  You must buy them from an accredited grower and not gather them in the wild as they are protected.
 

​My book Lowcountry Gardening for Newcomers: How to Succeed as a Comya Gardener is selling slowly but surely.  You can find it at LowCo Gardens in Port Royal as well as the Greenery on Hilton Head.  The last chapter says it all with its title “I Have Killed More Things Than Most People Plant or How to Let Go.”  I do not pretend to know it all.  I have had successes and many failures, but I plug on.  That is what we do as gardeners. 
 
Enjoy the wonderful spring weather and get out there and play in the dirt.

Well you might ask that since I have not posted a new blog in quite some time.  I wish I could say that I have been binge watching Gardener’s World on BBC and eating bon bons.   First, I have been in a play/musical for charity.  Appropriately, I played Mother Earth.  Secondly, I have been working to restore and revive my freeze damaged gardens that have sprouted way too soon.  And last but hardly least, I have had a book printed and have been busily delivering copies.  What is the title? Lowcountry Gardening for Newcomers:  How to Succeed as a Comya Gardener.  I self published so I could write exactly what I wanted without a state textbook adoption committee telling me what to write.  I hate it when history is changed to suit a particular mindset.  Well, this book is hardly controversial unless you are a weed or a plant eating deer.

Where do you get this book?  So far, it is carried at LowCo Gardeners in Port Royal.  I am working on getting it to Hilton Head and other areas.

Now to the subject at hand:  What am I doing in my garden?  I was patient although I really wanted to hack my Bottlebrushes down.  They are slowly returning.  The recent warm weather has things sprouting and blooming very early.  There is Wisteria blooming and it is early March – way way too early.   It is kind of scary in a way.  I said that the hard freeze in December would not kill most things and even my Meyer Lemon has blossom buds and new leaves.  There were a few sad losses.  My Hamelia patens or Mexican firebush is gone.  I always take a chance with it anyway.
I lost some succulents which can happen.  They have all been replaced.    My Salvia are all coming back and they are really a hardy annual (or tender perennial?) Black-eyed Susan have reseeded and are coming up in random locations.  My roses are all in bloom and this is the earliest ever.

​What do I have to most in my garden?  Thousands, maybe millions of baby pine trees.  I have never seen so many in my life.  I could reforest the entire European continent.   I have pulled some out, but think I will smother them with mulch.  And lots of little oak trees thanks to those fluffy tailed garden rats burying them.  I also think that it will be bumper weed year.  

Some plants that are really spectacular this year are shrubs.  My “Bridal Veil “spirea  (Spiraea prunifolia) is a mass of tiny white flowers.  My native Azalea (​Rhododendron canescens) is also in full bloom.  Most azaleas are native to Asia.
The first Asian azalea that is so common in South Carolina was brought to this country by Joseph Drayton to Magnolia Plantation outside of Charleston.  Our native variety can be found in the woods all along the southern east coast and is commonly called the “Piedmont azalea.”

​I had some great daffodils this year.  I bought the southern collection from John Scheepers last fall, put them in the fridge for three months and then planted them in early January.   I also planted iris.  I love them, but wish that the blooms lasted longer.

Much to my surprise, my Hydrangeas look very healthy even one that I propagated last fall from a cutting.  Now is a great time to try to propagate plants from cuttings. The hormone level is high in the stems so they tend to root more readily.
 
Wait to plant seeds until the end of March.  I planted some directly into the ground and I was pushing the season a bit too much.  Not one little seedling appeared.  My bad.  I have been telling everyone to be patient and I didn’t follow my own advice.
 
We are due for a cold snap and that could slow things down a bit.  I just want the pollen out of the air.
 
Get out and enjoy the cool weather before our heat will hit soon enough.  It is a great time to do hardscape projects, plant shrubs, and pull out those baby pine trees.  I plan on doing quite a bit of mulching over the next few weeks.
 
A blog evaluation site named the Comya Gardener as one of the top 30 gardening blogs in the south so someone must be reading it.  I promise to be a more faithful blogger.    I have a lot to live up to.
 

​I know that it is difficult to even consider spring with the latest round of tough weather.  As gardeners, it helps to keep one step ahead of the season.  I am planning my spring and summer garden right now at the end of January with nary a green leaf in sight and all those sad looking freeze damaged plants staring at me.
 
Seeds can be planted indoors between 6 and 4 weeks before the date of the last frost which is usually March 15th.   Check on the seed packet for the exact time span.  I just looked at some of my seed packets and realized that they are written in Dutch.   I bought them at the airport in Amsterdam.  I wanted to bring plants and bulbs back, but the little sniffer Beagles at the airports in this country would have a field day with my suitcase.  Seeds are okay though.
 
I really like to order seeds from either Johnny’s Seeds or Park Seeds.  Park Seeds is located in Greenwood, South Carolina and is one of our nation’s oldest seeds companies.  Both have excellent seeds with a good germination rate.
 
Right now I have several containers of seeds and seedlings on my plant tray by a sunny window.  Take out containers with clear plastic lids make great mini greenhouses.  Poke drainage holes in the bottom container and fill it with seed starter soil mix, available at any big box garden center.  I use MiracleGro.  Plant the seeds according to directions and place the clear lid on it.  I planted Bunny grass and it germinated in three days.  I have individual containers of larger plants where I am putting only 2-3 seeds in each one.  I have put a plastic drink glass over the top for a greenhouse effect. (a good one- not the one threatening our planet)  I have a spray bottle to mist the soil and I keep a small watering can nearby.  I always keep the watering can full of water.   Leaving tap water in over night allows some of the chemicals to dissipate and is better for the plants, especially seedlings.
 
I am also going to think about what plant I can propagate this spring.  I have taken many Geranium (Pelargoniums) cuttings.  I usually put them in water to grow roots.  You can plant them into a soil mix and see if they grow roots that way.  Rooting hormone on the tip of the cutting can help it get going.  Thai basil also roots from cuttings very easily.  It is a super plant for bees, but it is an annual so it dies down every winter.  I probably have five new plants on my porch made from cuttings and I will keep on making more and more from the new plants.
 
Succulents can be easily propagated as well from a stem.  Insert the stem into soil or sand and water well.  You should get a new baby in a few weeks.
 
I have told you before that during the winter I do a lot of “creative staring” at my garden to figure out trouble spots and new areas to plant.  This year I am thinking about making a small gravel garden in an area where nothing seems to do well.
Stay tuned for this adventure.  If I decide to proceed, I will document each step.  I was fortunate enough to get a  how to lesson from the owner of Denman’s Garden in West Sussex, England last May.  The prep work may take awhile because there is an irrigation head right in the middle and a gravel garden is by nature, a dry bed.
It should be fun to experiment.  I think that pushing the envelope and trying new things is one of the most fun gardening adventures you can have.  Keep staring at your garden and let us hope for an early spring even though it will mean pollen.