October 13th, 2021

She's About a Mover!
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​Yes, it’s a great rock and roll song from 1965 by the Sir Douglas Quintet.  Our band loves to sing it.  And I….Well, I have been moving things around in my garden like crazy.  Now that the nights are cooler and the days are not torrid, it is a good time to move things around in the garden.  It is perfectly okay to admit your mistakes and move things that just do not work where they are.

The Attack of the Giant Grass!

​I planted an enormous grass called Molina caerulea “Savannah” (Moorgrass) towards the front of my garden.  It was such a cute little bundle of joy when I bought it.  Did I check to see what size it could get?  Nooooo. One of the first rules of gardening is to check on the height and width of a mature plant.   So my temporary silliness required me to move it to the back of my garden where it has plenty of room to do its thing.  In its place, I planted Chasmanthium latifolium (Northern Sea Oats).  It is still a grass and native to this region, but is smaller and has great little seedpods that look like tiny fish on a wire.

Northern Sea Oats

​My next project was moving some large blue salvias to the back of the garden so that I can move some lovely shorter plants to the front where they can be seen.
I love the look of Salvia “Rockin Playing the Blues” or any of its ilk, but it is large and needs a good spot.   I have placed it behind a Sunshine Ligustrum shrub because I like blue and yellow together. Then I moved a short variety of solidago (Golden Rod) forward as well Helenium “moerheim beauty” which has a fabulous orange and yellow flower that needs to be viewed up close and personal.
 

Rockin Playing the Blues Salvia

​Now is a great time to plant winter flowering plants such as snapdragons and dianthus.  They will take a hard freeze and bloom all winter long for color in your garden.

Hellenium "moerheim beauty"

​Cooler weather is a great time to do all those garden projects that the summer heat and humidity prevented you from doing.  It is easier to spread mulch when it is 70 and not 96!  Get out there and enjoy the cooler weather.
 
A little side note here – this blog just won an award from the South Carolina Master Gardener’s Association in the communications category.  Wow!  Can I call it an award winning blog?