Continued from the previous page

THE FLORAL SHOW CONTINUES:

Although I'm discouraged by the failure of many of the Encore azaleas to thrive in our yard, I'm encouraged by the rousing success of the Knockout and Drift roses, which I've never grown previously. They have exceeded my expectations in their first four years.

Our Knockouts and Drifts start blooming about the same time as the azaleas in early April, and continue until the first hard frost in December. We started out with about twenty roses in the back yard in 2017, added another three dozen in the back side yard and new front "island" in 2018, and replaced a few dead Encore azaleas with Drift roses.

The next four photos show the three beds of roses in the back yard, where virtually no one sees them but us (and neighbors in surrounding two-story houses):

 

 

 

These two photos show some of the pink Knockouts in the front island:

 

We have a variety of colors and shapes of both rose varieties. Some have single layers of petals, some double or full. Colors range from light to dark pink, yellow, peach, and red.

 

 

 

Maintenance includes watering during dry spells, applying 10-10-10 fertilizer every month or two during the blooming season, dead-heading spent blooms to they rebloom faster, protecting the leaves and flowers from deer and Japanese beetles, and pruning them back in the winter before new growth occurs.

 

   

I have not cut the Drifts back so far, just the Knockouts because they get much taller. Some older Drifts that were here when we bought the property have dead canes that need periodic removal so they continue to flourish.

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS . . .

Usually the next type of flower that starts blooming is Spidorwort in May. We started out with six plants in three colors and they spread a little farther each year:

They continue blooming for more than a month, and sometimes have a few flowers in late summer. They die most of the way back in the winter.

A couple years ago we were surprised when a few Cleome flowers popped up in our yard unexpectedly. Seeds flew from a neighbors' yard up the street. I love these airy white-pnk-purple flowers with leaves that look almost like marijuana:

Cleome multiply rapidly and can have very tall stems. We had to stake some of them this year (see tomato cage in photo above). Like columbines, they produce a lot of seeds in the fall that can be transplanted or just tossed on the ground and are fun to share with friends.

Next to bloom are the daylilies. I started out with a couple dozen in 2017, added a few more since then, and have at least a dozen different colors now (not all are shown in these photos).

 

 

 

 

  

 

Daylilies are very easy to grow and propagate. They spread fairly quickly after the first couple of years. I have divided several of them in the fall, after the flowers die back in July or August and before the leaves die in November.

BUTTERFLY GARDEN

Another of our success stories is lantana. They have all grown much larger than advertised, covering an area at least 20 x 20 feet. These bloom heavily from June to September.

We started out with three yellow-orange-pink Miss Huff lantanas in 2017, soon added two more of the same, then three lower-growing yellow Chapel Hill lantanas in front of them, and one yellow-purple Mary Ann later:

 

 

Lantanas are not only beautiful and easy to grow, they also attract a lot of pollinators, including bees and several kinds of butterflies:

 

   

 

This summer they also attracted several large Argiope aurantia orb weavers, which I "discouraged" from building webs in this location because they were catching butterflies and moths! I know, "spiders gotta eat, too," but I value pollinators over spiders.

I left the spiders alone in the roses and burning bushes, where they could catch other insects. I do enjoy seeing the orb weavers' zig zag formation in the center of their huge webs. One year I watched as the spider "wrote" the zig zag design and it was fascinating (and quick). They build a new web every day.

Lantanas grow fast and big. They don't require much care during the spring and summer but should be cut back to 8-12" in late winter/early spring before new shoots appear.

And let's not forget that Southern summer staple, crape myrtle! We inherited two large ones in the front yard that were planted by the former owner:

We prefer to let ours continue to grow as trees and do not commit "crape murder" in the winter by chopping them off a few feet from the ground. YMMV.

This summer Jim erected a nice weather station at the edge of the patio. It's fun to see the additional data it provides:

 

AUTUMN COLOR

We continue to have some color throughout the fall and winter.

The Encore azaleas and bearded iris are re-blooming varieties, Lorapetalum shrubs have some fringe flowers year-round, the Knockout and Drift roses stay in bloom from April until the first hard frost in December, a few hydrangea flowers pop up in the fall, and the camellias start blooming.

Many of our deciduous trees and shrubs have colorful leaves before they fall off and a few produce bright red berries.

These burning bushes are green in summer, red in the fall, and lose their leaves during the winter.

   
Our Viridis Japanese maple has green leaves in summer that turn
multi-colored in the fall, and drop off during the winter.

The brightest berries are on a large Nandina by the back fence. They are most showy from late fall to spring, and make nice Christmas decorations:

Our large Yuletide camellia blooms from October to December with bright red single-layer petals and yellow stamens:

 

We have a much smaller Mathotinia camellia that is supposed to have beautiful dark pink multi-layered flowers in late winter (usually February-March). It had a few blooms the first two years but has been a disappointment since then. It hasn't grown much and the buds tend to fall off before they bloom.

Hope springs eternal, though - maybe one of these years it will surprise me.

I'll close with a cheery read-headed visitor we had in December in an ever-green tree outside one of our south-facing windows:

My research says that is a Ruby-crowned kinglet.

Next entry: pet therapy activities with Dapper Don

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, Casey-Girl, Holly-Holly, & Dapper Don

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