Wallace Gardens

www.wallacegardens.com Twitter: @SassyNancy ~and~ @BibleGarden WELCOME! You've found the Wallace Gardens Blog, Garden Artisan & Flower Therapist in Georgia, Zone 7B. Sassiness, silliness, grassiness, and greenness! Plan a garden, play in the dirt,...

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GARDEN GIVEAWAY!

You know you want one: the Freda Urn by Crescent Garden.

Between now and Thursday, July 28, 2016, you'll have a chance to win a Freda Urn (a $200 value). Entry into this garden giveaway is available to anyone living in the 48 contiguous United States (excludes Alaska and Hawaii). Pop on over to Wallace Gardens Facebook page and "Like" Wallace Gardens, as well as the Freda Urn post, to enter. No purchase and no personal information required. It's that simple!

A randomly-chosen winner will be selected from all eligible entries, and the winner will be announced on Friday, July 29th. If you enter, you could be the lucky person to discover this classic planter on your doorstep! (Hydrangea not included, but you'll enjoy finding something pretty on your own.)

Now…. let's talk about the Freda Urn, which bears the name of Crescent Garden’s founder's grandmother. The dramatic leaf pattern and elegant shape echo the architectural styling of ancient Greece and Rome, as seen in the illustrations above: Capitals from Egypt (left) and the Capital of the Lysikrates Monument (right). Foliage ornaments and leaf motifs were used extensively on friezes, columns, and panels, the earliest of which is known to be the Temple of Epicurius at Bassae, dating back to 450-420 B.C. But this modern-day stylish urn is made of lightweight, weather-resistant resin (weighing only 12 lbs.), but mimics natural limestone so it's suitable for virtually any garden setting. I've chosen a summer hydrangea for my own Freda urn, and after the season is over, I'll plant it in the garden and choose something new for fall. This urn has plenty of room for ornamental flowering plants, grasses, and perennials, making it a versatile choice for all your favorite plants. Dimensions: 25.5" tall x 16.5" wide (top) x 12.5" (foot), with a pre-drilled drainage hole.

Crescent Garden's planters are not just beautiful, they are functional, lightweight, and withstand the tests of time and weather with no cracking or fading. These are lifetime planters, available in styles and colors to suit any decor or living space, inside and out. The company was founded more than 15 years ago by Paula Douer and her husband, who find inspiration for their designs from their home in Miami, Florida. To find out more about their line of products, you can visit them HERE, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Have fun, and good luck. Thanks for participating!  

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Veronica spicata ROYAL CANDLES 'Glory' is a deer resistant perennial attractive to butterflies, and is suitable to border or wildflower gardens. The species is prominent throughout the United Kingdom. In 2002, a “County Flowers” campaign was launched, designating a single species of plants to each county and metropolitan area in the UK. Veronica spicata was named the county flower in Montgomeryshire (Welsh: Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), North Wales. 

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Illustrations of Ferns taken from ‘British Ferns and their Varieties’ by Charles T. Druery. Published 1912 by George Routledge & Sons Ltd.

NCSU Libraries 

https://archive.org/details/britishfernsthei00drue

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Color and texture in a deer resistant garden: Loropetalum 'Purple Diamond' and Cedrus deodara 'Sanders Blue' #gardendesign #deerresistant

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Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko' is a low-growing, deep-shade tolerant, deer-resistant, deciduous shrub. Quite beautiful when planted en masse, it produces drifts of lovely white flowers in April. Plants don't come any easier than this one, and I'm not sure why it isn't more widely utilized. It's drought tolerant and disease resistant. Named after Johann van der Deutz, an amateur botanist who collected plants worldwide for the Dutch botanic gardens in the 1700's.

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A briefe relation of the Turckes, their kings, Emperors, or Grandsigneurs, their conquests, religion, customes, habbits, etc.

Paper leaf cutouts: cyclamen and lilac on the left, pink roses and tulip in the center, tulip on the right.

From an album in the collection of The British Museum dated 1618, Istanbul. The album bears the initials PM, probably for Peter Mundy, a 17th Century merchant trader, traveler, and writer. 

"It is rare to find a man so representative of his period as was Peter Mundy. In an age when curiosity was the outstanding characteristic of intelligent Englishmen, curiosity was the ruling passion of this life. ... His insatiable appetite for information, his eye for detail, his desire for accuracy, would have made him in modern times a first-rate scientist.” ~ Dorothy Carrington (1949), The Traveller’s Eye, pp.178-79.

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Stan Hywet Estate, the English garden, designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman (1869-1950). 

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Happy Halloween @GreenSoil! (Ode to William Wordsworth by Nancy Wallace) #Wordsworthrevisited  Playing with Poo (My Brew of Choice) 

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden regal cows;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

I chanced upon some moo poo tea. 

Such bovine beauties did grace the meadow,

And bellow such a sweet libretto.

They roamed in never-ending line

Along the golden country side:

Ten thousand cattle I saw at glance

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance, 

Whilst pooping as they pranced. 

Then through the tumble-down, farm-shed door, 

Cometh Annie to complete the chore, 

Trowels a'blazing! a perpetual collection of poo ensues, 

(Nothing but organic will do.) 

She gathers bags of moo poo tea

Enough for you, enough for me. 

Oh! such garden goodness we create through brew. 

Get your poo on, with organic compost tea from Authentic Haven Brand, HERE. Created from livestock raised on permanent native grass pastures at the Haven Family Ranch, California. Naturally organic. 

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"The Jackson" car, a recently refurbished 1935 train car, mahogany and cherry wood. Aboard the #greatsmokymountainrailrioad in #northcarlolina #NantahalaGorge

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This is how watermelons grow in California. 

Vintage postcard 1909. 

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Lemonade and Grape Gardens.

See the interview, get the recipes, with @SeasonalWisdom. 

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Drinking The Farmer’s Market: Homemade Organic Liquor Infusions For Exceptional Summer Cocktails #herbchat 

Left to right: mint, lemon basil, peach, rosemary, ginger, thyme, lemongrass, strawberry, and grapefruit. Completely submerge the fruits in vodka (or liquor of your choice), wait a week or two, strain, and Voilà! 

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The Topiarist

by John Elwyn

Oil on board, 50 x 65 cm

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Available while supplies last:  Caladium 'Frog in a Blender.' 

From Spalding Bulb Farms, Florida: "If you are looking to add a unique flare to your garden then be sure to include any of these beauties in your order." 

One might assume they were inspired by Dan Akroyd's SNL skit: Super Bass-O-Matic '76. 

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Postcards from the Hedge. 

A Foxglove with Lipstick? 

Imagine the perfect non-stop summer bloomer with enormous impact all by itself, which is also deer proof. Meet Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame,' a cross between Digitalis purpurea (foxglove) and Isoplexis canariensis (Canary Island foxglove). This new hybrid blends the qualities of both plants, thanks to the efforts of Charles Valin, plant breeder at Thompson & Morgan. It received the Best New Plant Award at the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show (2012), as well as the Greenhouse Grower's Award of Excellence in 2013. 

Multiple side branches emanating from this bushy basal-branched shrub produce flame-colored flower stalks all summer long, even into the fall. Because the plants are sterile, they don't waste energy trying to go to seed, and this results in fast-growing, floriferous shrubs with vibrant, vertical flower stalks to 3' in height in shades of watermelon, fuchsia and mango. And while that may sound delicious, Digiplexis has the same toxins as its relative, Digitalis, so all parts of the plant are poisonous. If you use the plant in cut flower arrangements, dispose of the water safely because the toxins will seep from the stalks into the water. The foliage may also cause skin irritation, so handle it with caution. 

Digiplexis can be used in seasonal color beds as a backdrop to other annuals, or grown in large containers. It will take part shade to full sun, and blooms from April until the first frost. 

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Planter Ideas: Thriller, Filler, and Spiller.

"Editors note: It’s fun to hear our lead designer, Brooks, talk about décor he’s designed. About the above Bombay® Luxembourg Planter he says: 'It was inspired by French planters, little planters with legs called cachepots. We wanted something elegant and used an animal, and a lion was regal and Bombay in a European way.'

"That’s great but how does it do in a garden? We asked horticulturist and garden artisan Nancy Wallace to try it out. What she did yielded amazing insights into creating a stunning container garden. Thriller, filler, spiller… Take it away, Nancy!" 

Read more at Bombay Outdoors. 

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April is National Gardening Month, and here in Atlanta, it is arguably the prettiest month of the year. Everything is in bloom, and it can be positively head-spinning to pick out favorite landscape plants, so let's discuss a couple of favorite deer proof plant materials.   

Viburnum macrocephalum (Chinese Snowball) is one of my favorite small landscape trees. It tolerates full sun and part shade, and once established, it's fairly drought tolerant. Many people mistake this tree for a hydrangea, because the flowers are similar. However, unlike hydrangeas, viburnums are deer resistant. I've never seen one of these trees damaged by wildlife, and just look at the size of those flower heads. Use a specimen tree like this as a focal point in your landscape, so that when April arrives, all eyes are upon it. 

While we are on the subject of deer proof plant materials, and favorite April-bloomers, let's talk about herbaceous peonies. These long-lived perennials are tough as nails, they thrive here in the Atlanta-metro area, and are drought tolerant once established. Choices include fully-double peonies, or single-petal varieties. The doubles are very fragrant, but they may topple over without support, especially in heavy spring rains. My personal favorites are the single-petal varieties, like 'Red Emperor' and 'Krinkled White' because they withstand heavy down pours. The two most important things to remember about growing peonies is (1) make sure they have good drainage, and (2) keep the "eyes" (or the "crown") of the plant at ground level during the winter (and don't bury them in mulch). Peonies will bloom better when nipped by cold weather, so they appreciate the extra winter exposure. Garden centers often carry peonies when they are in bloom, so it's easy to choose your favorite color. For best results, plant in groups of three, and expect peonies to multiply over time, providing years of spectacular blooms. If you want to start peonies from bare roots ("tubers"), wait until fall to plant them. There are many fine mail order sources for bare root peonies, and it's a much more cost-effective way to expand your perennial collection.