A Gardner's Diary #1

I like the way Linda Hagler uses a wide variety of plants along with her favorite roses. An eye-catching combination right in front of the house features snapdragons called the Rocket series, aptly named as they practically explode with color. The snapdragons will back off sometimes if I'm happy with this. one is biennial, it will come back next year and I will lose some of them when it gets too hot but then they will die and next year I will sprout some and maybe buy one. a few more in the fall and plant them again. Which size? They're not three inches tall, two or three inches tall, so this is a sturdy variety, it gets to about three feet tall.

Yes, that is the Rocket series, the series offers you a set. range of colors you don't know what you're going to get exactly and I like it that way because I get surprises in the spring. I love lots of colors and I don't really try to plant so that you only have one set. of color I really like color, so you planted, you planted the snapdragon seedlings in the fall, then the Larkspur seed in the fall, well, that one in particular, see it, it's there, okay, I didn't see it there . I'm not sure where it came from but I liked it so I left it and this rose is unique but now it's very pretty Chisum oh the bright red is a bush rose you're treating like a climber yeah and I. trim that back a little bit more this fall and early spring a little bit more and it loves to grow and blends in, picks up a lot of the colors of your snapdragons, yeah, and this is one of my favorite roses, it's a polished beauty, yeah , look Also, it comes out so dark at that time that even when it fades, it's pretty and that's another type of Rambler or bush that is a bush, yeah, and I think it has a good scent, right?

Yes, oh, yes, no, and I really prune it. That was a lot and it was a pleasant surprise this spring to discover how pretty it is. Know. I think a lot of people are afraid of pruning too much, but sometimes it's just what they need. It's obvious that Linda and Dan are not afraid. of growing roses, in fact, they are having a great time, this has become a great hobby and I am quite proud of what we have done here. There is one thing I want to say to people who believe they can do it. To grow roses, it's really not difficult to care for them if you think about all the old cemetery roses that are still there and all the roses that in old houses anyone can have a rose, it just makes me smile.

I always tell people if they come out and see a smile in the garden. I'm really not crazy. I'm just smiling because I'm happy every time I visit the garden. I make new friends and discover new plants. Here are some treasures from Linda and Dan. Hagler's Garden. I love these poppies, they almost look like they were made of tissue paper. I also like that you can place the seed pods for fall arrangements and roses. There were so many to choose from from all the ones I saw. It was my favorite country as an example. Ballerina is such a beautiful rose, but it is vigorous enough to withstand cold winters and the cut flowers last a long time.

Another Road that took my breath away was Abraham Darvey. I love that old cabin look and what's up with altissimo? It's so red I can barely see. this one against a gray rustic fence if you want to get inspired visit someone else's garden you never know what you might find join us again in a gardener's

diary

a life story that is as colorful as her garden she began her professional life as a dietitian working at places like Texas A&M University and its food service coordinator for the Manhattan Project at the end of World War II, she married her husband, the late Air Force Colonel John Groves, shortly before the war and, As a military couple, they were always on the move somewhere along the way.

She developed an intense interest in plants after the couple retired to Oxford, Georgia. She became a wholesale producer and landscape designer. She was also instrumental in developing the instant color method of marketing nursery stock that displays plants in full bloom and easy to use. Containers helped fuel the explosion of interest in gardens in the South, now in its 80s. Sarah has long since retired to her own garden at Oxford, but she is still active on the lecture circuit sharing a lifetime of experience with other gardeners. Sarah, we're here in Oxford, Georgia. True, Oxford is part of Covington and is in fact where all the universities were first founded.

You know, we have an Emory Junior College. It's here in Oxford and it's a great city and it's really almost summer, we're not quite there yet. We're still in spring, but it's almost summer, just before the longest day of the year. I think it's not like this? How long have you had gardens here? Oh, that's hard to say. First I put stones, a lot of stones. Mountain rocks and then I planted hollies, my husband was a retired Air Force colonel and we retired and came here 61 and you have, these hollies are really the anchors for your entire front yard, which is full of color, the gaps.

They were the first things I put in and your planet on the outside perimeter around this is a magnificent specimen this latifolia here this is just how many years do you think this represents it was about a gallon when I put it in let me ask you a lot Foley, although for the For gardeners unfamiliar with it, it would make a good evergreen Holley for the south. Oh, he is a wonderful evergreen transporter for the south and I have seen him. I've seen it so far. North Carolina and I think Virginia and I joined, it's a good substitute for magnolias for the bunches of fruit that are going to be loaded and that will be red.

Oh yeah, those are red and when did it get this color in late summer, around November? They sell and then they are still very far along in the spring, that's one of the good things about this last foliage that it retains its berries for a long time and you have pruned them over the years, well I have to pluck them to have enough room . To plant all the other things I enjoy you don't have to worry about the holes in the lemons, it doesn't hurt them, we're in a pretty shady spot here, but you have lots of bright colors, well, don't you like that? the bright color, of course, and that's one of my favorite plants, it's the Lich, it's very hard to hear.

I don't think it will be any harder than zone seven, but it steps back, brightens up the dark areas, and is beautiful. Oh, McAllister, did you choose the combination to complement each other? That soft color of the daylily and the orange of the lick. Nice, sometimes I choose the color, sometimes I don't know, it just depends on the mood I'm in, but this. It's my orange tree garden, this whole area here and the way this little flower is fringed. I like it, it's lacy and it looks like it's getting a lot of seeds without backing up, because yes, it backs up, this hybrid licks well, appears high. shadow, he will also do well, do you think or know?

In America, in full sun, everyone cares about full sun and here in this southern area, if you have four hours of good light or five hours of good light, that is satisfactory and you have Morning sun, you have sun in the afternoon, so it has good life but also gives you good color in the shade. Do you like the combination of the background with the other plants? I like the painted Japanese fern with the oakleaf hydrangea and then what? Would we do without hellebore? Well, hellebore and look how the Begonia grandis has receded with it and the Japanese painted fern is actually very interesting and cool.

Yes, a white myrtle. Natural eyelashes. Yes, a wonderful myrtle. We are in another very lush area. Make a lot of layers, you have three different types of hydrangeas grouped together here and then you surround them with this beautiful herbaceous layer of hardy begonias and I am Calomiris Calomiris well I have to style Erica if I go to have what I want I have to put it on top of each other to be able to get it in this small area that I have this is a garden just this area here could be a garden for someone without a lot of space you sound exactly like my late husband.

I wouldn't do it either, but don't you like this hydrangea? This is Ayesha, that is Ayesha, tell me, is the color pretty stable on this hydrangea or does it vary depending on the soil? I have never seen it. Aisha blue I think it stays pink but starts white then turns pink and how can I be sure the weather changes with pH? I'm not sure about this. I know I have asses all here, so it's pink in this. acidic soil and hardy begonia don't even mention those things. I paid $4.95 mail order for one, we're going to be the greatest and now I bet they cost thousands of dollars, grease but wonderful plans and if you notice the sheet below look at that pretty color that's great, from a giant holly to a miniature cyclamen.

Sarah's garden is full of contrasts, as is the place where she first became interested in plants. Stay with us if you're after the early summer flowers that dazzle in the Sera Groves garden in Oxford. Georgia, this garden pioneer, was also a pioneer in the early days of television. She was stationed at the Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska, with her husband and became the host of her own television show. Alaska is a wonderful place, there are extremes and a duration of extremes and temperature and in fact that was where we first became very interested in plants and how they grow and how they are influenced by their environment on the television show.

It was an exchange of information between the veteran and the newcomer. It was an interesting program. about how to dress for arctic weather, I had Eskimos that were there and then one particularly interesting show was a Chinese leader who was trying to teach people, I actually have a cameraman how to eat with chopsticks, a lot of the shows were about plants and all kinds of activities in Alaska, if you could listen to what Holly had to say, I bet she could tell us a lot of history, it seems like she's been here for a long time, I actually went to the National Arboretum to visit some of the people who have been on my TV show in Alaska, John Creech was one of them and he gave me a cutting of that particular Holly that he had grown as a seedling, it was about this tall and it was wrapped in a damp paper towel and I came back. and I had no tools and I had never really planted anything before so I dug a hole in the ground with this spoonful of water it came up so I took a stone that I put on the water and I moved it a little bit and I planted it and it grew and it grew and exploded and now it's been cut down this is a third of Holly now he's actually a brother of Holly who's in the trade that bears the name now they're Stevens it's hard to believe this Holly that's gigantic and actually creates a perfect spot for his woodland garden began as a small tender with roots; cutting at that time you have some unusual plants, Rodya for example, I think it's one of my favorite plants, it's actually the Chinese sacred plant and grows well even in full sun or shade.

Now I know they get a hint of red berries or red-orange rice and when does that happen in the fall of the year? So for people who want something different and unusual that provides a really bold evergreen texture and woodland garden, this is a good option. choice, an excellent choice and did you notice that here is the variegated Rodya? Oh, I see it, yes, it is very beautiful, very varied and very strange. I have never grown Hardy cyclamen, but I have often wanted them and here they are. looking as happy as can be you know Erica you're supposed to be 40 they say if you want to have a cyclamen bed I've had this bed here for four years and this is personal and I'm delighted that it's blooming now so you can see it.

I'm really excited about it and I've mixed it with Thai rellis and there are resistant ginger serums, how did you write that particular one? Callaway, they were found by Fred gala, you know in Callaway Gardens, it's that yes, it's a nice heuchera, so the Hardy gingers and the heuchera and a Rodya, which is good for foliage, and the Sarka coca, which are wonderful foliage plants, you have to really prepare the ground. it has to have good drainage if you notice the gravel that is everywhere and I have added to this bed the Stone Mountain washed granite that we are so lucky to have fear and in the foliage the phone that comes after they bloom is that patterned foliage I like so much this has been something I've been chewing on but it's what I like the way the petals are what do they call that ebb back ebb oh it's really not like the florists sacrum so long like big, but is it that big?

Sweet and delicate little thing, this hydrangea produces huge clusters of double flowers in Sara's garden. The containers are literally of Olympic proportions. Stay with us. Sarah Groves' garden in Oxford, Georgia is just outside of Atlanta when Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics. Sarah participated in the beautification of the city and orchestrated the horticultural displays for the equestrian competition, she uses what she learned that summer in her garden today, when most people talk about container gardening, they are not talking about pots in a scale as big as this and it reallyactivated with the use of evergreen Holly trees throughout the garden, well this is a consequence of the equestrian site for the Olympic Games.

If you have horse shows, you have to have something so you can switch between your jumping courses and different competitions, so I came up with the idea of ​​using Having them all fully planted, we used almost a thousand of the three foot diameter ones and then about 500 of the six foot ones and you can imagine how fantastic they were, but they are so wonderful to use and use in your own garden because things grow beautifully in them and it's easier to keep them watered too. It has a cost for the material it uses, but I make a lot of my own compost and then used a wetting agent which helps. to hold moisture and then disperse it into the plants, so that's one of those that mixes with the solutions to hold it and then if it were planted in the landscape, then you have things that appear on the sides and actually hide. the containers where you can't even see them this is look at the size of that flower cluster on this oakleaf hydrangea what do you feed your plants Sarah oh it really is compost and whenever I plant a plant I add super phosphate to the soil here and that it gives you strong roots and rooms, well this certainly has a lot of strong flowers, this is a snowflake, right? and you know, this grows on the east coast here in Georgia, you find it all over Savannah in that area, but the snowflake has been a good performer for you, oh yeah, just wonderful, this kind of state, this is a plant young and I have her staked here, but I see the state, aha, but she has grown.

Look, this one was started from a cutting of that one, that's the mother plant. young now I really need to put it up high, well not here, this is this flower a little bit fresher, you know, it comes out pure white, well I wouldn't say young fresh, it's a younger pure white and then it starts to turn green and then move on to the base color, it is very good to use it and dry arrangements if you like indoor plants. I like my plants outside, in my experience with oakleaf hydrangeas they can get a good amount of sun.

Oh yes, they can be in full sun. do in the shade and the other thing I know about oakleaf hydrangeas for people who always wonder when I prune things. I think the less amount of pruning you give us is the better. Oh yeah, I've never tried it. I have never trimmed it. the dead flower a pruned or whatever I just let her share it alone a good named De Lille looks good enough to eat and an old cabin that has been in Sarah's family for centuries has done its share of moving around the country when we Sara remains the wife of an Air Force colonel and spent much of her life living in remote places, but has strong ties to the region of the country where she grew up.

Part of that family history is in her garden in Oxford, Georgia, not many. people have what appears to be a real log cabin as a garden ornament, well that's been in my family since the late 18th century. These are the original logs and we moved. She moved three times. He moved into my great-grandmother's house once. My grandmother's Instagram and then to my mother's house where my sister Ruth lives from time to time she didn't want it so I decided to move it here we did it on the cedar shingle roof. I remember when I was a child.

I remember my grandmother. telling me, I said when, what is that, she said, well, that was your great-grandfather, it's corncrib, but I don't think he kept calling there, I think it's where he kept his corn liquor and you have him surrounded by Carrie after he's there. But the most wonderful care is still in the five-gallon containers I recently acquired. Well, I think it's amazing that you've had this in your family and kept it for all these years. This is a great example of the advantage of living your mature holiday, you've lived this and created this garden below with this Hardy alstroemeria, which is a plant I've always wanted to grow but haven't gotten around to it, it's easy to grow. the flowers and even the seeds are pretty, yes, and it works great with all kinds of plants too and it's great with this daily look at the face of that day Linda, look at that and what's that called.

Day Lily, that's a sweet strawberry, well it looks almost edible, it's one of my favorites and the Hardy geranium. I wouldn't think of having that pink one next to it, but it works well, doesn't it? So this is the Hardy alstroemeria. Is there any trick to do it? growing these at all, no, I just mean, they just grow, they appear in unexpected places and that is the red color that will mix, although it is a blue red that mixes with any color, you can see it working there with the purple. that goes to the yellow side and then goes to the pink side nature sometimes just develops color schemes for you that's the right thing to do it's a very informal personal garden and close to my heart it's a place where I can be alone if I want to be alone and the Flowers are so wonderful that they don't respond to you, they hug you.

I think it is a garden for a person who really wants to discover plants.