Spring Garden Tours in Washington, DC

Each spring, I take several garden tours, not just for ideas and inspiration for my work as a garden designer, but also to enjoy the labor and love that others put into their own gardens.  Last April, a friend passed along White House Garden Tour tickets (2012 dates are yet to be announced).  

View across the White House Lawn to the Washington Monument

Petals of Magnolia soulangeana spilling onto lawn by walk to the West Wing

A cherry tree hides the view of a bee hive (across from the kitchen garden)

The Kitchen Garden newly planted

Tulips and grape hyacinths

Spills

It seems that this is the year of retaining walls.  And my favorite part of designing walls, especially dry stacked fieldstone walls like this one, is the opportunity to show off plants that want to spill over them.  And not just the tried and true Phlox subulata, but also Deutzia gracilis, Geranium x 'Rozanne' and Campanula garganica 'Dicken's Gold' with its striking contrast of golden foliage and brilliant purple blue flowers.

Egotistical Gardening?

Is it too tacky to plant a cultivar that bears my name? Maybe, maybe not. But this bellflower, Campanula glomerata 'Caroline,'  might be perfectly suited to my perennial border that remains damp after a good rain. Offered by Plant Delights Nursery, this "rarely-seen, mauvy pink-flowered" perennial blooms in May and June and attracts hummingbirds. It grows best in moist soils and is heat tolerant.

I could have an entire "Caroline Garden" if I added Malus domestica 'Sweet Caroline' (apple tree), Clematis x 'Caroline' (flowering clematis vine), and Rhododendron 'Caroline Allbrook' (azalea), Rosa x 'Sweet Caroline' and Wisteria x 'Caroline.'   

Maybe Lenten Fridays Aren't So Bad . . .

 One of my "go to" sources when I'm in the mood for a taste of home - check it out - Homesick Texan.

The Winter That Never Was

Now in the end of February, we haven't seen snow since October. The daffodils are blooming and the tulips are up out of the ground as though it is mid-April. I'm not complaining, but I haven't had my "slow months" to catch up, plan and write. As a landscape designer, I count on the cold nasty winter days to reflect and refresh before diving into the busy spring and summer seasons. Rather than completed, my winter projects - including my own garden changes - are still brewing in my mind.




Adding Vaccinum corymbosum, or Highbush Blueberry, to my own garden has been percolating in my brain these days, and not just to have a bushel of juicy berries to make a yummy crisp. This native plant also offers sweet flowers in spring and brilliant fall color. It can take a little shade in the garden, too.




But absolutely keep it away from the deer - they love the berries as much as I do!

Yeah, I've Got the Christmas Spirit

Tomorrow's To Do List:

• Early morning meeting with client to review drainage plans
• Attend Christmas Show at daughter's school 
• Bake cookies for daughter's holiday party
• Check client's garden installation progress, site new location for river birch tree
• Pick up quick gift for "secret Santa" exchange at daughter's holiday party
• Finish addressing, writing little personal notes, stuffing, licking, stamping and mail Christmas cards (picking up where I left off after the "F"s - only 135 to go!!)
• Review gift list and pick up last few stocking stuffers
• Send copies of client's patio plans to contractors for estimates
• Find 5 sweet little hostess gifts to take to upcoming parties over next 3 days
• Get gifts to husband's family to Federal Express (while 2-day is still an option!)
• Hang wreath outside that has been lying on the ground for a week waiting until I attach the bow and buy some more floral wire
• Buy more floral wire (at the hardware store - pick up a couple of stocking stuffers while there)
• Plan Christmas eve and day menus
• Prepare grocery lists for 2 different grocery stores
• Finalize dog sitting schedule for post-Christmas trip to niece's wedding
• Buy wedding gift for niece
• Take husband's tux to cleaners
• Write 3 thank you notes for holiday parties last week
• Buy new slacks for son to wear to wedding
• Shower and dress for 3 holiday parties
• Drive children to various events for evening

Really, this is my list for tomorrow.  I don't get excited or worked up over Halloween because I know, every year, just around the winter solstice, I turn into the Tazmanian Devil.  

Roadkill

Being a good Texas girl, roadkill never frightens me. I've dutifully taught my kids the Roadkill Car Game (I one it, I two it, I three it, I four it, . . . I "eight" it.)

At a party recently, my friend - the host - asked, "what tree is this?" In the wee hours of the morning and after more than one glass of wine, that's not an easy question. I thought I knew, but in the dark, I couldn't see the bark or the form of the tree either. I surely didn't want to be wrong so I put off answering until the next day.  So I plucked a leaf to take home for researching in the morning.

My favorite horticulture professor warned her students of client roadkill questions and trained us by giving her infamous "roadkill quizzes." She would line up 10 small branches, sometimes with leaves, sometimes not, for us to identify. Her hardest was the cone roadkill quiz - yes, 10 cones from different conifers that we then had to identify the tree or shrub that produced the cone.

But she was right. I get these questions frequently, from friends, neighbors and clients.

The answer here:  Carya glabra, Pignut Hickory.