Category: Gardening in SC

The first thing I planted when I got here was herbs.

The herbs are thriving!

In the bed by the screen door, I have rosemary, sage, two kinds of thyme, chives, and lavender.

I purchase fresh dill at the local grocery store–and it lasts for a good 10 days. Dill is harder to grow (for me anyway) for some reason.

I just moved the three rosemary plants from the big container on the porch to the outside as I thought they needed actual dirt.

The mint, basil, Italian parsley, and now one of the rosemary plants are around by the back hose–where it is easy to give them water. The yellow leaves are an indication that they need water and less heat. (It was 102 on my screened porch late yesterday afternoon.)

My grandmother’s mint is growing well on the other side of the house–at the end of the long bed there in a spot that is sunny for most of the day. It’s happy there.

I can’t imagine cooking without fresh herbs, especially in the summer.

A friend sent me this article about plants that repel bugs. I was amazed at how many of these plants are in my gardens here.

https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/gardening/outdoor/plants-that-repel-bugs

Here’s the big container pot on the porch now.

The Asiatic Jasmine (which is not jasmine) is spreading well. It will cover that bed by next summer I think. My grandmother’s mint is at the far end. Recall that my SIL in Maine had some mint from my Maine garden, and she mailed some to me about a month ago.

This plant was installed by the builder. It’s a Chinese Holly and is very hardy here. I have about 5 of these plants around the front of the house. This one has been loved. I’ve watered it and fertilized it.

Here’s one that was waiting for its house to be occupied by renters and has not had any care. I was interested in the difference between the two plants in color and in the presence of mold, or whatever that white stuff is.

Part of what sold my house in Maine was my beautiful gardens there. And the healthy habitat I had created. It’s too bad landlords don’t realize that an investment in plantings will help sell a home for more money.

I was outside most of yesterday—the DWARF Mexican Petunia plants came, and I had to dig TWENTY holes, amend them, plant them, and water them.  I know you know that with the clay here, digging and amending involved the shovel, the Maddox, two bags of sand, 1 1/2 bags of compost/manure, bone meal, my heavy boots (to support my formerly sprained ankle which does get sore with the hard digging), the hose, yada, yada…. Each plant is healthy, but tiny, but I basically had to dig a trench down the front of the front bed to get the holes deep enough to amend them properly.  Then I had to put back the pine straw and fussy it back around the plants.  They look perky this morning.  

I think the front azaleas are struggling with the heat. They are, again, a pale color. I don’t want to fertilize them in this heat, but will spend more time watering them I think. The ones on the side of the house are a rich green color.

While the hose was out I spot watered the now dry patches in the grass and all the shrubs.  And went on to do the far side of the house and then went around back to water as well.  I kind of like the Zen of these watering moments—and walking neighbors stop to visit.

I started outside in the fairly early morning—having discovered while having my morning coffee that the plants had been on my doorstep since yesterday afternoon late.  I took them to the hose and soaked them.  They were beautifully packed for shipping.  It was HOT, so after an hour of digging, I was totally soaked with sweat and feeling the heat.  Likely temps had reached 90+.  The sun is on that front bed until mid-afternoon—so I went inside and showered to cool off.  I went back when the sun was on the back of the house so the front was shady.  There was still hard work to do, but there was shade and a strong breeze.  Coastal rain clouds raced by, but none stopped to give us some much-needed rain. 

A friend sent me a post this morning that described a huge solar spot/flare on the sun right now. Very huge–bigger than Earth. Apparently sun flares can impact our weather in negative and unpredictable ways.

I have not sewed upstairs for two days now, what with one thing and another. BUT, the third border is now on “the quilt from hell,” and the darker border is making that quilt sing. One more side to go.

I finally figured out what this plant is. I found a place to park the car near the nearby traffic rotary where it lives, walked over, and got some good pics. I was surprised to see that the plant also comes in white and a pale pink.

It’s a Dwarf Ruellia, or Mexican Petunia, which is not a petunia. The parent plant grows 3 feet tall and is very invasive. But the dwarf will spread, but is more easily controlled. And it is so darn cute. It is a perennial.

This dwarf plant will do sun or shade, and it can manage some cold winters. They will die back in cold weather, like a lot of perennials, and emerge in the spring.

Katie’s Dwarf Ruellia

I ordered 20 plants in the violet color, and they are now on the way here. I’m going to put them in the front bed, where they will make a nice border line and will be backed by the taller azaleas (white) that bloom in the early spring. I have the sand, compost, and fertilizer all ready for them.

Look at this fancy Cone Flower! I’ve never seen anything like it and couldn’t resist bringing it home when I started planting this bed. It’s thriving, and I hope it will come back next year. Sometimes fancy cone flowers are more fragile in terms of winter.

The Limelight hydrangea is covered with blooms. This plant will get much bigger and will fill the space around it. The blooms will turn rust red in the fall. And the viburnum to the left has flower heads and has doubled in size with new growth.

Lantana thrives here–and I found one I really like. There are perennial and annual forms of Lantana. This one is perennial. I cut it back regularly as it can get very rangy–and I do like to bring the cut pieces inside. The flowers last quite a while in a vase.

The Russian sage is happy. Time will tell about the daisy and the clay soil. But it has had two bloom flushes this year. I just deadheaded it again yesterday.

The vitex is also happy. This one can get big too, so I’ll trim it carefully to encourage sideways growth. I don’t want it to be a tree, but will let it be a tall shrub.

The dwarf Butterfly Bush is happy. I didn’t realize it was a dwarf when I bought it. If it doesn’t survive the winter, I’ll replace it with a standard size. The blooms are so pretty, but these blooms don’t last long in the house anyway. So I suppose it does not matter about the dwarf size that has no long stems involved.

I have three of the azalea/rhododendron hybrids that will bloom all summer and into the fall: this white one and two red/orange ones (different colors) scattered among other plants in this long bed. And they are all starting to bloom now. My back door neighbor has a long row of these plants down the size of her house, and they are starting to bloom too. Hers are a kind of deep rosy pink. What a find!

Here’s a long view of part of this bed–which is filled with blooming plants to encourage and support pollinators in this new neighborhood. And, yes, the roses continue to thrive and bring joy. I cut back the spikes they were sending up, and now they are branching out to the sides and are about to bloom in earnest again.

The grass is also thriving now and all the care and amendments are working. Whew! It is now covering remaining bare spots and is sending up seed stems every week. This grass is a real water hog though, so I keep an eye on the dryness. We’ve gotten good rain recently so I have not had to water. It is sitting on clay soil which turns to cement without water.

Walking on it is like walking on a deep, thick rug. And the apple green color is so pretty.

And I want one.

They come in white and various shades of pink, from dark to light.

I stopped to take this picture over on Isle of Palms.

And this pic is from Isle of Palms, too. But crepe myrtles are everywhere here and range in size from big trees to shrubs–size depends on how one prunes them. I have seen them cut off in a straight line about 10-15 feet up in the fall, and in the spring they form a new, compact top.

Crepe Myrtles bloom for most of the summer and into the fall here in South Carolina.

The tree planted out front by the builder is a Willow Oak. It’s doing well, but eventually it will get really tall and big. While it is very hardy here, I think it is likely too big for the scale of my neighborhood and house.

So, I’m exploring replacing it with a Crepe Myrtle, where the scale of the tree would be much better.

Look down by the stop sign beyond the tree. That cute little fire plug was recently installed in my neighbor’s yard. My heart fluttered when I saw it as in Maine, my house was rural and there was no city water. I had a well. The only water I might be able to count on with a house fire would have come from the pumper fire truck–assuming it could even get up my challenging, curving driveway.

On the way home from Isle of Palms last Friday, I could see a full blown house fire on Goat Island, a small island sitting between IOP and the mainland. Access to Goat Island is only by boat, and of course there is no fire engine. Flames rose into the sky, along with plumes of black smoke. SMALL emergency boats with flashing red lights were racing up the channel toward the house. It burned to the ground, of course.

https://www.counton2.com/news/local-news/crews-responding-to-house-fire-on-goat-island/amp/

There are several pics in the above link. And here’s a pic from my granddaughter.

Yep. I love that little red fire hydrant.

I planted five little blue-eyed “grass” plants yesterday. Turns out this perennial is NOT a grass, but a form of iris.

I saw what I think is this plant in the rotary planting area of a Rifle Range road rotary near me. It’s low, and the little blue-violet blooms are so sweet. I’m pretty sure it is a variant of blue-eyed grass, but I am not dead sure. It turns out there ARE various forms of it. And if “they” are planting it in a rotary center, it’s hardy. Plus, it will spread. The “leaves” look like mondo grass–spiky and short. Turns out mondo grass is a lily relative, not a true grass either.

BUT, I couldn’t find any blue-eyed grass plants locally, so I ordered 5 little plants from Amazon to try them out–and planted them in the round curve of the bed border on the left side of the front of the house–where the bed turns to go along the long side of the house where I’ve planted so many plants now. (Those plants are blooming and filling in that bed beautifully now, and I may bore you with pics soon.)

Who knew Amazon sold plants? Son Michael says he’s been ordering plants from Amazon for some time. And I can tell you they came BEAUTIFULLY packed and were really healthy.

Here’s a description of blue-eyed “grass”–and there are pictures of this perennial at this site:

“Despite its common name, blue-eyed grass is not a grass. The genus Sisyrinchium is a large group of annuals and perennials in the iris family (Iridaceae). But many species are low growing with narrow leaves that appear grass-like and many grow in grasslands. All are native to North or South America. Most are not well known and only a few are used as ornamentals. The taxonomy of the group is quite confused, so the number of species varies from 50 to 150, depending on which classification system is used. Some species have many natural variants that were likely mis-named as species – so more research is needed to figure out the true relationships.” (From Wisconsin Horticulture web site: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/blue-eyed-grass-sisyrinchium/ )

And here are some images of various forms of this plant:

The plant I ordered is the “Lucerne” variant. The one in the rotary has flowers that are low to the ground and don’t seem to have the higher stem that Lucerne has. It is probably a variant.

Maybe someday I’ll get a better picture of the plants in the rotary–when there is no traffic.

Fat chance of that though!

Blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium

Blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium

Blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium

I think perhaps I’ve planted the last plant in this very long sunny bed. Unless I suppose, I happen across another perennial that wants to come home with me. But, mostly, I want to see how these plants spread and if they hold their own. I don’t want to overcrowd this bed. The last two plants are on the far end and are another Encore (everblooming) azalea and another “Frost Proof Gardenia.” The herbs below are basil, mint (perennial), and Italian parsley (it will come back for a second year and seed itself).

I still need a hose solution…

The roses are THRIVING and the moment and are covered with blooms and new growth. And unlike the roses in islands in highways, these have lots of leaves all the way down–which means they are getting the nutrition they need.

The roses are so cheerful. And, pretty.

The Asiatic Jasmine (which is not really jasmine) is spreading nicely now. It is sending out shoots underneath the pine straw in many cases.

Here it is in the long bed on the sunny side of the house. For the moment, I’m not planning on doing anything else with this bed as the ground cover will cover it. And, it will bloom and be fragrant in the spring.

On the front (street) side of this bed I planted one of the gardenias, and the luscious smell from it greets one at the garage door area.

These two plants below were among the first ones of the first I planted. They are to the left of the screen porch door and are under my bedroom windows. Each will get MUCH bigger. The Limelight hydrangea is forming blooms. And on the left, the viburnum will bloom next spring.

These herbs are mostly doing ok. I put some compost on them the other day. The lavender and the taller thyme are blooming.

The rosemary in the pot on the porch is thriving. I use it all the time.

As is the newly planted small pot on the table–with an annual I know but whose name is not on the tip of my tongue this morning.

We are expecting rain today, which is now needed again. The grass will be happy, the new plants will be happy, and I will be happy as I’m going to have time to sew. The Traverse quilt is only lacking 2 pieced rows now, and one of those is half finished.

The “Frost Proof Gardenia” I planted on the shade side of the house is BLOOMING and is covered with buds. I couldn’t believe how fragrant it is. I cut two blooms and brought them into the house to occupy one of the little pottery vases that sit next to my kitchen sink. The pottery vase on the left holds a sprig of mint and some blooms from the Vitex I planted last week.

I often bring herbs from the into the house and put them into these vases, so their goodness is available when I’m cooking. I particularly like the mint in the bowls of fresh fruit I’ve been eating lately (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cut up cantaloupe).

We had two nights and one day of really good rain, so yesterday when the sun emerged again, I dug a hole for the azalea that has been waiting for me to plant. After all that rain, the digging into the clay was easy, so I went ahead and dug the last two holes I will need on the sunny side of the house. And I prepped them with sand and compost mixed with the clay. I hope the sand will provide the drainage needed here and the compost will provide food for the plants.

I am off this morning to buy one more of these amazing azaleas that will bloom all summer and another gardenia. I would love a Tea Olive shrub, but the remaining area I could plant isn’t sunny enough for one. Plus, even the shrub versions get too tall for most area around this house. The plantings, for the most part, need to be kept to shorter choices. And, more shallow rooted.

Have a great weekend everyone!