Current headlines from Georgia Landscaping with Erica Glasener | ajc.com:

• Brooks Garcia offers tips on garden design
  Recently garden designer Brooks Garcia and I were talking about how one defines a garden. As the owner of Atlanta Fine Gardens, which specializes in residential garden design and installation, this is something Brooks has been dealing with for 18 years. He tells me though that he started out as a plant person before he became an accomplished designer. He describes himself as "a botanical Noah" who would bring home every plant he fell in love with.
  
  
• Decatur Garden tour highlights native plants project
  A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Allison Dixon about the upcoming 20th annual Decatur Garden Tour on Sept. 27 and 28 (for more information visit www.decaturgardentour.com ). She suggested that I might enjoy seeing Pandra and Michael Williams' garden. When I drove up the first thing I noticed was the mass of yellow Stone Mountain daisies, Helianthus porteri, in bloom in their charming front yard. But what really grabbed my attention was all the activity in the lot next to their house. Pandra and her associate Connie Gray were in the midst of planting a garden devoted to native plants. Pandra is an environmentalist and artist whose work is inspired by the natural world, and Connie has a background in landscape architecture and native plants. Recently, they formed a company called EcoAddendum (www.ecoaddendum.org) with a mission to "blend ecology, horticulture, design and forest management to create or restore sustainable and biodiverse landscapes." They believe strongly in using local native plants wherever possible in all types of gardens and landscapes.
  
  
• Tall, late-blooming perennials add drama
  I recently visited with George Sanko at the Georgia Perimeter College Botanical Garden in Decatur. His passion for plants is contagious, and it's always invigorating to talk with him about whatever is happening in the garden during a particular season. On this late summer day, I was struck by how many perennials in bloom or about to bloom reach 5 feet high or higher. I have always liked tall plants; dwarf selections are OK, but sometimes bigger is better! Clumps of tall perennials can help anchor the herbaceous border in a large garden, while at the same time they can make a small garden seem larger. A well-placed rudbeckia nitida "Herbstsonne" or ironweed, vernonia noveborcensis, adds late-season color and drama to the garden. In my garden I grow "herbstsonne" with purple-flowered salvia guaranitica and the airy lavender-flowered verbena bonariensis, which I let weave in and among the other plants.
  
  
• Plant something in the garden this fall
  Last week I stopped in for a visit with Carole Simpson and Rosemary Bathurst of Ashe-Simpson Garden Center in Atlanta. Both are plant lovers. Carole is the owner of AS, and Rosemary, one of her key people, creates all of their beautiful container gardens. These suggestions for fall are a result of my discussion with the two of them. • Start a vegetable garden or prepare the soil so that you can start one in the spring. An easy way to enrich the soil is to plant a cover crop (called green manure crops) like red clover or annual rye this fall; let it grow all winter and then in spring, mow it down and use a rototiller to plow it under (or if you have a strong back and lots of energy, you can hand dig and mix the clover into the soil). Check with your local extension service for sources of seeds for green manure crops. If you already have a vegetable garden, September or October is the perfect time to plant cool-season crops like lettuce, spinach, arugula, broccoli, Swiss Chard, parsley and chervil.
  
  
• Bulbs give gardens late season color
  One of my goals is to have something blooming in my garden throughout the year. While blooms are easy to produce in spring, during the heat of summer and into fall, it can be more challenging to have a wide range of flowers. Beyond shrubs, perennials and annuals, bulbs offer an easy way to add late season color to the garden. And, many of them can be easily tucked in between established perennials and shrubs. As we approach fall, it's the ideal time to plan and plant for this year and next. In my own garden, I plan to add spring, summer and fall blooming bulbs this autumn.
  
  
• Pick color scheme before selecting border shrubs
  As I write this I am still reflecting on my recent (and first of many, I hope) trip to the Polly Hill Arboretum on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. I was delighted to be part of the lineup of speakers for their summer programs. What made the experience even more special, beyond the glorious weather and amazing plant collections, was the chance to reconnect with my good friends Laura Coit and her husband, Tim Boland. Tim is the director of the PHA and Laura, a horticulturist, perennial garden designer and garden writer, designed the Homestead Border at the Arboretum, the focus of a workshop we taught together about Using Shrubs in the Mixed Border.
  
  
• Combining ornamental and edible plants in the garden
  Although the focus in my garden is on ornamentals including trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and bulbs, I grow a few vegetables, too. This year, my 6-year-old daughter decided to add some flowers to the vegetable garden. So, in addition to squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs and beans, we are growing red passion vine, sunflowers and lantana. With watering, weeding and fencing to keep the dog out, I don't know if we are saving money on fresh vegetables but, according to my daughter (and I have to agree), the vegetables we grow always taste better than those we buy. Combining ornamentals and edibles is not a new idea, but how it is implemented varies depending on the design of the individual garden. When John and Melissa Critz of Druid Hills hired Atlanta garden designer David McMullin of New Moon Gardens, they told him they wanted an Italian country garden that would include both ornamentals and edibles. David's design is appropriate not only to the Mediterranean architecture of the house, but to the site and growing conditions.
  
  
• Ornamental grasses tolerate dry conditions in sunny, shaded spots
  During the heat of summer and without much rain, once again I think about plants that are not only drought-friendly — meaning that once they are established, they will thrive without regular watering — but ornamental, too. High on the list are ornamental grasses and grasslike plants, in this case sedges, which belong to the genus Carex. Many grasses and sedges are hardy perennials, and all add texture, color and movement to the garden. With such a variety to choose from, depending on the selection, they thrive in a range of soils and environments including hot and dry or moist and shaded. Planted in combination with herbaceous perennials, ornamental grasses help complete the garden scene. For late-season color, pair them with asters and salvias. Mexican feather grass, Nassella tenuissima, grows happily in my garden. A fountain of green hairlike leaves and with 3-inch-long flowers from June to September, it provides delicate texture and motion as it sways in the breeze. I have it planted next to a yellow variegated selection of Hinoki cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa. I have also seen it paired with hollyhocks and hardy cactus, Opuntia ellisiana. Once established, this grass is drought-friendly and requires minimum care.
  
  
• Annuals grow, bloom amid heat of summer
  My garden is still relatively young, I started it two years ago and even though the majority of the plants I grow are perennials, trees and shrubs, annuals, too, play an important role. Because they are annuals, I like to experiment and try different types each year although some like Euphorbia "Diamond Frost," with masses of tiny white baby's breath-like flowers, performed so well for me last year that I have invited it back for what I hope will be another great show. Even if it weren't promoted as both deer resistant and drought tolerant, this annual, which grows 12 inches to 18 inches tall and 10 inches to 12 inches wide, makes a great filler for containers, window boxes or the border with months of nonstop blooms. When it comes to deer-proof plants, Dianna Allstadt of Scottsdale Farms says that narrow-leaf zinnia Zinnia angustifolia (linearis), with its small daisy-like flowers, is a winner with her customers every time. Look for "Crystal Orange" or "Crystal White" for months of summer color and very few disease problems.
  
  
• Atlanta garden tour features spaces to thrill
  I am fortunate that over the years I have had the opportunity to visit private gardens of all types and during every season across the United States. This has been a wonderful way for me to gather and share information that I can use in my own garden. Gardeners in Atlanta (and the surrounding area) will have the opportunity Saturday and Sunday, June 7-8, to visit 12 private gardens that range in size and style from cottage to classical and all the variations between. One thing that all the gardens on this tour, presented by the Georgia Perennial Plant Association, have in common is their earth-friendly approach to gardening. The definition of "earth friendly" varies from garden to garden and includes things like selecting the right plant for the right place; practicing Integrated Pest Management; using organic techniques; relying on rain barrels or cisterns for a water source; and including drought-friendly plants, both native and exotic in the landscape. With such variety, tour participants should be able to take away at least one good idea from each of these gardens they visit, whether large or small.
  
  
• Color your shade, garden with foliage, flowers
  Summer is just around the corner and it's time to think about seasonal color. If you garden in the shade, sometimes this can be challenging, but there are a host of annuals with striking foliage, colorful flowers and interesting forms that grow happily in low light conditions. Combining annuals with perennials that have interesting foliage and flowers, in decorative pots or in the ground, is a quick and easy way to add instant color to your summer border. Grouping plants together with similar needs (water and soil) will help ensure success. A classic foliage plant for the shade is Caladium, whether you grow it on its own in a container or in combination with ferns, hostas and impatiens, it provides months of color. A combination of two different caladiums like Caladium 'Aaron' and C. 'Red Flash' offers more consistent color than many flowering plants and holds up to our heat and humidity.
  
  
• Tennessee flowers inspire garden design
  I just returned from Gatlinburg, Tenn., where I had the opportunity to participate in one of the many guided hikes offered as part of the annual (this year marks the 58th) Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage and National Park experience in the Great Smoky Mountains. On the drive into the park, I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road as I passed masses of white, pink, blue and yellow flowers carpeting the woodland on the sides of the road. So it was with great anticipation that I set out on a hike at Porters Creek Trail. I quickly discovered many of the same beauties that I had driven past just hours earlier including swaths of white foam flowers, Tiarella cordifolia, groups of the purple-pink Geranium maculatum and masses of the charming lavender-blue dwarf crested iris, Iris cristata.
  
  
• Tulips come in many sizes and colors
  My daughter loves tulips and I promised her that we would plant some this fall for next spring. For her, this means bright red or yellow and the bigger the better. While I admire big tulips like 'Red Impression' and love the fragrance and color of 'Apricot Beauty,' I also like some of the smaller species types that are easy to tuck into the perennial or rock garden. Not only do they take up less space, many are easy to force or grow in containers and some will perennialize in the garden, offering years of beauty. At McMahan's Nursery in Gainesville, Ga., you can purchase some of these bulbs in pots this spring. Favorites of theirs include Tulipa 'Peppermint Stick,' with its narrow petals of red and white that is reminiscent of a peppermint stick; and Tulipa clusiana 'Tubergen's Gem' with petals that are red on the outside and bright yellow on the inside. This tulip only grows 8 inches to 10 inches tall. Tulipa turkestanica is a fragrant multi-flowering selection that has white petals with an orange center and grows 6 inches to 8 inches tall.
  
  
• Plant spring bulbs that are easy to grow and live long
  Spring is upon us and bulbs are popping up all over. Although I love daffodils and feel that one can never have too many, there are a host of other spring bulbs that are beautiful, easy to grow and long lived in the garden. Some, like snowflake, Leucojum aestivum "gravetye giant," form large clumps and grow 18 to 30 inches tall or taller. The white bell-shaped flowers tipped in green add movement to the garden as they dance in the breeze. I have some planted in an area where I grow azaleas, hellebores, Christmas ferns and other woodland delights like Pulmonaria, also known as lungwort, but this versatile bulb will also thrive in damp soils in sun or shade. A good combination for shady damp sites is Senecio aureus, golden ragwort, Leucojum aestivum and Acorus gramineus "ogon" with its variegated yellow and green grass-like foliage.
  
  
• Old-fashioned roses easier to grow in some gardens
  I grow roses but they have to be tough to make the cut in my garden. This means that I generally grow old garden roses, many of which are extremely fragrant. I leave those that require a regular spray program to look good and thrive for the serious rose growers. I have incorporated the roses I grow into my perennial garden. Climbers One that I added last spring is Rosa 'Zephirine Drouhin.' This old-fashioned climber dates to 1868 and is still popular today. The semi-double deep rose flowers are very fragrant and the thornless canes are easy to deal with if you train this rose up an arbor, trellis or column. The flowers peak in the spring and the fall and the canes will easily reach 15 feet to 20 feet high.
  
  

Headlines last updated at Oct 10, 2008 19:21:17pm.
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