The Tidy Compost Garden Club visited the garden on November 8th. The weather was perfect – sunny and crisp. We focused on the fall foliage and the new projects: the stone wall, the patio with the dragonfly medallion, and the dragon crevice garden.
Stone Wall
The new stone wall looks festive with pumpkins and squash along the top.
The tallest seed heads that look like candelabras in Sun Curve are non-native Formosa lilies. The pointed fluffy ones are tall goldenrod and the rounder ones are two-spotted Joe Pye Flower.
Patio
The pitcher plant flowers have been dry since early summer, but they still add a spooky floral presence to the bog garden. The blade-like iris leaves in the stream contrast well with the round leaves of the aquatic mint.
Our clone of Sport, the famous Raleigh maple tree, lights up the back garden with a column of red. In the foreground, the less saturated dogwood leaves show another shade of red.
Dragon
The dragon now has native plants all along his spine and in front of his belly. Three moss phlox (Phlox subulata ‘Emerald Blue’) start the neck section, followed by six Coralbells (Heuchera americana) and six hairy alumroot (Heuchera villosa), and finally three more moss phlox. I divided six pots of blue wood sedge (Carex flaccosperma) for the area between the dragon and the path. The second section starts and ends with broad-leaf sedge (Carex platyphylla), with five foam flowers (Tiarella wherryi) between.
I was that Rachel’s Native Plants still had a good selection with several plants in bloom, so you can see how these plants will provide a spiky ridge along the dragon’s spine as they flower.
Fall Foliage
Here’s another look at the Sport clone maple, plus an oakleaf hydrangea and a pot with ruby chard and pink muhly grass.
The dogwood is tall for a dogwood, but the pines and green ash are taller.
Other Highlights
I feel so fortunate to have gardened here since 1988. The huge Yuletide camellia is covered with red flowers and pine needles like tinsel. The hens and chicks are filling in the i-beam planter, even if the Martians are starting to fade.
