December 4, 2015 · 12:33 PM

Time for some serious pruning of the Autumn Clematis! 

Time for some serious pruning of the Autumn Clematis!

Autumn Clematis is a vine with a bipolar personality. In the Fall it is smothered in small, star-shaped fragrant flowers but during the growing season it can quickly overtake nearby structures or plants.
It begins blooming near the end of August here in Raleigh and is covered in very fragrant flowers until the end of October with flushes until Christmas. It than is covered in fluffy seeds.


I keep them under control by giving them a hard pruning between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This helps to remove the fluffy seeds which can be weedy volunteers throughout the garden.


I prune the vines on the light poles and the mailbox are pruned to leaders of about three feet. These leaders grow about two or three feet during the Winter and are ready for the growing season in April when they may grow grow up to ten feet by the Fall blooming season.

The heavy vines are huge now and are a tangled mess. Below is one of the lights with the removed growth from just one season to the left! The light is five feet tall.

 

The hellebores have begun their growth cycle, too! Josep Lemper blooms early with crisp, white flowers and dark foliage.

Others are just begining to grow.


The old farm, Oakview, which is near my home is decorated, too!

When the State purchased the farm to build the beltline around Raleigh in the 1980s the county purchased the portion with the house, barns, and pecan groves for a history park to demonstrate the history of a cotton farm.

The main house.  The cotton barn.
An old cabin inside the museum.
They were decorating the main house so it want ready. We will have to go back this weekend!

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November 24, 2015 · 12:00 PM

First frost.

Last night was the coldest night this season. The ground and houses all have a white coating this morning as did the car windshields.

And most of the tropicals look like they have some frost damage.

The gingers have some frost damage, too, but the flowers look fine!

There are a few tomatoes in the garden which were green last week but have ripened now. I will have to eat them tonight!

The ginkos around town are beautiful. This is a female in Hargett Square across from town hall. It produces plenty of fruit with the tasty nuts inside. They do not smell as bad as most state they do!

A few maples around town have held on to their leaves.There are so many hybrids now and many of those are a cross between several species.

My favorite flower at this time of the year are the Camellia sasanquas!

Two days until Thanksgiving! So the first frost is right on time!

xxx

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October 17, 2015 · 7:08 PM

Fall is soup time but let’s talk about plants!

But let’s talk about the garden. Tonight it will dip down to the low 40s! Brrrr! The Blue Mist Flower (Conoclinium coelestinum) is still blooming strong, though! Their unruly mounds and aggressive nature is forgiven!



The annual poinsettias are loaded with seeds and are beginning to fizzle out! I will collect the seeds and drop them in the areas where I would like to see them next year.


I will redistribute the dwarf palmetto seeds, too, to prevent unwanted volunteers!



The mahonia are beginning to bud, too! They are usually blooming by thanksgiving and bloom through the the winter. The yellow scapes of flowers are followed by blue berries.

And it’s time to take cuttings of the hardy begonias to begin new plants for next spring and increase their presents in the garden. They root easily in water. The mother plants will come back up the roots in the Spring.


Now I am just waiting for the leaves of the oaks and maples to fall for the compost !

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