Early Pink Trees and Daffodils

Well, things are blooming a month early.  I have spied with my little eye white Lady Banks starting to bloom and the saucer magnolias are out full bore at this point.  We haven't had even what we would call a winter down here, and I can't help myself... I'm delighted.  Nothing like a few extra months of 60s and 70s, no?

Here's a few pictures from around my neighborhood yesterday, come take a January walk with with me:

On the sidewalk..those Lady Banks are about to break

Saucer Magnolias are VERY early...

Of course the camellias are out too

Daffodils about to break through crazy vines

And here's a more wintery looking picture, taken on my walk to work a morning last week when it was actually foggy in Charleston.  Thats a pretty rare occurrence here, anything resembling fog usually burns up by 5am in the summer, and its usually too breezy in the winter when the correct atmospheric conditions are at hand.  It happens less than once a year, I'd say.  This little lake down at the corner (an old mill pond back in the day) provided the perfect showcase.  The night before I was sitting on my upstairs porch watching it roll in, thick as a blanket.

When Good Yards Go Bad

I'm loving this "bad" theme here lately, so I think I'm going to start a sporadic series focusing on something I think a good deal about while shaking my head.   Bad yard taste.   And let me stop the hate mail here... I'm all for personal expression: garden gnome check, flamingo or two, check, wild garden for lawn check.  But there are some things, I believe, that happen out there to yards, that we can all agree is just.. well, there's no nice way to say this: an abomination.

So here is my first entry to the "When Good Yards Go Bad" series, its worth clicking on to get the full effect:

Replacing all grass in front yard with Yaupon...hell yeah, all of it!

I give you not two, not three, but 4 rows of yaupon holly (and a short 5th if you look close), with rows three and four having no space between each other or between row 2.   And even the two rows originally meant to flank the front walk are close to growing together.  And lets not forget there was money changing hands for someone to turn this entire front yard into meatballs.   I kid you not folks, these people, in a highly affluent neighborhood, have decided to fill their entire front yard with meatballs.   I couldn't even get the other half of them in the same picture.  They have another double row leading down the path to the back yard.   I only wish I could get the whole effect on camera like you can if you happen to come across this place in town.

I love hedge, yes I do.

A Walk In The Woods

Enjoying their lovely summer weather, everyone in the garden blogosphere (particularly those in New England and real England) keeps posting about their wonderful jaunts into the woods, and all the ferns, and ladyslippers and cute flowers they keep encountering on the way. I can imagine the temperate air with the breeze in my face, and I can smell the damp leaves and hear the brook in the background.

But here, I can't.  I drag out my air machete to chop through the air so humid it now has atomic weight, the high pitched buzz of mosquitos sings in my ears and the sweat is dripping down my...everything.  The air is completely still, and let me check, oh hey not bad, 97 degrees.

But still, for the blog, I too must go for my walk in the woods.  I don my alligator repellent tshirt, and head out in my trusty black car (I bought this car before I became a card carrying member of the South, OBVIOUSLY), and I zip over a bridge.  (Click all pictures to enlarge to pretend you are here with me - trust me it makes a difference.)

(Hey, I'm serious! do it!)

Ah, the woods!

Marguerite (my post inspiration) commented last post that its easy to forget how different each of our climates are, because as things are all relative, we all complain about the cold when its cold to us, the hot when its hot to us.  I also stubbornly plant a garden thats not really all that indicative of what a lot of people grow around here.   Ick canna, be gone!

Anyhow, the woods here are beautiful in their own way, sort of a vampire way, its true, but still very beautiful and they are filled with cool stuff too.  Not hills, dales or valleys mind you (the highest point around here for 500 miles was that bridge we crossed to get to these here woods, at a whole 30 feet)... but we do have ruins!

As hard as it is to believe, vestiges of the civil war still exist around here and this one, at least, has taken on a roman ruin quality.

Okay, moving along, lest the mosquitos give us some fell disease, what else do we have... oh, swamps!  The word sounds awful, and we are now supposed to use the politically correct 'marsh' (which doesn't sounds any more appealing to me than swamp, and like the swamp cares what we call it), BUT they are also truly very pretty.  And more filled with wildlife than anyplace else I've ever been, this side of East Africa.

Our swamps are filled with cypress and tupelo and the water is stained black because of it.  Not that you would want to go swimming in it anyway... there is no such thing as fresh water swimming around here, unless its lined with blue plastic.  All freshwater is inhabited by alligators and really mean turtles.  I'm not kidding.  Those cute little things can kill! They have dinosaur claws too.  There's also these fish that jump backwards out of the water, called mullets, and well, they probably can't hurt you, but you know what they say.. you are definitely a little backwards if you're caught sporting a mullet. So for life, limb and social acceptance, its just best to steer clear of the fresh water altogether.

So, there you have it.  My little walk for today is complete.  I hope you enjoyed it, cause I don't plan on going without AC for this long again until late September when it gets back to being a great place to live around here!

A Visit To An AARS Test Garden

The All American Rose Selections committee each year recommends what it considers to be the highest quality roses that have been introduce to the market during the calendar year.  Most years there are between 2-4 different varieties which get the AARS stamp of approval which takes into account novelty, form, color, aging quality, fragrance, habit, vigor, repeat ability, and disease resistance.  Each year in 10 sites across the USA these roses are planted and watched to garner the rating.

Temptation

I happen to live about 70 miles away from one of these test gardens, at Edisto Memorial Gardens, located in Orangeburg, SC.    At this AARS test gardens, along a lovely stretch of the Edisto River, they have maintained nearly every single winner since 1940, along with other donated heritage and old garden rose varieties.   These donated OGRs are healthy in this area, including a large variety of Noisettes, a class originated in South Carolina.

Looking over a sea of Opening Night, 1998

So what's it like to come upon hundreds of varieties of roses winners, planted in drifts of 30-50+ of each variety?  Its overwhelming!  I started out taking a picture of each and every one, and made it through about the first third and gave up, deciding to take photos of only those that struck my fancy after that point (and more than 300 pictures).

Donated Noisette

It is interesting to see these 'best of' selections en masse, both because you can see how styles have changed through the past 70 years, and you get to see what types of roses regularly are winners.  There is no doubt that the AARS favors hybrid teas and floribunda roses above all others.  Recently though, shrub roses have begun to pop up in the ranks on a regular basis (such as Rainbow Knockout, 2007).   They also have a huge soft spot for the graduated color roses, those that go from white to pink to red, or from yellow to red, or from yellow to orange, etc.   Orange seems to be one of their favorite colors in general, along with brilliant reds, whereas white roses are few and far between throughout the years in comparison to all other colors.   Yellow, on the other hand, has recently had a comeback, with nearly half of the past 5 years roses of that hue, including this years winner.  Most of the winning varieties were magnificently fragrant, and specifically fragrant in the classic tea rose scent.  There were a few though (Cherry Parfait, 2003) who carried very little scent whatsoever.

One of the wonderful things for me, living in the local area is that ability to see these roses in local climate reality. While many roses were still blooming, it is after the first flush here and I could witness roses who were downright ugly in the post bloom stage (Bonica, 1985), who had a tendency to terrible balling (Tournament of Roses, 1989) or whose habit was not for me.  I could see those that stayed three feet and those who grew 10 feet tall, which as a hybrid tea looks pretty odd to me!  

Bad Balling on Tournament of Roses,  1989

Unballed Blooms are Beautiful though. Tournament of Roses, 1989

A few of the notables for me (no photo retouching, these are the actual colors, in the worst washout 1pm lighting too!):

Gemini, 2000

Showbiz, 1983

Can double as a nightlight! Carribean, 1992

Strike It Rich, 2007

The oddly named Seashell,  1976
If I came upon a seashell this color I'd fight a battalion of shell seekin' old ladies off!

The very famous Double Delight,  1977

Midas Touch, 1994

Crysler Imperial, 1953 Best Red Bush IMO. Great full shape.

Bazillions of very double flowers and no balling on: Secret, 1992

Elle, 2005 who was incredibly fragrant too

Glowing Peace, 2001

Lady Elsie May, 2005

Daydream, 2005

And my breathtaking favorite, the Garden Party Rose, 1960.  This rose has the standard hybrid tea shape, but I can ignore that, given the huge fragrant blooms.  Love it.  I might just have to procure myself one!

ps. no flowers were picked in the making of this blog post, however, it almost killed me to not take a sample of the Garden Party.  Particularly seeing as I was all alone in the gardens minus a middle aged couple with Queens accents, the lady of the couple shouting intermittently, "Hennnrrrry, wheres the purple one Henry?  I don't see the purple one."  "Hennnry?!"  "yes, dear"  "Henry, where's the purple? I don't see the purple."  "To the right dear" (without looking up).   This of course went on for a good 10 minutes before the wife called him an old fool and stomped off.

Through A Different Lens

I've said before that Charleston is a garden that happens to have some old houses in it, and at no time is this more apparent than April.   The pink trees and the camellias might be gone, and the lady banks roses, wisteria and azaleas are the next to be history for this year, but now everything else is out.  All the roses.  Jasmine and pittosporum. All of them are blooming and the scent is wafting down the streets.  And it is so picturesque.

In Charleston there are other people besides me who wander around smelling the roses with camera in hand.  Frankly I'm a halfhearted amateur.  Joan, on the other hand, runs a blog which features a picture a day from Charleston and the surrounding area.  Many feature architecture and gardens, something you can't escape, and something many of you have commented on here in my pictures.  She also is very quirky and sees the lighter side of life (her quirky label tab is a riot).  So today, I'm all about 'stealing' some of her fine photos to show you how lovely Charleston is through a different lens.  If you like what you see, go check out her blog for a daily dose!  Its one of my favorites and I live here.  And if you don't live here its like a mini vacation walking through the streets.

All photos courtesy of Joan via Charleston Daily Photo:

Pink Trees & Camellias Around The Block

Take a walk with me.

Down the sidewalk we have white flowers peeking out of iron fencework.   Whoa, don't clobber yourself on that shutter.

Ah, some beautiful Saucer Magnolias (Magnolia x. Soulangiana) are out on the left, and a beautiful camellia on the right.

Back across the street I spy some more Saucer Magnolias and some unknown pretty pink trees.

And there are no flowers yet here (though they have grand gardens) but look at this ridiculous (in a magnificent way) house!   I keep hoping to run into the owner at the grocery store so she'll invite me over to drinks and let me check out her (entirely walled) garden!

Continuing on, here's another camellia just about to break out and a little face on a palm tree guarding the house.

Rounding the next corner what do we have here?? A nearly perfectly round red bush.   The Queen of Hearts would be proud.  But wait... do I see a bit of white under that red!! oh, no!

One more bit of pink hanging out behind the aspidistra.  Oh, wait there's another hidden down a driveway.  He's looking mighty stripey.

Turning again on the next corner I see my favorite pink bush on the block though... the one in front of home sweet home.