I love old houses

My wife asked me to help decorate the Boy Scout Troop House for the annual Christmas Party this Tuesday. My son is in the troop and really loves it. I have been in the house before but never have been up the stairs. The house was built in 1904 according the scout master and was donated to the troop when the local mill closed several years ago. This house sits 50 yards from the mill entrance so I guess this was a supervisor's house.

This picture is looking to the right on the landing and where the landing is open to the floor below. Sloppy painters have messed up the dark wood floors but could easily be brought back to a deep luster. Everything is solid and well built. The picture below is looking to the left and shows the panel details and the ceilings. Where I am standing is an upper landing with two doors to the right and the left leading into two smallish bedrooms each with a double window in the end wall.

I love old houses and the architectural details. What a great surprise. I had no idea that any of this was up there.

Camellia Season has begun

 Camellia Japonica Professor Sargent

Camellia Japonica Pink Perfection

Have you had success propagating camellias?

This year I had an 85% success rate! That's better than the 0% I get with clippings. I spent one afternoon in the late Spring air layering as many camellia branches as possible. I was even able to try a couple of red maple branches that needed to be pruned away anyway. Now in late October I was able to spend another afternoon clipping and potting up my new air layered camellias. I tried 26 branches, 4 died, 22 sprouted roots and are nicely potted up waiting for a rainy Winter to develop their root systems. Of all the gardening tasks I have learned - this is the most satisfying.

 Supplies and tables - check.

 Clippings clipped and ready.

 Success!

 Bursting with roots!

 Yes!

 I always clip off everything underneath the new roots.

 Potted up and ready to water in.

2 red maple trees 22 new camellia plants. I hope to have enough to create a hedge down my fence line. My neighbors to the left are getting older and have retired. I know that some time soon they will be selling that house and I want to be ready for some privacy screening.

 One of these red maple starts has a robust root system but the other doesn't,
I expect to have only one left by Spring.

 All placed on cardboard and ready to ride out Fall and Winter.

 The mother plant after everything has been clipped. No worse for the wear and pruned and ready for Spring. Can you see all those buds waiting to bloom this Winter?

This is why I do all this air layering. camellia japonica Pink Perfection. Imagine an entire hedge!

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

 White Mandevilla is still blooming and growing like crazy. We have not had any frost, and probably won't for at least another month.

The Sunny Knockout Roses near the driveway are blooming right along. They get the early morning and the late evening sun so they are pretty happy. 

 The blue Salvia in the Sunny Border is still wowwing me. These plants were in the backyard and did nothing for several years. I decides to try some out front in the sun and have been so glad I did. The humming birds were pretty happy I moved them too. I think they have moved on South.

The Double Pink Knockout Roses are still blooming since the weather has cooled down. This is my favorite Knockout of all. I love the color and the cabbage rose shape. They will go until out first frost also, which will take place in the next few weeks. 

(Here is the uncropped photo from above. I thought you might enjoy seeing the roof line of my neighbor's house. The gingerbread is exquisite. That house (1882?)has been on that spot longer than our house has been on ours, but our house is older (1879) than the neighbor's house. Our house was rolled here from a block away in 1887 on logs. The town let school out that day so that the kids could come watch the house being moved.) Picture me in my tshirt, shorts and clogs freezing at 8:02am with the camera held way over my head because these camelias are about 8 feet off the ground. 

I really cannot believe that the camelias are already blooming. This is an unnamed camelia japonica near the Water Garden.

This is a camelia japonica Pink Perfection blooming in the center of the bush.

Miniature Rose

Pickeral Rush is still blooming in the goldfish pond. I don't show this garden much because it is such a neglected mess. 

Here you can see the Sunny Border and the annual Rye Grass in the front yard. Our soil here is extremely acidic (5.1) or something like that - years of ivy in the yard hurt the soil. We can't grow beautiful grass during the Summer, but rye grass doesn't seem to mind the acid so I will be cutting grass this Winter but we enjoy the look of a green yard for part of the year.

Have a Great GBBD!

Chilly Saturday Morning

This is why I started blogging

     Can you see that little purple Crape Myrtle in the foreground? This is the view that I have when I sit on the porch and look across the street. The house is the Burt Stark Mansion here in town. It was the site of the last Confederate Cabinet Meeting between President Jefferson Davis and all his men.

     The whole reason I started blogging was because in all my searching for ways to propogate crape myrtle clippings from this tree I discovered Tom at Seventh Street Cottage and then on to his favorites and commentors.

     So, five years later I have met so many nice people and I wonder what their weather is like in other parts of the world, and what they have been up to in their gardens. But, I still have not ever had one bit of success with even one clipping from that beautiful little old timey crape myrtle.
     Makes me sad.

Late Summer in the Sunny Border

September 2, 2012

This is the Sunny Border with the White Garden behind it.

Fig Perserves

Doesn't that look good? Homemade biscuits and homemade fig perserves. This is the most figs I have ever gotten. It all cooked down to this one pint plus about a third of another jar. I am going to try and keep this one until winter so it can be a treat for us. We'll see how that goes.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - August 15, 2012

I decided to try some close up shots with my little camera.

Some are better than others. Let me know what you think.

 Guara near the driveway - backlit early in the morning.

 Million Bells in a container by the front steps. 

 Peony foliage early in the morning.

Lirope blooms so pretty in August.

Fern near gate to the Water Garden

Feathery Folage of Yarro

Angelonia - Serena White

Rudbeckia I - early morning in shade

 Rudbeckia II - early morning in sun

I like this shot better

New growth on the Double Pink Knockout Rose frosty with early morning dew.

 Double Pink Knockout Rose

Blue Salvia - the humming birds are addicted.

 Red Knockout Rose - early morning sun near sidewalk.