Around The Garden

I finally put down the watering hose long enough to pick up the camera and take a few photos of the garden this week. I have had to water so much lately that I feel like I am permanently attached to the hose! We have soaker and drip hoses in some of the beds, but when I have plants that are so dry they’re wilted, I prefer to turn the hose on them. (Plus, hand watering gives me a chance to really see everything.) We are SO dry and in desperate need of rain! It hasn’t rained here in about three weeks, and we are HOT, very hot. The temperature was 96 today and we are supposed to go over one hundred degrees for the next few days, with no rain in sight. I’m watering just to keep things alive now. How’s your weather? Is it hot and dry where you are too? Anyone else feeling permanently attached to their watering hoses? :) Here are lots of photos I took this week, sorry for the poor quality of some, they were taken in late evening, click to enlarge.

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Petunia ‘Supertunia Vista Bubblegum’ in hanging baskets, Purple Angelonia and Petunia ‘Prism Sunshine’ in container, grown from seed

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Dwarf Pink Bee Balm (‘Grand Parade’), pink Double Delight Coneflowers, purple-leaved Red Shiso (Perilla Frutescens), and pink Polka Dot plants in the long border near the creek.

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‘Black Dragon’ Coleus, various types of salvia, marigolds in rock wall flower bed

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Pink Balloon Flowers, with ‘Laura Bush’ petunias and variegated Caryopteris divaricata ‘Snow Fairy’ shrub in the background. By the way, all my caryopteris shrubs are already in bloom. Everything is about a month ahead this year!

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Veronica

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Coneflowers

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An exceptionally pretty daylily :)

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Monarda ‘Grand Parade’

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White Swan Coneflowers and Agastache ‘Heat Wave’

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Zinnias and ‘Black Pearl’ peppers (at far left) with Echinacea Powwow White and PowWow Wild Berry coneflowers, ‘White Swan’ coneflowers in bed above gazebo

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Magellan™ Cherry Zinnias grown from seed

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Long creekside border near patio

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Closer View

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Container flowers with petunias, spike, verbena, bacopa, red geraniums, and dahlias in the background

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Dragonwing Begonias and Persian Shield in pots on the rock patio

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New Plant Hardiness Zone Map

The USDA recently updated the Plant Hardiness Zone Map for the first time since 1990, and although it didn’t change in our area (still Zone 7a), gardeners across the country may find themselves in a new hardiness zone. Click the image to go see if your zone has changed:

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New Zone Map

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Sunshine

We have finally had a break over the past few days from the cold snowy weather, with temps well above freezing and some actual sunshine! It’s so nice to see the ground appearing again, it’s been snow-covered almost since Christmas day here and I am surely tired of it. I have had a bad case of cabin fever and I can’t imagine what it would must be like to have snow constantly for months at a time! I did finally get to venture outdoors for some photos over the past few days, the one at the left was taken during the storm. Click any photo to view larger versions.

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Clumps of snow on white pine against a blue sky

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Great Smoky Mountains

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Zooming in on distant peaks

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Late evening sunshine

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Southern Blizzard

Snowmageddon. Epic Snow. Southern Blizzard. I am sick of snow! We normally have a few flurries here and there and maybe a couple-inch snow once or twice over an entire winter here in our area. Only three weeks into the winter season, we have already had snow 3 or four times! We had a white Christmas here for the first time in more than thirty years, and right now we have almost a foot of snow! It started snowing a little past midnight last night, and this morning, we measured 11 and a half inches on the ground, with much deeper drifts. We’ve had flurries off and on all day, so it’s probably a foot by now. No power outages so far for our area, but the trees are bending under the weight and we are still under a winter storm warning until tomorrow morning. And, oh joy, freezing rain and sleet is expected as well…
Here are a few snapshots I took from the windows and porch — the snow is too deep to venture out into.

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A chickadee on a snow-covered suet feeder earlier today.

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Looking across to the woods from front yard.

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Snow-covered outdoor furniture.

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Gazebo covered in snow, note all the birds in the surrounding trees.

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Snowy woods.

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Snowy hemlock, buried front steps, slope behind house.

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Only 68 days till Spring!

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