caladiums and snowdrops!????

Goodness it is November already -mind you you it has been a really busy acting year this this.  #plays finished already and now rehearsing for the next one.  A fairly new Christmas play at Centre Stage in Greenville SC  It is called Sleeping Indoors
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Anyway on Nov 14th just before this next bout of really cold weather kicked in, I took a couple of photos in the garden -Snowdrops -very early -and caladiums in a sheltered spot that survived the cold nights this year.  Appropriately they are caladium White Christmas -mmm is that an omen for the winter to come?

What is going on here???

Spring? -or the calm before the storm!!!

Two beautiful days gardening as this long winter drags on.  It seems we are getting another winter storm tomorrow and Wednesday.  Still in the midst of all the chaos to come, as it will -the south is definitely set up to cope with snow! Here are a couple of shots to chase away those winter blues and remind us of the promise of the fairy child's gift of spring.

Daffodil Rijnveld's Early Sensation

Species Crocus Bluebird

Those early daffodils are always so delightful and that splash of yellow so cheering.  And as for the species crocus -so so sweet  The snowdrops are still blooming to and the first winter aconite - or Eremurus   The species tulips are also showing their tips above ground.  Can't wait for them.  I planted more this year.  They come back for several years too.

 

oops not Eremurus but Eranthis! What was I thinking???

August already!

Well, again a long drought between blogs and lots of rain on the flowers -but the summer has been crazy with a trip to Aruba and the Aloe Vera Farm -that was so interesting.  I have already bought 2 aloe vera plants and planted them in warm sheltered spots in the garden. Hope they survive. They are really easy to use -just cut a leaf and it them like a fish and rub the gel on your skin -no sticky finish; your skin will drink up the wonderful gel feel so soft!

Also TWO trade shows, a big one in Columbus OH that was really busy- but 3 days on the trade show floor gets a bit too much.  Then the 2 day show in the newly revived SNA -Southern nurserymen's Assoc in Atlanta GA -2 days is great and I love the interaction and the chance to meet with friends, customers and fellow booth staff -old and new.  It is a great talking place and a good opportunity to see a lot of people in one place and in a short space of time.  I always think trade shows are very good value for the networking chances they offer.  There is a lot more optimism in the industry too which is very encouraging.

 

Of course I was also in the play, The Red Velvet Cake War as a German Psychologist -one minute very prim and proper and the next falling in love and chasing the guy!!!

But, back to the garden at home -yet more huge weeds -with so many trips away and so much rain this year the weeds have really taken hold.  Some pull up so very easily and others as you know I'm sure are tougher and deeper.  The crusher run drives are  a mess too with so much grass and weeds growing through.  I really have to use round up; I can't see a way round that unless anyone can offer advice on killing weeds on paths and driveways -quite a large area too as I love walkways through the various garden areas.  I love to get in among the plants not just see them from a distance and paths through beds beckon.  They say so clearly "come and see"

Wine garden

Wine garden, cocktail garden, 5 o'clock garden or, as my husband calls it -my acoholic garden!!!
Well, a garden should be a place to have fun and indulge in fancies.  Right?  I have a series of gardens in our one acre site and I have been asked quite a lot about my alcoholic garden. So here it is.

It is a corner of the garden where all the plants have the name of alcohol.  A great setting for a cocktail party don't you think?  The plant on the left is Atropurpurea 'Burgundy Glow' while out of site is an old apple tree with a wine bottle humming bird feeder and a parrot (5 o' clock somewhere and there is a sign with that on also!!) A red and a white grape grow over the home made arch and the wine bottles serve as edges as you can see.  Anyone know of any easy way to get rid of those wine labels??  The small berberis is Berberis thungbergii "Royal Burgundy" The lilies coming up  are Muscadet . I also have  Lilium Grand Cru in there.  Those gladioli are "Wine n Roses" and there is a Clematis Pink Champagne on the side fence with the Iceburg Rose (well it is stretching it a bit but you do need ice!) and another grape. The elephant ear Colocasia esculenta  "Mojito" obviously has a place there with tulips Burgundy Lace and T. Tequila Sunrise. The bright green little bush is Deutzia Chardonnay Pearl  and behind that is Viburnum Brandywine.  We also have Weigela Midnight Wine and W. Summer Wine.  Later we plant Caladium Brandywine en masse too with Tomato Brandywine. There are alcoholic day lilies and Heuchera, Ajuga, Bearded Iris, Canna etc etc.  I do need Narcissus Mint Julep though.  does anyone have any to swap?? Oh I now have Camellia 'Tama Vino' in there  too. The stepping stone -another of my fancies -each area has its quote- this one says
"......and wish to all
Flowers in the garden, meat in the hall,
A bin of wine, a spice of wit,
A house with lawns enclosing it" ! Robert Louis Stevenson
On a wooden table hidden in the background I wrote 'Eat Drink and be merry -for tomorrow we die" Ecclesiastes

With theme areas it is a fun to look for plants and it is amazing how lots of friends and colleagues join in the hunt. I am always being asked for updates at trade shows too.  So for all of you who have swapped acoholic plants for bulbs a big thank you and here you can see some of those treasures.  It is a great talking point.  From a gardening point of view it helps to break up the chore of weeding as you only have to concentrate one one area at a time and not get overwhelmed by the whole garden.
Last summer was the first of our now to be annual English Garden Parties .  I was born a Brit after all.  Hats are obligatory by the way!!!! Everyone loved dressing up and we had lots of requests to make it an annual event. So hats and croquet it is. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you have a wonderful gardening year too.

Here is a clump of my giant snowdrops they are so uplifting on a grey day and so brave to withstand the storms and the frost don't you think?

I tried to add a picture of the cheery yellow Narcissus Grand Soleil d'Or -a little beauty, especially so early.  It reminds us of the joys of gardening and the lift to our spirits when we see the early growth or new blooms.  Anyway, the photo keeps turning sideways on me -how do I turn a picture selected for the blog?  Can anyone help me with that?  It is the right way up in my computer files!!

I planted a bunch of the exquisite miniature tulips in the fairy garden together with the mini iris reticulata, so I am looking forward to a fabulous display in that corner of the garden early this spring.

Anyway, it is not too late to plant spring bulbs they will just bloom a little later.  Daffodils especially, will still be fine, I aim to spend time this coming weekend planting more lovely bulbs.  We still have a selection available at the warehouse in Greenwood SC   We also have a few double Amaryllis Blossom Peacock and some paperwhite Narcissus for sale.

Let us know if you still need anything.  Also if you would like a copy of our new spring catalog call us at Marlboro Bulb Company on 1-800-999-0567 or email info@marlborobulb.com We would love to hear from you and share any or your gardening stories.

There is still time to get bulbs to plant before Christmas or help work off that huge Christmas meal! Or as last minute Christmas gifts -the gift that lasts and lasts. We still have a good range of minipacks with their beautiful color picture -just right as stocking fillers or put a few in a basket as a lovely gift. The mini tulips and the small bulbs also work so well in pots -they can be planted up, left outside and then brought in just before they bloom to enjoy inside.  They are also gret planted in layers over larger bulbs such as tulips or daffodils in pots.  And of course we still have some awesome Amaryllis. Don't forget, here in the south, they can be planted outside in the garden after the last frost date to give joy in coming years outside. Further north keep them until the leaves dry out then stop watering and repot in the fall for next year.

The rain here was really welcome -just what we needed to wake up those dormant bulbs already in the ground. It has been so dry in South Carolina this fall.  My first giant snowdrops are already blooming though and the winter honeysuckle with its heavenly scent is displaying its gorgeous little white blooms -they will last for a couple of months. It is a straggly bush but is a great addition to the winter garden if tucked away and the blooms will fill a room with their fragrance. Let me know if anyone locally would like any cuttings!

 

To purchase bulbs  or request a catalog, you can email me or call 1-800-999-0567 or locally of course 864 229 1618 or email info@marlborobulb.com  You can call also and arrange to visit the warehouse  -Marlboro Bulb Company, 2424 Hwy 72 - 221E, Greenwood SC 29692  www.marlborobulb.com is our website.  Our new spring catalog is also out now and the Christmas holiday is a great time to sit and relax with the new catalog and choose items to plant in the spring for keeping those blooms coming through the summer.

Have a wonderful and happy Christmas, and if you are traveling -keep safe.

Happy Planting

Fall harvest

Still picking gorgeous dahlias and beautiful colored caladium leaves for indoors.  Also picked 2 figs today -mmm delicious.  There are still a few peppers ripening.  I tried the new sweet pepper Merlot in my 'alcoholic' garden -all the plants have the name of alcohol!!: Caladium brandywine, Viburnum Brandywine, Atropurpurea Burgundy Glow, Deutzia, Chardonnay Pearl, Colocasia Mojita among many others.  I also have a white garden, an Asian garden, a South Carolina Garden, a rock garden and so on.  Having fun with the garden means spending more time there and it is amazing how other people help you look for plants or suggest them, or even pass along plants that they know will fit into a theme.  It is a great talking piece too for a party.

What ideas do you have for garden areas or themes?

Presentation

I will be at the Greenville  SC Women's Garden Club on Wednesday October 3rd.
Our next presentation will be at the Hayden Center for the Iris Garden Club.  This will be on 'Fall for Fall Bulbs' on Thusrday Oct 11th.  It is always fun to go on the road with a presentation and meet other keen gardeners and those just starting out.  We all have so many tips and ideas to share.  It is a great way to find out more about your local growing area as well as more general hints on varieties and tried and tested ideas and experience.  Everyone has some knowledge to share or some question to ask.
After this it will be Columbia on November 13 but more on that one later -though you can always ask for more information any time -that will be open to the public. Call 1-800-999-0567, email info@marlborobulb.com or ask in the comment section for more information, for a catalog or if you would like presentation at your function or garden club.

Lycoris

As the days shorten and the nights are turning cooler we are rewarded with an explosion of color from Lycoris Radiata.  The red version is headturning and en masse definitely breathtaking.  Be sure to plant right near the surface in a sunny site and then leave them alone! They are fine in grass too as you can see.  They don't like being mulched or planted too deeply nor do they seem to respond too well to fertilizer.  What an awesome perennial bulb.  Common names include Spider lily, naked lady due to the lack of leaves until after the blooms are done, though that is generally attached to the pink variety for some reason.  The yellow variety is a little more unusual and not quite so hardy.

Hostas????

Caladiums Freida hemple and Miss Muffett

Caladiums Red Flash and Florida Cardinal

 

Well I suppose I did go  a little crazy with the caladiums!  At least they shade the hostas in the hot summer sun and the hostas had a great time earlier in the season. And you can still see some of the hostas. Anyway, gardening is partly about the changing scenes. No two days are the same -there's always something new to discover, something that was missed or something new appearing.  Life is a little like that too isn't it?  If we take the time to 'stop and smell the roses' that is.

Hosta Paul's Glory is a really good hosta for the south -doesn't burn like some of them.

Hosta Paul's Glory

November flowers

Acidanthera in November?  Just Gorgeous! And Snowdrops at the same time? Oh, and that heavenly scented winter honeysuckle -Lonicera fragrantissima -just a few twigs fills the room with a delicious scent.  It makes a beautiful vase with some of the paperwhites that are also blooming outside right now too.  And the beautiful white fall Camellia in my white garden.  What a wonderful mix of  white flowers.

Don't forget winter trees too -the bark of the river birch too is just stunning against a blue sky.        Well the 12 month garden is now reality after 4 years of work!! Enjoyable work I hasten to add.

Happy Gardening to all. 

Gladioli

And here are the gladioli -it is amazing how well the bulbs keep.  i try to plant every 3  weeks through the summer so I have a succession of blooms for cutting.  they are especially welcome at this time of year.
The cannas have done really well this year too, especially the ones from tissue culture.
Now we have grape hyacinth leaves (Muscari armeniacum) leaves coming through.  They make great groundcover through the winter.  Also loads of paperwhites are showing -Narcissus Ziva and also the Super paperwhites, have leaves about 6-8 inches tall already.
what an amazing day -77 degrees with wall to wall sunshine -gorgeous to be out there tidying up and cutting flowers.  We still need more rain though; I also had to water some of the beds -unbelieveable for late October.

Bulbs again

I hope the contrasting pictures help to prevent disappointment in planting bulbs that then don;t give a good show.  Even if you onlyhave a few bulbs -it is still much better to plant in clumps rather than try to spread them out too much.  for a more formal approach especially with tuilps you might like to plant staggered rows to give depth.  In other words plant one row  about 5 or 6 inches apart, then behind that plant a second row about 5 or 6 inches back and in the spaces from the first ones and if oyu have the bulbs plant a third row also.  Hope this helps.

Fall for Fall Bulbs

Now is the time to start planning for your fall bulb planting.  We are often asked about how many bulbs to plant in a certain space -how many  bulbs will make a good show?  Well the answer is really simple -   50 bulbs cover 10 square feet         That is an easy number to remember and and an easy number to work with.                          Let me show what I mean:             take this picture

you can see how lonely and lost these tulips look!

Ok so lets try again -now you can see what they look like en masse. Most designers recommend that you plant at least 50 bulbs to make a good show.  You can also of course plant in clumps of any shape.

Naked Ladies!!

Now is the time to plant the beautiful fall blooming Lycoris species -we have the Red radiata, the pink, squamigera and even the more uncommon yellow aurea. They have a variety of names from Naked Ladies, spider Lily, surprise lily as they suddenly pop up on naked stems with the leaves tagging along later.  Whatever you call them, they are a reliable perennial for the south -they love those sunny spots and require little maintenance or even water! Just be sure not to plant too deeply

fabulous flowers

Well it may be raining today -and a good thing too on all those bulbs planted earlier this year, but a look out the windows in any direction, shows gorgeous drifts of yellow and creamy white splashed with purple, pink and blue.  Daffodils of all kinds and sizes are peering through everywhere, every day, in an ever increasing crescendo of color.  Hyacinths, Iris reticulata, Ipheon and clouds of white apple and plum blossom make up the supporting chorus.  What a joy.  Even a few snowdrops have manged to come back for me and tulip leaves are everywhere, returning from last year.  The very first little pink and cream Kaufmannii tulip in a pot by the shed is actually opening -on March5?     Now check out these pictures:

 Cardboard and newspaper placed over the grass and watered, then covered with bulbs

 OK, so we have access to more bulbs than you but this works on a smaller scale too!

Cover the bulbs with dirt and mulch

So there it is - my 'PEPNOD'  -Patricia's Easy Plant No Dig method -Wow it worked getting the pictures up there! So now you can see how we planted thousands of bulbs in an afternoon! Also the shape is such that it is very easy to mow around, saving yet more time later in the season  I will keep you uptodate on their progress.  Now I do admit to using weedkiller around the edge for the first season, then in the fall when the ground is moist I will dig out around the edge for the future.  That apple tree on the left by the way is blooming its heart out right now.

radio update

Well, we did the radio interview -a series of 3 actually.  Hopefully  I will get the links to those so you can tune in and listen to them on line. But first I must correct the spelling of Bob's name!  Bob Polomski the Clemson extension agent.  Abject apologies Bob.  It was fun though talking about getting out in the garden and all the marvellous bulbs available and also the fun and the healthful spin offs from having and creating a garden.  A garden really is an extension of you and your personality.  You take a lot of care to personalize your indoor rooms and it can be just as much fun to create those outside 'rooms' or areas.  Make a place to have a picnic or sit and unwind.  Follow a theme and then see what an avid collector you will become of say daffodils or hostas or lilies or choose a color theme like orange and purple for those tiger fans or black and garnet for South Carolina fans!!!

Radio

Hi Everyone
Bob Polemsky, the Clemson extension agent has asked me to talk with him on the radio tomorrow about bulbs and gardening, Friday Feb 11  around 11am -I will have to find out what the frequency is for that.  That will be fun so hope you can tune in and listen though it probably doesn't have too wide a distribution area

Spring Bulbs

At last, the first of the species crocus is coming through and was shining bravely in the sunshine yesterday.  It was bliss to get out there and do some gardening.  It was not just the effect of the awful weather this winter keeping me out of the garden but also number of trade shows -it is a busy time of year for that with trips to Atlanta, GA and Greensboro, NC and also to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina -I was so hoping to get my walk on the beach and collect black rocks and oyster shells for my Asian garden -I have a dry river bed -my Black river I call it.  Well it poured with rain sending everything dripping and steaming but finally on sturday morning despite the mist it was not raining! Hurray!  I dragged on my jacket -it seemed to be warm enough to be with a hat so I left that on the seat in the car and headed for the pier. At least I started off in that direction across the sand, the pier was still shrouded in a white misty swirling haze. No tickling my toes in the sand this year  -still, I was enjoying the sound of the water and watching all the seagulls delving their long beaks into the wet sand. I arrived at the pier and guess what?  Yes the rain came down faster and faster.  My hat was in the car -but heck rain water is good for your hair -so they tell me!  Fortunately I hadn't checked out of my hotel so was still able to go back to my room and dry my dripping hair.  It was unpleasantly dripping down my neck by this time.  But iDID get mey walk on the beach -no shells though this time. 
Back to planting bulbs -we planted about 5000 Oxford tulips yesterday -my method -the easy plant way. I have been saving cardboard to lay on the insiduously creeping Bermuda grass we call lawn.  After wetting it with thehose the tulips are dumped unceremoniously in a heap over it and then raked to spread out in a single layer.  Next come a few wheelbarrowfuls of topsoil and compost and finally a layer of shredded tree mulch.  that's it -that's how to plant a brand new flower bed -the very easy way.  Several layers of newspaper will also help to supress grass and weeds if you don't have enough cardboard.  This a great way to start a new bed or do landscaping. I know it is a little late to plant tulips but it has been so cool and the left over bulbs at Marlboro Bulb Company, SC are in good shape -so we will see.  I will keep you posted.  Daffodils are still fine for another couple of weeks in many areas too by the way. Happy plantings!

Planting bulbs

70 degrees today!  Unbelievable after the awful winter we have had this year.  What with endless frosty nights and SNOW.  Snow in South Carolina? Well, at least the bulbs have stayed in good condition and are ready to plant.  And was I ready for a day in the garden -oh my goodness, I couldn't wait to get out there today.  I planted 300 Pink Surprise hyacinths in the hosta garden and 100 Red Riding Hood tulips on the rock garden.  And some daffodils, alliums and white anemones too. But I go too fast, maybe a little background right now and then over time we can talk about planting bulbs en masse and our series of gardens (including my own 5 o' clock garden! Asian garden, white garden etc).  Anyway,  Marlboro Bulb is owned by 5 Dutchmen and run by Jack my husband -he is 4 th generation working in bulbs and was born in Holland so he knows his stuff. We basically wholesale flower bulbs.  Although we have fairly small quantities as a minimum, so garden clubs and individuals order from us too.  Our website is http://www.marlborobulb.com/ so check us out there.  Me? I am a Brit, so I guess I was born gardening and I like nothing better than to be out in the garden pottering and planting.  Keeps you fit and keeps you young and beautifies your home surroundings-what more can you ask from a  hobby?  You can always call and ask for ideas too or if you would like to come and see the garden in upstate South Carolina you only have to phone the office at 1-800-999-0567 and ask for Patricia and we will arrange  a time for you.  It is a relatively new garden  - not yet 4 years old and all done by hand with lots of sweat, thousands and thousands of bulbs and much loving care.  Interested?  Come back for more installments!