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. 

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

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!!!