Photo-a-Day Week 47

The days are continuing to grow shorter, the leaves are falling, and my year of a photo a day is drawing to a close. Only five more weeks of photos. Hope you stay with me to the end. Please be thinking about your favorite photo or photos from this challenge. On January 1st next year I will post a link for a slideshow of the entire series. 

Let's look at this week's photos. 

Day 321-

The front of our property, near the street, is the sunniest part of the garden. I have a couple of varieties of Opuntia sp. Prickly Pear cactus. I like the red seed pods on this one. It is a pass-along plant from my brother in Illinois. This one's blooms are bright yellow with red centers. The other one I have is all yellow. 

Opuntia

Day 322-

Nothing is prettier to me than the calm waters of the lake with the reflection of fall colors on the other side. I was quite lucky to capture this image as within two days all the leaves across the lake were gone. 

Reflection

Day 323- 

I brought the Snake plants inside a few weeks ago. Two of the planters have flower stalks with lots of buds. Some folks tell me they never knew that Dracaena trifasciata, or Mother-in-law's tongue, bloomed. I was a little confused on the botanical name. I thought it was a Sansevieria trifasciata, but apparently the name changed in 2017. (according to my reading in Wikipedia and further reading on the Kew website)

About to bloom

Day 324- 

Driving home from Greenville, I had a few items I wanted to try and capture for a photo of the day. This tower is near Hickory Tavern, SC. We always take the back roads, the road less traveled, and enjoy the scenery. Not sure what this tower's job might be. Looks like a lead into an airport, not a cell tower. I will have to look more closely next trip.

Tower

Day 325-

The Camellia sasanquas are blooming now. The C. sasanqua 'Yuletide' is a reliable bloomer. I like that it has the bright yellow anthers for the pollinators to enjoy the pollen available. Some of the Camellias are doubles or more, covering the anthers, providing little to no pollen. 

Yuletide

Day 326-

Greenwood, South Carolina, had a number of textile mills. Over the years, most have closed, but Greenwood Mills Harris plant is still operating. There are two water towers near the plant. There is a lot of history throughout South Carolina with the textile mills, the mill villages, and the communities that grew up tied to the Mills. 

Water Towers

Day 327-

My Hydrangea quericfolia 'Ruby Slippers,' is really a stunning fall performer. The deer have nibbled down two of the three that I have. I will be more attentive next year with spraying deer repellent. While during the growing season this hydrangea is like any other oakleaf hydrangea, come fall, wow! Its color just pops. 

Ruby Slippers

Thanks for visiting once again for this week's round-up. Be sure to come back again next week. 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Photo-a-Day Week 44

Welcome back to another summary of the week's photos. More photos of autumn are included in the collection. 

Day 300-

I have three Drift roses bushes near the front door, and they are really reliable bloomers. They are black spot resistant. The variety I have is 'Popcorn'. They will bloom until late November/ December. 

Roses

Day 301-

For most of October, we didn't have any rain, then we had four days of rain. There is riprap along the roadway to mitigate erosion, and this day, there was a lot of rainwater rushing downhill along the road. A rapid rushing of water cascading down, into the riprap and through the culverts, into the lake. 

Water

Day 302-

Many of my hostas are on the deck, away from the deer and their nibbling. I have some hostas in the garden and before the cold weather came, those hostas looked like celery stalks stuck in the ground. 

End of a Season

Day 303- 

Our Kmart in town closed several years ago, and a U-Haul storage place and rental facility moved in. The parking lot is sloped, and  I was surprised that the storage units were placed so that the front of the unit was not even with the ground.

Storage on an incline

Day 304- 

Remember the beautiful roses from a few days ago (see above)? The deer are very hungry. They nibbled almost every rose and rosebud off the shrubs. My poor rose bushes look like Morticia Addams pruned every single stem. 

Morticia Addams did my pruning

Day 305-

In the fall we get a lot of spider webs but I think these Funnel weaver spider webs are so interesting. They are a very tight funnels, though I rarely see the spider that makes these. 

Funnel weaver spider web

Day 306-

I have a variety of Camellias in the garden. Most of the ones I have are Camellia sasanquas, blooming anytime from September through December. This beauty is Camellia sasanqua 'Ashley Eden'.  In the coming weeks, I will be sharing more Camellias. There are lots of pollinators who like these beauties. 

Camellia sasanqua 'Ashley Eden'

And now for a few of the not chosen photos-

Possumhaw holly, or Ilex decidua. It is in berry at the corner of my septic drain field. 

This is the dogwood that grows along my driveway. The colors of the leaves almost make it look like candy corn. The colors of our fall foliage always makes me happy. 

Raindrops on Edgeworthia leaves. The leaves are a little fuzzy and the raindrops sit on the top of the leaf.

Afternoon light shines through the trees along the driveway. 

That's all for this week, hope you liked the chosen and not chosen photos. Come back again next week. 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Photo-a-Day Week 6

Day 34-

This week's photos started with a picture of Fiona with her toy, coming down the driveway. I used the app on my cellphone called Prisma to change it up. 

Prisma Filter

Day 35-

Remember the crystal in the cabinet I shared on Day 23? Well, the setting sun shines through the dining room window and creates rainbows across the room. 

Rainbow

Day 36-

A lone pinecone on the driveway, the sun shining behind it creating a perfect shadow.

Pinecone

Day 37-

On the drive into town, I noticed a group of dead pine trees. I was surprised they were still standing after the hurricane that came through at the end of September. I used a black-and-white filter to enhance the photo. 

Dead Trees

Day 38-

This one was a challenge as I was walking the dog when I saw this snail. If I paid too much attention to the snail a rather nosey puppy would have interrupted the photo. 

On The Move

Day 39-

Every morning I enter our closet off the master bathroom and check the progress of the Camellia blooms. When I planted this Camellia the deer sampled its buds on the front part of the shrub. Over the years the buds have increased front and back. It is a no-name shrub I purchased years ago. I do not like it when plant tags just say "Camellia" no further information. 

View from my Window

Day 40-

The Prunus mume 'Hokkai bungo' is starting to lose its flowers. I was worried the freezing temps we had when the blooms first started opening would kill all the flowers. The tree bloomed in abundance this year to my pleasure. 

Fallen Petals

This wraps up another week. See you next week!

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. Words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Do You Buy Plants Without Knowing Where They Will Be Planted?

A couple of years ago I started a post about this garden in my backyard. (I never finished it until tonight.) There is a large plant sale in our area (I use 'area' loosely- this sale is almost 2 hours away). I have gone three or four times since we moved here. Prices are getting higher, so I am not sure that I will frequent the sale regularly.

At this sale I bought a handful of Camellias and Azaleas. Not knowing where to plant the Camellias I decided to create a new garden bed. I am of the frame of mind that if grass doesn’t grow well in a spot in your yard, then mulch it and make a new garden. This area is on the north side of the house, under the deck overhang. It would be protected, have some morning sun and plenty of shade midday through the afternoon.

The plants were planted, garden created with the help of a certain German Shepherd. I planted a couple of the Camellias; C. sasanqua ‘Ashley Eden’, C. sasanqua ‘Elizabeth Ann’, and C. sasanqua ‘Leslie Ann’ and two azaleas, Rhododendron ‘Delaware Valley White’. One of the compost tumblers was ready to be spread. Compost and mulch and some newspaper under the mulch, voila - a garden.

I have a couple wagons that I make good use of in the garden. This one is one that dumps, and spreading mulch goes quickly when you can dump and go. Yes, I used some newspaper over the compost but under the mulch. It was a thin layer and decomposed pretty quickly. Chickweed and Poa annua grass run rampant in our yards where grass is thin. Some kind of weed block to give me a head start was needed.

Midway through the garden prep Liebling was very interested in something in the back near the wall. What was it? A baby Eastern Rat snake, one of the good guys.

Phase one of the new garden done! Unfortunately two of the Camellias did not do well. One was moved out front and seems to be doing better. ‘Ashley Eden’ remains and has bloomed a couple of times, she is still quite small, maybe eighteen inches tall.

The azaleas bloomed well and are settling into their new garden. I like having white blooms, the whiteness really pops in the shade. Between the shrubs are some ferns. I figure you can’t go wrong with ferns. This fall I also planted some Trillium, we will see how well they do. I planted Trillium in the large shaded garden a couple years ago and have no idea where they are. It might be too much leaf litter.

Phase two- the garden was expanded. The mulched area now goes along the edge of the patio under the deck. A few square cement blocks were added in the widest part of the bed so no one walks on any plants. Yes, I did add more. I divided my daffodils in one of the front gardens and needed a spot to put them. As I write the four clumps of daffodils are coming up. Most are about six inches of fresh green foliage already. Later this year I will place some stepping stones in a better pattern, when I know where all the daffodils are growing! At the end of the wall is very wet from the French drain and a downspout outlet. Since this edge of the garden gets sun, I planted a few Mountain Mint that I was dividing. What was I thinking?? I may need to put an edging around the mint.

July 2019

Oh,inquiring minds might ask what the plant is that is hanging over the wall. It is Edgeworthia chrysantha. This is one plant. Apparently it is happy there. I have five along that side of the house, all are quite large. Next month the blooms will be at their peak, sending glorious fragrance through the garden.

July 2019

Back to the question in the title of this post. Seems I always fall in love with a plant or a bargain on a plant (or ten) and then have to come up with ideas as to where they might thrive in my garden. What do you do?


©Copyright 2020 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Eight Years -Showing Warts and All

It has been a couple years since I did a yearly review of the gardens. Some garden areas have been successful and others have gotten quite overgrown.  Last year was not the year for tending to the garden and it is obvious to my eye. Below are comparison photos from 2017 and 2018. If you would like to see earlier years you can see 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

In the photo below it is great to see how much the Japanese maple, Acer palmatum 'Glowing Embers' has grown. It is in the left side of the garden. 

2017

This past spring I added a garden along the wall, post on it later. The wall and the new garden seem to point to the 'Glowing Embers'.
It is funny how much the white Caladiums stand out along the pathway in the woods. I need to put more in next year.

2018

A little more of the center of the garden. The burgundy tree in the center is a Japanese maple- Acer palmatum dissectum 'Garnet'. The shape is finally coming back, a November 1 snowfall a few years ago took a third of the crown.

2018

Along side the house is always in a state of 'maybe it will be better next year'. The deer had found the hydrangeas last year and ate them to a nub. Around the propane tank is a very healthy stand of  Sweet Flag grass, Acorus gramineus 'Ogon'...home to many of my snakes and a favorite place for our little Liebling to "hide". In between the hose spigot and the propane tank is the A/C condensation pipe outlet. During the summer it is a constantly moist area. I like to use the downhill side of it to have my plant nursery. Any time I am pruning I will stick a few branches in the soil in that nursery area. I have had some success with a few Hydrangeas and Camellias and boxwood.

2017

This year you can see more growth on the Hydrangea macrophylla 'Madam Emile Mouillere', a white blooming mophead. Downhill from this hydrangea is a variegated one- it was also in the photo above, barely. Apparently variegated hydrangea are especially tasty to those pesky deer. Last year the hosta in front of the variegated hydrangea looked like celery stalks sticking up through the Sweet flag grass. Uphill from the Sweet Flag grass is a substantial stand of Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko', a deer resistant low growing shrub. In the spring it is very attractive if a late frost doesn't kill the blooms. The rest of the year it is a space filler.
You can see we have had to patch the turf again this spring. Slowly but surely it is filling in. We have eliminated more of the turf in the front yard.

2018

From the front door you see more Sweet Flag grass on the right side of the walkway. To the left there is a Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls', one side is always "pruned" by the deer and the other creeps across the walkway. A Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Daruma' is in front of the front window. In some of the next photos you can see how much it has grown.

2017

This year's view shows some of the mulched front. With the dogs running out front, the trees creating more and more shade, and winter moisture killing the grass, we finally figured out that we needed to take a different tack.  So far I have added two more Japanese maples, 'Red Dragon' and 'Butterfly', a Camellia sasanqua 'Leslie Ann', and a small Cryptomeria. There is a lot more room to plant. Oh. the possibilities!

2018

Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem' has grown!  A few winters ago we had a pine tree hit it during an ice storm, spurring it to fill out and grow taller!

2018

Another view of the front yard, here in 2017, I have help from Liebling, our German Shepherd puppy. She will be 2 this August. See the large Loropetalum by the front by window? It was only supposed to get four to six feet tall. Each year it is cut back to the bottom of the window.

2017

Similar view this year, you can see the edge of the mulched area. See how much the Loropetalum is now? Yikes.  At the corner of the house is a Coral Bark Maple, Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'. It really has been a show stopper in the fall and winter with its leaf color and the coral bark.

2018

This spot is the uphill part of the front yard next to the driveway, planted with a few roses, lavender, irises, and a flowering apricot, Prunus mume 'Hokkai Bungo'. I enjoy the fragrance of the cinnamon scented blooms in the winter.

2017

This year you can see some of the lavender is missing. A peony or two have been added and a Calla lily, Zanteschia aethiopia. Some of the iris were uprooted by the marauding Armadillo. We have deer, rabbits, Armadillo, chipmunks, and voles to battle.

2018

A bright spot in the woods as you continue to walk up the driveway is an anise shrub, Illicium parviflorum 'Florida Sunshine'. I liked how it glowed in the woods so much that I bought three more, working my way up the driveway, three on the left and one on the right.

2018

A semi-new garden up at the street is shaping up. I do not have irrigation there, so the plants need to be drought tolerant and resistant to the deer that graze through. A few of the plants include Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard', Hesperaloe parviflora, Lagerstroemia -a Red variety of the Black Diamond Crape Myrtle series, Amsonia x 'Seaford Skies', and lots of Nassella tenuissima - Ponytail Grass.

2018

Walking to the backyard from the bottom of the front hill. Viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet' on the left and Morella cerifera, Wax Myrtle, on the right. Not pleased with the Viburnum, going to cut them back a good bit and see if they shape up any better.

2018

In the lower part of the yard, last year's photo shows the dry creek bed we put in the year before. What a good asset to the landscape! It channels the rain water through the gardens and empties into the grassy flat land before going into the lake. The flat land has River Oats and other grasses that filter the water and slows it down....works like a charm!

2017

A little bit of a different angle in this year's photo. The elephant ears aren't making the showing they have in past years. I know I should have dug them up and divided them a few years ago. Oops.

2018

Here are the warts- last year's photo from the boat dock....lots of weeds on the right side. Almost no visible planted material to be seen.

2017

This year, even worse. Will be tackling it in the near future.  I just hate to get into that mess in the heat....and remember, there are snakes.

2018

Finally another view of the large mulched area in the front yard. My pitcher plant needs to be transplanted into a larger container, thinking it might become part of the garden. See my chicken? He is a water feature- trying to find the best place for it.

2018

Thanks for joining me on the yearly update, hard to believe we have been in South Carolina for eight years! I am glad I have been taking photos at the same time of year, year after year, to see the changes.



©Copyright 2018 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.