Spring has Sprung in South Carolina

Last week I returned home from a week-long trip, and my garden has exploded with spring blooms and fresh green foliage on the trees. My trip was to the beach and a visit to Brookgreen Garden, more about that in another post. First let's see my favorite views in my garden.

As you come down my driveway you will see six Spirea x vanhoutei in bloom. Beyond is a mature dogwood, Cornus florida. Closer to the house is a fringe tree, Chionanthus retusus. White flowers in many forms dot the driveway.

The view from the front door might be my favorite. The weeping redbud, Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls' is just starting to leaf out with its burgundy leaves. A little closer to the door is a Loropetalum chinese 'Purple Pixie' (I got it when I went to my first Fling in Asheville!!). Planted around the loropetalum are Bletilla striata 'Big Bob' and Dianthus- maybe Firewitch?.  From left to right beyond the redbud is an unamed Japanese maple, a very large tea olive, Osmanthus fragrans, on the corner of the shed, an unknown Viburnum, a pink dogwood, a burgundy redbud, and another Japanese maple, Acer palmatum 'Butterfly'.

I was happy we got a little bit of rain, love the raindrops on the Dianthus. Their clove fragrance is wonderful!

In the lot where our bee hives are placed are a handful of Paw paws. This is not the Asimina triloba but Asimina parviflora, a small fruited Paw paw. See the tiny flowers?

In the backyard one of the native azaleas is blooming, this one is 'Admiral Semmes'. The deer have not totally eaten this one, thank goodness. 

I think this is the first time this Barrenwort has bloomed. Epimedium x rubrum. The Epimedium x vericolor 'Sulphureum' bloomed earlier in March. There is a third one in the woodland garden, somewhere, but it may not be with us any longer.

The Solomon's Seal is up and blooming. I have some native ones that appear every so often, these are not native. Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum 'Variegatum'

The Pieris japonica 'Cavatine' is doing well, at least two of the three. One had a limb fall on it, breaking a third of the shrub apart. The bumble bees love this shrub!

There are three different Serissa foetida in my garden, a double, a single, and a single with variegated leaves.  Here are two of them. It is a nice small shrub, semi-evergreen. The blooms are about the size of my thumbnail. 

Another Epimedium, Epimedium wushanense 'Caramel' is thriving in my side yard. Love those spidery blooms.

The Red Buckeye, Aesculus pavia, is blooming, making the hummingbirds happy as well as the Hummingbird moths. I brought two seedlings with me from Seaford when we moved here. One is doing better than the other, though both are about ten feet tall. 

Finally, Amsonia x 'Seaford Skies' is blooming and it is before I was able to cut back last year's stems, so it will be a little messy this year. Oh well. 

This is just a portion of what was open in my garden when I came home. It has been an explosion of spring. I am enjoying every corner of the garden as more and more plants come alive. How's your garden? Are you under snow or well into spring?

©Copyright 2026 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 2

Welcome to week 2 of the photo-a-day posts. All of the photos have been taken with my cell phone, Pixel 7, except for the last one, today's photo at the bottom of this array.

Day 6- Forsythia bush sprouting and blooming well ahead of the season. This poor shrub has not done well though it keeps holding on.

Day 7- Glowing rain gauge. The sun setting behind the gauge. I volunteer to observe and report rainfall to Cocorahs.org, a citizen scientist program. Do you like observing weather and want to be a part of this large organization? Go to the link above and find out how. 

Day 8- Frosty morning photo of lichen, moss, and leaves in one of the planters on my deck.

Day 9- Two dogs, anxious to play, regardless of the chilly tempertures.

Day 10- Our snowfall has begun. It was short lived, changing to sleet then rain in a couple hours. Weeping Redbud, Ruby Falls.

 

Day 11- Seed pods of Leucothoe fontanesiana, in my front woods.

Day 12- American Goldfinch feeding on Rose of Sharon seed pods. This one taken with the camera instead of my cellphone.

Thanks for stopping by again this week. Now that Christmas items are packed away until next year, we can get back to Puget Sound Fling photos. Stay tuned.

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

I've Got a Dozen Under My Belt, On To Thirteen

Time sure flies! In 2010 we moved to South Carolina from Virginia. If I were to have to guess, I would say it was only 5 or 6 years! Wow. I hadn't done a yearly review of the yard/gardens for a couple years. Here are a few links to previous posts with photos of progress. I will just share this year's photos today.

2012

2013

2014

2015

2018

Over the years we added a dry creek bed through the backyard, I highly recommend one if you have run-off in your yard that you want to direct. I added a short dry creek bed in the front yard to help with the mulch getting washed downhill. Our lake front area is a mess. I had it redone a few years ago with Hayscented ferns Dennstaedtia punctiloba, Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah', and four Podocarpus macrophyllus 'Pringles Dwarf'. The ferns needed more water in some areas, the grasses didn't thrive like they should and the Pringles were eaten by the deer. The irrigation wasn't working like it should have. I had it set to go off in the wee hours of dawn, only to find an error code for valve one- the largest section of the yard. Now I manually start the sprinklers and they work fine. Not sure what the issue was. Finally, there was also a tree that fell onto the bank- crushing some of the grasses and ferns. I won't share that area today... maybe another time.

Front garden

The front garden is filled with four Drift Roses 'Popcorn', one Loropetalum 'Purple Pixie', Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls' Redbud. Multiple Calla lilies, Zantedeschia albomaculata, have reseeded, a volunteer fern, Thelypteris normalis, popped up by the downspout pop-up and there's plenty of Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' and Dianthus 'Firewitch' spreading along the sidewalk. 

The shed is almost hidden because of all the shrub growth. At the corner of the shed is a large Tea Olive, Osmanthus fragrans. 

The front yard from the other direction. In the small garden, in the photo above is Prunus mume 'Hokkia-bungo' which just shines in December and January. On a warm day the honey bees are all over the blooms, happy to have something blooming at that time of year. Groundcover along the driveway in that garden is Hypericum caylcinum 'Brigadoon'. In the photo below, you can get a better view of the newest garden. A few years ago I decided to mulch the center of the front yard and put in a pollinator garden. The armadillo population and I have a running battle with the plants in that garden. I say they should stay, the armadillo thinks there might be good eats under those plants. To protect the center of the garden I have a small garden fence/edging. In this mulched area I have four Japanese maples- Red Dragon, Butterfly, Virdis, and Crimson Queen. Inside the almost invisible barrier is a selection of Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Iris, Asclepias, Stokesia aster, Cranesbill Geranium, Vernonia, Penstemon, and Agastache. Anchoring the center of the large garden is Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem'. After being hit by a falling pine in a ice storm it has rebounded nicely. 

When I put in this large mulched bed, I had a washout of mulch. I finally ended up digging a trench and making my little dry creek bed. Hardwood mulch washes downhill too easily, so I changed it to be a pine straw mulch. Part way down the hill, in the bed, is a Crypotmeria globosa 'Nana', a really nice evergreen. Dotted along the edge of the rocks of the creek bed I planted a few Pitcher plants, Sarracenia flava. The one at the top of the hill I put a berm behind it to keep water at the plant's roots for a bit longer than if there was no berm. I have had success with them in the garden so I am going to get some of the other species. 

From the front yard we will walk around the house on the low side to the back. It is almost like tunnel to get to the back. The wax myrtles, Morella cerifera,  are now small trees. They needed to be limbed up or given a rejuvenating cut (to the ground). I like the small fruit available for the birds, so they got limbed up. On left as we walk through the tunnel is a nice sized blue hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla, the deer seem to leave this one alone. shhhh, don't tell them it is here. In the lower left corner is a Swamp Sunflower, Helianthus angustifolius still small, thanks to the deer. Behind the sunflower is my very tall Calycanthus sp. I would call it a small tree, not a shrub!

The backyard--

from below- Looking back up to the house. This is the garden area that lacked water last year, so I have some replanting to do both this fall and next spring. These mature trees soak up all the available water. 

You can see the dry creek bed cut across the lawn area. It curves around the gardens and works well. 

Turning around to the lake you see my biggest stand of mountain mint, Pycnanthemum muticum. The pollinators love it. All day long it is covered with various bees and wasps as well as butterflies. It is a mint, so it needs to be kept in bounds. In this garden it competes with ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, who will win?

The backyard from the deck- views from above. In the photo below, the lower left corner of the photo is the Japanese maple 'Garnet', going strong. To the left of the maple is Amsonia x 'Seaford Skies'. I have sporadically cut it back over the years, after it blooms, to keep it from reseeding. Note to self- cut it back soon! 

The garden has so many mature trees, mostly oaks and hickory. I was challenged by some fellow gardeners at the Fling to count my trees. Maybe that will be a winter project. 

 Going along the side of the house on the higher side of the property is where I play with the dog. She loves to fetch. In the winter the water runs down through the yard, making it tough for the grass to grow. Maybe by fall the grass will have filled in. The shrubs along the house include a nice stand of Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko', three Camellias and a couple hydrangeas. The deer know these hydrangeas quite well. We had a late freeze this year and knocked back all the Deutzia blooms.  The garden that borders the woods has four or more St. John's Wort, Hypericum frondosum 'Sunburst', it reseeds a bit and I have replanted those tiny seedlings further along the garden.  

From the driveway looking down the side yard, the Edgeworthia chrysantha is quite large.

Last but not least is the garden up by the road. Two springs ago I installed irrigation to this garden. It has been growing in size, any gardener worth their salt will expand gardens to the space available! The Gaillardia is sprinkled throughout this garden. Front right corner is a Black Diamond Crepe Myrtle. Lagerstroemia indica 'Black Diamond Best Red'. Waving in the breeze is Stipa tenuissima 'Ponytails' grass. 

Thanks for joining me on a walk around the yard after twelve years in one place. Additions and subtractions will be coming in the following year(s). 

©Copyright 2022 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Planting Trees, Root Wash and Grandkids

Cercis canadensis 'Carolina Sweetheart'

What do all three of these things have in common? Bear with me- there is a connection. We who plant trees know that it is best to untangle roots and spread them out in the direction of their growth. Many trees are sold bare-rooted and it is pretty easy to spread out the roots. What do you do if the trees are sold in a container? Root Wash!!

While many of us have had a time with the year 2020, I have had an additional dimension that has brightened the year. We started off the year with no grandchildren and by the end of the year we will have two! To celebrate the babies, I wanted to plant a tree in each one's honor. 

This idea was one borrowed from my friend Julie Adolf who has a beautiful tree for her daughter. Each birthday a photo of her daughter is taken with (or in) the tree. Since this daughter is now in college it has been fun to watch the growth of both daughter and her tree over the years via these photos. I wanted to do something similar for my grandchildren. Both daughters live hours away in different states, so I am not sure that birthday photos will be made, but hopefully, yearly photos can be taken. 

First grandbaby to be

First the tree choices had to be made. For the first baby, I chose a Redbud, Cercis canadensis 'Carolina Sweetheart'. Winter is the best time to plant in our area, so it was planted before Christmas last year. The Carolina Sweetheart was found locally and planted. As this tree has bloomed and leafed out this spring I am not certain it is the variety I wanted, multiple horticulturists have said it is not. It might be a 'Merlot' or 'Forest Pansy', both dark leaf Redbuds. Time will tell. Mistaken labeling is a topic for another post, in the meanwhile-on with the tree plantings! Our lovely model standing next to the tree planted for her baby. 

Second baby's tree is also a Redbud, Cercis canadensis 'Rising Sun'. While it was also planted in the winter, it was planted later than the 'Carolina Sweetheart'. Both trees had a root wash done when planted. I only photographed the second one. 

Beautiful spring foliage after blooming

Second tree was in a seven gallon container, as we have clay soil and lots of rocks, I wasn't interested in a larger container. Well, that's not completely true, larger containers means more roots, a good thing, it also means a large hole to dig. I try to limit my digging to a manageable amount. 

Rising Sun awaiting placement

See the rocks?

Did  I mention some of the rocks in the yard? I found two good sized ones that now adorn the base of the tree. As I dug and dug I was worried that I needed to move the placement of the hole- not sure how big the rock was that I was hitting. Luckily I finally unearthed the rocks and continued with the hole. 

Hole dug, time for the hose, the wheelbarrow, and patience. Taking the tree out of the container, handling it carefully, moving it by holding the stake in the pot or the root mass I began my task. 

Slowly rinsing and turning, turning and rinsing, I worked the roots out of the potting material. I dumped the full wheelbarrow into the hole and continued rinsing and turning the root ball. 

The yard was getting soggy as I continued.

Finally progress could be seen. When trees, and shrubs for that matter, are grown for long periods in containers their roots will have nowhere to grow but in a circular fashion. If allowed to continue in that manner the roots will girdle the trunk of the tree and like a boa constrictor, strangle the tree. Washing the roots from the soil in the container, you could straighten the roots from their limited growth pattern. Sometimes root pruning might be called for, though not in this case. Root pruning is eliminating a severe tangle of roots or a hard curve that can't be straightened out. I hate to cut any root material, it can stunt the tree. 

After the roots are free they are spread out in the hole, radiating from the trunk. Keeping the tree level and straight, soil was replaced, making sure not to plant too deeply. The tree was finally planted. Having a couple bowling ball sized rocks from the hole, I was able to anchor the root ball and kept it straight while the roots made their way, settling in their new home. 

Planted and mulched with pine straw

Pardon the amateurish arrows drawn on the photo below, but you can see where each of the grandbaby trees is planted. I can see each from the front door. 

 

Spring growth, first are the blooms then the leaves appear. Two beautiful trees in my landscape. One for each of my grandchildren.

Rising Sun with its golden foliage

Carolina Sweetheart or Merlot?

                          

I love the epicormic buds on Redbuds 

The Cercis canadensis 'Rising Sun' new foliage is sunny yellow with a hint of reds and oranges. So far the foliage is still yellow. I can't wait for the fall color to see how much more of a show this beauty puts on. 

Those heart shaped leaves just glow in the morning light, the rising sun.

 

Both trees are doing well, still in their first season of growth. We have been lucky to have a good amount of rainfall, always helpful for newly planted trees. Both babies have been born. We are the proud grandparents to a boy and a girl. Both moms are doing great and the babies are perfect in every way. One day life will be such that we can visit and hug our family members who live in another place. Stay healthy and be safe my friends. 

What do you do to celebrate the birth of a child in your life? 

How do you plant your trees?

 

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

Starting the Fifth on the Fifth

I know I have been MIA for a while on the blogging front---time flies!  I noticed while checking the blog for info on one of my tree posts that it has been four months since posting. Facebook has allowed me to post just bloom pictures every day and many of my non-blogging friends seem to really enjoy it. It is time to update the blog with this year's garden progress report.

Without further ado- let's see how the gardens have changed over the past few years.  We moved here in 2010 - so we are starting our fifth year living on Lake Greenwood and enjoying retirement. With phone in hand to take photos that match last year's post, I set out in the yard.

The photo below is a side by side of the left hand side of the backyard from 2010 and then one year later 2011.  Besides plants being added, weeds, deer, voles and chipmunks help change the landscape. Many plants are lost to the elements...never to be seen again. Just a good reason to buy more, right?

2010 & 2011

 Here is the jungle of today. The trees have certainly filled in a good bit.  While it looks like a lot of plant material, at ground level there are a lot of open spots that may or may not be able to support something planted. With the mature trees taking up most of the water, the shade area is really dry.  I have two trellises in the garden, one has the Carolina Jasmine and the other has a Coral Honeysuckle growing on it.

The right side of the backyard was originally sunnier than it is now. As the mature trees filled out each year, my window of sunshine has gotten smaller and smaller.

2010 & 2011

The beautiful Japanese maple 'Garnet', almost invisible in the picture from today, has filled in nicely.

2014

Apparently last year I did a panoramic shot of the whole back garden. What I find interesting is the later blooms this year. It was a hard winter, many plants didn't bloom. Some plants died back to the ground and took a long time to show signs of life.  Many of my hydrangeas didn't bloom this year as we had another cold snap after buds were starting to emerge.

2013 Panorama view

From the water the views early on were pretty stark. 

2010 & 2011

A step to the left corner, the view back up to the house across the yard shows the lower gardens.

2013

The amazing change this year is how slow the elephant ears are filling in. The garden bed with the elephant ears is filled with daylilies-- many of which had the buds eaten by Bambi and her momma. I have bamboo stakes posted through the garden and fishing line wound around like a spider web...to deter the deer. Some puppy dog went through the lines and broke many of them....now I have to restring them. The deer found the open spots-- and tasted many daylily buds.

2014

Walking down to the water and checking out the bank....another blank palette a few years ago.

2010 & 2011

Add a few colorful chairs and more elephant ears, some grasses (ignore the weeds!!) and the bank is colorful and filling in nicely.

2013

This year, again, check out the difference with the elephant ears from last year to this year. The shrubs along the steps are really getting big!

2014

The front was raw when we first moved in...lots of construction destruction, compaction and lots of gravel.

2010 & 2011

The Chinese Fringe tree, Chionanthus retusus is getting really tall. In 2013 it didn't bloom, it did this year, but at the upper reaches of the branches....hard to photograph.  Last year the Lantana took a long time to bloom.

2013

This year the Lantana is blooming! Now if the Daylilies, Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell' the Lantana AND the new Tiger lilies would all bloom at the same time..... I would have a nice show of color..all hot colors.

2014

The grasses along the driveway and the Crepe myrtle are doing surprisingly well, considering this is a seldom watered area.

2013

This year I added some Sun Coleus in a large container...adding some color along the drive. 

2014

The front garden is still a work in progress-- some of the Gardenias are doing very well, and some, not so much.

2013

The Loropetalum 'Daruma' are very happy under the bay window.  One perennial that I  was very happy to find is Japanese Aster, Kalimeris pinnatifida, it is a nice pop of white sprinkled through the garden.

2014

 Check out the difference in size of the Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls'  from last year 

2013

To this year....what a beauty!

2014

Another shot of the Japanese Asters, Becky daisies, and Coral Bark maple.

2014

The side yard is mostly shade. It is the 'Green and White Garden' 

2010 & 2011

This garden is Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko' blooming white tiny flowers in the spring, a couple variegated Hydrangeas (which are not going to bloom as all the buds from last year froze) and this year I added the white and green Caladiums. It is an easy garden bed to tend to.

2014

The favored plant in February and March, Edgeworthia chrysantha was quite full last year. 

2013

The winter took its toll on it this winter. As it is a zone 8 plant and we had single digit temperatures, I am lucky there was only a little dieback.

2014

Another area that took a hit with the freeze was this Hydrangea area.....

2013

Only one of the hydrangeas is blooming now- it is one of the Endless Summer series. The Callicarpa dichotoma 'Issai' is huge. I am thinking about taking them out as they are reseeding everywhere.

2014

The lower side is slowly getting swallowed up with honeysuckle vine, blackberry brambles, and other wild things from the woods.

2013

This winter I am getting in there and cutting it back.... not now, too many bugs.

2014

 So now we are back to the front -- my view from the front door.

2013

And this year's view....and no, the shutters aren't painted and put on the shed yet. 

2014

I will be back on a regular basis....I promise. Can't wait for our Portland Fling. Hope to see you there!

©Copyright 2014 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.