I used to think white flowers were boring.  With all the colors of the rainbow out there for the planting, why choose white?

The answer is the same reason why you would choose red or blue…  To get a particular feeling from it, because each color can subconsciously tell us different things.  Anyone who has looked into paint colors for their walls can tell you that there are categories out there.  Cool colors like blue or green are supposed to be calming.  Hot colors like red, orange and yellow are thought to be feel warm to people.  But what does white say to you?

To me it meant purity, class.  I think now that I have a greater appreciation for it and I see it as a clean kind of color, or non-color if you will.  It’s a great accent around the home, inside and out, to make things crisp or make other colors pop.  Like the white molding around a my doorways, against green painted walls.  Or white flowers against green foliage!

White also shows up better than any other color when light is waning.  If you entertain outdoors into the evening, how pretty would white flowers look on the borders of your space?  Don’t forget the affects of moonlight on white flowers either.  One of my favorite white flowers is called the Moonflower vine.  It gets it’s common name because instead of blooming in the morning like other flowers, it blooms through the night.

Beautiful, isn’t it?  It smells great too.  You might be thinking that it looks a lot like the Morning Glory vine, and for good reason.  It is Ipomoea Alba, in the same family.  But these flowers are larger and fragrant.  It can be aggressive so if you do let it go to seed, proceed with caution.  You will have it around for a long time, whether you want it or not.

If you think you might want to plant a white garden, consider that you don’t have to be rigid on your choices.  There are many flowers that are dazzling white but also others that have some color in them.  Take, for example, Anemone Andrea Atkinson, which is growing in my full sun border.  This is the photo at the top of this blog.  The orange and green in the center is what draws me to this flower.  The foliage isn’t much to write home about but what makes this Anemone flower special is that it’s one of very few plants that start to bloom in Autumn.

White doesn’t have to be about just flowers.  There are a lot of plants out there with blotches or steaks of white in their leaves.  This is called variegation, and I’ve seen much more variegated plants in recent years than before.  When I was planning the shrub border outside my new white fence, I purposely chose plants that had both white and green in them:

The tree in the middle is a white flowering Dogwood.  Flanking the ends are variegated ornamental grasses, then Euonymus, and Spirea.  Although the Spirea isn’t variegated, the flowers are white, so it goes with the theme.  Since my fence is only 4 feet tall, I wanted plants that would provide some privacy but not be as bold or impenetrable as a line of evergreens.  I wanted to have nice plants, but not have them be focal points per se, so the white blends in with the fence better.

While they don’t look substantial in this photo because they were newly planted, they have grown a lot, and the ornamental grass in particular is a monster.

Here it is with another variegated plant, a butterfly bush.  The ornamental grass is now five feet tall and the butterfly bush over six feet tall.  But they don’t seem as dense as they are because the form of the plant and the white edging lend a sort of airy, light feel to them.

Another great performer for me that is in the white family is Anthemis E.C. Buxton.  I did have some challenges with flopping on the outer edges of this plant this year, so I’m going to get supports for next season.  It does like good drainage and I don’t think I’m giving it enough, so that could also be my problem.  It’s a very lush plant and it actually does flower as much as the picture shows.

Besides the usual flowering cherry trees and dogwoods you see in spring, my neighbor has a beautiful white Crape Myrtle named ‘Natchez’.  It blooms in summer, and as you can see, it’s stunning.

White doesn’t have to be strictly white either.  Certain plants have a silvery sheen to them and can compliment a white garden by breaking it up and accenting other plants.  Take the white and green Brunnera Jack Frost and the purple and silver Heuchera Silver Scrolls in the below picture…  These are shade plants and can brighten up a spot under a tree or in the shadow of your home.

Whatever kind of plants you like, you will probably find a white version.  All the classics like Tulip, Crocus, Hyacinth, Hydrangea, etc. all have beautiful white colors available also.

Please feel free to share your favorite white plants, I would love to know what you like too.

Happy gardening!

Tricia

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Whether you like to organize or not, it eventaully becomes necessary as you collect more dog-eared catalogs, wish lists of plants, to-do lists and plant tags.  I used to make piles of things.  Piles that got bigger and bigger until they toppled over and then I had to make multiple smaller piles!

Last winter, I decided I had to do something about it, once and for all.  It’s not that I hadn’t looked, I just never found anything that was the perfect solution for me.  I had looked at garden software but that would require me to transpose everything I had into the computer.  And I had years and years of information.  Although I usually do look to the computer to organize things, this time I found it in a physical binder.

: garden journal :

I found it on Etsy.com (where else?) while doing a search for “Garden Journal”.  There were many choices but I thought this one was the best.  Sara has it listed in her Etsy shop and it is also available for purchase from her website, makemynotebook.com. She has a lot more items and they are even available in stores, depending on where you live.

The journal has pages for a calendar where I write things down like when to fertilize, prune or deadhead plants. Then there are pages for “Plant Profiles” where you can keep information like plant names, height, width, soil/sun requirements, etc. I actually don’t use this section because I have so many plants that it would take me forever to fill it all out. Perhaps when it’s too cold to garden, I will get inspired to do this!

If you are a seed starter, there is a section just for you to document your efforts and keep track of all those tasks you need to do to take care of those babies.

Lastly, there are sheets of blank graph paper that I use the most. They’re meant to plan out garden beds and to make drawings but I use them to write notes.  Here’s a sample page:

As I complete a to-do item, idea, or purchase a plant, I cross it off the list.  I bring my binder and pen with me when I sit down in front of the tv to watch Paul James on HGTV’s Gardening By The Yard.  All those little snippets of information are now in one place.

One of the things that impressed me most about this purchase was that you get a CD with all the files she used to create these pages. So you don’t need to photocopy them, or even go back to her to get more. That speaks volumes to me, and I appreciate it!

Now, what about plant tags?  I have a solution for that too.  I don’t like to leave tags attached to plants or in the ground around them but sometimes I forget what went where.  I always bring the tags inside with me, and needed a way to keep them somewhere convenient.  I decided to put them in the binder too, using clear plastic CD holders to flip through them.

I separate them by where they are, the different planting beds or sections of the yard.  Sometimes if the tags are dirty or beaten up like the ones on the left in the picture, I will make a photocopy of them instead.

When I order plants online, I print out the webpage and cut it down to size.  Then I stick the plant tag in the bottom of the same sleeve.

Lastly, how do I know where exactly I put all these plants?  I used to take pictures and then just draw a diagram.  Last year, I decided to go high-tech and was lucky enough to have Microsoft Visio available to me, so I started learning how to use it and now do diagrams:

That’s my shade bed seen here.  I made each plant the color that it would be when it was mature or flowering.  Even though I have it all planned out with a diagram beforehand, I usually wind up changing the spacing at the last minute.  Then I have to go back and alter the diagram again but I do enjoy it.  By the way, I didn’t plant all the ones on the bottom of the picture in straight lines.  Those were just leftovers and I had no place to put them yet.  I usually never plant in straight lines.

If you don’t have Visio available or don’t want to use the computer, you can always use plain old graph paper.  You can cut out pictures of the plants and move them around on the paper until you get the effect you want too. There are so many ways to organize, and I hope you find what works best for you.

Once again, thanks for reading and happy organizing!

Trish

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The first time I saw a picture of a succulent tower, I thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  Truth is, I usually don’t come up with these ideas on my own, I just see them somewhere and put it into my own garden.  I admit my lack of creative thinking and make up for it by giving credit where credit is due.  So, thank you to the Garden Junk forum at GardenWeb, for providing me with inspiration.

Ever since my first Christmas Cactus years ago, I have always had cactus and succulents around.  Many people think of prickly spines when they think of this drought tolerant family, but there are so many options that don’t cause harm to your fingers. Sedum is one of my favorites, and I have a few different varieties. Last year I bought Sedum Red Carpet and Sempervivum Twilight Blues (otherwise known as Hens and Chicks) but I never planted them! They sat in their little cellpacks outside all winter and came back this year like gangbusters. These little guys are tough and can take a beating.  I don’t recommend this, of course, but it did work out for me.

What they can’t handle is too much attention. Like I said, I totally neglected mine and they loved me for it. You have to keep in mind that they don’t WANT your water. They don’t want compost, they don’t want fertilizer, they just want you to leave them be and admire them from afar. What can be easier than that?

This year, I knew I had to get those babies planted so I bought a few more succulents – Sedum Acre from Bluestone Perennials and locally, Echeveria runyonii ‘Topsy Turvy’, Sedum Burro’s Tail, and Echeveria ‘Perle Nurnberg’. I still had some leftover Hens and Chicks from years back when I last made a succulent potted garden, and I put those to work too.

If you want to do this, you’re going to need the right type of pot and soil. I chose terracotta because it absorbs moisture and it helps when you don’t want to overwater cactus and succulents. In my neck of the woods, if I leave it outside in winter, I’m chancing it cracking and breaking. It took three years for my old terracotta pots to crack, but they did eventually. This new tower is coming inside in the winter.

As far as soil goes, you don’t want to retain moisture. That means gravel, sand, perlite, whatever will lighten the soil and provide little water rentention. I used all of the above, mixed with plain old potting soil, light and fluffy. Remember, don’t feel bad for them, they don’t want your rich soil.

Once you have your plants, pots, soil and soil amendments, you’re ready.

Here’s my step-by-step:

Step 1 – Setup your potting table

Potting mix, perlite, pots, old plants, new plants.  You can see what happens to terracotta pots when you leave them outside in the winter.  That purple container on the ground is a tub trug that I got from Gardeners.com. I used one of them to mix my potting soil and the other for garbage.  It’s very lightweight, the handles don’t hurt your hands, and it’s convenient to have a few around.

: succulent plants :

Here are some of my selections.  The new Hens and Chicks are on the left, and the old salvaged ones in the right in the green pot.  You can see which ones are happy and which are not!  The leaves of the Echeveria are very delicate so they should be handled with care.  I broke off a few by accident during the potting process.  Oops.

Step 2 – Plan your tower

You definitely want to do this before you start planting.  I changed mine around a bit to get the right height, and I’m glad I could do that without shifting the plants around.

The green pot supporting the second tier was wide enough to provide support for the weight, but too tall.  So I took out my scissors and cut the top rim off of it.  I also used the scissor to punch holes in the centers of the plastic pots to allow for the bamboo stake.  In retrospect, I don’t really think I need the stake, but I was concerned about the whole thing shifting or separating.

If you are going to use a stake, a suggestion…  Get some window screening.  Line the bottom of the base pot with it first, to provide an anchor for the stake so it doesn’t slide right out.  I didn’t have window screening handy so I took a curved piece of terracotta from a broken pot and placed it over the drain hole.  The screen will also prevent your potting mix from getting washed out of the bottom of the pot.

I always use some kind of rock or packing peanuts in the bottom of potted succulents.  They love that drainage.  Here’s another ‘been-there-done-that’ tip for you…  See the peanuts in this picture?  Make sure they’re not the biodegradable kind.  These were, and once you put them in water, they shrivel and disintegrate.  I always have multiple bags of peanuts on hand, and I did have others that didn’t break down.

Put your plants, pots and all, in the tower.  See how you want to position them to provide interest on every side.  Do you have enough to fill the pots?  Keep the mature width of the plants in mind and be patient, because they will fill in.  Some gaps in your tower are fine, because you’ll dress them up later.

Lastly, look at the tower from above, but also eye-level.  Does it look even to you?  Do you want more height?  If you do, keep in mind the ‘support’ plastic pots will be visible if you put them too high.  I liked the nesting look, so I kept it lower.

Step 3 – Start planting

I wanted to have a dense, large planting on the bottom tier to serve as a kind of anchor for the tower.  I chose to put my biggest plants here, and fill in the gaps with Hens and Chicks that would stay on the surface but spread left and right, and Sedums in different colors that would cascade over the side.  I wasn’t that concerned about the color combination but I do like the blue-green, yellow-green and pink together.

I did make a kind of triangle with the Echeveria on purpose – I like the way odd numbered plants look.  Also, these are the non-disintegrating kinds of peanuts I was telling you about.

Although I told you to consider mature spread for these plants, I didn’t take my own advice.  I crowded them in because it’s mid-July and they’re probably not going to take over before it’s time to bring them in for the winter.  Next year, I know I will have to break them up and perhaps make a sister tower to go along with this one. 

Tier 2 doesn’t have any big Echeverias in it, I chose low growing and cascading plants for this Tier.  I tried to space the cascading plants so they wouldn’t be right on top of the big plants below.  If you notice the same plants on both Tiers, there are more odd numbers and triangles there.

I chose this huge Echeveria as the tower topper because it’s very striking and has a different leaf form than the others.  I did have to shave some roots off the bottom for it to fit in the shallow pot, and I’m not sure how it’s going to like being that crowded.  I’m still not sure about this one, and may go get a different pot that has more depth to it.  That’s one of the nice things about the tower, you can lift off a tier fairly easily.

So that’s about it!  Below are pics of the finished product, I hope you enjoy.  As the plants grow and if I change anything, I will update this post with pictures.

Thanks for reading! 

Trish

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