Taken for Granted - Almost.

As gardeners, we are so busy in April and May – acquiring new annuals, getting them in the ground or in containers, maybe adding a perennial or two, cutting dead branches out of shrubs, cleaning up the last of the winter debris – that we pay scant attention to the plants that are “just there”. The shrubs and perennial flowering plants that we, well, take for granted. They cause us no problems, they require little or no attention, and while we spend our outdoors’ time with new Daisies or Daylilies, transplant Basil, Tomatoes, Cosmos and Impatiens we have started from seed into our gardens, and figure out if it’s time for the Pansies and Violas to go, they keep our landscape beautiful without any participation from us.

This morning, I decided to photograph a few of them. My garden is richer because of their presence.

This Germander has not looked this good in years. Some years it's stalky and woody, with more brown than green in evidence. I've owned this plant for eight years already -- since before I had my current garden.

Acquired as a small shrub in a one-gallon pot, this Viburnum is now huge. It took several years for it to bloom, but for the past two years it has been spectacular, covered in white blossoms early in the year. It is now showing an inclination towards berries in a few months. The birds will be delighted.



Last winter's red berries on this Nandina cheered up my garden on even the dreariest days; the coming crop looks equally promising.

What Is This?

My daughter Christina and her husband, Ryan, bought a 30+ year old house last summer/early fall, that had stood empty for three year, with a close to one-acre, overgrown yard. The original owners had installed lovely garden areas and we are now in the process of identifying some of the plants. There are Daylilies and Hostas everywhere, Bearded Irises, shrubs that include Rose of Sharon, Holly, Crape Myrtle, Hydrangea, Azalea, Camelia, and such trees as Dogwood and Japanese Maple, as well as old. old, old Maples and Oaks. This plant (pictured) is everywhere. It seems to be a bulb and the bell-shaped flowers are gorgeous. I know I have seen it before, I should know what it is, but . . . . I cannot think of a name. Do you know?

Oakleaf Hydrangea

If, in the next few months, you come across a gardening DVD in which you hear Pat Bowen (Master Gardener - Cherokee County, Georgia) speak about the oakleaf hydrangeas in her garden, you will see a specimen she is discussing, as well as a stem cutting with a flower that has finished blooming and is now a very attractive dried flowerhead.

That's this one!

Not a "twin" from the same shrub, or a cutting from another oakleaf hydrangea, but the exact same material she has in her hands in the DVD. I'm determined to make this cutting famous! :-) For now, and until its appeal disappears, it keeps company with a bouquet of mint on a side table in my dining room.