It is snowing in my backyard

I'm am not skilled at growing roses.  I have four rose bushes that I purchased in moments of weakness because they are SO pretty, but they generally have to make it on their own in my garden.

Apparently, the cold and wet winter made my Sir Thomas Lipton rose very happy because this spring it is absolutely covered in huge, fragrant blooms.  I wish I could convey scent to you because these roses have a spicy fragrance that reminds me of cinnamon.

Last night we had a significant thunderstorm that blasted the petals from the blooms.  It looks like snow.  The good news is that this rose bush will bloom all summer long. 

God's garden

This week, I had the opportunity to check out God's garden by the creek.  I've mentioned it several times before.   My friend, Denise George, took some awesome photos of our visit.  Spending time in this place fills my soul with peace and joy.  This year's display was more subdued than normal because of the flooding that occurred just as the plants were budding out.  In addition to the atamasco lilies, we saw phlox, coreopsis, and red buckeye.  Other plants that are not blooming now are windflower and wild hyacinth.  There are innumerable specimens of native wet woodland species to enjoy. 

Maintaining ditches prevents flooding

Before this year's clean up

We've been experiencing a great deal of flooding in our communities the last few years.  There are probably many contributing factors but one of them has to be the methods used by subdivision developers to drain water from their neighborhoods.  They dig trenches and put in culverts that drain all rain water directly into the creeks.  It worked fine during the dry years but now we are in a wet cycle and funneling water that used to be absorbed into the natural contours and abundant plant life, directly into creeks that were never intended to carry that kind of water load, isn't working.

After the clean up

About six years ago, the ditches bordering my backyard had become so clogged with debris and overgrown with privet and wild blackberry that they were no longer draining our neighborhood.  Several of my neighbors were trying to figure out how they could re-contour their property so it wouldn't flood.  I knew immediately that the real problem was the ditches and proposed that we clean them out.

Debris pile, waiting for pick up

"We" became one of my good friends with a chain saw and our two daughters.  It took the four of us the better part of an entire day to clear that ditch.  But the benefit of all that work would quickly vanish if the ditch wasn't maintained on a regular basis. 

Once a year, I take a day to go through the ditch, pulling privet, tree saplings, vines, and anything with thorns.  The first couple of years, that was just about all that grew there, but now, with time, there are mosses, ferns, wildflowers and grasses taking root in that ditch.  Those helpful plants slow the flow of the water and give it a chance to absorb into the soil.  They also prevent erosion. 

If you have a ditch near your home, it is in your best interest to maintain it.  If this isn't a project you want to undertake, at least help by using your ditch wisely.  Do not dump branches, leaves, or grass clippings in it.  Do not use it as a trash dump (this year I removed old rusted tomato cages, a plastic gas can and leftover construction stuff). 

My ditch isn't pretty, but our neighborhood now drains nicely without flooding or eroding our backyards. 

My real Easter lilies

The lovely lilies we associate with Easter are Asian lilies that are forced to bloom in the spring in carefully controlled greenhouses.  Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with that practice or those lilies, I've discovered that in Alabama we have native Easter lilies.

The atamasco lily is native to a few southeastern states.   The first ones I ever saw grow in masses on a creek bank in Shelby county.   They bloom alongside red buckeye and blue wild hyacinth in the most amazing natural garden I have ever seen.   I wish I had photos that do it justice.

I rescued one lily bulb that was growing in the dead center of our horse trail--it would have died from being trampled--and planted it in my own woodland garden.  Although atamasco lilies prefer damp, acidic soil, my little bulb has been gently multiplying in my dry woodland setting.   They seem extremely hardy. 

Each spring, I eagerly watch for the leaves to sprout, buds to form, and the gorgeous, three inch, white blooms that tell me Easter is near.   This year, they began to open on Easter Sunday! 

Nothing like native azaleas

We are familiar with the fabulous evergreen azalea bushes that are covered with blooms  at this time of the year, but as pretty as they are, they cannot compare to the eye-popping shock and awe of a native azalea. 

They are a meek, unassuming woodland shrub that loses its leaves in the winter so the sudden appearance of flaming orange, deep pink, or dainty white blooms generates traffic stopping attention. 

I've seen them in the woods and never attempt to take one because they are not common and very slow growing so accidentally killing one one would be tragic.  They are also not easily found in garden centers but I have managed to find two of them, a pink piedmont azalea and a florida flame azalea.  

Even though I have had them for several years,  this is the first spring that I have abundant blooms on both of them at the same time.  Photos do not do them justice.  Some day, the shrubs might be as large as 20 feet tall!

Friends and phlox

Possibly prairie phlox

Whenever I visit friends who live in the country, not only do I like to see their cultivated gardens, I also wander through their marginal areas, the transition between what is cultivated and maintained and the natural habitat.  I am more likely to ask for a piece of plant from the marginal habitats than their cultivated gardens.  My friends have gotten used to my strange requests.

Possibly blue phlox

Two of my prettiest finds have been native phlox.   A quick search through my native plant book lists at least nine native varieties (and since my book is not exhaustive, there are probably more than that).  I think what I have are blue phlox and prairie phlox but I won't swear to it since I identified them myself.

The prairie phlox looked small and insignificant in my friend's yard.  It was competing with grass and getting mowed or was under a significant tree canopy.  I brought home a few sprigs, planted them in my rain garden, and let them go.  Not only are they evergreen perennials, they freely reseed so each spring the prairie phlox might turn up in a new place.

The blue phlox has better manners.  It is perennial but seems to stay put, spreading through an expanding root system.  It also blooms early in the spring, creating an amazing pop of color in my shaded garden. 

Thanks to good friends who let me dig up the "weeds" on the edges of their yards.

The curse of the sweet gum tree

One of the awesome trees in my backyard is a native sweet gum tree, but there is nothing sweet about the sweet gum balls!  Every year my lovely tree produces thousands of prickly balls that make walking across the yard barefooted like navigating a minefield.  Those prickles are sharp!!

The only solution is to rake them up each spring.  Then of course, is the dilemma of what to do with all those balls.  I don't want to bag them to add to our landfill, but neither do I want them in my compost pile.  If I lived in the country I might be tempted to make a big bonfire but I live in town so that is not an option for me.

I have come up with two good uses for sweet gum balls.  They work very well as the drainage material in the bottom of container plants.   I pile a few inches of sweet gum balls in the bottom of a container before adding soil.   I think they work better than rocks or packing peanuts because they are completely organic and compost themselves in time for the following year's containers.

Sweet gum balls also make great mulch for those awkward places where I do not go, but also don't want weeds to grow.  For me, that is under my two decks.  I can pile sweet gum balls 5-6 inches deep and even the toughest weeds give up and die.  I would like to think the the prickly balls also deter critters from taking up residence under there as well.

This year's sweet gum ball harvest netted me five large baskets of sweet gum balls.  Even though I'm extremely diligent, I do miss a few so if you hear a distressed yelp from my backyard, you will know that I just found another sweet gum ball.

Not all flowers are beautiful

Not all flowers are beautiful, but they are all amazing.  Can you find the flowers in this photo? 

The flowers are the tiny clay pots nestled among the leaf litter.  I actually had to move the leaves in order to take the photo.  These flowers are commonly called "little brown jugs" for obvious reasons. 


They are the flower to a native wild ginger plant.  The plants leaves will emerge soon.  My variety is known as arrowtooth wild ginger which is common throughout the woodlands of the Eastern United States.  Although I'm told that the rhizomes are edible and have a spicy flavor this is not the same plant as the ginger used in Asian cooking.  It makes a nice shade ground cover and stays green almost year round.