Your Home, Garden and Travel

In the shadows before nightfall, the amethyst orbs of Star of Persia twinkle like planets against the purple foliage sky of loropetalum and the constellation of blue scabiosa stars.

Everything looks different in the sunshine as Star of Persia (allium christophii) and the companions revert to their daytime colors. Not a focal point, but an accent—the softball-sized flowers add a hint of sparkle to the garden.

These are first year bulbs, planted in the autumn of 2009. Tucked in tightly among the foliage of daylilies, scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue', a burgundy loropetalum and perennial creeping heliotrope—the alliums were easy to squeeze into my existing gardens. The short stature makes it easy to obscure the stems and foliage of the alliums.

Star of Persia is suitable for zones 4a-8b in full sun, well-drained locations. This allium is deer and rabbit resistant.

For over a week now, I've been watching the allium blooms start out compact and slowly expand to the full size orbs. The color is difficult to describe and even more difficult to photograph as the light changes the bloom to cool amethyst, silver, lavender or burgundy.

I'm not even sure if I like my companion color choices with the shades of blue and lavender. I planted the alliums with the scabiosa and heliotrope for a similar bloom time and was going for a monochromatic color scheme.

In hindsight, I believe shades of pink blooms will be better color companions. A bit of tweaking to do for color when I move the bulbs this fall—but I do like the sparkling Star of Persia.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Before the lavender blooms steal the show, the fresh gold leaves of Agastache 'Golden Jubliee' shine in the garden. Plant it beside burgundy foliage, such as crepe myrtle 'White Chocolate' and the display is stellar. The intensity of foliage color for both plants is more intense in spring.

The agastache foliage also provides a great backdrop for the spring-blooming salvias—'May Night', 'Marcus', 'Rose Queen' or 'Caradonna'—as well as with allium 'Purple Sensation'.

In summer, the bottlebrush blooms of 'Golden Jubilee' complement other shapes, such as the blue globe thistle (echinops 'Ritro') or the annual spider flower (cleome). I like to mix Jubilee with different agastache varieties, including 'Salmon and Pink', 'Summer Sky' and 'Heather Queen'.

Jubilee is an agastache for cooler climates, rated for zones 5 through 9 and is not as sensitive to wet winters as other varieties. The narrow size of 18-24 inches wide can fit into tight spaces in the garden. The height varies between 24-36 inches. Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' can be grown from seeds, but I haven't noticed any seedlings and I didn't collect seeds last fall.

I count on agastache for deer and rabbit resistance as well as low water and low maintenance requirements. In my garden, agastache ranks high as a reliable perennial with a long bloom season.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Shy and delicate, the first poppies to bloom in my garden are the California poppies. Why do I call them shy? The poppies open when the sun shines and close when clouds darken the sky.

The California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) 'Purple Gleam' is a mix of either rose or lavender—great colors for my cottage garden. Currently, only a few of the poppies are in bloom so I am looking forward to the larger display to come.

The poppies are planted with salvia greggii, alliums and dianthus for simultaneous bloom in the pink to purple color range.

The lacy California poppy foliage resembles a soft fern and is less than one foot high. The poppies don't fall over in the garden and do well in dry soil. I like the foliage better than varieties such as peony poppies (Papaver paeoniflorum). The California poppies are much shorter and take up less space.

The seeds were sown in late November 2009, so this is the first year for these poppies in my garden. I hope they do what poppies are supposed to do and reseed in the garden. I'd like an increase in the display for next spring!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Pick a plant partner that blooms at the same time as allium aflatunenense 'Purple Sensation' and you'll probably have a winning combination.

Purple allium rises above bright pink creeping phlox and soft cottage pinks. Spires of salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' surround the allium globes. Shades of purple and pink are great partners, but almost any color looks good with 'Purple Sensation'.

The short perennial, achillea lewisii 'King Edward' is a pale yellow that will soon be in full bloom at the feet of more of the alliums in my garden.

My California poppies are beginning to bloom, so now I'm thinking about sprinkling seeds around the alliums this November. I'm very pleased with the 'White Linen' that is a white-yellow beauty and about half the height of the 'Purple Sensation'.

This is my second year with alliums and I'm pleased with the results. My only disappointment—no fault of the alliums—is that the tips of the foliage scorched during our extremely hot spring days where temperatures hit 90° F with no significant rain for weeks.

Still, the globes are beautiful and purple. After the purple flowers are gone, the green globes are even very interesting and I leave those in the garden. Alliums can also be used as cut flowers, but I am enjoying them in the garden this year. As they multiple in years to come, I'll be more likely to use them for cut flowers.

Allium 'Purple Sensation' is rated for zones 4-9 and bloom time will be earlier in the warmer zones. Fall planting is recommended, so plan ahead.

There will be more to this allium story—I also added allium christophii as well as allium sphaerocephalon for this year!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Many heroic plant survivors were replanted with compatible companions by color schemes. The plant villains were kicked out of the garden. Between September 2009 and today, I'm sure that 50 per cent of my garden has been dug up, moved and replanted!

The promise of an exciting summer season is on the horizon. I am more enthusiastic about the garden this year than in previous years.

September 2010 marks the fifth anniversary here and I am finally moving beyond the experimental phase—discovering which plants will survive deer, rabbits, wet winters, hot summers and drought—and on to the redesign.

Plants that play well and perform above and beyond my expectations have been given permanent immunity—they will always have a place in my garden.

Settled in for a permanent role, the Lady Banks rose, Kwansan cherry tree and Encore™ azaleas in the cottage garden will return again every year to start the spring color. There are also blue hardy geranium and balloon flowers planted beneath the azaleas. Pink garden phlox and an oriental lily will bloom later.

However, the left bank of the cottage garden stream was tweaked after last year's combination of coneflowers and bee balm worked so well. Garden phlox and different daylilies were added. Shorter salvias have replaced the tall agastache.

The right bank in the cottage garden is going xeric in shades of merlot, pink and purple. This bed will take a few seasons to mature. Dianthus, creeping phlox, lavender, armeria, gaillardia, salvia and stachys will slowly fill out the bed.

It is the unfenced, deer resistant gardens that have undergone the biggest renovation.

The butterfly garden is now divided into several different color schemes —filled with agastache, salvia, coreopsis, gaillardia, milkweed, fennel, verbena and achillea. One section that wasn't working well for the drought-loving perennials was converted to a tropicalesque garden with cannas, a banana, ginger, bee balm and gladiolas.

In the front garden, I've moved agastache, salvias, echinops and gaillardia to the top of the slope while filling out the middle with annuals, Russian sage, ornamental grasses and liatris. The lower part is the rain garden and it has been dug deeper and filled with richer soil for swamp milkweed, Japanese irises, ginger, ageratum, monarda, echinacea and leucanthemum.

There are also some new plants that I selected based upon their potential compatibility with my garden heroes for great color and texture. A few may prove to be too weak for the conditions, but they are being given a chance to be winners, too. Three varieties of allium, planted last fall, are starting to bloom and are already appearing as great companions to many perennials.

I have to remind myself that gardens take time. Not everything can be accomplished in one season or even five years. Gardens that I have visited and admire have been mature for decades. Perhaps I'll have the energy to keep gardening for another twenty or thirty years!

Meanwhile—stay tuned for more episodes of the redesign where I will introduce you to these new garden alliances—with the hope that the new plants will also prove to be garden heroes.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

If you love dainty and delightful blooms, then you must add linum narbonense 'Heavenly Blue' (flax) to your garden. This flax is the easiest plant that I've ever grown from seed. It's so simple to sow and so undemanding to grow.

When I was sowing spring-blooming annual seeds in November, I decided to sow a few perennials, too. My 'Heavenly Blue' flax is a perennial in zones 5-9. Having no experience with flax, I sowed seeds in three different locations. The seeds not only germinated, but I have blooms for the first season!

This perennial fits into so many different places—just give it well-drained soil, full sun and very little water. I am using the flax between daffodils and pink agastache in one section of the garden and with burgundy gaillardia and yellow achillea in another location. There are a few plants in part-shade and rich soil beside my roses, but those haven't bloomed, yet.

Flax has an interesting bloom sequence. When I go out at 7:30 am, there are a few blooms. By 10:00 am, the plant is covered with blooms. By 4:00 pm, there are no blooms. It repeats this bloom cycle daily.

According to Diane's Seeds, where I purchased my seeds, this flax blooms from late spring until summer and will repeat bloom with a cutting back. It will self-sow in the garden and I'll take as many plants as I can get!

The upright foliage is a nice blue-green and with very wispy arches—beautiful with or without the blooms. I've had no problems with either deer or rabbits so far, so I'm optimistic that the critters will ignore the flax.

My only regret is that I didn't sow more seeds. This is definitely a keeper and a mass planting will be stunning!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Everything is happening so quickly in the garden this week. After weeks of no frost, the plants are practically growing while I watch. We desperately need rain, though. These weeks have been dry with no significant rainfall while temperatures have soared into the 80s and 90s.

The Hummingbirds Have Returned The hummingbirds are back! Right on schedule, our little friends returned this week. To lure them into sight, hang your feeders and wear a brightly colored shirt into your garden in the mornings. If they are back in your garden, you should get a flyby from the tiny birds. I spotted a male and female yesterday. They are quite friendly little things and visit flowers just a few feet away from me. Hummingbird food recipe: Dissolve one cup white sugar in four cups of boiling water. Let cool. Stir. Serve.

Lady Banks Reaches New Heights The Lady Banks Rose, planted beside the gable gate in autumn 2005 is now trying to climb through the upstairs guest room window. When she finishes blooming, I'll just open the window to give her a trim! Rosa banksiae 'Lutea' can grow to enormous sizes and heights. Last year, I removed the one beside our other gate. She was planted at the same time by our landscaper, but was too much work to keep in check—requiring almost constant trimming. Fortunately, Lady Banks is thornless and the branches do not twine around like a vine. The pale yellow blooms (no fragrance) are abundant again this year. Lady Banks is suitable for zones 6a-11, but give her lots of space! She can cover an arbor or pergola in short time.

More Blooms and Buds

The calla lilies are blooming; all are from one original mother plant that I purchased several years ago. She stills grows in the waterfall, and her kids are planted directly in the water of our stream in the cottage garden. The calla lily has handled full sun in the water garden here in my zone 7b garden.

Dutch irises, in many colors, dot the gardens. Alliums are mixed with other perennials for interesting shape combinations.

There are so many flowers that are in the beginning stages of blooms—lavender, cottage pinks, azaleas, roses, allium, irises and bluebells—are just a few of the stars for the color preview. The coneflowers and salvias are budding up. The yarrows are about to burst open. In just a matter of days—or hours—there will be a big show of color!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

It's for the sake of research. At least that's my rationalization for adding new plants to the deer resistant garden. To be perfectly honest, I have a case of "European Garden Envy."

There's a subscription card to BBC Gardens Illustrated sitting in my kitchen, waiting for me to give in to the temptation. That's one of my favorite garden eye candy magazines. Several times a year, I purchase a copy off the rack. I also pick up The English Garden when I can find it. If the French had equivalent magazines available in this country, I'd pick those up, too. Maybe it would help with my understanding of the language.

The reality is that I live in North Carolina, not Europe. Gardeners living in the Pacific Northwest have suggested that those with my affliction move there if I want to grow an English Garden. To be clear, North Carolina gets more measured rainfall than Seattle, we just have more sunny days. We have humidity and hot summer nights—the usual reasons why some of those plants won't like living in my garden.

There are a few plants that I just couldn't resist trying this year. I may be violating the rule of "right plant, right place." However, I'm willing to gamble. Perhaps these are the right plants for my garden?

After my visit to France last year, I started lusting after the French Blue ceanothus (California Lilac). I had dreams about this gorgeous blue shrub.

Imagine my delight to find a mail-order nursery, Lazy S'S Farm in Virginia, that carries several varieties of ceanothus! Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 'Victoria' is now planted in my garden.

English lavender 'Vicenza Blue' and stipa 'Ponytails' (purchased from a local nursery, Multiflora Greenhouses) are the companions to my ceanothus.

All of these plants have low water requirements, prefer well-drained soil, can withstand hot sun and are deer resistant.

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 'Victoria'
zone 7-9
height 6-9 feet

Lavandula angustifolia ‘Vicenza Blue’
zones 5-9
height 10-12 inches

Stipa tenuissima 'Ponytails'
zones 7-10
height 24-36 inches

Stipa, or Mexican Feather Grass, was featured in several stories in the English magazines and caught my attention. The swaying softness, the short size for an ornamental grass are desirable traits. I decided to give the grass a try here after reading about gardeners in similar zones using stipa. It is possible for this grass to be invasive in some states, so check the invasive species list in your region before planting this grass. Deadhead to prevent seeding.

Several varieties of lavender are grown here in my garden, but the 'Vicenza Blue' is supposed to be short (10-12 inches). Finding a compact size is the big attraction as I have grown monster lavenders in my garden! If this one is easy to grow and is short, then I have more uses for this lavender.

Only time will tell if I am successful with my "research" to satisfy my European Garden Envy.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The daffodil blooms are spent and looking ragged among the new growth of other plants. Much like deadheading daylilies, I simply pinch off the wilted little blooms and leave all of the foliage. The foliage should be left alone until yellowed. As long as the foliage is green, more energy is going into the bulb to provide another beautiful spring display the following year.

My daffodils are interspersed with perennials and seed-sown annuals in the deer resistant garden. I'm careful to keep the daffodils away from the edges of the garden so that the new growth of the companions will cover the yellowing daffodil foliage.

Sometimes, I have accidentally planted on top of daffodil bulbs. Keeping track of bulbs is one of my biggest gardening challenges! I'll need to divide my daffodils this fall, so I've come up with a new idea.

I have a big box of dark green plastic utensils that were leftover from a function many years ago. I'm going to recycle those dull knives to mark the daffodil clumps. The cutting edge of the knife is easy to insert into the soil. The handle is just the "write size" to use for labeling with a laundry proof marker.

I hope these plant markers are strong enough to stay in the ground, hold up for years and be reused. After all, I'm going to have to mark the location of alliums, Dutch irises and Spanish bluebells, too!

According to the recycling information that I've read--Plastic utensils cannot go into the recycling bin. I've had the utensils in this story for about 8 years (leftover from an outdoor function) and didn't know what to do with them. I decided to REUSE these until they break. Please don't buy plastic utensils if you can avoid it. Thank you.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Earth Day is April 22, 2010. Jan at Thanks For Today has done an outstanding job of raising awareness through the Garden Bloggers Sustainable Living campaign.

Even small steps help in protecting Mother Earth. Here are a few of the things that we're doing at our house and in our garden:

Passive solar house design
When we built our house in a sunny meadow, we had the opportunity to create a passive solar design. The front porch is directly south-facing. The north is blocked by the house. The west is blocked by the L-shape formed by the garage with the front porch. This positioning allows us to take advantage of the seasons to save energy and reduce our heating and cooling costs.

Make our own sodas and sparking water
With another small step toward going green, we started making our own soft drinks and sparkling water. I had read enough information to make me feel guilty about buying bottled water in plastic bottles. Stop! Okay! Filter water. Reuse bottles. Save money.

Monarch Waystation and Wildlife Habitat
The spring migration of the Monarch butterflies starts around the second week of March. The Monarchs will leave their winter habitat in Mexico and begin their journey to our gardens in search of nectar and host plants. The Monarchs will travel through several sections of the United States during the spring migration. I grow milkweed for the Monarchs and my garden is a Certified Monarch Waystation through Monarch Watch as well as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

A Bee Friendly Garden without Chemicals
The bees are welcome in my garden and we are fortunate to have three feral (wild) bee hives located within three miles of our home. I don't use chemicals in the garden.

Remove Invasive Plants
Invasive plants escape into the wild and choke out our native species. Please check the invasive plant lists in your state before adding a new plant to your garden. Here in North Carolina, I refer to the Invasive Exotic Species list that is published by the North Carolina Native Plant Society.

Utilize Water Runoff with a Rain Garden
Rain management can be used to enhance your garden, protect your property and turn eyesores into pretty areas. The right plants produce rewarding results. It's easier to garden WITH nature -- zone, rain, drought, deer, rabbits—instead of against nature.

Use Drought Tolerant or Xeric Plants for Hot, Dry Garden Areas
The narrow bank of my sunny stream is a difficult space, so I am converting to xeric plants to save water and save time. I also use drought tolerant plants on the sunny slopes of my deer resistant garden.

Please visit Garden Bloggers Sustainable Living site to check out the stories from other bloggers for many more green solutions for home and garden.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Three young entrepreneurs are on a mission to bring small, independent and specialty nurseries together for a new online shopping experience for gardeners. I like the spirit of the DoLeaf community. Sarah, Ryan and Micah not only created a different business model, but they are gardeners as well.

The advantages to the seller are apparent. The small businesses do not have to create and maintain a website to sell their plants. The DoLeaf staff takes care of the web development and support. By joining with other nurseries, a wider audience of customers is attracted to the site. When it comes to selling on the web, generating a high volume of traffic is crucial to success.

Browsing the interesting variety of plants at DoLeaf is similar to wandering through the nursery section of a farmers' market. Each nursery has a "store" where you can browse their plants. Or, you can search the selections by keyword, category, zones and other criteria. There are plants and seeds—veggies, herbs, annuals, perennials and houseplants—featured in the stores.

Micah sent me an invitation to try DoLeaf for free. Realizing the opportunity for the unique, I decided to shop for plants for my new hot colors, tropicalesque bed. The Green Sunshine store offers a good selection of intriguing plants that I have never grown.

For each plant in the Green Sunshine store, there are multiple images as well as details on growing conditions and care. I selected a Golden Lotus Banana and a Shampoo Ginger.


Both plants arrived carefully packaged and in perfect health. Information and instructions for the care of the two plants was also included.

The ginger was sent bare root as it is dormant until May. It was carefully wrapped and bagged so that there was no damage to the root. The banana arrived with beautiful foliage that was supported by cardboard. The soil was not only moist, but it arrived completely secure inside the pot instead of scattered in the box.

The two plants are now in my garden where I watch with enthusiasm for my tropicalesque bed to flourish—with red, orange and yellow blooms and lush, tropical foliage.

Based on my positive experience with DoLeaf, I now routinely browse all of the stores for interesting and unique plants to add to my garden.

The plants featured in this story were provided by DoLeaf. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The winter was long, cold and wet—at least it seemed so to me. However, what the winter weather did for the garden was magical. The blooms on the flowering shrubs and trees are nothing short of stunning this spring!

The branches of our cherry tree (Prunus serrulata 'Kanzan' or 'Kwanzan') are heavily laden with huge, double pink blossoms. With the spring heat wave, some days reaching 90°F, I was concerned that the tree would blossom one day and turn to green leaves the next. However, I've been surprised to see over a week of blooms and it is still going strong.

Every spring, I tell myself to plant bulbs or sow seeds for spring flowers beneath the cherry tree. Every fall, I run out of energy, or forget about this plan.

The tree sits by itself, outside the cottage garden fence on a peninsula wrapped by our stream. The small bit of garden is too small for a chair or bench and there isn't enough head room to stand. I have to go through shrubs and step over the stream to get to this space. Therefore, the spot is largely ignored (except for weeding) until the cherry blossoms draw my attention.

And so it goes. The cherry tree is a star for a short time, then fades once again into the garden background.




Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The rosemary is in bloom with hundreds of tiny, blue flowers. Passing by, I can't resist picking a few to eat. The taste is sweet and refreshing. Yes, rosemary flowers are edible and a favorite garden snack!

Reading a garden story about edible flowers in the Guardian reminded me not only of the dainty sugar-coated violets on confections in the spring, but also of other edible flowers in my garden—cottage pinks, lavender, marigolds and nasturtiums.

There's an interesting recipe from Jim Long for Stuffed Tomatoes with Marigold that I'm adventurous enough to try.

For my lavender scones, I purchase Provence culinary lavender from a local farm, but I should grow this variety with all the other lavenders in my garden. I cannot easily describe the flavor of lavender, but it's definitely on the menthol side of taste. A local dairy will sometimes feature lavender chocolate and vanilla ice cream!

Be careful in the garden. Allergies aren't a problem for me, but everyone should definitely take precautions. Be sure to thoroughly research any flower before eating the petals. There are many poisonous flowers in the garden. If you have small children, it's probably best not to let them see you munching flowers since they cannot tell the difference between the edible and the poisonous. My garden is organic, so no toxic chemicals are sprayed on my plants.

More information: Epicurean: Edible Flowers Recipes for Edible Flowers Edible Landscaping

Chive blossoms, great on omelets, have such a wonderful flavor and I try to cut those as fresh as possible. The light pink color makes a wonderful, edible garnish on dishes that include chopped chives. This is another flower that I love to nibble while working in the garden.

Although I don't have a veggie garden, squash and zucchini blossoms are often on the menus when visiting France and Italy. These flowers wilt so quickly, magic happens in the kitchens to serve up Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms.

I grow so many herbs for the foliage, but I've not yet tried the edible flowers of oregano, marjoram, sage officinalis, borage, chamomile and basil.

With my renewed interest in edible flowers, I'm ready to try some new recipes this summer. I can imagine the look on my husband's face when I serve him baked potatoes sprinkled with marigold petals! At least he likes spicy foods.

All links provide more information on the topic of edible flowers. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Evergreen, fragrant and deer resistant—attributes that I seek when adding a shrub to my fragrance garden.

I've had a longtime love for lily-of-the-valley bush (pieris japonica), having grown quite a few at a previous home. I now have enough afternoon shade to add one to my fragrance garden at this home.

This time, I fell for pieris japonica 'Dorothy Wyckoff' when I saw her abundant cascades of blooms. Her long-lasting spring blooms transition from a lovely red purple, to pink and then to white. Dorothy will slowly grow to five feet wide and high in moist, fertile soil and is suitable for zones 4-8.

With her evergreen foliage, Dorothy will be a year-round attraction in the garden!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

It didn't take long for me to find the perfect sempervivum for my tabletop succulent container garden. In a previous story, I temporarily used an agave since I couldn't find the perfect sempervivum (Hens and Chicks) on my first shopping trip. Now, all of the plants used in the container are hardy for zones 3-9 with the same growing conditions.

Sempervivum 'Commander Hay' has replaced the agave as the focal point. 'Commander Hay' has the nice, deep merlot color that I wanted for the arrangement.

The other sempervivums include 'Icicle' (left) and 'Red Rubin' (right). A bit of blue sedum (center) from my garden was added for variety.



Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.