Your Home, Garden and Travel

This is repeat story from 2010—a popular topic for those anticipating spring blooms from bulbs! As an update for 2011, the VOLES ate all of my Dutch iris bulbs over the winter. Very sad! Worse than the deer herd whose population is ever-increasing and chose only to munch a yucca in desperation over the winter.

When do plants bloom? That's always an important question when designing a garden. By noting bloom times, it is easier to match up companions for the future.

When selecting bulbs to bloom in mid-April, I shopped for bloom times in May or June—based on zone 5 bulb sellers.

All of my bulbs were planted in late autumn for spring bloom. The bulbs that have been in my garden for several years bloomed a few days earlier than new bulbs. Bloom time was also earlier for bulbs in all day full sun— versus bulbs in sun for half of the day.

Below is a recap of the dates for spring blooming bulbs in my zone 7b garden in North Carolina. Of course, warmer zones will have earlier blooms and cooler zones will have later blooms. Bloom times also differ by variety, so I'm not including daffodils in my recap.

April 15 - Dutch iris (iris x hollandica)
Blooms finished on most varieties by May 7.


April 15 - Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica)
Blooms ended around April 30.


April 15 - allium aflatunenense 'Purple Sensation'
Blooms were fading by May 7, but the green orbs will be interesting for another week.



April 22 - Star of Persia (allium christophii)
Still in bloom on May 7 and the green orbs will be left for interest.



Every bulb included has proven to be deer resistant. The Dutch iris foliage was nibbled by rabbits early on. The irises recovered so I consider all of these blooms to be rabbit resistant. Your results with wildlife may be different.

These perennial bulbs multiply every year, so it's important to mark the location in the spring if you need to divide the bulbs in the fall.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Hot colors! Dole® Plantation Oahu, Hawaii

Blazing bromeliads!

Ruby pineapple in the garden at Dole®

Hanauma Bay Oahu, Hawaii

Oahu, North Shore in a storm. High winds. High waves.

Diamond Head in the background. Standing on Wakiki Beach. January 2011.

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

Native to the slopes of Mount Fuji in Japan, the beautiful flowering quince (chaenomeles japonica) 'Atsuya Hamada' boasts deep maroon-red blooms in spring. The camellia-like blooms heavily embellish almost every branch of this shrub.

Most quince varieties that I have seen lean toward white, salmon pink to orange shades—whereas the deep red of this quince is almost black-red. My photo below (click to enlarge) was taken in the middle of the day with strong sun and no shade.

chaenomeles japonica 'Atsuya Hamada' at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh, NC; March 2011.

I spotted this gorgeous shrub on a spring walk through the JC Raulston Arboretum (click link for more photos of this quince) in Raleigh, North Carolina. Never having seen this shrub, I searched the Web for more information on the growing conditions.

The quince will grow up to 10 feet in height and is suitable for cold up to zone 5. It was introduced to the United States by Northwest plantsman, Roy Davidson. Fruit can take years to appear.

So far, I've not been able to find online retail nursery sources, but I did find this at a local nursery. I didn't bring it home as I don't yet have a space identified. That said, I am definitely keeping this on my list of possibilities. Quince is seldom bothered by deer unless the herd is without other food sources.

If you don't have deer to nibble tulips—can you imagine this quince with perfectly coordinated masses of tulips? Inspiring!

Tulips, as seen in Monet's Gardens in France, would be perfect companions with this quince.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Need an extra jolt of caffeine to get you started in the morning? It is very easy and inexpensive to make good quality espresso at home in ten minutes.

Come along as The Musician demonstrates how he makes espresso coffee on the stovetop.

Espresso is used for making cappuccino and lattes. All you do is add steamed milk and foam to the espresso shots. If you have a way to steam your skim milk to 140°, then you can make all three coffee beverages.

An espresso cup (shot) is roughly 1/3 of a measuring cup and a regular size cappuccino cup holds two espresso shots, plus milk and foam. Therefore a 4 cup espresso maker will produce 4 espressos or 2 regular size cappuccinos.

What you need to make a simple espresso:

1. A stovetop espresso pot. We prefer stainless steel instead of aluminum and purchased the Primula® Stainless Steel Espresso Coffee Maker, 4 cup for around $30 USD at our local Macys®. 
2. Good quality espresso coffee. Make sure you purchase espresso strength as regular ground coffee will not be good. We select beans at the local shop, A Southern Season®, and have them grind the beans for us. If you can't get fresh espresso coffee, the Illy® brand is very satisfying.
3. A tablespoon to measure the ground espresso coffee.
4. A stovetop burner.
5. Four Espresso cups—or two cappuccino cups if adding steamed milk/foam.

Fill the bottom of the pot with water per instructions  with the espresso maker. Our pot is filled with water to the line just below the screw shown on the front of this section.

Drop the espresso basket onto the bottom section  of the pot.

Fill basket with espresso.  Do not pack tight, loosely smooth. This pot makes 4 espresso shots and uses 2 heaping tablespoons of espresso coffee.

Screw top of the pot together  over bottom/basket. Place over medium low heat. Listen for gurgling sound. When gurgling stops, remove immediately from heat. Pour into 4 ESPRESSO size cups and enjoy!

Cappuccino variation:

1. Before espresso is ready—heat 1/2 cup of skim milk to 140° using a special steamer device with a stainless steel pitcher and thermometer. There should be ample foam on top of the milk.
2. Hold foam back with a spoon and pour hot milk into 2 cappuccino cups until 1/3 full. 
3. Spoon foam on top of hot milk until cup is half full.
4. Immediately pour hot espresso (2 shots per cappuccino) through the foam in a steady stream. 

Carefully pour espresso through steamed foam and milk  to make a cappuccino.

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

Spring is in the air and gardeners anxiously await the first blooms in the garden. To boost my enthusiasm, I peruse the volumes of garden photos that I've taken in the springtime—my own garden as well as those that I have visited.

I always find myself studying the hundreds of photos that I took at Claude Monet's gardens at Giverny, France in May 2009. Are you ready for more Monet? 

Monet's Gardens at Giverny, France The Clos Normand, May 2009.

Looking through a veil of purple.

The beautiful Tamarisk tree (can be invasive in some areas).

Perfectly planted in pink.

Lawn and garden merge. No doubt the foliage of spent daffodils in the grass.

Another Monet moment?

We're returning to France in April 2011. Monet's gardens in early April will be filled with tulips and other spring bulbs. Will we take the train out of Paris for a return trip?

Sometimes seeing less can reveal more—as in the bones or structure of a garden that may be hidden behind the billowing blooms in peak season.

I may be ready for another Monet moment.

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

Lantana 'Miss Huff' with salvia 'Black & Blue' in Helen's garden

A big happy birthday wish to the gardener who inspired the combination in today's feature. Helen Yoest at Gardening with Confidence™  is celebrating her birthday on March 3!

When visiting Helen's garden in September 2009, I was struck by the deep blue of salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' planted with the gold and orange blooms of lantana 'Miss Huff'.

These are two easy plants to grow as annuals in cold zones and perennials in warm zones. Both are water-wise and can handle drought conditions with minimal water. Plant in full sun. Afternoon shade is fine in the hottest zones.

Lantana camara 'Miss Huff' is a perennial in zones 7-10 with blooms of gold and orange. She can grow quite large, reaching a whopping shrub-size of 4-6 feet in height and width. Late to emerge in spring, usually May in zone 7b, don't cut back lantana in the fall. This shrub is a wonderful butterfly magnet. Deer don't usually browse the blooms until late autumn and their preferred food is very scarce.

Butterfiles love the lantana 'Miss Huff' growing in my garden; July 2010.

Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' is a perennial in zones 7-11. Growing up to 4-6 feet in height and width, with splendid deep blue blossoms, this is a hummingbird favorite. Also late to emerge in spring, you may find the offshoots several feet away from the original mother plant. Don't but this one back in the fall either. As with the lantana, deer tend to leave this alone unless they are desperate for food.

I will divide my Salvia 'Black & Blue' to plant with the Lantana 'Miss Huff'.

I have been growing both the lantana and salvia in my garden for years, but not together. When I moved coreopsis last year, I made a note to fill the space with a combination of lantana and salvia. This May 2011 will be the time to put this inspired combination together in my butterfly garden where I also grow bronze fennel, a host plant for Black Swallowtail Butterflies.

Bronze fennel in my butterfly garden serves as a host plant for Black Swallowtail Butterflies.

Bronze fennel is perennial in zones 4-9 and can usually be found in the herb section at garden centers. Growing to a height of five feet in my garden, it will self-sow with abandon unless you deadhead the blooms in the fall. The foliage starts out very dark and fluffy before the stems shoot up and produce gold-yellow blooms. Fennel is reliably deer resistant, though the critters may sample it now and then without doing any damage.

Lantana, salvia and bronze fennel are great companions with similar growing conditions and are beneficial for pollinators—an easy butterfly garden inspiration to replicate!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.