The Sugar Hollow Plant List

Echinacea (also known as coneflower) attracts butterflies and in late fall, gold finches.

Taking stock in the garden at season's end! I got 50 more daffodil bulbs planted last weekend and could probably plant 50 bulbs every season for the next 20 years and still not make a dent in the landscape. {I would love our land to be a sea of yellow every late February.}

What is on your wish list? What do you recommend?

HONEYBEE, BIRD AND BUTTERFLY ATTRACTORS

Catnip, white and lavender varieties
Butterfly Bush
Liatris
Glossy Abelia
Sunflowers
Echinacea
Bee Balm
Zinnias
Caryopteris ‘Blue Beard’
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’
Salvia ‘May Night’
Russian Sage
Black-Eyed Susans
Shasta Daisies
Goldenrod (wild)
Yarrow (wild)
Thistle (wild)
Violets (wild)
Ironweed (wild)

BENEFICIAL INSECT ATTRACTORS

Love-in-a-Mist (self-seeding patch)
Daffodils, common and several other fragrant varieties
Iris, common and a variety that smells like grape Pez

NATIVES

Fringe Tree
Eastern Red Bud
Virginia Sweet Spire
Virginia Bluebells
May Apples
Wild Phlox
Trillium

HERBS

Plantain
Lavender (also good for honeybees)
Lemon Balm (also good for honeybees)
Sage
Rosemary (also good for honeybees)
German Chamomile
Thyme
Oregano (also good for honeybees)
Dill
Garlic
Mint, Common
Mint, Apple

ORNAMENTALS

Lilac, Common
Hydrangea ‘Endless Wonder’
A variety of small, ephemeral bulbs
Hollies, ‘China Boy’ and ‘China Girl’ varieties
Liriope
Dayliles, native, 'Pandora’s Box', 'Wineberry Candy', 'Jolyene' and several other varieities
Grape Hyacinths
Sugar Maple
Willow Oak
Eastern Red Cedars
Japanese Maples (3)
Azalea
Bridal Wreath
Rose, Climbing Antique 'Jeanne LaJoie'
Roses, Knock Outs
Coreopsis, Rose
Plumbago
Hollyhock, Common (deer fodder right now, but I hold out hope)
Veronica Speedwell
Tulips, Rembrandt and basic red variety

PERENNIAL FOOD PRODUCERS

Fig 'Chicago Hardy'
Juneberry (seriously chomped down by deer, but still living)
Black raspberry
Blackberries
Strawberries (in containers, for now)
Wild persimmons
Asparagus 'Mary Washington'
Elderberry
Rhubarb

REMAINING WISH LIST and FINAL THOUGHTS

A weeping mulberry shrub.
'Korean Spice' viburnums for along the front path.
A peony (or two).
More irises.
More Black-Eyed Susans along the ridge above the daylilies.
More compost under the walnut to help plants thrive?
More varieties of daylily for under the walnut.
A better okra crop.
Plant cucumbers for pickling.
Grow squash for the *blossoms,* too.
Find a spot for the elderberry that will let it thrive.
More native phlox.
Plant calendula – for botanical beauty potions.
Don’t plant green beans. (I just don’t love them enough to can and freeze.)

Making Plans :: The Honeybee Sanctuary

Globe Thistle 'Blue Glow'

Last year, we watched with interest as busy honeybees covered our sunflowers. I later learned that there are plants that get honeybee engines going more than others. So, I am planning on buying several perennials to add to our front garden that will make perfect landing spots for the bees - for a honeybee sanctuary.

Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa columbaria or caucasica)*
Globe Thistle 'Blue Glow' (Echinops bannaticus)* These may bit a bit tricky, as they require good drainage. But they have lulled me with their beauty and I may willingly be their slave for just that reason.
Blazing Star-Gayfeather (Liatris spp)
Catmint (Nepeta Mussinii)

They will join other bee seducers on our land such as basil, bachelor buttons, cosmos, sunflowers, coreopsis, lavender, oregano, Russian sage, rosemary and thyme.

A comprehensive list of plants for honeybees (and more on the importance of honeybee sanctuaries) can be found at The Melissa Garden website. Photo from Wikimedia.

*******
Spring is still making its way to Sugar Hollow in quiet ways and purple crocuses and bluebirds. I am forever thankful for the brighter evenings - though another storm is threatening snow today. Grrrrr. I think everybody is giving in to what they need to make it to the homestretch and indulging here and there in the ways of food and movies and books.

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to go here for afternoon high tea with friends and the timing couldn't have been better. I mean, who wouldn't find joy in a cucumber sandwich or a madeleine or a scone slathered in Devonshire cream and lemon curd?! I'm hoping at this point, however, that a spring of gardening will take care of a winter of indulging.

Ready :: Set :: Weekend!

Here's hoping some salvia and nepeta make in into the Sugar Hollow landscape this weekend.

A busy month of fundraisers (I do graphic design and public relations for freelance weekend work), garden coaching, swim 'lessons' with Willa, testing out the Crozet Farmers' Market and refining my Etsy shop . . . is coming to close.

This weekend is deliciously free and simple. Just a grown-up night out on Saturday to see Steve Earle and celebrate his new album of Townes Van Zandt covers.

The timing of our rains lately have saved the vegetable and perennial gardens from severe neglect. Insane sprouting and growth spurts ensued. With me nary lifting a finger.

I have two more raised beds that I would like to uncover and plant up. One with perennials that also make great cutting flowers - Coreopsis, Black-Eyed Susans, Yarrow and Echinacea. The other, with a dwarf weeping mulberry.

I hope to get out and harvest some herbs for drying. Oregano, chamomile, lavender, sage.

The okra needs to be sown and the collards will follow after that.

This planting combination (photo above) has me thinking I can break our landscaping budget just a bit. Because I need (and can never have enough) blues and purples.

Don't forget about the Vintage-Viewfinder print give away! Drawing on June 15th!! Scroll down a bit . . .

Happy, soppy Friday!

Over The Mountain To Garden Shop!

This is the view from my favorite nursery of all time. Milmont Greenhouses in Stuarts Draft. As if the rows and rows of plants aren't enough? Look-at those mountains.

I feel that I must write of Milmont each and every spring, as each and every gardener should have the good fortune of experiencing the mind-numbing assortment of horticultural goodies that they offer. Maybe it is new to you.

Willa and I even went this past Wednesday, during the cold and the rain. But never-you-mind, it didn't matter. We got some parsley (a cool weather loving herb) and strawberry plants. I'm putting those in big glazed containers as I do not have it in me to fight the good fight of a strawberry patch. Been there, done that, and it sucked.

I also purchased some False Blue Indigo, yarrow, coreopsis and butterfly bushes for the front garden. (All LOW maintenance and drought tolerant - good plants for the newbie gardener.)

I'm at-the-ready for the spring-fever weather that they are promising this weekend - spade in hand. Bring it!

Future Plans :: Fall Perennials

Geranium - 'Rozanne'

Hydrangea - 'Nikko Blue'

Butterfly Bush - 'Attraction'

Burpee has a section on their website for fall perennial plants. Which was a great reminder that you can still *think* about new plants for the garden - and plan during the mid-summer lull. They made it super-simple, too. They'll ship the plants to you when it is the optimum fall planting time for your specific zone. Taking some of the mystery out of the whens of autumn gardening.

Dry Summer Perennial Stalwarts

Echinacea "Green Envy" - from the White Flower Farm website.

Phew. The Kids are keeping me very busy this week. You see, I work at a University and the little chillins (and much of the faculty) have returned and things go upside-down for a bit.

But I couldn't contain my enthusiasm when an email greeted me this morning from White Flower Farm. With a listing of their recommendations for perennials that make-do in thirsty, crunchy climates and offer up their wares during the quieter summer months. I've added a few of my own - based on local, Zone 7 observations.

Test one out for next season. You can even get them established this fall (more on that soon).

Feel confident. Feel horticulturally invincible. Enjoy the summer-long color. Stare the lack of rain right in the face and laugh. Hands on hips. Chin up. Knowing you've got next year's drought licked.

Sedums

Echinacea purpurea varieties (Coneflower)

Achillea varieties (Yarrow)

Coreopsis varieties

Baptisia australis (False/Wild Blue Indigo)

Perovskias (Russian Sage)

Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed)

Phlox

Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan)