Wayside Gardens Voices

Summer Gardening: Trimming and Dead-Heading

Summer is the time to enjoy your garden - everything is growing, blooming, and ripening to that a point where everything will be out of your hands, downhill to autumn and winter. Make it last as long as you can by trimming and deadheading your flowering shrubs, trees, and perennials in the summer to stimulate new growth and blooms, keeping your garden looking fresh right up to the first bite of frost.

Keeping hedges and shrubs trimmed promotes fuller growth and keeps your plants looking neat and healthy. Removing unsightly old growth allows the young new growth underneath to reap the full benifit of the sunlight. Removing spent blossoms from flowering plants throughout the summer allows the plant to focus on new growth a keep blooming. Don't be afraid to prune and trim throughout the summer -- trimming is not only good for the plant, but keeps your garden looking nice and clean.

Hot New Tulips From Wayside Gardens

Tulips are generally impressive, the varieties available from Wayside Gardens this fall are no exception. These new tulips offer an exciting new perspective on an old garden classic. Breeders have definitely taken a few liberties with the traditional tulip blooms and foliage, often looking more like some impressionist rendering of a tulip than a simple flower.

Tulipa 'Doll's Minuet' is a perfect example of these dynamic tulip varieties. The deep rosy petals twist and dance out of the bud like a slowly growing fire. This is one flower that will have your garden guests doing double-takes.

Another beautiful new tulip, Tulipa 'Black Jewel', has deep maroon, frilled petals with tiny sparkles of gold flecks on their tips. It is a very classy and intriguing flower with long sturdy stems perfect for cut-flower arrangements.

Bulbs will ship in the fall for fall planting. Remember, fall is the best time of the year for planting!

White Flowers Make a Statement

After many years of being relegated to accent plantings, white-flowered plants are experiencing a resurgence of popularity.  Using white not just as accent, but as a primary part of your gardening palate, can create a very strong impression. 

In group plantings, white flowers create a pure, bright sea which can make any colored flowers you use absolutely jump out at you.  White flowers also create amazing contrast with green foliage, especially very dark greens or even blacks and reds.  White flowers are especially striking in spring. Try clematis or astilbe for bright white summer blooms. Hostas, though typically known for their foliage, often produce wonderfully bright silver or white blooms.

Plant Asters for Bright Fall Color

Asters are full sun perennials that can provide a good bit of late-season color. The playful, daisy-like blooms in bright springy colors start popping up in late summer, keeping your garden bright right up to the first frost of winter. Asters are very easy to care for, making them a real asset in the garden.

Aster 'Alert'  is a bright pink flowering New York Aster that blooms from summer to winter. It's resistant to deer, and super easy to care for. This plant blooms very densely, creating a low blanket of beautiful bright blooms.

Aster 'October Skies' is a medium-height Aster that will form a thick ground cover for your perennial sun garden. It gets it's name from the deep color of the blooms that resembles the New England sky. 'October Skies' blooms through the mid fall.

Citrus kumquat 'Nagami': Please All Your Senses

Okay, pleasing tactile and auditory sense organs may be a stretch, but the texture of the fruit is nice, and the sound of rustling leaves on your patio is peaceful. But, my point is, Citrus kumquat 'Nagami' goes a long way towards turning your modest patio garden into a tiny tropical oasis.

The sweet fragrance of the blossoms and the fruits will be the first thing you notice, a refreshingly crisp natural smell, leagues beyond any store-bought air freshener. The bright blooms and glowy orange fruit against the dense green foliage makes for a very classy and cute tree that visitors will love to look at. And the fruit itself can be eaten right of the tree, a sweet tangy summertime treat.

Check out the complete collect of Wayside Gardens Citrus Trees.

Campanula 'Pink Octopus': Fun and Hardy

Campanula, the common Bellflower, the name is Latin for little bell. Despite the cute name and dainty bell-shaped blossoms, this is a very tough and adaptable genus of plants. They can be grown as biennials, perennials, or annuals, depending on the species and the climate. They are native to regions spanning from the Mediteranean coast to the arctic tundra. There are hundreds of cultivated varieties famous for their distinctive blooms and trusted for their hardiness. They are popular in gardens all over Europe, especially in the United Kingdom.

Pink Octopus is a sun-loving perennial originally cultivated in Korea. The uniquely splayed blooms defy the bell-shape characteristic of the genus - the petals reach out to become the tentacles of the pink octopuses. The blooms are popular with hummingbirds and other pollinators, but deer are not attracted to them. If promptly dead-headed, this Campanula will provide an impressive mid-summer bloom period.

Sun-Loving Shrubs For Hot and Dry Gardens

South Carolina Summers can be hot and dry, especially in August and July. My mother has an exposed south-facing wall where the sun beats all day in the driest months of the year. She has the hardest time getting anything to grow there. I thought I might make a short list of shrubs that she could use for the hottest driest places in the garden, and I am sharing it with you.

Boxwoods
The old hedge standby, boxwoods love the sun, and they will tolerate some of the driest climates. Water deeply once a week in the driest times, otherwise your shrub should hold up to the elements. The will hold their leaves and color when others would fade.

Buddleia
The butterfly bush, this bush fills with beautiful, colorful blooms throughout the summer. It will also attract pollinators, especially butterflies, which will make all of your plants more productive. It loves full sun, and stands up to warm dry weather.

Dogwoods
More a tree than a shrub, but it provides the bonus of eventually adding a little shade to those over-baked patches of your garden. With beautiful blooms and changing foliage, dogwoods provide three season of interest. They also really love full sun.

Camellia
This shrub is the real rock star of drought tolerant plants. With beautiful bright blooms and evergreen foliage they provide 4 seasons of garden interest. They are drought tolerant, heat tolerant, and really love those all-day sunny spots.

Iris 'Black Gamecock': Thirsty Summer Blooms

Black Gamecock is probably the most popular Louisiana Iris available, a beautiful, dark, and interesting full-sun perennial for your summer garden. The dark purple to black flowers will bloom in June and July for an impressive mid-summer show. Combine with other Louisiana Irises and moisture-loving plants for a fuller effect.

This is one of those plants that solves a problem in your garden - it will grow in that low wet area that drowns your other plants. Louisiana Irises are perfect for bog gardens and the edges of ponds. They need constant moisture to thrive - do not let them dry out between waterings.

Black Gamecock spreads pretty fast, creeping through your garden, creating a wonderfully natural wild-flower look that really compliments water features and dense green garden designs.