Garden Tours!

I love garden tour time.  When else can you freely poke around other people's gardens to get ideas, see how different plants are performing in different settings within your own gardening climate, be sparked with ideas on plant combinations and garden art, and generally share your time with other plant enthusiasts?!

I've learned to always bring my camera and snap photos - it's much easier to remember what I saw when I look back on photos, compared to plain old memory or even written notes.  Nothing like a visual!  So here are a few things that caught my eye on the Wichita Garden Tours yesterday....

Floating Clouds redbud (Cercis canadensis 'Floating Clouds')....

I like the white variegation on this variety, although I don't know how hardy it would be around here.  (It hales from South Carolina.)  This plant was just a tiny sapling, so I chose to show a closeup of the leaves, rather than a picture of its (currently uninspiring) form.

Princess Diana clematis (a clematis variety with Clematis texensis, a native clematis, parentage) does very well around here....

Snow Angel heuchera actually can do very well around here, contrary to my prior experience....

It probably needs more water and less competition than I gave it the one time I tried it.  This one is located on the north side in a garden that probably has a sprinkler system.  (Note, also, the block edging right beside it, helping to keep the roots cool and reducing root competition).

A dead peach tree repurposed as a stand for a bird house....

(I've also seen this done on a smaller scale in Mobile with larger crape myrtles.)

A great utilization of the often-hard-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with space under a high deck....

(Yes, there is drip irrigation being used here.)

A new (to me) way to utilize pressed glass plates in the garden....

These are mounted into slots cut into the tops of copper pipes.

Climbing hydrangea seems to grow well here in sheltered locations, which completely surprised me.

My only question is WHICH climbing hydrangea is this?  The native-to-the-southeastern-US one (Decumaria barbara)?  Or one of the true hydrangeas from China or Japan (Hydrangea petiolaris or H. anomala)?  Or one of the hydrangea-looking vines from Japan or China (Schizophragma hydrangeoides or S. integrifolium)?

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) can make a surprisingly dense arbor cover....

Here it was combined with trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), but the trumpet creeper seemed to be localized more on top;  the side shelter was created primarily by Virginia creeper foliage.

The simple pleasure of a piece of rough rock, drilled to create a gently bubbling fountain....

Or, finally, a reminder about my favorite method of bed edging in Mobile - cheap, easy, long-lasting, easy to refresh, relaxing on the eye....

This is simply a small "trench" dug with a shovel.  Cut down almost perpendicular to the grass and gently throw the removed soil onto the bed.  Move one shovel-width to the side and repeat, ad infinitum.  Refresh the mulch after edging.  I don't know how this edging would hold up to Bermuda, but it was great with centipede and with St. Augustine and I'm pretty sure it would be fine with buffalo.  It also looks downright easy with fescue.  Even with the sandy soil and heavy rains of Mobile, this method of edging would last for several years and was easy to refresh when necessary.

The best thing about garden tours is that everyone comes away with a different list of ideas to implement.  If you get a chance, I'd sure recommend going to any garden tours in your area.  Who knows what interesting ideas you would bring home to help make your garden more uniquely you?!