What is in bloom January 1, 2013 in my Atlanta garden?

In Bloom New Year's day Jan. 1, 2013 in my 18-month old Atlanta garden: 

Erysimum ‘Yellow Bird’ yellow wallflower

Erysimum ‘Yellow Bird’ yellow wallflower

Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ purple wallflower

Pansies, Violas, Johnny-Jump-Ups

Rhododendron Bloom ‘N Again Azalea ‘Kristin’s Blush’

Rhodendron Encore Autumn ‘Moonlight White’

'Fudingzhu' Tea Olive

Osmanthus fragrans 'Fudingzhu' Tea Olive

Antirrhinum majus dwarf snapdragons

Digitalis purpurea spikes in bud Foxgloves

Gerber daisies, yellow

2 forlorn Zinnia

Iris unguicularis

Iris unguicularis, Algerian iris 

Tagetes lucida Mexican tarragon

Fragaria vesca Alpine Strawberries

Lavendula minutolli Green Fern-Leaf Lavender

Sweet Williams

Rosa ‘Little Women’ Storbook Roses, light pink

Rosa ‘Showboat’ American Storybook Roses, coral

Rosa ‘Coral Drift’

Knockout Roses, Sunny Knockout Roses, Double Pink Knockout Roses

Rosa ‘Sundance Kid’ American Storybook Roses, yellow

Rosa ‘Strike It Rich’ AARS 2006 hybrid tea rose has 1 tight green bud

Pink Frost hellebore

Helleborus niger Gold Collection Hybrids: Joseph Lemper, H. x ballardlae Cinnamon Snow, H. x ballardlae HGC Pink Frost, Jacob Royal, Ivory Prince

Edgeworthia

Edgeworthia chrysantha  

Viola walteri ‘Silver Gem’ American Beauties

Camellia ‘Debutante’

Camellia ‘Magnoliflora’

Rudbeckia triloba 

Rudbeckia triloba

Camellia setsugekka

Camellia ‘Setsugekka’

Pieris japonica ‘Mountain Snow’

Dusty Miller 

Sanguisorba minor

I am adding a photo of bejeweled Salad Burnet with diamond raindrops:    

How to Make Homemade Satsuma Cider or Wine Mulls

Cider Mulls and Wine Mulls lend a festive  atmosphere to holiday gatherings. 

Directions: 
Pour a quart of cider or a bottle of light red wine into a saucepan,  add the Mulling spices attractively packaged in a Satsuma shell, and simmer gently for 15 minutes or so, until the house smells wonderful and the beverage tastes good! 

How To Make a Homemade Cider or Wine Mull

1. Cut Satsumas (such as Arctic Frost Satsuma PPAF by Garden Debut)  in half horizontally and eat the fruit, saving the shells

2. Dry the shells completely - I use the stove top and it takes about 3-4 days

3. Assemble ingredients for mulls: dark brown sugar, stick cinnamon and whole cloves. 

Stuff the dried Satsuma shells with brown sugar

4. After filling the dried Satsuma shells with brown sugar, decorate with the mulling spices: whole cloves and stick cinnamon. May also add whole allspice or cardamom if desired.

5. A dozen of the finest homemade Satsuma cider mulls

6. Close-up of cider mulls

7. For gift-giving or hostess gifts, wrap with cellophane or plastic wrap to display Satsuma Cider or Wine Mull, then tie tightly with cloth ribbon! 

Sending Merry Christmas wishes! 

Trying Winchester Gardens Fertilizer Spikes

Back in March I found Gerry Joeng’s post in the “Garden Industry Pro, Garden Media and Guru” LinkedIn Group, offering a free trial of some of the Winchester Gardens’ fertilizers and organics. While I am primarily an organic gardener, I thought I might give the products a try, so Gerry kindly sent me some packages.

Although I did not take photos, I did use Winchester Gardens Select Organics Herb Fertilizer on lemon verbena, heliotrope, patchouli and several varieties of lavender planted in May, and they did very well.

On my Knockout Roses, I decided to use three Winchester Gardens Tree & Shrub Fertilizer Spikes spaced equally around the root systems. Because I ran out of fertilizer spikes before I ran out of roses to try it on, the samples turned into a "non-scientific trial" with fertilizer and without. 

My original Pink and Red Knockout Roses were planted dormant in January from 3-gallon pots, three to four months before I got the fertilizer to try. My "control group" that received no fertilizer were transplanted from another spot in my garden in March, and although they were approximately the same size, there was a lag of two months in regard to root establishment before hot weather arrived in May.   

Delivery System:  I used my Dad’s gigantic, XL screwdriver to make holes for Tree and Shrub Fertilizer Spikes (April, 2012)  

I pounded each fertilizer spike into the soil at roots of Knockout Rose using a small sledgehammer; 3 per shrub. Roses were watered sporatically throughout the summer and fall. 

At the end of the growing season, the Red Knockout Roses that were fed with three fertilizer spikes each are large and bushy shrubs filled with flowers. Photo taken Nov. 24, 2012  (Orange Zinnias to the right were killed by the frost that following night.)

With 5-foot ruler: Pink Knockout Rose bush fed with 3 fertilizer spikes is full and filled with flowers. Photo taken today, Dec. 7, 2012 

With 5-foot ruler. Much smaller Pink Knockout Rose that was NOT fed (b/c I ran out of fertilizer spikes). Photo taken today, Dec. 7, 2012. The unfertilized rose bush was growing and flowering but are only about 1/3 the size. 

Another view of two of the smaller Pink Knockout Roses that did not receive fertilizer, photo taken today, Dec. 7, 2012. 

Winchester Gardens is having a Sweepstakes, so I entered and maybe I will win some more fertilizer! 

After - Thanksgiving Pumpkins

Big old pumpkins on the side steps

The day after Halloween I gathered 3 huge pumpkins from the curbs in the neighborhood, and enjoyed them through Thanksgiving as decor.

unbaked pumpkin pies, ready for oven

They were made into pies with homemade crusts[ raw pies pictured here before baking:

the seeds were salted and baked 

I washed the pulp from the seeds, salted them with a Tablespoon of kosher salt per pan and baked them at 300 degrees F for 30 minutes, stirred them and baked for 10 more minutes.

Roasted pumpkin seeds 

pumpkins tossed on top of compost

Next, the shells went into my little red Corona wheelbarrow on the way to the compost pile.

We made a tidy compost pile by folding 2 sheets of concrete reinforcing grid into L-shapes and creating a square.

Compost is filled in autumn

Later after I cut back the daisy mums that had enlivened the fall garden!

Pink and yellow daisy mums, Nov. 2012

Those mums had looked like this  during November:

Both the pumpkin shells and the mums will recycle minerals and nutrients back into the garden in the form of compost.

Hand-Made Wreath

The Atlanta Chapter (Chattahoochee Unit) of The Herb Society of Atlanta has a wreath-making workshop that is a benefit of membership on the first Saturday in December each year.

This year I made 2 wreaths using leaves of Teddy Bear Magnolia PP13049, dried blue flower heads of Nantucket Blue Hydrangea and bright red berries of Christmas Jewel Holly PP14477. 

An 18-inch purchased straw wreath base covered with silvery Spanish Moss was my foundation, and I used crimped floral pins to attach the leaves, flowers and berries. 

A red velvet Christmas bow completed the wreath, hanging outside of our storm door.  

Thoughts Toward the End of Garden Season

Green Tomatoes will ripen on windowsill

The first frost of Winter 2012/13 arrived in Atlanta overnight November  24-25, 2012 and toasted the tomato plants, patchouli, basil, zinnias and heliotrope. The Lemongrass and Scented Geraniums came through just fine.

I came across this incredible Persimmon tree loaded with fruit-- wonder how old it is?

Pumpkin seeds roasted; rinds go to compost

Neighbor's persimmon loaded with fruit

Persimmons sweeter after frost

Arrangement w Mexican Tarragon, Zinnias + Rue

 Planning to plant the last few bulbs, peonies, Jack-in-the-Pulpit and last 2 dozen Foxgloves this week.

Wood Chips Connoisseur

gardengeri on top of a load of free wood chips

Free wood chips (along with free bags of pine straw collected from curbs across nearby neighborhoods) are the mainstay of my garden. In Atlanta's warm climate, wood chips biodegrade to yield rich black organic humus similar to woodland soil in one year.I continually replenish organic matter in the form of mulch on the surface, or as compost dug into the soil, increasing the organic content and improving the soil structure of my Georgia red clay. 

In order to obtain desirable wood chips I ask the driver a couple of questions. 

Q. How sharp is your chipper/shredder? 

A. If he says "I put new blades on on Monday" we are good to go. I prefer a sharp chipper which produces small, neat wood chips. In contrast, a dull chipper produces long strips of wood that are unsightly as mulch and are slower to break down as compost. 

Wood chip mulch

Q. Where do these wood chips come from? 

A. Ideally, if the crew has been trimming back healthy tree limbs to clear right of way along power lines, I can be pretty sure of healthy, safe, disease-free chips. 

Wood & Leaf Chips

Q. Time of year and Summer chips v.s. Winter chips

A. This brings in the Nitrogen:Carbon Ratio. Summer wood chips contain large amounts of green leaves that add an important component of Nitrogen to the compost or mulch. Bare, leafless limbs in winter are composed of wood rather than leaf tissue, and add a higher component of Carbon. Evergreens can add high-N leaves even in winter, as is the case with wood chips from Christmas trees. 

When a new load of wood chips is delivered, the pile heats up during the immediate process of bacterial decomposition. If I insert a garden fork to open up the pile, steam rises from the disturbed chips. After the pile cools down, the development of white fungus strands (mycelium) on the wood chips signifies that the "friendly fungi" present are actively at work and the chips are well on their way to breaking down to compost and humic acid.

rich woods soil 

Basically,  the wood chips add bulk to the soil structure three ways:

1. fibrous organic matter of the chips themselves

2. biological mass of filamentous fungi that grows on them

3. transitory waves of beneficial bacteria populations 

This creates a favorable environment for worms and microorganisms.   

Digging Deeper: For Further Reading:

Wood chip mulch- boon or bane? http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/horticultural%20myths_files/Myths/magazine%20pdfs/Woodchips.pdf

OK State Recycling Yard Waste: Don’t Bag It  (although if everyone read this, I would get no more free pinestraw) http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2863/L-251.pdf

Wood Mulch: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/wood-mulch-z10m0hun.aspx#ixzz2BT3khPDI