Karen's Garden Photos

Welcome to my garden in April 2001. There is my very small deck and past it is the wonderful jasmine vine whose scent makes coming outside a bit of heaven. Over the patio area is a louvered wooden covering to provide some structured shade while a crape myrtle adds a dappled shade.

In the back left corner is where the pond is located. It has tropical lilies, anacharis, parrot's feather and a dwarf papyrus in a pot. Down here in Baton Rouge the tropical lilies overwinter without any problem as long as the pond is fairly deep. Ours is a tapered bottom from 18 inches to 30 inches deep. The surrounding rocks are just placed, not mortared. Most of the tufts of plants that are visible are sedums and do really well in those rock cavities. It has a butyl rubber lining so it should last practically forever. We have comets and regular goldfish doing well in amongst the plants.

The waterfall was first built up from dirt excavated from the pond area then rocks were placed around the watercourse lined in butyl rubber. The drapey plant is polygonum and seeded itself. I had planted it as a ground cover in other areas. The yellow is a sedum and the purple-red is loreopetulum purpureum. I probably misspelled that.

One of the two tropical lilies whose name I don't remember. The underwater plant is anacharis and it's in bloom right now. (That's what those white things that look like popcorn are). The tropical lilies have a definite musky, perfume but you have to get right up to it to smell it.

This is to the right of the waterfall in the bog area. The irises are called wood irises and love wet feet. The sedums are elevated and in amongst rocks so their feet are dry. Off to the left and out of the picture is an old-fashioned white calla lily that can also tolerate wet conditions. It should be blooming by the end of April.

An "old rose" known as Cornelia. It has stood the test of time as far as disease resistance that's why it's here. The pure rose fragrance in early spring mingles with the scent of jasmine so how can a person stand to stay indoors? I've had to be creative in providing support for the heavy canes. Initially, it was trained to plastic coated wires that were anchored to metal stakes in the ground and to the eaves of the roof. But it got bigger. Now it's got shepherd's crooks of the two sided variety holding up the heaviest limbs. It seems to be working very well even in windy weather. Look hard and you can see the straight lines of the bottom part of the crooks.

Another "old rose" called "Maggie." "Maggie," "Cornelia" and antique roses called "La Marne" and " Hermosa" are pruned in February down here. Any earlier would encourage premature growth. This one has a beautiful rose/tea scent slightly different from Cornelia but still wonderful.

One of "Maggie's" blossoms up close.

I think this is verbascum, once thought of as a roadside "weed." (I hope I'm not getting my plant names mixed). I go by the gardening wisdom of : "What is a weed?... A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." Give it a little better habitat than the roadside provides and you've got a beautiful flower. By the way, I didn't take this from the roadside. I got it at a garden center that had the sense to stock it.

A native tree, the Red Buckeye. Called red for obvious reasons, it attracts hummingbirds and produces a "buckeye" hard fruit. This one is poisonous so don't plant it if there are small children around.

This is an island bed in the middle of the backyard It's the only place I can plant the "sun lovers". It's a mixture of perennials and annuals. Most are just getting started but the violas are on their way out with the hot weather coming up. This is what's included: violas, "new wave" petunias, tibouchina, gaura, four o'clock, hisperis (sky rocket), celosia, ageratum, purple cone flowers, zinnias, pentas, phlox, jewels of opar (sorry, that's the only name I know it by )and salvias (different varieties). If anyone wants to know the particulars of the varieties and their growing requirements just e-mail me. I'll be happy to tell you what works for me. The four o'clock and hisperis are new to me so I can't give you anything other than general info.