Tag: nandina pygmaea

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Barbie's garden Design Gardening Home page features Perenniels

New patch plantings

Hi Chris – I know I mentioned this to you last week already, but I had little time to get the photo’s done and up for you to see. I know I keep telling you how I love your Nandina, well I have now bought some as well as azaleas to go in my shade patch in the back garden. Everything else I have planted here has died; either ripped out by chickens, or rotted away or just simply faded into nothing. It is such a focal position next to my back deck. In summer it is the only real shady area in the back garden and all the birds flock here for warmth in winter and to cool off in the summer. It is a watering hole and it’s also where the chameleons and bees hang out. I have created a rock pile for my frogs and lizards and the bucket just for fun! There is a yearly arum lily that comes up in winter… look you can see it popping out of the new stone path. I’m going to keep it because it has been there ever since we moved into the house. I remember putting the big tree stump on that area one year and it still managed to push through, so I love plants that love to be here, no matter what the circumstance!

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Here are the white azaleas and the nandina pygmaea-Dwarf Bamboo – planted behind the Tea Tree and the Pineapple Sage. These shrubs will give shade in the intense afternoon sun in summer. I also have a few Irises I cannot wait to see flower in spring. I have a few Lilium bulbs too. The Arum Lily that comes up every year is Zantedeschia, a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to southern Africa from South Africa north to Malawi.

[one_half]Nandina Pygmaea[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Azaleas[/one_half_last]

[one_half]A thatching plant but not Cape Thatch[/one_half]

[one_half_last]I have pruned the Pineapple Sage[/one_half_last]

[one_half]The yearly arum lily plant[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The Shady Patch corner at sunset[/one_half_last]

I really hope that this will be the winning combo. I am looking at a more perennial garden patch here with lots of flowers and little work. A bushy, flowery area with nice colourful foliage. I love the Nandina now – the reds are so beautiful. I selected white azaleas because I wanted something neutral as perennial and I can add colour with bulbs and other annual flowers here and there.  I am now going to sit back, water and wait!

The weatherman says storms ahead, so I guess the weekend will be spent in front of the fire with a good book!

Happy reading….I mean gardening xxxx

 

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Christine's garden Design Gardening Home page features Perenniels

All about Change – the Azalea bed, then and now

The way it looks today

If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.  ~ Author Unknown

I’ve long hung on to the overgrown trees I inherited in my garden, believing that excessive cutting back or pruning would change things radically. I was wary of changing things too much. Mostly, I was wary of losing my fiercely guarded privacy. You see, I’m a very private person, reclusive some will tell you. And mostly, I liked it that way.

And then I started this blog, and suddenly, things were a bit less private. Strangers were “looking” over my walls and into my garden. It actually felt quite nice. Some of those strangers have become gardening buddies and I look forward to their virtual visits to my garden and mine to theirs. Then it dawned on me … perhaps cutting back a tree or two to let in some more light was not such a bad thing after all. Maybe just prune back a little … and so we did. And guess what? Nothing terrible happened. In fact, the sun peeped through and it made both the plants and me smile a bit. Perhaps time to prune back a bit more? Let more light in? Why not?

Get the tree feller in, see what he says. He said two trees HAD to go or they would cause problems with the foundations of my house within the next two years. Oh dear … more loss of privacy? He chopped them down. Then he cut back the others. Hard. Quite a shock to my system. It’s taken quite a while for me to get used to all the light (and seeing some neighbour roofs). But I’m still here, nothing bad happened and … now I like it! I can see the mountain – I have a view! And I see the sun and the sun sees my plants and they seem to be smiling back with their lovely blooms.

Today I’d like to share with you the jungle I was hiding in and how I have transformed this area which I call the “Azalea Bed” over the last three years …

Before – no light, no sun, just overgrown trees

After – Now in September 2011

After - September 2011

More “Before and Afters”

[one_half]Before – Dexter as a puppyDecember 2007 - Dexter as a puppy[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The same area (and Dexter) todayThe same area 4 years later[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Another “before” with baby Dex[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Today Lilies & Azaleas grow hereToday Lilies grow here[/one_half_last]

My “brag book”  – the way it looks today

(click to enlarge)
[one_half]The way it looks todayThe way it looks today[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Can you see the Mountain?Can you see the Mountain?[/one_half_last]

[one_third]Azaleas and LiliesAzaleas and Lilies[/one_third]

[one_third]Looking to the mountainLooking to the mountain[/one_third]

[one_third_last]Looking from the other viewAnd from the other side[/one_third_last]

The last photograph shows the bed from the other side (with the mountain behind me). There is of course still work to be done in the front of the bed and once the Tulips have died down in the bed opposite the Lilies & Azaleas I will be planting perennials in there (not doing the Tulips again next year).

I should probably have waited to show this when all the Lilies are blooming and when the Prunus is covered in blossoms … but I’ll just have to show you how it looks then again … it will be another whole new look. I can’t wait!

Happy Gardening
xxx

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Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

Nandina pygmaea dwarf Bamboo

Dwarf heavenly bamboo, Japanese sacred bamboo

Dwarf heavenly bamboo, Japanese sacred bambooOne of my favourite plants in my garden is Nandina pygmaea – Dwarf Sacred Bamboo. It is an evergreen shrub, used for its foliage and will apparantly endure diverse growing conditions. It grows well in a container and can be used as a background plant, low hedge, in a shrub border and as a groundcover. It grows in full sun or partial shade (green leaves) preferring moist, but well-drained soil.

The foliage is green with red to purple tones turning bright yellow and red in Autumn. We’ve planted this in various areas in my garden and it is amazing to see the difference in foliage colour, depending on how much sun it gets. In the very shaded areas of the garden it is a lovely light green colour with no “other”  colours whatsoever, and in the sunnier parts of the garden the leaves are turning all sorts of shades of orange to bright red. I’m looking forward to seeing what it does in Autumn …

Notes:
This little plant is a dwarf version of the Nandina domestica and is native To China and Japan, where it is often planted near temples. Nandina will endure diverse growing conditions and grows easily throughout the country, but needs regular watering in dry areas. It is hardy to all but severe frost and will grow +-50 to 60cm tall and +-50cm wide. It will grow in full sun or semi-shade, but the leaf colour is more intense in winter if it is planted in full sun. In very arid regions it is best planted in semi-shade. Heavenly bamboo is semi-evergreen and will drop some leaves in winter. It prefers a light, moist well-drained soil, but will grow in most garden soils. Although it is moderately drought hardy, it responds well to regular watering in summer.