Happy Monday GPODers!
We continue our expedition to spring gardens today by heading south to Dallas, Texas with Cindy Bolz. Cindy has shared her garden twice in the past (check those submissions out here: Spring in Dallas and Collecting Japanese Maples), and she always has something colorful and lush to share despite the intensity of Texas heat. A variety of flowers are sprinkled throughout her landscape, but it’s her incredible assortment of glorious foliage plants that really shine.
As I read about Rhonda’s beautiful hellebores (I too have lots of them and they are spectacular this year) I decided to submit some garden photos.
In the first photo you see a six-foot tall weeping Ryusen Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Ryusen’, Zones 5–7), with Big Blue liriope (Liriope muscari ‘Big Blue’, Zones 5–10) below it on the left. The peek of purple flowers are the Chocolate Chip ajuga (Ajuga reptans ‘Chocolate Chip’, Zones 4–9) you will see again in photo five. To the right of the tree, on the stand made of concrete pavers (12” between 18” pavers) is another weeping Japanese maple. This tree was recently introduced by a grower who has not yet named the cultivar. There are only six of them and mine, for now, is named “Number 5”.
The second photo shows an ordinary coralberry plant (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, Zones 2–7) that I placed in a container when I was attempting to control a runaway patch of coralberry in a perennial bed. It has become such a hit in the container that I shall continue to keep it there.
Here is an even better photo, which demonstrates the size of the container.
I love variegated plants and the next three photos each include at least one. First, a variegated Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’, Zones 3–8) with wood fern (Dryopteris crassirhizoma, Zones 5–8).
The fourth photo shows purple oxalis (Oxalis triangularis, Zones 6–10) with white-veined pipeline (Aristolochia fimbriata, Zones 7–9). Each summer I get at least two full cycles of the beautiful black pipevine butterfly (Battus philenor) laying her eggs in these leaves. This is shortly followed by a tribe of little black caterpillars munching their way through every single leaf right down to the roots. Then the leaves grow back and the full cycle repeats.
Next is a bed of Chocolate Chip ajuga in bloom this spring with a small First Ghost Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘First Ghost’, Zones 5–9) growing amidst them. I collect Japanese maples and currently have almost sixty.
Also, here is my Little Henry® sweetspire (Itea virginica ‘Sprich’, Zones 5–9) if you want to include it.
Thank you so much for sharing your spectacular spring garden with us again, Cindy! Your selection of plants have created a true oasis in a big city and it’s a pleasure to witness its evolution.
As the season continues on, we need photos from more gardens to get the full gamut of spring plant life. If you’re looking out on your spring garden in bloom, getting outside to complete spring chores, or seeing the signs of spring in public gardens and parks around you, please consider taking some photos and sharing them with Garden Photo of the Day! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!
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