Diana's autumn garden sparkles

If I'd only known about you, Diana, back when we were desperately looking for autumn gardens for HGTV's A Gardener's Diary.

Every year, programming directors at the Home & Garden Television network told us we had to include gardens that were at their peak in fall, preferably October and November.  Easier said than done.  Just about everyone I called told me to try again in spring.

So, when Diana Mendes posted photographs taken October 12 in her garden on her Facebook page, I couldn't believe my eyes.  Every fall flower I could think of was represented - Korean apricot daisy mums in addition to several other chrysanthemums, Japanese anemones, all kinds of asters, including a bright blue one; golden rod, Mexican sage, swamp sunflower, Encore azaleas, Camellia sasanqua (an entire hedge of it) and roses everywhere.  She even had a yellow re-blooming bearded iris looking as fresh as if it were the month of May.

I finally got to see Diana's garden two weeks later, on October 29th.  You enter her sunny front yard through an arch covered with 'Heavenly Blue' morning glories. A patch of grass is surrounded on all sides by deep borders thickly planted with flowers.  Even though a few of the perennials I saw in the photos of October 12 had passed their prime, most were still going strong, and there were dozens more that had come into bloom  Her roses were gorgeous and came in every color imaginable.  More daisy chrysanthemums had opened up in shades of lemon yellow, peach, red and bright orange.  I don't know if I've ever seen that many fall flowers in one place.  Even spring perennials like adenophera (lady bells) and coreopsis were in bloom.  It was an explosion of color.

I had trouble choosing just one photograph, but I love the color of this rose (Diana regrets she doesn't know its name) and the contrast of its yellow center with the helianthus.  Diana says she picks flowers she likes and then brings them home and tries to find a spot for them.  It's hard, because the garden is so jam packed, and this doesn't even count the spring and summer flowers you can see are there.  

Diana has owned her house in the heart of the Virginia-Highlands section of Atlanta for 28 years.  During her career, she was able to manipulate the hours she worked so she could spend mornings in the garden.  She's retired now, and when she's not in the garden, she's out on hikes or doing dog and cat rescue transports.  In fact, she had to leave to pick up a dog that afternoon, so I told her I would be back.  She has a big patch of Amsonia hubrichtii that hasn't turned golden yet and I definitely don't want to miss that glorious sight.

Diana's autumn garden sparkles

If I'd only known about you, Diana, back when we were desperately looking for autumn gardens for HGTV's A Gardener's Diary.

Every year, programming directors at the Home & Garden Television network told us we had to include gardens that were at their peak in fall, preferably October and November.  Easier said than done.  Just about everyone I called told me to try again in spring.

So, when Diana Mendes posted photographs taken October 12 in her garden on her Facebook page, I couldn't believe my eyes.  Every fall flower I could think of was represented - Korean apricot daisy mums in addition to several other chrysanthemums, Japanese anemones, all kinds of asters, including a bright blue one; golden rod, Mexican sage, swamp sunflower, Encore azaleas, Camellia sasanqua (an entire hedge of it) and roses everywhere.  She even had a yellow re-blooming bearded iris looking as fresh as if it were the month of May.

I finally got to see Diana's garden two weeks later, on October 29th.  You enter her sunny front yard through an arch covered with 'Heavenly Blue' morning glories. A patch of grass is surrounded on all sides by deep borders thickly planted with flowers.  Even though a few of the perennials I saw in the photos of October 12 had passed their prime, most were still going strong, and there were dozens more that had come into bloom  Her roses were gorgeous and came in every color imaginable.  More daisy chrysanthemums had opened up in shades of lemon yellow, peach, red and bright orange.  I don't know if I've ever seen that many fall flowers in one place.  Even spring perennials like adenophera (lady bells) and coreopsis were in bloom.  It was an explosion of color.

I had trouble choosing just one photograph, but I love the color of this rose (Diana regrets she doesn't know its name) and the contrast of its yellow center with the helianthus.  Diana says she picks flowers she likes and then brings them home and tries to find a spot for them.  It's hard, because the garden is so jam packed, and this doesn't even count the spring and summer flowers you can see are there.  

Diana has owned her house in the heart of the Virginia-Highlands section of Atlanta for 28 years.  During her career, she was able to manipulate the hours she worked so she could spend mornings in the garden.  She's retired now, and when she's not in the garden, she's out on hikes or doing dog and cat rescue transports.  In fact, she had to leave to pick up a dog that afternoon, so I told her I would be back.  She has a big patch of Amsonia hubrichtii that hasn't turned golden yet and I definitely don't want to miss that glorious sight.

Bill turns toward the East

It used to be that Bill Hudgins regularly visited the flea markets of Paris or the pottery factories of Tuscany, looking for treasures for his own expansive landscape and for Lush Life, his shop in Atlanta where he sells accessories and plants for the home and garden.

But lately, Bill has been traveling to Japan, and I can now walk into his garden or into his shop and tell the difference.  More and more, a Japanese influence is manifested in the his choice of ornaments and plants, whereas before both the shop and the garden felt decidedly European, mainly Italian and French.

In the scene above, the placement of the boulders seems to suggest a penchant for Asian motifs, even if there were no Japanese lantern in sight.  The same goes for pruning techniques found throughout the garden.  Many of the trees are shaped to echo the forms seen in bonsai.  Even though classic obelisks and geometric shapes still abound in the garden, a large terra cotta pot that once would have contained a pyramid shaped boxwood might now hold a conifer pruned into a cloud form.

No matter what Bill's latest influence happens to be, he still captivates with his use of color and texture and form.  In the end, whatever he does, he does it well, and it is beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

Bill turns toward the East

It used to be that Bill Hudgins regularly visited the flea markets of Paris or the pottery factories of Tuscany, looking for treasures for his own expansive landscape and for Lush Life, his shop in Atlanta where he sells accessories and plants for the home and garden.

But lately, Bill has been traveling to Japan, and I can now walk into his garden or into his shop and tell the difference.  More and more, a Japanese influence is manifested in the his choice of ornaments and plants, whereas before both the shop and the garden felt decidedly European, mainly Italian and French.

In the scene above, the placement of the boulders seems to suggest a penchant for Asian motifs, even if there were no Japanese lantern in sight.  The same goes for pruning techniques found throughout the garden.  Many of the trees are shaped to echo the forms seen in bonsai.  Even though classic obelisks and geometric shapes still abound in the garden, a large terra cotta pot that once would have contained a pyramid shaped boxwood might now hold a conifer pruned into a cloud form.

No matter what Bill's latest influence happens to be, he still captivates with his use of color and texture and form.  In the end, whatever he does, he does it well, and it is beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

It might as well be spring

The call can come at any time of the year, even in the dead of winter.

"You ought to see my garden today.  It's the prettiest it's ever been."  I can't tell you how many times I've answered the phone to hear these words from Margaret Moseley.  Margaret is 95, and every day she's out in her garden, inspecting the trees, shrubs and perennials she's planted over the last 40 plus years.

Last Friday, she called, as she does every autumn around the end of October.  "You've got to see these sasanquas," she said.  

While Camellia japonica is the star of Margaret's winter garden, it's her collection of the species Camellia sasanqua that makes her fall garden look like spring.  

Named varieties like 'Cleopatra', 'Cotton Candy', 'Jean May', 'Mine-No-Yuki' ( a.k.a.'Snow', 'White Doves'), 'Pink Snow', 'Setsugekka',  'Sparkling Burgundy' and 'Pink Icicle' (actually a hybrid, but in bloom now) add mostly white and pastel color throughout the garden.  The 'Pink Snow' planted along the driveway looks like a fountain of pink, with branches laden with flowers cascading down from a 20 foot tall shrub.  Next to it, 'Sparkling Burgundy', though not yet in bloom the other day, must have had thousands of buds on the enormous plant.

Pictured above is 'Martha's Dream', which is planted next to the house, something Margaret warns against with sasanquas.  "We had to cut half of it down last year," she said.  "I was just sick. But I should never have planted it here where it didn't have enough room."

From the looks of it, and the number of buds and flowers, 'Martha's Dream' never suffered a bit.  I could see on this visit that I will have to return in a week or so.  There'll be even more flowers that make you think of peonies and roses and spring.

It might as well be spring

The call can come at any time of the year, even in the dead of winter.

"You ought to see my garden today.  It's the prettiest it's ever been."  I can't tell you how many times I've answered the phone to hear these words from Margaret Moseley.  Margaret is 95, and every day she's out in her garden, inspecting the trees, shrubs and perennials she's planted over the last 40 plus years.

Last Friday, she called, as she does every autumn around the end of October.  "You've got to see these sasanquas," she said.  

While Camellia japonica is the star of Margaret's winter garden, it's her collection of the species Camellia sasanqua that makes her fall garden look like spring.  

Named varieties like 'Cleopatra', 'Cotton Candy', 'Jean May', 'Mine-No-Yuki' ( a.k.a.'Snow', 'White Doves'), 'Pink Snow', 'Setsugekka',  'Sparkling Burgundy' and 'Pink Icicle' (actually a hybrid, but in bloom now) add mostly white and pastel color throughout the garden.  The 'Pink Snow' planted along the driveway looks like a fountain of pink, with branches laden with flowers cascading down from a 20 foot tall shrub.  Next to it, 'Sparkling Burgundy', though not yet in bloom the other day, must have had thousands of buds on the enormous plant.

Pictured above is 'Martha's Dream', which is planted next to the house, something Margaret warns against with sasanquas.  "We had to cut half of it down last year," she said.  "I was just sick. But I should never have planted it here where it didn't have enough room."

From the looks of it, and the number of buds and flowers, 'Martha's Dream' never suffered a bit.  I could see on this visit that I will have to return in a week or so.  There'll be even more flowers that make you think of peonies and roses and spring.

Sunlit orange without the ghost

During the month of November last year, I had the above photograph as the wallpaper on my computer.  If you click on the picture twice, it should become full screen so you can see what it looks like even larger.

This photograph was taken in Bill Hudgins' gorgeous big garden where he has skillfully mixed hundreds of Japanese maples into a woodland setting.  On the day I took this picture, the sky was overcast.  But,  for a few minutes, the sun came out and shone on this Japanese maple with finely cut leaves.  I have another view of the same sunlit orange foliage, but the scene is marred by my distorted shadow, a ghostly dark image on the left side of an otherwise stunning photograph.  

But this is a good color for this Halloween day.  Bill's maples are usually at their most colorful a little later, but I've noticed that all of a sudden, the sourwoods, dogwoods and hickories in my neighborhood are brilliant.  Even the beeches are beginning to turn.  

I need to call Bill to see if he can estimate when I might come and take more photographs of his Japanese maples.  This time, I'll make sure that I'm out of the picture.