What are you planting?

September 22, 2006 — Noelle McAfee

Now, on to lighter and more energizing matters. Now that the hot, dry summer (interspersed with torrential downfalls) is over, what are you planting? What’s blooming? What should an enterprising Hollin Hills gardener be doing in the dirt these days?

Posted in Gardening. 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “What are you planting?”

  1. Barbara Blandford Helm Says:
    September 23, 2006 at 9:47 am

    I defer to my gurus, Bob and Felicity Blandford 🙂

    Barbara

    Reply
  2. Paige Totaro Says:
    September 23, 2006 at 10:52 am

    I just divided my hostas and moved some around. I may do a little more of that this weekend. And though it is probably not the right time to do it, I moved my irises around, too.

    I’ve got some kind of mystery flower blooming right now. It’s a pretty spectacular orangey-red spiky looking flower on a long leafless stem. Any ideas? It’s at the end of my driveway on Martha’s if you want to help solve the mystery…….

    Reply
  3. barbara ward Says:
    September 23, 2006 at 11:34 am

    If anyone has suggestions about what can be used as ground cover other than english ivy and that the deer would not use as a feeding ground i am open to all suggestions. thanks bw

    Reply
  4. Thierry Taunay Says:
    September 28, 2006 at 12:43 pm

    Barbara,

    I will suggest Mondo Grass, a carefree and drought resistant evergreen grass (

    Reply
  5. Liz Brigden Says:
    September 28, 2006 at 7:43 pm

    Paige, What you have is a Surprise or Spider Lily (Lycoris radiata), I think. They aren’t supposed to bloom in our zone and are said to prefer non-acid soil, but actually they do fine. Usually we have just one bloom (always a “surprise”), and sometimes none, but this year we had seven! Barbara, I put in a lot of pachysandra (sp.?) this summer and the deer don’t seem to care for it. Also, it’s a bit neater looking than, say, Vinca. Still, the ivy takes over..drat.

    Reply
  6. Paige Totaro Says:
    September 30, 2006 at 5:49 pm

    Thanks, Liz! We had some other Surprise Lilys come up outside our back door, but the blooms on the ones out front were so different from those I didn’t make the connection. But I’m sure you’re right. Neat! I am loving discovering all the flora at our new house. Ann Petretich, the previous owner, must have had fun out in the garden!

    As for ground covers, the native plant people often recommend Virginia creeper. Does anyone have thoughts on that? I planted a few vines in my backyard (a large writhing mess of English ivy) earlier this year when I got my package of native plants from the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District. My understanding is that yes, it’s invasive, but it’s native to our area so it’s not as horrible to have around as English Ivy.

    Reply

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