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Carol J. Michel

Award winner author of gardening humor books

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May Dreams Gardens

Additions to the Garden of Southern Follies and Delights

September 22, 2016 By Carol Michel 7 Comments

In a couple of months, a couple little starts of Gardenia ‘Sweet Tea™’ are going to wake up on a snowy morning and realize they are not in the south any longer.

They are in my Garden of Southern Follies and Delights, nestled in with two camellias that have so far survived one winter, three “big box” crepe myrtles sold as perennials, and a bunch of dandelions.

The dandelions are ruining the party, so to speak, so I’ll be evicting them soon and adding some more mulch.  They are why I can’t show a picture of The Garden of Southern Follies and Delights. It looks awful. It looks worse than that kid in the grade school class picture who insists on making an awful face, ruining the picture for everyone else.

But really, there isn’t much to see so far in The Garden of Southern Follies and Delights, as not one of the plants in this garden of southern plants which should not be grown in the midwest is more than a foot or so tall.

One of the camellias in this border, ‘April Remembered’ has started to branch out some and looks quite nice, if you consider a camellia a foot tall “quite nice”. It hasn’t bloomed much, though, which is probably why the plant looks so good.  The other camellia, ‘Snow Flurry’ is a fall bloomer and doesn’t look so good but does have a few flower buds on it. I’m going to nip those buds off, though, so the plant hopefully puts its energy and effort toward surviving another winter.  Oh, the sacrifice.

But back to the gardenias. I’m willing to try to grow them in my zone 6a garden because they were offered free to me and many other garden communicators who attended the conference of GWA-The Association of Garden Communicators, held a few days ago in Atlanta, Georgia.

Let’s hope they add delight and not folly to my Garden of Southern Follies and Delights!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: shrubs

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. outlawgardener says

    September 22, 2016 at 2:47 pm

    Fingers crossed for delight! Happy autumnal equinox, Carol!

    Reply
  2. Gail says

    September 22, 2016 at 2:51 pm

    It's fun to challenge the zones! For me it's trying to get an acidic soil that makes these southern beauties happy. I love the name of your garden and will think of some southern pretties to send you! xo

    Reply
  3. Lisa at Greenbow says

    September 23, 2016 at 1:44 am

    I like the name of the Snow Flurry. I wouldn't mind a little Snow Flurry in my garden too.

    Reply
  4. Covegirl says

    September 23, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    Hope the gardenia blooms. I agree it's fun to"try" the zone.

    Reply
  5. Covegirl says

    September 23, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    Hope the gardenia blooms. I agree it's fun to"try" the zone.

    Reply
  6. Covegirl says

    September 23, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    Hope the gardenia blooms. I agree it's fun to"try" the zone.

    Reply
  7. Unknown says

    September 24, 2016 at 8:15 pm

    Always good to try new plants – especially if they are gifts! I've never tried Gardenias, but I have plenty of experience with dandelions!

    Reply

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