Lisa Bonassin's Garden: January 2021

I just bought Sea Foam to plant in the garden I am building for my mother. Above, that is the tag on the plant that displays the flower.

I try to do some reading before I buy a camellia, sometimes it's as sparse as reading the handwritten notes in my favorite nursery (The Arbor Gate) that sit in front of a group of camellias. Sometimes they are very excited about a camellia and write a glowing note about it. Other times I surf the net to see what people are saying about a particular variety. Bobby Green (a very well known camellia grower and enthusiast and nursery owner wrote this about Sea Foam:

Consider the case of Camellia japonica ‘Sea Foam’, which was lost in an ocean of new cultivars when it was registered in 1962. In fact it was released with little fanfare being described in Camellia Nomenclature as "White. formal double, upright growth. Introduced in USA by Weisner." That's kind of like describing Julia Roberts as simply "Tall". A little detective work indicates the originator must be J. T. Weisner of Fenandina Beach, Florida. Like so many “new” camellias of its era, until its rediscovery in the early 1990s, it was likely never grown in wholesale quantities. When I happened upon it in a long-abandoned nursery it was competing well for space, towering over its ligustrum and eleagnus rivals. In fact the only competition for the diminishing sunlight was the vigorous, tree-like Camellia japonica ‘Drama Girl’. Yet, year after year the pride of Mr. Weisner bloomed profusely like an undiscovered star smashing home runs in a sandlot. What we had stumbled upon proved to be one of the most vigorous camellias ever grown in a nursery setting with flowers that rival ‘Alba Plena‘ for perfection among whites. Now, some fifty plus years after Mr. Weisner planted the seed, ‘Sea Foam’ is probably the most widely grown white Camellia japonica in the southeast- and deservedly so. Why do I go to such lengths to illustrate a point? Pure serendipity often plays a huge role in what ends up being grown in the garden, plus, without any marketing, one of the best camellias took nearly fifty years to reach gardeners.

This will probably be the last garden I ever build. I'm getting too old for this kind of work! So it is exactly right that this garden will be dedicated to my mom since all my interests stem from her interests. I have stepped off the garden design and spray painted the design on the ground. This will be a walled water garden. The walls will be cattle panel (four feet tall). I will cover the walls with climbing roses and annual vines. The fountain will be made from a cattle water trough.

Costs:

metal water trough 2 x 6 x 2 - $179

7 cattle panels 50 x 8 -$16 ea - $112

decomposed granite 5 yds at $70 / yd - $352

solar powered water fountain pump - $105

mushroom compost 5 yds at $35 / yd - $175

Landscape edging 24 count 8 ft at $13 ea - $312

Bench $200

Using metal landscape edging vs rock is a decision. Rock will be more expensive, but it will last forever. Over time it sinks into the ground until it is barely visible, so there is a little infrequent maintenance to dig them out and re-set them. And they are very heavy to carry and work with. Metal strips over time rust out and can look unattractive. They don't fall apart or anything, and they don't sink into the ground. Mine are still in place after 13 years. They are light weight to work with, and they are less expensive than rock. I have decided to use landscape edging mostly for the cost difference.

Here is the space I am going to use.

I am going to outline this area with metal landscape edging and fill it with decomposed granite then place a bench here. It will be out of the way of the sprinkler and will be in the shade.

December 10 - I began laying down the landscape edging. I surrounded the Mexican Buckeye tree with the edging. That effort used 7 pieces, I have only 3 more pieces before I need to go back to the store. I'm going to fill most of that space with leaves and pine needles because much of the area is under the little tree. I don't want to waste my compost once I buy it by putting it under a little native tree that has been doing fine for 10 years with no loving care whatsoever.

December 11 - I bought 5 more landscape pieces. I dug out several pieces and some rock where the paths ended at the Greenhouse Gardens. I will use those pieces even though they are not in great shape, some place where I need edging to hold in the soil, but not in the main part of the garden where they can be seen. I laid out all the pieces that I had.

December 14 - I started turning over the soil and removing the turf (horseherb and some sort of grassy mat). I loosened all the clods to the extent that there were any. The soil on this property is very sandy. It is extremely easy to work with, to shovel and turn over and break apart. I will have to amend the soil of course, but this is a beginning. I spent an hour out there turning the soil and tossing the debris into my wheelbarrow. I figure, conservatively, 5 more hours will get the outside border done.

December 15 - more turning over the soil and removing turf. One hour.

December 20, 2020 - more turning over the soil and removing turf. A little over 1 hour. I worked on the outside border for a little while, but I began working on another bed because I'm running our of edging on the back border. I need to go to the store and buy more landscape edging.

January 2, 2021 - I was finally able to get back to work on the garden. I pulled up some landscape edging that was the previous end of the garden. Now it is one of the new entrances to the new garden. I re-set the edging so that it extended the flower bed. I finished turning the soil in the large bed at the front of the new garden. And I set 3 landscape strips that I bought on Friday. I did some raking as well.

Below, I pulled up the old edging and re-set it to extend the bed.

The trough for the fish will sit in the middle of the garden - the middle of the garden is now becoming visible in the pictures below.

January 9, 2021

I finished outlining the beds with the landscape edging. The bones of the garden are now all there. We will be moving all the junk behind the Greenhouse eventually.

January 12, 2021

I removed turf and turned over the soil. One hour.

January 13, 2021

I rounded the turn on turf removal and soil turning of the outside border of the garden. One hour.

January 14, 2021

We bought a yard and a half of mushroom compost at Shroeder's. We picked it up with our trailer and hauled it home, no delivery charge. I spent the rest of the day shoveling it off the trailer into my wheelbarrow and then into the beds. I'm not finished with conditioning the soil, but there is enough finished that I can start putting plants in. Bert went to the hardware store and priced the cattle panels and wood he will need to build the surrounding structures. Apparently the price of wood has really gone up, by a third. Not sure why. We will probably tackle erecting the fencing of the garden next week or the week after. Bert moved all the junk behind the Greenhouse. There is some rotten wood that will have to be replaced. And that means we will have to do some painting. I also spent some time turning soil and removing turf.

January 15, 2021

I bought a Madame Alfred Carriere rose. It is a climber. I intended to buy a New Dawn but they didn't have one. I am very happy with my purchases, though. I planted it right at the back of the garden positioned at the center. I'm thinking about buying one more for the corner area. Madame

Alfred Carriere has very soft canes. They are perfect for an ignorant rosarian such as myself that needs to train a climber.

January 25, 2021

Our new neighbor offered up some 16 foot cattle panels leaning against his barn that he didn't want, so we won't have to buy them. That's a savings! Bert constructed part of the fencing around that garden until he ran out of wood. I planted a Sea Foam camellia under the post oaks at the edge of the garden. I planted a White Pillar althea right at the entrance to the garden next to the Greenhouse. And I planted 15 Colonial White verbena around the climbing rose and around the althea. Bert and I stood around the garden at dusk for quite a long time talking about what we would do next and admiring our progress.

January 25, 2021

Bert (almost) finished the fence around the garden. He made a miscalculation and was short one little section of wood along the top of the fence.

January 28, 2021

I drove over to the ditch where the white bearded iris are growing and dug up about 10 of them. I planted them in one of the beds at the entrance to the garden. These iris are an old variety, very reliable. I dug a bunch of Philippine Lily plantlets growing in paths and moved them to a shady part of a bed. They bloom large white tubular flowers in July. My mom was the one who told me about Philippine Lilies. She read an article to me over the phone from the Chronicle many years ago. Now I have hundreds of them in my gardens in various stages of maturity that I have started from seed.

January 30, 2021

Bert got another yard of mushroom compost. I spread it in Sunday morning. We are still short, one more yard should do it - 2 more yards would be better, but one will do.

January 31, 2021

We decided that that fence would look better with wood trim along the inside top of the fence. Bert added that.

Feb 1, 2021

My Mrs. James Hendry crinums arrived in the mail. I planted them (3 bulbs) right away. They are the palest blush color, very nearly white. I have not smelled their scent, but I have read that it is wonderful.

Feb 5, 2021

Three more Mrs. James Hendry crinum bulbs arrived in the mail. Apparently some sort of clerical error on their part. Lucky me! I planted them near the big Mexican Buckeye tree and the Cemetery iris. Bert bought the 6 x 2 x 2 cattle trough that I am using for my water feature. He set it in the center of the garden and leveled it with some stones that he brought from Houston and some rocky gravel from our road here.

Feb 7, 2021

Bert got a yard of mulch for me. I spread most of it in this garden. A yard doesn't go far, but I was able to mulch all my plantings. I added 2 Augusta Duelberg salvia (which is a white-flowered salvia), 3 trailing white lantana, and 3 white petunias that I bought at The Arbor Gate when we went to Houston for Cleo's birthday party. Next, I painted the wood trim of the fence on both sides. And we had some of the Greenhouse light green paint left over from many years ago, so I painted the back of the Greenhouse. It was pretty grubby from all the stuff we used to store back there. Now the back of the Greenhouse is an entrance to the garden, so it needed to be cleaned up.

February 26, 2021

The historic freeze that lasted a week and work issues kept me a way for several weeks. The plants that I planted very recently have taken a major hit, as has everything else, but I think they will make it. The fountain is installed ( a few extension pieces are required to keep the spray head out of the water and they are already on order). I have ordered a fake / hollow rock to sit on top of the wires and the battery cell of the fountain. I have also ordered 2 white flowering Louisiana iris to plant in the water. Bert erected a stand and fastened the dedication plaque in front of the water feature. The plaque reads "The water garden was created for my first love, my mother. Her heart will always be my heart's loving home." Decomposed granite was delivered. I have managed to get most of the gravel laid down. Planting will continue throughout the spring. And - of course - time, effort and love will make the garden grow.