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A beautiful, easy to care for plant is always welcome in the garden. Hostas are no exception. They are basically maintenance free and produce exceptional results. About 3 years ago my husband and I bought 3 small blue-green hostas and planted them in fairly poor soil. We added a little bit of organic topsoil, mixed it in with the native soil,watered it and put a little mulch around the outer area. Not expecting much to happen, we were quite surprised
to find that they thrived. By the end of the summer, they had doubled in size. During the growing season they produced beautiful, spikey lavender flowers. The show of flowers bloomed repeatedly and lasted for several weeks before drying out.

Halcyon Hostas

The leaves are a beautiful heart shape and tinted a blue-green. They grow anywhere from 14-20″ in height and 18-24″ wide. Ours were planted in a partially shaded area that got morning sun and did fine for about the first half of the summer, but once July and August rolled around the edges got a little crisp and the leaves developed holes. We left them in the same spot up until this spring when we moved them to a shadier area. We divided them since they had become quite big and got 6 plants out of the original 3 we purchased. They are planted in between a crepe myrtle and a Chinese Fringe Flower tree.

Halcyon Hosta close-up

While it’s a mostly shaded area, it does get filtered morning sun which should be enough in the spring and early summer, while shading them from the extreme heat of the mid to latter part of the summer. Too much shade can be just as bad as too much sun, so we’ll have to keep an eye out to see just how well they do in their new spot.

When we divided and transplanted them, we didn’t use much more in the way of soil and preparation than we did the first time we planted them. We did use fertilizer for roses called Rose-Tone. It was sprinkled on the top of the soil around the entire plant, but not touching any part of the plant. Two days after planting and fertilizing and we already found that the first green leaves are about to bud.

Plants and flowers that accompany the Hosta well are Lenten Roses, Hydrangeas, Foxgloves, Rhododendrons and any woodland plants.

Hostas are a beautiful addition to your garden and with so many varieties and sizes available, you’re sure to find something perfect for your area!

Dragon's Blood

Sedum is one of my favorite plants. There are so many varieties and the colors are spectacular. Sedum is very hardy and comes back yearly, even in the most extreme of weather and poorest of soils. They are very tolerant of heat, drought, humidity and cold weather. Don’t bother using good soil for Dragon’s Blood - you can save that for another plant, because it does well in poor soil with little to no moisture or watering.

Dragon’s Blood Sedum is a very beautiful sedum. The color is a vibrant redish burgundy from late summer to fall, when it turns a bright orange. For the best color, they should be put into full sun, at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. A shaded area would produce more of a green color. The foliage has been described as “needle-like” but I think they have more of a rosette appearance. Dragon’s Blood, like most other sedum, is a quick spreading plant.You don’t have to buy a lot to get a big effect. The carpet of this sedum is very dense and it’s a fairly short plant - ranging from about 3-5″.

Dragon’s Blood is adaptable in many settings, from rock gardens, borders, containers mixed with other plants or alone, under trees, etc. They add so much to your garden and are a nice change from green or yellow sedum. Actually Dragon’s Blood would nicely compliment those colors of any plant.

Getting into the spirit of spring is easy when you start planning your garden. All your winter blues melt away
once you start pouring through catalogs and books. I love to start this around February when winter is just a
stone’s throw away but a chill is still in the air.

Planning your garden doesn’t have to be hard. Whether you’ve got a large space or something relatively small, you
can plan with ease as long as you have the tools. You should have a couple of gardening books you really like and
get some ideas of how they incorporate 4 seasons of color. Once you have decided on the items you wish to use in
your plan, write them all down and research them. This is very important, look at soil recommendations, amount of
sun needed, zones, blooming time and maintaince, which is often overlooked.

You must decide what type of garden is right for you. Are you someone who has a lot of time and looks at gardening as
a hobby and relaxing or are you limited with your time because of a busy schedule, making it difficult to devote
less than the time needed to take care of some of the plants you love? Once you figure out this portion of it, the
rest is easy.

Finally sketch out a rough draft of what your area looks like and label the items you wish to incorporate. Jot down
helpful notes at the bottom of the sketch. Take pictures of your favorite plants at nurseries, cut them out of
magazines or save them from online sources onto  your desktop along with helpful information. Once you get this
completed it’s time to order from your wish list. When you have the items in hand, whether you ordered them online
or went to your local nursery, grab your sketch and place out the plants accordingly.You may decide you have to
change a few things here and there. Make sure you take into account of how big these plants, shrubs, trees, etc will
get and space them apart according to full growth so that they have room to grow and develop a healthy root system.
Now all that’s left is to wait and reap the benefits of your labor. A true labor of love!

Below are some great plants that are fast growing and do well in zones 7 where the dog days of summer can be
scorchers and void of rain. Here a few that offer beautiful color, fast growth and linger well into fall.

Russian Sage
Poppies
Dianthus
Rudibeckia
Sedum
Crocusmia

Example of a garden sketch

Toad Lily

Maybe you planted those little rhizomes thinking not much was going to happen only to have a huge clump that’s over grown the planned planting area. Whatever the case may be, Toad Lilly clumps are very easy to divide and transplant without much heartache or damage to the plants.

The best time to move these is in early spring when they are about 2-3 inches tall and the weather has somewhat stabilized. Though they flower late, these will be one of the very first plants to poke their heads out of the ground. Not unusual to have them coming up in mid February here in zone 7. It’s easier to move these once they have grown a bit as you can easily judge the size of the clump by where they are coming up.

Start by judging the size of the clump. Even if you miss judge, don’t worry. For those with weedblock cloth, these things grow right through it so you may need to move the cloth along with the clump. You will not be able to separate the cloth without destroying the clump. Whatever your situation is, these things are tough and while you may loose parts of it, it will not harm the main plant. Once you’ve determined the size of the clump, simply drive your spade straight down around it. They don’t go very deep, maybe 6 inches tops so go about that deep. Once you’ve gone around the entire clump, start undercutting it with the spade. Again, don’t worry about damaging roots because there aren’t many roots below the clump. If your spade has a strong handle, you can simply start lifting while undercutting, otherwise just undercut around the whole thing. Once you got the clump undercut, simply start lifting. The whole thing will come up in a single piece. You may loose a few fringe pieces but again, no big deal. Now that you have it out of the ground, you can divide if you please. Chances are, you probably will because the clump will be considerable. I had 3 clumps that were well over 2-3 feet around. To divide, you can simply place the spade at the top and drive it down to chop it in half or fourths. Now find a new spot and replant by simply digging a hole a little bigger than the clump or give some away. There will be plenty to give away if you want. You can also replant some of the fringe pieces if you want to salvage those as well. They will keep quite well in glass of water if you can’t replant right away or saving them to give away.

That’s all there is to it. You will probably have to repeat the process in 2 years as the clumps grow incredibly fast and get pretty big.

We normally identify grasses as green but sometimes we need something that will add  texture, a little bit of architecture and break up the monotony of green in our garden.  To accomplish this, consider introducing some of these great looking colorful grasses into your garden.

All Gold Japanese Forest Grass

First up we have the All Gold Japanese forest grass also known as Gold Hakone grass. This is probably one of the best looking most interesting grasses you can find.  More importantly, unlike most grasses, this one can be grown in the shade. It will light up your shady spot like nothing else!

This grass is pretty easy to grow and will tolerate the heat here in the south provided you have it shaded during the hottest parts of the day. You also need to remember to water this regularly as it is not particularly drought tolerant though it will take some drought just fine. Some decent soil is also important. No need to go crazy if you have clay soil as I do. Just amend your clay with hummusy type soil. I use the Evergreen brand from Home Depot/Lowed, only $1.25 a bag and plants love it.  Like all other grasses it can be transplanted and separated without much heartache though it will take some time to get to a good size before you can separate. Another great quality is that it stays relatively short, perhaps 2-3 feet tall.

One of the important things to keep in mind is that it grows somewhat slow so getting a good size clump to start will make a huge difference.  This one is a relatively new introduction so it’s not over planted and is very unique.

Flame Grass

Next is Flame Grass, as the name suggests this one turns redish-orange as fall approaches. Blades start off a medium green and gradually turn red at the tips as summer progresses.

This is another easy grower that will grow just fine in average soils and will take half day to all day sun though full sun is recommended, you probably want to put it in a spot that will be shaded into the hotter parts of the day. It will require regular waterings as it’s not very drought tolerant.  Growth rate is average and will reach 3 to 4 foot at maturity but again, it’s nice to start with a good size specimen. Works great as either a single specimen or in mass. Particularly attractive when mixed with other plants and shrubs.

Flame grass is an excellent choice to add some color especially going into the fall as the reds and oranges really begin to show. This is another favorite colorful grass that is not particularly over planted here in the south like say Pampas grass. Very unique and great looking grass.

Shanendoah Switch Grass

Finally, we have the Shenandoah Switch Grass. This is another grass that gains color as the summer goes along.  Similar to the Flame grass but with stronger hues of red and burgundy into the fall.  Strong colors make this one particularly interesting as a specimen plant that will contrast nicely with red to purple color schemes in the garden.

Standing in at about 4 foot at maturity, Shenandoah Switch grass is one of the smaller switch grass varieties available so if you like switch grass but want something more compact then this one will work great. Unlike the previous two grasses, this one will tolerate a hot dry site with occasional waterings. It will also tolerate an average to clay alkaline soils. Full sun is best to get the most out of its color. Not a particularly fast grower but the colors make this one well worth the wait.

A great looking colorful grass that will stand on it’s own or mixed into a matching color scheme, the Shenandoah switch grass is both versatile and relatively easy to grow in just about any condition. This is another grass that is not seen very often if at all here in the south so again, you will score high uniqueness points by adding this to your garden.