Macro In a Mason Jar

After seeing the great shots others have gotten using the Macro in a Mason Jar technique for Gardening Gone Wild's photo contest, I decided to try my hand.  It's a fun technique and I hope to try it again when the garden is full of flowers.  For now, I used flowers from the primrose that's been brightening our kitchen window.

Since my flowers are white, I used a vintage aqua mason jar for color and tried several fabrics under it. 

I thought dark blue might make the white flowers pop.  Although I like the look of the beads of water, the flowers look a little darker than I'd like.  Perhaps with better lighting....

A crocheted doily for texture seemed to detract from, rather than accent the flowers.

Simple linen was the clear winner for me.  The texture of the fabric both contrasts and echos the subtle lines in the flower petals.  The simplicity allows the flowers and the color of the mason jar to shine.

This technique is very simple.  Choose a jar, arrange your subject on the bottom, set your camera to macro, rest the camera on the rim of the jar and shoot!  Full instructions are given at Gardening Gone Wild.

Check out the other amazing contest entries here!

The Promise of Spring

Where man sees but withered leaves,

God sees sweet flowers growing.

~Albert Laighton

In the deep of winter,

Signs of spring fill me with hope.

Evergreen Shrubs

Winter can be bleak in the garden.  The boisterous summer and fall colors are long gone and things may be looking forlorn.  That's why the "bones" of a garden are so important.  "Bones" are elements that provide structure even in the winter (See Signature Gardens excellent post on "bones" here).  As I was touring my neighborhood seeking out examples for this post, I saw a house looking decidedly bare, with no shrubs in sight.  While summer may be a different story, there was nothing to cheer in the dead of winter.  On the other hand, the house pictured above looks snug and welcoming with a generous and varied helping of evergreens.

While the winter garden can't compete with the lively summer show, you can have year round interest by including elements with a winter presence.  Evergreen shrubs are an excellent part of the picture and there are many options that go beyond the yews of yesteryear. 

Spreading Yew (Taxus repandens) is low growing with attractive arching branches, and won't grow out of bounds like other yews.  It's unfortunate that their lovely form is sometimes pruned into sheared balls. 

Mugo Pine (Pinus mugo) is a shrub with several dwarf cultivars (including 'Mops', 'Slowmound' and 'Paul's Dwarf') that grow to about 3' tall. 

Gold Mop False Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Golden Mops') offers vibrant foliage with a feathery texture.  This dwarf cultivar grows to about 3'.

Dwarf Hinoki Cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Nana Gracilis') is a slow growing shrub with a pyramidal form for an upright element.

This large Golden Hinoki Cypress (perhaps Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Aurea' or 'Goldilocks' - 'Confucious' is a shorter variety) is a nice accent to Pieris japonica and Blue Spruce. 

Scotch Broom (Cytisus x praecox) is looking bright and full in December, with a unique texture.  This is a good example of the importance of botanical names - resources indicate that Cytisus x praecox is not invasive, while Cytisus scoparius is extremely invasive - read about it here.

This variegated Euonymus shrub (Euonymus fortunei cultivar) is a nice looking specimen -Euonymus shrubs generally don't have a uniform habit and can look unkempt.

This Cherry Laurel cultivar, perhaps 'Otto Luyken' (Prunus laurocerasus 'Otto Luyken'), has a nice scale- UConn Plant Data Base indicates a height of about 4 feet. 
Thanks to Carolyn of Carolyn's Shade Gardens for the correction.

Japanese Holly (Ilex crenata) is a versatile broadleaf evergreen shrub with a nice uniform shape and a fine texture.  There are a number of good cultivars including 'Green Luster' and 'Helleri'.

Inkberry (Ilex glabra) is another medium sized shrub with beautiful lustrous leaves, although it's leggy nature calls for some layering.

Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil' is a fastigiate upright Japanese Holly cultivar.

Evergreen is a misnomer for these azaleas, which bring beautiful color to the winter landscape.

Pieris japonica is another bright spot of color. A number of cultivars, such as 'Mountain Fire,' have red new growth.

Prague Viburnum (Viburnum 'Pragense') seems to be more reliably evergreen in zone 6 than Leatherleaf Viburnum (Viburnum rhytidophyllum). 

This is a beautiful specimen of Rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense) shining in the midwinter.

More evergreen shrubs which are featured in my Fall Fruit post (click here to see it) are:

• Firethorn (Pyracantha)
• Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina)
• Hollies (Ilex x meserveae)

Another classic broadleaf evergreen, Boxwood (Buxus), is pictured in my Christmas Accents post (click here to see it).

To see more foliage in Foliage Follow-up posts from around the world, visit Digging.

Evergreen shrubs will help give your garden structure to brighten those bleak winter months. 

A Simple Design Tool

To help me (and my clients) envision what a design will look like in the ground, I like to use a simple tool.  I create a montage of photos of the selected plants in an arrangement similar to the plan.  My goal isn't to try to make the montage exactly like the plan, but rather to get a quick picture of the plants in relation to one another and in the overall picture.  I have fairly good visualization skills, but the people I'm explaining the design to often don't.  And I find that it's very helpful to me as well.  The complexities of a planting design are difficult to keep in your head and I often find myself rearranging things a bit based on the montage.

A rendered drawing could provide a more accurate depiction, but who has the time for that kind of detail?  There are some drawbacks - the montage shows everything in peak bloom at once, which will never happen in reality.  If you have an extensive photo library and the time, you can prepare seperate montages for different seasons.  

The montage shown above depicts the plants in the sketch plan in my Choosing the Perfect Plants post.  Did anyone notice that I forgot to list Siberian Iris in the plant list in that post (noted as IS on the plan)?  Notice that the photos are arranged in a casual representation of the shape of the planting bed.  Did I mention that this is only a quick picture? 

For posting, I've only used photos I've taken, so the plants aren't the exact cultivar and the Siberian Iris doesn't have flowers, but I think it's a helpful representation for planning purposes. 

After reviewing the montage, I think I'd like to see some more blue between the Stella D'oro Daylilies and the Coreopsis.  Although I have contrast in foliage form and texture, I'd also like to see more contrasting foliage color and fall interest.  Perhaps I'll add some Agastache or ‘Jack Frost’ Siberian Bugloss which I've been reading about - see "My Wish List is Growing" - and/or Blue Plumbago. 





Siberian Bugloss

Blue Plumbago fall foliage



Blue Plumbago



 



  

Have fun planning and then re-arranging with ease on paper!

My Wish List is Growing

Recent blog posts highlighting overachieving plants have been motivating and my wish list of plants keeps growing. 

I've also been inspired by 

Tracy Disabato-Aust’s book,

50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants



Paperbark Maple



Tracy filters her plant picks through the following rigorous checklist:



·         Long-lived

·         Tolerates heat and humidity

·         Cold-hardy

·         Deer-resistant

·         Insect and disease resistant

·         Minimal or no deadheading

·         Minimal or no fertilizing

·         No staking

·         Minimal or no division

·         Minimal or no pruning

·         Non-invasive

·         Drought-tolerant

If you'd like your garden to be high on low maintenance plants, Tracy’s book offers some enticing options.



Hakone Grass
(Photo taken at Hershey Gardens)

Virginia Sweetspire

A number of her picks are plants that I’ve had my eye on for while:  Golden-variegated Hakone Grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’), Rozanne Hardy Geranium (Geranium Rozanne), Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis) and ‘Henry’s Garnet’ Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica ‘Henry’s Garnet’), to name a few.  This may just give me the push I need to get them into the ground.      
She includes plants recently featured in blogs I follow: Hellebore (Helleborus - see Carolyn’s Shadegardens for fall blooming Hellebores) and ’Blue Fortune’ Anise Hyssop (Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’ - see Rhone Street Gardens for his favorite Agastache). 


Siberian Bugloss

There are new takes on old favorites from some of my past gardens, Purple Snakeroot (Actaea simplex Atropurpurea Group) and ‘Jack Frost’ Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’). 

Intriguing choices for foliage color include ‘Britt-Marie Crawford’ Ligularia (Ligularia dentata ‘Britt-Marie Crawford’), ‘Gold Heart’ Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’) and Dragon’s-eye Pine (Pinus densiflora’Oculus-draconis’).  Plants featuring unique foliage color and form are deservedly gaining attention for providing long lasting interest in the garden.



Paperbark Maple

 

Several high interest trees and shrubs, such as Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum) are also included. 

50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants

is sure to expand your palette of low maintenance plants without sacrificing the show. 

A Longwood Christmas - Part 2

Here's another peek at the conservatory displays at
A Longwood Christmas.
 

See more Longwood Christmas views here.