A closer look at exotic "cold hardy" flowers

If you've followed along this blog for a while, you know I'm all about foliage over flowers. I don't like to rely on blooms to bring color to the garden (that's too much pressure to perform!) but there are some exceptions! 

Southern magnolias are a staple in the south (and they're native). The foliage alone gives them plenty of worth in any landscape (I can't think of another tree that stays green all year long with beautiful, glossy leaves). The leaves take a step back in late spring and through summer when the giant flowers open. We're talking bold, white blooms, 6 inches across! The flower parts look pre-historic, and they actually ARE pre-historic. It's believed the first flowers to ever exist looked like magnolias! Maybe that fact explains why these look so unusual up close! If you live in zone 7 or warmer, you definitely should consider this plant for your garden! 

Passiflora caerulea (aka Hardy Passion Vine) is another staple to the south and so beautiful. This species is actually native to South America, but if you're looking for a North American native, P. incarnata is a perfect choice! I've personally never had luck with P. incarnata, but caerulea has proven to be marginally hardy. During "zone 8" winters, P. caerulea is actually evergreen. These plants can become a bit "weedy" in warmer climates, but the flowers are definitely unlike any weed! 

 Plumeria is going to get a separate post entirely because in my opinion, it's the easiest tropical plant you can grow in a pot up north. Although they are far from cold hardy and will melt in below-freezing temperatures, they are very drought tolerant. They go dormant in the dry season in the tropics which makes for easy storage up north! Plumeria love hot summers and will not bloom well if summer afternoons don't regularly get into the 80s F (30s C). Typically a branch will send a big head of blooms every other year. Most of my plumerias have enough branches to bloom each season, but some years will have more bloom heads than others. The fragrance is unbelievable and instantly sends me to Hawaii. A must-have!

American Wisteria is a beautiful option. It's more behaved than Japanese wisteria, stays more compact, and blooms a second time in the summer! The blooms aren't quite as dramatic as the Japanese species, but it's a small tradeoff for a much more responsible wisteria! 

A few randoms... Enjoy! 

A few nighttime photos from the garden

String lights were definitely one of my favorite garden investments. I think I paid $15 for a 20-foot strand of heavy-duty lights. I don't even take them down for the wintertime and they've been in the garden now for at least 4 or 5 years. They are so relaxing to look at and add the perfect level of light for a relaxing late-night stroll around the garden.

Yucca flowers only open up at night so that's the best time to give them a smell and take some pictures! Nighttime is also really fun when you have hibiscus because you'll often see the blooms start to unfurl before the sun rises. Our hibiscus are still a few weeks away from blooming. They have been REALLY slow to emerge this year. It's okay though because the hostas are stealing the show anyway!

Visited Triple Oaks Nursery/ New Purchases/ Small update on planting progress.

The yard is quickly coming together after a lot of digging and moving around this weekend. Now that the deck is gone, I have a lot more space for planting. This year I am focusing on plants that do not have to be brought in every season because I have definitely passed what I am capable of taking care of and all of my older tropicals are really heavy and large and finally have the space to grow less plants in pots and more in the ground. I've already bought a ton of amazing subtropicals this season and can't wait to post a complete update.

Many of these plants came today from Triple Oaks Nursery in Franklinville, NJ. It is about an hour and a half drive from my yard but well worth it. They had a lot of cold hardy palms and shrubs that you can't find anywhere and fantastic knowledgeable staff too! Dave is an employee at the nursery and was really really knowledgeable about everything and nice enough to take the time to show me all of the cool things growing around the grounds. I wish I took more pics but I got a shot of one of several mature needle palm clumps and tried my best to show how amazing their bamboo grove was.

Here's some shots of what I ended up purchasing.

I got an amazing Sabal Birmingham, Sabal minor, Trachycarpus Nanital, and Needle palm. I increased my cold hardy palm collection by almost 50% just today! I bought some hardy hibiscus, Soft Caress Mahonia, and black and blue salvia just to name a few of the hardy plants that I purchased.

I also went to Rutgers Gardens annual plant Sale a few weeks ago and got some great plants there as well. The gardens are absolutely beautiful all year long. It's great place to visit when you just want to get away for an hour and walk around, and a great place to find amazing plants to buy one weekend a year in early May. This year I got an Daphniphyllum macropodum which is a plant I had been wanting  for years as well as a Double Yellow Oleander (one of the hardier cultivars), a Mahonia, an empress wu hosta, and a new fig tree (just incase my ol' reliable brown turkey fig finally bit the dust this year).

I will give a full update of the yard when everything is all planted for the season next weekend. Until then I have a lot of digging to do! But here's a pic and some time lapses of the work I have done so far.

As always thanks for looking. Enjoy the summer weather heading our way!