Today’s photos are from our old (but still young!) friend Jeff Calton down in Tennessee (see just a few of his previous posts HERE).
He says, “After a full summer of never-ending torrential rains almost daily, most of the plants seem to like it and grew in very lushly. I snapped these Saturday morning and everything was dripping wet from the previous night’s rain. Sunshine now so I think I will sit on the patio. I’m sure I can actually see things grow… especially the weeds!”
Everything’s looking great, Jeff, as usual!
The season is winding down, everyone! Get outside with that camera. We need to see your garden! Yes I said NEED. Not WANT. NEED.
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Comments
Jeff, I don't know how you are able to leave your lush tropical paradise each day to go to work? I would love to just hang around a sanctuary like yours all summer long.
Cherry, i leave each day because i don't want the wolf to be knocking at my door! :) the bills never seem to stop coming
As much as I adore my gardens and containers that beautifully explode in our harsh Denver sun, I have to say I miss the extraordinary varieties of begonias that you grow so artistically in your TN humidity and rain. Nature is pretty grand, especially at the hands of a master.
Sigh, Jeff, I am in love with and lust for every single gorgeous plant you have growing so lushly. Your container combinations are all positively sumptuous and the way they surround your new patio makes it look like a tropical (borrowed your word, Cherry...it was just so perfect) getaway that's been there forever. And that swath of strawberry begonias make me so hopeful that the ones you gave me might someday multiply and look that amazing. And, shoot, Sheila, heaven knows I have east TN humidity and I don't have begonias like that...Jeff has the magic touch!
everybody make it a great thursday AND labor day weekend. Michelle, the season isn't winding down it's just shifting gears. time for fall "stuff"
Will you swap out the plant material in some of your containers for a fall theme. Right now, everything looks so healthy and perfect, I wouldn't want to change a thing if I were you. How about sharing with us what you do for fertilizing since everything looks so robust and healthy. Nothing has that late August "I'm tired and want to die" look.
Ha! the biggest thing in my garden that has that tired and want to die look is me
Oh, so funny, Annek...would you believe (and I bet you would) that the same thought about myself crossed my mind when I was typing out 'I'm tired, etc" My inner spirit and will to garden inspite of the humidity says otherwise but I'm pretty sure my daughter thinks I look like I'm knocking on death's door when I come in for lunch.
I'm such a mess after a day of gardening, that I look like I belong in one of the 'Day of the Living Dead' movies.
I know that look Annek. Happens in my garden mid August. =(
Mike, i will only plant 2 containers at home for fall. we will, however, be switching over most ofthe clients BIG containers for fall, not all of them just ones in strategic locations. Osmocote fertilizer
Jeff, I can only conclude that you also add whispering sweet nothings to them when you water because I use Osmocote and I don't have containers that look that lush and amazing.
actually, i'm more likely to say to them " grow, dammit, or i'll rip you out of that pot by the roots and to the compost you will go! "
Which Osmocote? What are the proportions of the ones you use?
Also, can you please do a short play by play on the photos below especially the ones with the pot heads.
Sigh. I'm going to refrain from whining about the terrible downsampling of the photos that the new blog program does, making them mush. Instead, Jeff, I'll say, Well done! Looks awesome and I agree with Michaele that those saxifrages look amazing! Mine actually survived the harsh winter up here and are thriving, but they look like the poor in-laws next to yours!
Tim, I so agree. Trying to guess what is actually in the photos takes away all the joy and becomes an exercise in frustration instead! Not what you want with your morning coffee.
That said, Jeff, like everyone else, I love everything I can see in your garden. The growth since the summer photos is phenomenal! How are your succulents dealing with all the rain?
I've been suggesting the same thing since Day 1.
Let's try an experiment: Please check out the photo posted below. Is it any better Tim and Granny May?
Not sure if this will work for you but if you click on the photo, it will open up to full size in another tab. Please try it and let me know if it works. Thanks!
Yes!!! Yes!!! Yes!!! That is perfect! Now you can see the details that we need to see. On my computer, clicking on the photo once opens it in a new window, enlarged nicely, then I can click on that once more to get it full, original size.
Somehow we hit the jackpot!
Tim, it is lovely to see the photos properly! If this is going to be implemented officially on GPOD , I'm thrilled, but getting tired of waiting for it to happen. We already know that we can attach full-size, enlargeable photos into our posts. Is that the way of the future instead?
We might have to be subversive and upload photos in these comments. :) Michelle Gervais has said that she has been promised a pop-up feature in this blog. I hope soon!
Uploaded the rest for you Tim! Enjoy your morning coffee. =) We'll be waiting for you and Granny May on FB.
I'm thinking that your screen name is an appropriate epithet....Thanks. Don't do Facebook so you'll have to know I'm there will you all in spirit! cheers and thanks.
Here's to being subversive. You can both mix it in with your morning coffee. LOL.
Jeff's Heptacodium miconoides or Seven Son Flower, in full bloom right now he says.
Another photo...
And another...
Next...testing the limits of how many photos we can publish on the blog.
It stopped loading so I'm trying again... a few more photos left.
One more...
Wait. Maybe I'm tired but I'm so confused. The photos are gorgeous on my iPad and they do pop up. I know some of us posted our own photos with our comments during Michaele's daylilly post. How did you do this, Cherry? Who is the guest? It's thrilling to see sharp photos. Cheers!
The guest was me too. I tried to consolidate all my comments to the first paragraph and Disqus saved my comment even after I deleted it. Sorry for the confusion.
Anyway, here's the short of it: Our horiticulturist exhibitionist friend Jeff sought out new horizons and invaded Facebook not too long ago. He sought me out and I love his daily posts of his morning walkabouts.
For this experiment, I lifted some of the same photos on his Facebook post in the hopes of convincing the web creators to bring back the enlarge feature of Michelle's blog. (Please chime in everyone else if it is working...)
If you'd like to see more of Jeff's photos, I suggest you seek him out on Facebook - Jeff GoodEarth, the man! We'd love to have more garden friends over there too.
PS Of course, but still follow GPOD. Think of it as expanding your wings just like Jeff did.
Ah! Thanks for the information and for sharing. I'm still drooling over that photo with the begonia. Here's hoping Antonio or whoever will be able to add in the pop-up-to-full-resolution feature to the blog soon!
Here's another. I'm interested to find out if you are seeing enough detail in these photos posted.
This picture enlarged to 675 x 960, which might have been its cropped size. Anyway, that still gives lots of detail to look at in the containers and even some of the background.
Cherry, aren't you the techno smarty pants...I think Fine Gardening should put you in charge of fixing all those limiting annoyances that have been getting our goat (ha, odd expression ..."getting our goat"). Anyway, this has been a great effort on your part and I'm glad I was made aware of your reposting of these pictures of Jeff's from fb. I wouldn't have a clue how to do that . You're a marvel!
Thanks meander1. I think we should all direct our plea to their web creators. Hopefully, if there's enough of us "whining and complaining" about it, they'll bring back to the old feature soon. What else do you miss from GPOD?
I did email Michelle the other day with what I consider my two biggest complaints . I miss the enlarge feature and I really miss the thumbnail presentation of all the pictures at once as opposed to always having to go through the slide show if i want to compare one picture to another or be reminded of something. Ha, the old memory isn't as good as it used to be and being limited to the slide show gives me time to forget stuff...grr. I see the pros and cons of the new comment format...maybe we need Goldilocks to come in and make things "just right"!
I hope Goldilocks is listening. Will be sending Michelle an e-mail soon. Plan to screen capture those photos in yesterday's experiments. Fingers crossed.
PS Waiting for Michelle to feature your garden soon. I'm sure your Pink Muhly Grass is putting on a show right now as with your other gorgeous specimens... I'm sure given the mass plantings they are all spectacular right now. Also looking forward to Darwin's creations and your fun garden art finds.
Actually, I haven't been holding back on my annual muhly grass pictures. Those grasses are just starting to hint at what's to come and I have to look closely to see a peek of pink . It's interesting how they work because the slender roundish green leaf cracks open about a foot down from the top and the pink flower head shoots up from that point. I know I should get on the stick and send in pics of the succulent display table and Gnomeville...I never feel like my photography skills are up to snuff.
Cherry, this is what the muhly grass looks like right now. You can see how the leaves are breaking over and forming an opening for the new shoot carrying the pink bloom heads to burst forth. Man, did they reseed like crazy this year... due to all the rain, I guess. It's kind of weird.
Wow, so different. It's like this is the secret identity part. The photos that were featured before made it appear like in superhero mode.
Very cool!
PS I just had to go and check out the photos again before going to bed tonight! LOL. https://www.finegardening.com/reader-photos-michaeles-garden-tennessee
What? No way! You've got pretty cool photos as far as I'm concerned.
Please send them in ASAP.
One more Jeff blow-up... hope you guys and gals return to the scene of the crime the day after...
And this enlarged to 2048 x 1536. Great! I'm happy with that. Short of visiting Jeff's garden in person, you can't ask for more detail. So, it surely cannot be a crime to display the photos the way they were intended to be seen. IMHO.
Thanks for your feedback Granny May. What else do you miss in the current GPOD format?
Tonight's multi-threaded conversation has shown me that I prefer a single thread, as it used to be on GPOD - do you follow me? Trying to keep track of what has been said on the subject is difficult when answers can be posted as replies to any previous post or person. Though it is nice to reply to a specific question right to the person, as I am doing now, the general flow is lost. It is easy to miss comments that have been added unless they are addressed to you.
Rephrasing from what I understand: "You prefer to read the posts chronologically like in the old format, but you do like the alert feature that Disqus has to offer when you have messages from fellow readers." Does this sound right?
Pretty much, yes. We previously could not reply directly to a person, only mention their name so they knew it was meant for them.
How lush and inviting! Jeff, your begonias are to die for! What do you use for.fertilizer? Sorry to hear of the rain. Sounds.like how are summers are usually but we have had an unusually hot and dry summer. The hectic opium is gorgeous. I found out about that tree on this blog and bought one! It only has a couple of blooms but watch out next year! That's what makes gardening so fun...hope of the following year to be more and change is always good for us. I so enjoy seeing what you are doing in your gardens
Thanks for sharing with us all! Awh..I got my gardening fix for the day!
Oh..I mean hepticodium. It's early!
hectic opium....haha!!
What a garden! Jeff, I want to walk down that stone pathway and sit and chat with you about your plant knowledge, ideas, thoughts and tales. I agree meander1, we'd like to know the fertilizer you use for those luscious blooms as a start. You've definitely mastered how to nurture a healthy plant! I never get tired of seeing your work and hearing your stories.
Jeff, love your garden as usual, and all the comments, humorous and otherwise. Everything looks like the rain agreed with it - lush and lovely. We have had a glorious summer in western WA - a few heavy rains that replenished the soil for a bit without continuing into the winter, as it sometimes does. They don't call this the temperate rain forest for nothing. And I can relate to the tired and wanna die feeling - but not really the last part. The earth is too beautiful to want to leave it. But I am ready for things to slow down a bit.
So lush and gorgeous! Wow!
Goodmorning Jeff ~ Seems there is little I can add to all of those wonderful comments, except I would sure love to stroll thru your gardens. I see so many beautiful things that I would love to see closer. The first picture you posted is a wonderful introduction into your vast and grand collections and I just love the Begonias ! We could sure use some of that rain here in WA state. I know we have a rep for rainy weather but have had barely a drop all summer and OH! my water bill !! Thanks for sharing your gardens ^_^
Meelianthus, you can get my email from Michelle OR find me on facebook, i'm JeffGoodEarth, i'm a horticultural exhibitionist. happy to share pics with more clarity either by email or you can find LOTS of them on FB
Hey Jeff...I noticed in your spring photos that you had a Japanese snow bell, I believe it's a styrax, anyway I was wondering how it does in a pot...I came across a "green pagoda" Japanese snowball that is suppose to have bigger leaves, flowers , and bigger seed pods! It's gorgeous! But I wasn't sure where to plant it so it doesn't block the sun in certain areas. So the only option is a pot. I saw yours and Iam just asking how yours does....thanks
I was talking about building an ark here in Brussels these days .....your garden is gorgeous !!
greengenes, the Styrax does fine in a pot but i'm trying to keep it small. so far so good. granny may the succulents have outdone themselves this year. i use a VERY free draining mostly mineral potting mix and they have done exceedingly well this year. greengenes, annek, i use Osmocote fertilizer almost exclusively, it's effective and i don't have to think about it . it just does it's job. also, greengenes, i'll trade you my heptacodium for your hectic opium, some days are just crazy. glad you all like my stuff, i keep dragging it home hoping to find space brought a Gasteraloe Green Ice home today!
Awh...can u believe how that word came out! Iam using my smart phone right now until we get our computer back. It doesn't have a lot of room for my fingers. Thanks for letting me k now about the styrax! Have a restful evening!
Lovely tour and magnificent foliage! Thanks Jeff!
Hi Jeff,
I am in England right now,via Paris! Weather cool and damp,gardens flourishing,much like your own. PLEASE tell me what the deep purple foliage plant is! (The roses here are fantastic in even small gardens). Looks like a tradescantia but difficult to tell from the photo. As usual your garden is amazingly beautiful,and we are all very well aware of just how much work that took. Congratulations and thank you for sharing with us.
Eddi, the deep purple in the iron kettle next to a post is Strobilanthes, Persian Shield
the other with large heart shaped leaves behind the fountain, Colocasia illustris
Wonderful Jeff even with all the rain. We are very dry on Vancouver Island and will have huge water bills. The planters are gorg
eous.
Thanks Perennially Crazy for sending those pictures we can enlarge. Granny May emailed me and let me know. I too miss the old format. It is so nice to be able to enlarge the photos ans get a better picture.
When you combine torrential rain and a magnificent garden you get Jeff's beautiful summertime garden in Tennesee Day 1!!!!
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