Southern Charm

Azalea "Pink Ruffles"

Azaleas grow well in many areas across the world, yet I think of them as Southern. For the record, we do have native azaleas; however, most of the azaleas cultivated here are not natives.

Azalea "Traditional Pink"

My pink azaleas are among the first to bloom. "Pink Ruffles," "Traditional Pink," and "Coral Bells," I purchased this year in one gallon containers. I'm really enjoying their flowers, yet my current favorite azalea is one with deep orangey-red blossoms that I planted four or five years ago. Perhaps I'll figure out its name when I finally finish organizing my records. Even though it isn't as photogenic as the pinks, I love observing it from the kitchen window. The spot where it grows receives a splash of sunlight in both early morning and late afternoon.

Azalea "Coral Bells"

Azalea "Fashion"

"George Tabor" and "Mrs. G. G. Gerbing" are old favorites. If memory serves, my grandmother had one of each growing in front of her house. 

Azalea "Mrs. G. G. Gerbing"

Azalea "George Tabor"

Last year I added two reds to my collection, "President Clay"and "Midnight Flare." They grow at the back of the lot and are just now budding.  Joining them are my two recent additions, "Hershey's Red" and "Johanna's Red," which haven't yet bloomed. 

Azalea "Midnight Flare"

In 2011, I planted a red variety called "Christmas Cheer" but where, oh where, did I place it?

Azalea "President Clay"

On this day last year, my native azalea had begun to bloom. Not so this year.

Native azalea

Pink native azaleas growing at Brookgreen Gardens

This lovely pink is one I planted or transplanted last year.
I've been looking though my records hoping to discover its name.

I continue to add to my azalea collection as I attempt to recover an area taken over by English ivy and Florida betony. Two more additions back there this year: "White Gumpo" and "Renee Michelle." Tonight I ache from pulling up vines and digging, pulling up vines and digging, pulling up vines and digging….

Azalea "Southern Charm"

Daffodil Delight

There's something jubilant about daffodils. Just when the bleakness of winter seems as though it will never end, they erupt into bloom.

Over the years I have planted the contents of fifty bulb sacks of  buttercream and mixed daffodils and planted smaller quantities of uncommon varieties. 

Last year very few of my daffodils bloomed. Many other area gardeners had the same disappointing results. Could the relatively warm winter of 2012 have been the culprit?

This year two fluorescent yellow daffodils popped up next to my carport in January and stayed fresh for most of the month, even enduring freezes. This month daffodils are present in patches at various locations across the yard. Not all are blooming, but enough have to remind me that spring is almost here.

Heads up!  In two short weeks pre-sales end for Those Carolina Parakeets Once Far from Extinct.  Don't delay. Order your copy today at finishinglinepress.com.

Thank you for your support.

Those Carolina Parakeets

January brings an increased number of birds to my backyard. Last week an infrequent visitor, the Baltimore Oriole, stopped by. I am sorry to report that the Carolina Parakeet never shows up - it became extinct early in the 20th Century. 
   

"Carolina Parakeets" by John James Audubon
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I feel very blessed that such a variety of avian species choose to spend time here. It hasn't always been that way. Twenty-some years ago when I bought this suburban property, it and neighboring properties had recently lost masses of trees to Hurricane Hugo and the pine bark beetle. Except at the very back of the lot where a few wax myrtles, a red tip, and a couple of palmetto trees grew, my backyard consisted of patches of St. Augustine grass interspersed with weeds. 

Over the years I planted fruit trees, hydrangeas, azaleas, and camellias. In winter I put out suet and sunflower and thistle seeds. Gradually birds began to come seeking food on cold days. 

Here is a list of visitors that came to feed on a chilly Tuesday in this final week of January:

• Mockingbird (See my December 2013 post for a photograph of this friend.)
• Yellow-rumped warbler (aka Butter-butt)
• Brown thrasher
• Carolina chickadee
• Tufted titmouse
• Downy woodpecker
• Goldfinch
• Carolina wren
• Palm warbler (?)
• Blue jay
• Mourning dove
• Cardinal
• Common yellow throat (New to my garden!)
• Boat-tailed grackle
• Red-winged blackbird
• Bluebird (New to my garden within the past year and still infrequent, but often seen in other local neighborhoods)
• House finch

What, you might ask, do birds have to do with gardening? For me,  birds are one of the most precious components of a garden - especially those species with brightly colored plumage or sweet songs. The trees and shrubs in my garden provide places for songbirds and others to perch, hide, nest. 

And why did I use the title "Those Carolina Parakeets"for this blog post is spite of the fact that Carolina Parakeets never visit my garden? 

I have exciting news to share. Pre-sales for my poetry chapbook Those Carolina Parakeets Once Far from Extinct began earlier this week. I am grateful to Leah Maines at Finishing Line Press for selecting my manuscript for publication and to accomplished poets Paul Allen and Susan Meyers for graciously reading it and commenting. 


The voice here is sometimes questioning, sometimes asserting, but always clean and precise. In these poems--these jewels--Pearce endears the natural world to us, and us to the natural world.

—Paul Allen, author of Ground Forces and American Crawl


These smart, clear-eyed poems teach the reader some of life’s essential lessons: how it feels to be present—place by place, moment by moment—to the notes of one’s own song. Whether at a King Tut exhibit in Munich or a garden in Kyoto, the imaginative joins the analytical in the compelling attempt to decipher the day’s outer and inner weather. “My mission is to locate // the lost, the forgotten, the innovative, / the rare,” says poet Frances Pearce. Lucky reader, to take this wise, enchanting journey with her!

—Susan Laughter Meyers, author of My Dear, Dear Stagger Grass and Keep and Give Away

To pre-order Those Carolina Parakeets Once Far from Extinct, please follow this link:
https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=1973&osCsid=30gm7mesr7na1gc68rr7uhqef2. 

And, as always, I thank you for your support.

Anticipation

Hampton Park hollyhock, Charleston, South Carolina
Success in growing hollyhocks has eluded me thus far. Maybe this year?

As I anticipate what the new year will bring, I host a mini-retrospective of photographs I made over the course of the year that ends today. 

Here is one of several Chinese fringe flowers I bought with an Abide-A-While  gift certificate a group of generous colleagues gave me almost ten years ago. Lately I've allowed the Loropetalum to sprawl. The effect late last January? Magnificent!

A year or two ago I traveled to Carolinia Nursery in North Augusta, SC to find this Star Magnolia which I brought home and planted out front. I bought it as a reminder of the Star Magnolia I saw in Kyoto, Japan soon after the March 11, 2011 earthquake. 

Just one of several day lilies descended from ones I purchased from Roycroft Nursery in Georgetown, SC.

This rambling rose I brought from eastern North Carolina where it thrived on a ditch bank.

It must have been nearly twenty years ago that my daughter brought home a starter for this rambling rose after a visit to the site in central North Carolina where her father and his third wife were building a home. These roses bloom profusely each May. 

Growing on the Eastern North Carolina farm that has been
in my family for generations, this quince is beginning to dwarf the woodshed.

This mockingbird often kept me company in the garden last winter. Will it return?

Lowcountry, Late Autumn

Fallen leaves

With all the extra rain that descended on the Lowcountry during the summer of 2013, I wondered whether we would get a higher degree of fall color than usual this year. I'm no botanist, but I've observed more brightly colored leaves here this month than in any other November since moving to the area more than two decades ago.

Japanese maple and palm fronds

Yellow maple leaves

When I think of autumn in the Lowcountry, I think of Spanish moss dangling from live oaks and of the marsh with its spartina grass turned the color of ready-to-harvest wheat. In the wild, scarlet Virginia creeper and the bright yellow leaves of wild muscadine garland trees and anything else they manage to climb. Dogwoods always provide a bit of color before dropping their leaves. This year I'm noticing more maples and ornamental fruit trees displaying vibrant colors. And I'm loving it.

Near creeks and rivers this is what November looks like in Mount Pleasant

A typical Lowcountry autumn scene: Live oak dripping with Spanish moss

This year trees display more vibrant leaves than usual

…but there are plenty of just plain brown leaves on the ground

Virginia creeper can be counted on to add brilliance