The fall color of our blueberry bushes is a nice surprise!

 

The bulbs I had ordered in early September arrived in November:  

100 Crocus flavus 'Golden Yellow'

500 Tulip clusiana 'Cynthia'

225 Ipheion uniforum 'Wisley Blue'

Crocus flavus 'Golden Yellow'

Tulip clusiana 'Cynthia'

Ipheion uniflorum 'Wisley Blue'

The crocus and tulips were added to areas in our front yard where we already had some planted.  The ipheion will be dotted around on all three properties.  My hope is that all of these will naturalize ... if the critters don't dig them up first!!

The brown crispy leaves of Magnolia macrophylla (Big Leaf Magnolia) are a special fall treat for our bunnies.  

Peppercorn (left) and Butter (right) live outside in the garden in what Tom refers to as the "Taj ma Hutch"

  

Parsley is our indoor bunny who lives in our sunroom.  We didn't expect to have an indoor bunny, but after losing her mate (Basil), Parsley just would not accept another bunny (and we tried several) even though we went by the book in making introductions.    She would chase them, pull out their hair, and just terrorize them.  Parsley just wasn't interested in anyone except her Basil (which is kind of sweet actually).  So-o-o, we brought Parsley in the house where she is Queen Bee.   She likes to sit with Tom and watch Carolina and NC State football and basketball.

I have been busy cleaning up the garden and cutting back peonies, asters, salvia, angel trumpets, elephant ears, and various other perennials.  Next, I'll give them a good covering of leaves and put them to bed for the winter.  Good night and sweet dreams!

 

I was just reading that freezing temperatures don't do much in altering the slug population ...  I was so in hopes!  The slugs were unusually busy in our garden this spring.   I am definitely aware of how much they enjoy the tender shoots of hostas, but this year I was surprised that they seemed to enjoy the heuchera leaves (as well as many others!)

The Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb' with its bright yellow daisy-like blooms is doing well along the street in the upper garden.

 

 

 This Davallia fejeensis (Rabbit's Foot fern) has taken over the strawberry jar it was originally planted in.  It's another one of my patio plants which comes inside to our sunroom during the winter.  

 This is one of my tropicals, Medinilla myriantha (Malaysian Orchid) which lives on our patio during the summer.  I have just taken it into the garage for the winter.

One of the most interesting things about this Thuja orientalis 'Weedom' is the immature cones that appear in late summer.  Unfortunately, they eventually turn brown and are decidedly less attractive.  Tom usually knocks them off the tree while doing his winter cleanup.

 Tom took Vinnie Simeone from Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, NY to visit Greg Paige at Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens in September.  Vinnie and Greg had a great time talking about obscure flora from all over the world.  We are so lucky to have the Bartlett facility nearby doing research that is shared with the landscape industry internationally.

Greg came to visit MapleWalk this summer and brought some plants to share.  One being a Camellia sasanqua 'Old Glory' which we did not have.  We are always anxious to add to our camellia collection in the garden.  'Old Glory' was loaded with buds, and was a joy when she bloomed this fall.

 Ilex verticillata "Winter Gold' (Winterberry) in the garden this fall with its pretty orange-yellow berries.  'Winter Gold' is the female cultivar which needs a male pollinator to produce the berries.  We planted 'Southern Gentleman' as its "boyfriend."

You never know what you may find when a tree sheds its leaves ... one of our weeping red buds unveiled a bird's nest.  I know that bluebirds make their nests of pine needles, so I hope this was home to a bluebird family.

I look forward to Ajania pacifica (Green and Silver Chrysanthemum) flowering every fall.  The flowers may not be as showy as florists' chrysanthemums, but I like the small, button-like yellow flowers with the silver-edged foliage.

 

 
 

I purchased a new Brugmansia (Angel Trumpet)  this spring.  I have a beautiful pink one that I've had several years.  I found it at the Farmers' Market and it was a variegated one with white flowers.  Over the years it has reverted and the flowers are pink! 

Brugmansia 'Wiehler Gold' is my new addition.   I had no idea I would get a flower this summer as it was a small plant when it arrived, but it grew well all summer and gifted me with ONE gorgeous bloom!

During the Storm Water construction, the City agreed to allow us some funds to move our Cornus controversa 'June Snow' (commonly known as the Giant Dogwood) into storage.  The only reliable company we had been told  could do this for us was Maplewood Company in York, SC and they were terrific!  They came out with a tree spade and dug the tree, wrapped it in burlap and took it to their farm.  

Yesterday we welcomed her home, and were so surprised at how much she had grown!  Our tree looked great, and Maplewood planted her back into the designated location, mulched and watered in.

Home sweet home!

 I have had quite the hiatus from my blogging ... TWO YEARS actually, but I am back and ready to post again!  

I have never posted as to how MapleWalk came to have our third property, so I will continue with MapleWalk's development and addition of the third property:

One day I received a call from our neighbor at 4255 Kingswood Road.   Frank and Katherine Joffrion had been our neighbors since we had moved into the Kingswood neighborhood.  Frank wanted to let us know that they had just put their name in at Matthews Glen (formally Plantation Estates) retirement community.  They didn't know how long it would take for there to be an opening, but they wanted us to know that at some point they would be moving.  Frank and Kay had been wonderful neighbors, and had raised their three daughters in that house.

I was thinking of my dad when I asked Frank if we could pay for first refusal when they received the call from Matthews Glen and were ready to put their home on the market.  My mom had been dead for a number of years, and my dad lived alone and was 89 years old.  It all worked out beautifully for my dad to purchase the property and move into the house with Tom and me just a hop, skip and a jump away.  Sadly, Dad didn't live there very long as he died at 90 years old.

Dad left the house to us and we rented it for about five years to a nice family with young children.  When they moved out, the big question came ... Do we want to rent again, or do we want to tear down the house and extend our garden?  The house was in need of some major repairs (ie. new furnace, new roof, etc.) so the decision to extend our garden wasn't too difficult!  

The house was bulldozed, and dreams of a new garden area danced in our heads!  Property #3 has more sun than the other properties, so this was an opportunity for Tom to explore planting conifers and for me to plant peonies.  

The Joffrions' three daughters have visited MapleWalk on several occasions and seem pleased with the transformation of their old homeplace property.  

For the past 2+ months we have had the biggest mess going on in our front yard and across the street courtesy of City Storm Water.  This construction has been on the books for two years or more, and they finally made it to our street.  They were replacing the original metal corrugated storm drains with new concrete ones.  The original storm drains were breaking down and after running a camera down the pipes, we were told the street in front of our house would collapse if the pipes weren't replaced.  (Now that really would have been a mess!)  A portion of our front yard and about a third of our driveway were torn up.  The good news is that the work is now complete and we have curbing in front of our house, and I must admit, it looks nice.  All that is left for the city to do is to put down new asphalt.  

 

Now that may be all that is left for the City to do, but there is added landscaping to be done ... like PLANTING DWARF MONDO!!!  We do love our dwarf mondo!  

Just received 750 pints of dwarf mondo.  I doubt that we are the UPS guy's favorite people!

      No, Maple and Kiwi, this is not for you to play in!

In addition to the dwarf mondo, Tom is adding some 

Camellia sasanqua "Shi Shi Gashira' to the construction area.  As they grow, Tom will pin down the branches to create a groundcover effect.  We have done this in a couple of other areas in the garden, and it works well.