I heard on the radio that it snowed in parts of the city around 5am. SNOWED!... ON FREAKING APRIL 8TH!... IN ATLANTA! I'm scared of the weather now.

Looks like everything made it through the cold snap OK, though. There wasn't a frost here...it was just freaking cold. The leaves on the big hydrangea on the corner of the evergreen border look a little pale just from the dry cold, so I watered it in and soaked the soil around it. It should be OK. None of the blooms show any damage and as a matter of fact, the Lady Banks Rose looks like she liked it.

The white dogwood in front is passing out of bloom now anyway. I got some pics this week...
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Atlanta had record highs last week and we are going to have record lows this weekend. Freaky, I'm tellin' ya.

This is from Habersham Gardens...


- Cover up tender plants before dusk. By the time it gets dark much of the stored heat in the garden has already been lost. Drape a cover of newspaper, cardboard, plastic tarps, bed sheeting or any other lightweight material over the plant. Keep in mind that leaves touching the covering may freeze.

- Water your plants or garden thoroughly before dusk. The soil will release moisture into the air around your plants during the night, keeping the air somewhat warmer.

- Leaves, straw, or mulch can be used to completely cover dormant perennials, ground cover plants and some vegetables.

- Even a slight breeze will prevent cold air from settling near the ground during the night. You can help keep frost from forming by providing this breeze artificially with a fan.

- Potted plants are particularly susceptible to cold because the roots are also unprotected. If you are unable to move your container plants indoors or under cover remember to also wrap the pot in burlap, bubble wrap, or other material.

- For smaller individual plants you can use glass jars, milk jugs with the bottom removed, paper cups upside down, or flower pots as heat traps. Don't forget to remove these covers in the morning. The subsequent heat from the sun, trapped in the jar, can be just as damaging.

- You can collect heat during the day by filling milk jugs with water and placing them around your plants where they will collect heat during the day. Water loses heat more slowly than soil or air. This collected heat will radiate out throughout the night.

The baby pink Dogwood I set in 3 years ago out by the shed has it's first blooms this year! They opened this weekend. Ok...granted they are sporatic and feeble...but I think they are beautiful and awesome and I got a huge kick out of them... she's on her way now...she will put on a little more dramatic show next year...and the in years after that...watch out. I love this.
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THIS is a plant everybody in zones 7 thru 10 should have!!! Hands down, the best fragrant plant ever, in my opinion.

So I was walking to the back door tonight and something smelled really really great. I couldn't put my finger on it. I thought the next door neighbors were cooking banana pudding or something. Then it dawned on me...the banana shrub. It usually doesn't start blooming for another week or two, but sure enough, just a couple of buds were starting to open.

This is a picture of the blooms when they are fully opened...



The fragrance of this plant is unreal. Just two buds barely opened and the fragrance is already in the air. It always smells like banana pudding to me. I have gardenias and jasmines, but this plant beats them both in my opinion.

It's evergreen and hardy in zones 7 (with protection) to 10. Give it partial shade (mine gets sun from about 2 to 5) and feed in the early spring.

It has no relation to the banana plant that fruits. It's actually a memeber of the magnolia family.

If your local nursery doesn't stock it they should! I found some online sources...

http://www.fowlersnursery.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=449

http://ecolage.safeshopper.com/179/1341.htm?877

http://www.fosterfolly.com/home/Exotic Woody 2/index.php

http://www.tytyga.com/product/Banana+Shrub

The next 30 days are amazing with things happening in the gardens.

blooming now

azaleas on the side and the encore azalea in back
wisteria opened over the weekend
white dogwood almost fully opened
new pink dogwood in back has a few blooms this year
a couple of buds on the banana shrub and you can smell it already
buds are beginning to set on all the hydrangeas
the lady banks rose in front is about to put on a huge show
japanese snowball is setting green blooms

to do this week...concentrate on the back gardens

finish cleaning up butterfly garden and bog garden
decide what to do with herb gardens this year
weed and clean up hydrangea border
plant up the urn
clean up potting shed and pots

Some pics....

The azaleas on the side of the porch....



This one is the same variety as the one we had in the old yard in Midtown. That one was 8ft x 8ft. We planted this one 5 years ago and it's about 4 x 4 now. It looks awesome this year....



I knew I was compulsively saving all the plant tags for some reason. I found the one for the white dogwood we put in 5 years ago. Our neighbor asked me what kind it was on Sunday. It's a cross between a kousa and a florida. It's called 'Rutdan' Celestial....



The encore azalea in back. It blooms now and then again in october....



The wisteria just now opening...



The japanese snowball just now putting out green blooms. I love how they look at this stage. They turn to bright white in a couple of weeks....