Episode 139: Favorite Succulents

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It’s that time of year again! The much-anticipated listener question and answer episode. Carol and Danielle look forward to this special episode (sometimes TWO episodes) because it allows them to offer real-life advice for the plant and garden design issues that are troubling all of you out there in the podcast universe. This time, we got a slew of great questions via email and social media and we’re going to do our best to get through as many as possible. The inquiries included advice on planting under trees, attracting hummingbirds, and info about what garden tasks we’re tackling during the dog days of summer. Tune in to see if we fielded your question, or if someone else’s problem spot is something you can relate to.

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We all have our favorite shoes, pajamas, coffee cups, and other items, but my favorites are the gardening tools I use daily in my landscape.

One of my earliest horticultural memories was watching my grandmother arrange purple berried branches of American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) in a vase and place it in the center of her dining room table. These beautiful, native shrubs grew wild in the woods surrounding her home, full of clusters of purple berries in the fall.

Like most South Carolina nature lovers, I look forward to the return of Ruby-throated hummingbirds every spring. I enjoy seeing them in my garden, visiting flower after flower chirping along the way. Salvias are one genus of flowers I have noticed they love to visit.

We all want eye-catching plants—but we also want (and need) plants with a purpose.Ken and I invite you to a free webinar showcasing the real standouts they recommend that combine both form and function in sometimes unexpected ways.To just

WE TALKED HOSTAS MONTHS AGO, in the dead of winter, when they were just twinkles in a gardener’s eye, or images pulled from color catalogs and memory.

THE OFFICIAL STATISTICS-DRIVEN all-time best-of list—the 50 stories you clicked on most since I launched A Way to Garden in March 2008—is all well and good, and actually a great place to get acquainted with this site.  But I have my own list of stories I loved the most so far.

GET THEM WHILE THEY LAST: That’s the message with ephemerals, plants that are happy to pop up early, do their pretty thing, then tuck back in when the heat comes on. I grow a lot of them, brightening up the first weeks of a spring garden that would otherwise be mostly minor bulbs in April-into-May, meaning more pleasure out of the same space.

This Japanese woodlander spreads to create thick mats of scalloped, blue-green, fuzzy foliage, from which erupt (and I think that’s exactly the word) orchid-pink flowers in early spring on 6- or 8-inch stems. It is never shy, and given part shade and a humusy soil it will romp…but in the nicest way.Arrowhead Alpines Nursery sometimes sells it. Once you’ve got it, there will be plenty for a lifetime (and friends). I’ve read a

THE LAST OF THE FEMALE HUMMINGBIRDS have just departed for points south, following the males who left well ahead of time as if to set up camp. But onward bloom three of my favorite hummingbird plants, three red-flowered salvias I always include in the garden somewhere, year to year.