Welcome to my sequence about gardens and their gardeners.
Over the following few months I might be including to my common #SixOnSaturday posts with Sunday spots for fellow gardeners.
Meet up with earlier posts on this sequence under:
Fred and his backyard in Normandy, France right here.
Sarah and her Australian backyard right here.
Páraig and his Irish backyard right here.
Selwa and her Belgium backyard right here.
Amelia and her backyard in Florida right here.
Kate and her backyard in Finland right here.
Let’s discover out extra about Topdock’s backyard.
Please inform us the place on the earth you reside and the way lengthy you may have had your present backyard.
My house backyard is located within the Southern USA and particularly in Vestavia Hills which is a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. The realm is in Hardiness Zone 8A which modified a number of years in the past from Zone 7B. Though that ought to imply we’d anticipate milder winters, that was not the case final December once we skilled report chilly temperatures for a number of days and that chilly triggered vital harm to lots of the crops in my backyard. I’ve lived in my current house since 1981 however my intensive gardening started in 2014 once I retired.
What’s the essential soil kind and what advantages or challenges this and the local weather trigger.
Along with my house backyard, I additionally handle a second backyard referred to as The Nook Backyard that’s in the identical suburb about 3 miles from my home. I started working with the Nook Backyard at about the identical time as my retirement. Every of those gardens are a mixture of solar areas and shade areas. Every has a soil kind which is mildly acidic due to the ample pines in our space. Due to our gentle winters, there’s a yearlong drain on plant vitamins so that focus should be positioned on augmenting the fertility of the soil by including compost. The gardens are additionally aided by the typical 55-inch annual rainfall. This may be nice besides that we grow to be comparatively dry from July to October when the temperatures are the most popular. Our common excessive temp in July and August is 91F with common lows of 70F. In January, our common excessive is 51F and common low is 33F. We not often have snow and we not often keep under freezing for greater than 24 hours which allows a broad vary of plant choice.
Do you may have a selected backyard type that you just attempt to hold to? ie natural, cottage backyard, rose backyard, conventional for the local weather and so forth.
My house backyard is on a big lot of which about half is sloped and wooded and which I hold undisturbed. Within the entrance of my lot, I’ve principally sunny perennial beds and a few raised beds through which I attempt to develop greens. At the back of my lot, I’ve focused on growing a shade backyard below the towering oaks and a sunny area that I seek advice from as my orchard the place I’m studying the way to develop blueberries, persimmons, muscadines and a local pawpaw (Asimina triloba). I’m fascinated with natives crops and I consider including them at any time when I can as a way to appeal to birds and butterflies.
Inform us about a few of your favorite crops and why you want them.
My favourite crops are tall blooming perennials reminiscent of black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers and Shasta daisies. I like them as a result of they’ve an extended blooming season and they’re really easy to take care of. I additionally like camellias that are the state shrub of Alabama. They bloom in late fall and into February which is a temper lifter throughout the dreary days of winter.
I consider that you just assist out in a males’s backyard. Are you able to inform us briefly about it and what completely different crops or gardens that they’ve from your personal
The Nook Backyard that I handle is also called the Males’s Backyard which was begun in 1984. It’s on a small nook lot which belongs to the adjoining home-owner. It’s park like with a small garden, a mortared stone fountain, perennials beds and a shaded paving stone patio surrounded by flowering shrubs. It’s meant to be welcoming regardless of being positioned in proximity to a busy intersection. The primary shrubs are azaleas and roses.
Learn extra of Topdock’s backyard posts on his weblog right here.
Please be part of me in thanking Topdock for taking the time to share his gardens with us.
