by | | Gardening, Horticulture, National Garden Week, Plants
Autumn Sage is a perennial plant native to North America – specifically native to Texas Hill Country and Mexico. It is named for Josiah Gregg, a naturalist who found it as he traveled throughout the Southwestern United States and Mexico.
It is a sub-shrub that blooms from March – November on previous or current year’s growth, attracting pollinators. It is specifically known as a magnet for Hummingbirds. It thrives in rocky soils but does well in dry to medium well-drained soils. When first planted, water 2 times a week until it is established but then it does well on its own. If it gets to be terribly hot for too many days with no rain at all, I will sometimes water it, but it seems to thrive even when neglected – perhaps that is why I love this plant so much.
In addition to being draught tolerant, Salvia Greggii does not have many diseases to worry about, and it is highly deer resistant, although I personally believe hungry deer will eat anything.
Autumn Sage does best in full sun but can do well in part-sun. It will live and grow in a shadier area but will not bloom as profusely. This plant can get to be 3 ft. by 3 ft. tall. If you cut it back (no more than 1/3) in August, it encourages more blooms. In February, it can be cut back by ½ to keep it from getting spindly or woody looking. Some gardeners do not mind the spindly more rambling look as it still blooms beautifully so just decide what is right for your garden.
I have the red Autumn Sage and love it, but it also comes in pink, purple, and white. The plant is deciduous in colder climates but often evergreen in warmer climates. I have found it to be both in my yard. If it snows on it or it gets frozen, it may get woody looking, but by springtime or earlier it bounces back full of blooms. If the climate is mild throughout the winter, it remains evergreen.
If you are looking for an easy to grow, low maintenance, drought tolerant plant with beautiful blooms that also attracts pollinators, please consider Autumn Sage (Salvia Greggii).
by | | Inspiration, National Garden Week
Roswell Garden Club invites you to join us on Memorial Day, 2022, for our Blue Star Memorial Marker and Gold Star Families Memorial Marker Dedication at the 23rd annual Roswell Remembers Memorial Day Ceremony. The markers honor those who have served or will serve in the US Armed Forces (Blue Star) and those who have lost a family member in service to the United States (Gold Star Families). The event starts at 11:00 am at Roswell’s City Hall.
History of the Blue Star & Gold Star Families Memorial Markers
The Blue Star Memorial Program honors service men and women who have served, are serving or will be serving in the United States Armed Services. The program was established by the New Jersey Council of Garden Clubs in 1944. In 1945, the National Council of State Garden Clubs (now National Garden Clubs, Inc.) adopted the program and began a Blue Star Highway system, which covers thousands of miles across the Continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. Blue Star Memorial Highway Markers are placed at appropriate locations along the system. Memorial Markers and By-Way Markers are placed at locations such as national cemeteries, parks, veteran’s facilities and gardens.
The Blue Star became an icon in World War II and was seen on service flags and banners in homes for sons and daughters away at war as well as in churches and businesses. The Blue Star was replaced by a Gold Star when a service member died while serving in conflicts.
In 2015 the Gold Star Families Marker was incorporated into the National Garden Clubs Memorial Marker Program. The Gold Star Families Marker honors the families of U.S. Armed Forces members who died in battle or in support of certain military activities.
Roswell’s Blue Star Memorial Marker and Gold Star Families Memorial Marker are placed by the Roswell Garden Club, The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. and the National Garden Clubs, Inc. in cooperation with the Roswell Remembers Committee and Roswell Rotary. The marker placement was approved by the Roswell City Council, after which it was approved by The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. and the National Garden Clubs, Inc. Roswell Garden Club, Roswell Rotary and the Roswell Remembers Committee were integral in all phases of the project. The markers’ juxtaposition with the Faces of War Memorial brings a special synergy to the three memorials.
We are privileged to honor all who have served, are serving or will be serving with the Blue Star Memorial Marker:
ALL TO SEE
LEST WE FORGET
THOSE WHO HELP TO KEEP US FREE
We are privileged to honor all who have lost family members in the United States Armed Forces.
WE REMEMBER—WE WILL NOT FORGET
by | | Garden Week In Georgia, Gardening, Inspiration
JoAnn: We are not always in the garden, our friendship happens all around Roswell. Last week some of us got together at Jeanne’s home and stitched 50 of the cutest “Happy Sacks” to be placed on each meal delivered by Meals on Wheels this spring.
We had many laughs and caught up on our families. Besides Jeanne and myself, JoAnn, Marcia, Carolyn, Stephanie, Donna, and Dawn helped with Happy Sacks. We missed those who were not able to join us.
Amy: Proust reminds me of the friendship, camaraderie, and support that exist within a garden club, a group of dedicated people who share the joy and pleasure of taking hard earth and making beautiful things bloom. Image from https://quotlr.com/quotes-about-gardens
Diane: As a new member of the Roswell Garden Club, I have truly enjoyed getting to know each member. They are such a talented, fun, kind and giving group of women. Our club is, indeed, a garden that has been grown row by row, establishing roots in the community, and allowing each member to bloom. I am thrilled to have a new group of cherished friends!
Suzy: Our garden club is the embodiment of friendship. When you look at pictures of our garden club activities, you see a beautiful garden of friends. Our friendship includes gardening, decorating, laughing, sewing, traveling, planting, learning, teaching, arranging, sharing, paying tribute, serving, and building community.
If you can’t join us in the garden that is our friendship, we hope you can find a garden club or garden group near you and become a flower in their garden of friendship.
by | | Garden Week In Georgia, Plants
Gretchen: There was a wonderful RGC program about orchids by a friend of Mary Booth Cabot. He had several plants to give away 
and this Elephant Ear was one. It has grown by leaps and bounds and fascinates me. As you can see, the new leaves emerge from the stem of another recent leaf…and this continues.
And, each time I glance at this I think or our beautiful Mary Booth!
King: I get such pleasure from my “Friendship Gardens,” that is, gardens with plants that have been given to me by friends. They help surround my house with resonating memories of precious gardening friends.
Lisa: These lines from “Friendship in the Garden” are most meaningful to me:
These are ones that should be cherished
In hopes they will remain
To lose them from our gardens would
Engulf our hearts with pain.
When my mom died, visits to her house to clean up and clean out were difficult. I missed her so much. One day on a May visit, I looked out at her yard and saw her spring plants and bulbs popping up. Everywhere I looked, there were “volunteers” and plants ready to be divided. One early morning I decided to go to the house specifically to work in the yard. I dug out and scooped up bishop’s weed, hosta, daylilies, narcissus, red maple, lily of the valley, iris, rose of Sharon, and more.
Some of these plants had come from her own mother’s garden and the gardens of friends and neighbors—a true friendship garden. Before I left town, I shared plants with friends and relatives who were thrilled to receive this perennial reminder of my mom. Each spring, I eagerly look for these transplants in my garden. Seeing them evokes wonderful memories of my mom and her passion for planting and tending her indoor and outdoor plants.
Suzy: My dad grew this Japanese Maple from a seedling under the Japanese Maple tree my siblings & I gave him for Father’s Day when I was in the 6th grade. I think about my dad and my sibs almost every time I look at the tree. The iris under the tree are from my grandmother’s yard. Grandma loved iris. I think about Grandma when I see them, when I smell them on the breeze (they smell like grape jelly!!), and when I divide them and share them with friends.
It’s amazing to think about the way the flowers we touch, and our friends touch, do, indeed, touch us back and spread friendship and love in ever-widening circles.
by | | Garden Week In Georgia, Gardening, Plants
If friendship were a garden, Amaryllis would be a friend who is always there for us. In Georgia we have many months of beauty in our landscape. Perhaps March is one of our most beautiful months for blooms. The Amaryllis bulbs that we can save from year to year might have come into bloom in February or March in our homes. When the blooms finish, it will be time to fertilize them and watch the leaves grow more lush.
In May my bulbs will be transferred to the garden where the bulbs will be replenished as the foliage continues to grow.
I will pull them out of the garden in October and allow them to dry while the leaves dry.
By December, the foliage will be ready to be removed and the bulbs replanted in fresh soil, in their pots indoors. In a month or so, the bulbs will begin to sprout new shoots. At that time watering can resume as we wait for the beautiful blooms to begin again.
Some of my bulbs are 15 years or more old and still perform. Meanwhile, out the window Magnolias and spring bulbs are a delight!
by | | Garden Week In Georgia, Gardening, Plants
Friends, plants, gardens, and friendship go and grow hand in hand as you’ll see in these thoughts from RGC members who share how their gardens grew, row by row, with flowers from their friends.
Roz: Most of the plants in my sun room were given to me by friends and family. These photos show plants from hiking, synagogue, and garden club friends and ONE (green pot) from my Mother.
When Mom moved out of her house in Brooklyn, she gifted me with her only houseplant. The plant ‘lived’ with me in New Jersey and then traveled with me to Georgia. I think about my Mom, who passed in 2008, when I care for her plant.
When plants from friends show significant growth and/or bloom, I send photos. During the worst of the Pandemic I spent many hours in the sun room with the plants. Although I live alone, my friends were often with me as I tended their plants.
Linda B: 
My plaque and welcome mat echo my feelings about friends and my gardens.
Debbie J: Not my words but I read this a couple of days ago and found it to be very true…..“A good friend is like a four-leaf clover; hard to find and lucky to have.”
Dotty E: This year for the first time I have enjoyed the beauty of Hellebori in bloom. I have to thank my dear friend Florence Anne for sharing these wonderful plants with me and setting me on this path.
in the late 1970’s I shared some day lilies with a very dear friend to get her started and in the early 1990’s I had moved to a house and wanted to add some back to the landscape. My friend dug up offshoots from those I had given her years before and gifted me some.
I was thrilled when I walked in my garden and saw little shoots emerging from plants Carolyn Herndon gave me last year. I was happy to see they survived the confusing spring weather we have had in Georgia.
I have hosta from a friend who allowed me to dig some from her garden. Another shared Iris and yet another gave me a cutting from her Camellia.
Many of the plants around my home were given to me by friends and I think of them each time I see them in my garden. My garden has a long way to go but thanks to encouraging friends, it adds joy to my life and reminds me how blessed I truly am.
Whether our gardens are container gardens, indoor gardens, or large or small gardens outside, we have grown them row by row, flower by flower, with our friends. We hope you can join us in this experience.
by | | Garden Week In Georgia, Gardening, Plants
Flowers, like our friends and family, are the gifts that nature provides us throughout our lives. From the time we are born to the day we become one with nature ourselves; flowers keep us company. They brighten our homes, our workplaces and hospital bedside, and celebrate all sorts of occasions; they are presented as symbols of Love, friendship and sympathy. Even the simplest Dandelion brings a smile to a mothers face when her child lovingly gifts it to her. Many a book has a flower pressed inside it as a keepsake, often forgotten until re-discovered and the memories come flooding back. Flowers are also the harbingers of the coming spring season; we feel happiness and anticipation upon seeing that first Crocus peek it’s head out of the snow. Flowers are universally admired and loved.
Throughout the world flowers grow everywhere, even in the coldest and hottest of places. They decorate our yards, countryside, cities and highways. They can be found deep in the woods where barely a spot of sun shines through, on top of a mountain and even on top of the water. Flowers are resilient like the truest of friends and without them we ourselves would fail to thrive. Flowers are also a great reminder of what it means to embrace the simple pleasures in life. Not only are they beautiful, sweetly scented and some are quite rare; but flowers can bring us inner peace, joy and a sense of calm and beauty.
In that way, flowers remind me of friendships and family. We develop our relationships in much the same way as a seed is planted. We give them time to develop and put down roots and nurture them to grow strong. As time goes on we gain an understanding of what it takes for the flowers to grow and we make needed adjustments along the way to help them reach their full potential. Maybe more water or sunlight is needed; whatever it is, we need to be patient as time goes on. Friendships compare to flowers in the sense that if you don’t give them room to grow and accept their needs then nothing will come from your efforts. As each passing day brings new growth, our confidence increases and we gain an appreciation for our hard work while we watch the amazing petals unfold to reveal the flowers true beauty. And like the flowers sprouting in a garden, our friendships are beautiful; we proudly stand tall with our faces toward the sun and have memories to last a lifetime. ~End
Friendship is laughter, empathy, and tears — reliable, warm-hearted, and giving. “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust.
by | | Garden Week In Georgia, Gardening, Horticulture, Plants
A glossy leaf plant, Fatsia Japonica is also known as false castor oil plant or Japanese aralia. It is native to Japan and Korea. It is evergreen growing from 3 to 16 feet tall. Its leaves are large fans and its flowers look like something from outer space with small white globes blooming on tall white stalks.
Fatsia Japonica grows best as an understory bush in a climate not going below 5 degrees. It can be grown as an indoor plant.
As you can see by the photos of where it is in my sunken oriental woodland garden, it blooms when the tall canopy of deciduous trees has exfoliated, and the dwarf, oriental maples are showing their non-native vibrant red leaves. 
After blooming Fatsia Japonica produces small black berries which I never see as the birds get them first.
These fatsia are probably pushing 18 years old. They have been my friends for quite a while. If you are looking for a low-maintenace, quirky, beautiful friend for a woodsy spot, check out my friend Fatsia.
by | | Garden Week In Georgia, Gardening
This year, RGC lost a dear friend, Mary Ann Booth Cabot. As part of our remembrance of Mary Ann, we were introduced to Sam Furman’s poem If Friendship Were A Garden. This year’s Garden Week in Georgia posts focus on this beautiful poem and all it entails. We’ll talk about friends, gardens, plants, garden clubs, and, most importantly friendship. Let’s open the week with the poem.
If Friendship Were A Garden
If friendship were a garden,
Then flowers ‘d be the friends
How well our gardens cultivate
On each gardener that depends.
Some flowers must remain in light,
And some will need support
But all require love and care
Regardless of their sort.
We grow our gardens row by row
One flower at a time
Helping each establish roots
Our efforts quite sublime.
Each flower that we’ve ever touched
In truth will touch us back
Either with a soft caress
Or thorns that stab like tacks
But every once and then again
A single bud may loom
More brilliant than the other ones,
It is a special bloom.
These are ones that should be cherished
In hopes they will remain
To lose them from our gardens would
Engulf our hearts with pain.
And so this blossom I bestow,
With thanks for all we share
For you, a special gardener
Have shown me love and care.
by | | Gardening, Plants
If you’re like me, you have a hard time resisting the temptation to plant before the last hard-frost date. Jeannie Singer, plant professional and educator at Scottsdale Farms, shared these great ideas to help you delay planting and be ready to jump into it full speed ahead when the time is right.
Tools
- Sharpen blades on spades
- Clean tools: wipe with bleach or alcohol, then wash with soap & water
- Oil hinges on shears and clippers–use WD – 40 or vegetable oil
- Make needed repairs–check hose for worn out washers and broken connectors, these are easy to repair
- Replace worn out tools
- Organize everything
- Supplies: Take stock of your fertilizers & amendments, mulch, garden supports, etc. Buy any items you need
Prepping Beds
- Clean the beds, don’t move existing mulch, just gently remove debris, weeds & dispose of, don’t compost them
- Add fresh mulch 2”-3” maximum depth
- Prune out old dead & damaged wood–sterilize your cutting tool with alcohol or 1 part bleach to 3 parts water)
- Prepare your soil and send soil test to County Extension Office.
- Prune plants that bloom in summer now; leave the spring blooming plants alone
- Mark your perennials and divide them in the spring by digging wide and under the root… cut cleanly with a spade.
- Container Gardening: replace your soil annually in the spring because nutrients get washed away. These need fertilizing more often as a result. Tip: Fill your large pots ⅓ to ½ full with mulch then top with your soil for your plants. This saves money.
- Use scalding hot water to kill weeds that are near your delicate plants to avoid contaminating them with a weed killer
We hope you have fun prepping for spring planting and dreaming of things to come!
