Cloud Pruning at Dogwood Acres

A shaded walk of hydrangeas, hydrangeas growing on walls and vinca growing on statues - all of these greeted us at Dogwood Acres on our garden tour in Memphis.

Fay Sanford is the artist behind these beautiful views in every direction. She and her husband have owned the house with 3-acres since 1976.

Sanford does the planning, helps with the cloud pruning of the American
Boxwoods and mows much of the lawn.

Cloud pruning was new to me and I don't know where you could see a finer example of the art.

Sanford said she and her gardener Charlie Lee prune in the spring and in the fall to keep the boxwoods in their heavenly shapes.

Hydrangeas, Shrub Pruning, Vermicomposting, Black Magic Ivy Geranium

Linda Orton, president of the Mid-South Hydrangea Society sent out a great newsletter this month. I wish they were closer because their quarterly meetings always look so enticing.

The Mid-South Hydrangea Society is located in Memphis Tennessee. Their quarterly newsletter is worth at least $10 a year and members get to attend the members-only annual tour. This year's tour is June 7th and I can't wait to go.

Orton said she had resolved in 2007 to limit her plant purchases to only those that would fit into her garden. (Don't we all make that promise to ourselves every year?)

The newsletter covered an international hydrangea tour and a pruning chart from Walter Reeves' website. If you have any pruning still to do (;-) check out his guidelines at this link for what to prune month by month. Another version is at this link. They are both Adobe pdf.

If you want to join, contact membership chair, Linda Lanier at hydrangealady@comcast.com.


A thousand vermicompost worms arrived in the cloth bag inside a paper bag inside the box pictured. Some were crawling out of the bag between the fibers. The box is cute enough to save.
Check out the Black Magic Ivy Geranium I spotted at Blossom's Garden Center in Muskogee. It would blend well with pink or white Ivy Geraniums or other vining plants in the same pot.

The cardinals are everywhere in our yard right now. They nest in a pair of old pine trees in the front. I'd like to remove those old trees but don't have the heart to displace the cardinals.

Several trays of seeds were planted yesterday and today - early veggies and a few flowers. I planted them in sterile seed starting mix in those trays that hold 32 plants. They are misted every day in the hope that this year I won't drown them with kindness in the form of too much water.

What are you planting?