The past two years have seen rainstorms that were real gully washers at my house in West, GA. Consequently, my dry creek area with daylilies saw the rocks moving downhill. But the water movement downhill opened the door for one of the most enjoyable gardening projects in years.
The storms created a winding path for water to relocate to the street. As it winds downward it goes past azaleas, hydrangeas and bush type conifers as well as native pines and junipers. As it carved its way loamy topsoil was moved left or right creating perfect beds for planting. These were like alluvial flood plains yet in miniature.
The Garden Guy really had a heart for this. To be more exact I had a lot of hearts thanks to Heart to Heart caladiums. These bulbs were a late acquisition. I chose to plant each one in a leftover quart PW pot I had in the storeroom.

Read the full story on these beautiful caladiums in your Thursday Bowie News.

I remember the day quite well. I went to my Rotary Club meeting and returned to my office in the garden. I casually glanced into the garden as I entered the building.
I noticed a sizable group of nature lovers gathered around looking through their binoculars. I asked inside if anyone knew what they were looking at. The answer was a Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly.
Those gathered had just paid $5 to get into the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX where I was executive director. That was the entry fee at the time and worth every penny because you never knew what you might find at this nature reserve on the Rio Grande River.
That day the Great Purple Hairstreak became one of my favorite butterflies. I now judge my butterfly year on whether I see a Great Purple Hairstreak or not.

Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News

Four years ago, an ornamental sweet potato of all things shook up the green industry. Additionally, it was named after Medusa, a figure from Greek mythology. If you remember from junior high, this lady did not have hair but snakes.
My take on this is whenever the green industry names a new plant after Medusa it turns out to be special. Now four years and 29 awards later Sweet Caroline Medusa Green is one of the finest in the market.

Its tight habit makes it the perfect choice for baskets, boxes, containers of all sorts and in my it drapes over a wall with perfection, not a kudzu like performance. That Medusa name is in reference to the leaves that are composed of 7 long, finger-like lobes.

Read the full story from The Garden Guy Norman Winter in your Thursday Bowie News.

Top photo – Sweet Caroline Medusa Green shows off its compact habit in this hanging basket seen at the Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour in Auburn, AL. (Photo by Norman Winter)