Today I have some local news about an upcoming event I am very excited about! I am a member of the Heights Garden Club. I have shared a few of the gardens we have visited here on this blog. It is a great group and everyone is welcome, you need not live in the Heights or know much about gardening. The once a month (most months) tours of private gardens are free and open to the public. It is a social group of gardeners of all levels who enjoy touring local gardens and getting together and talking about plants. I am also on the steering committee. Kay Harden started the club several years ago and a year ago spring invited others to help. Collectively we decided we didn’t want anything to formal so we are guided by committee.

A few times a year we meet inside for more socializing and perhaps hear a speaker. August being very hot and humid we are having an inside meeting at the local fire-station on the corner of 12th and Yale.  It is going to be Thursday August 7th from 7:00 to 8:30pm.  It will be a Plant and Seed Swap and Meet and Greet. This will be a great time for new comers to join us and get free plants, cuttings and seeds. There will also be a chance to sip some wine and chat with neighbors. For more information check out the details @ http://www.heightsgardenclub.com/ and on the Facebook page. 

The HGC also works on local gardens on Heights Blvd. They have trimmed and weeded the Rose Garden at Heights and 20th. A few months back we put down rich organic compost from Natures Way. If you haven’t been up there everything is looking lovely. We hope to grow and add new gardens around the area to our list of gardens we work on.

The Club has also reworked and been maintaining the Entrance garden at the feeder road and Heights Blvd.  In the spring it was full of beautiful Delphiniums carefully tended by  Terry Gordon Smith. Terry is a well know local horticulturist, for a great tour of his garden check out Pam Penicks blog post.

Early summer we re-did it again and added more perennials, ornamental grasses and even some pumpkin vines. I am excited to see it this fall. Actually I am excited about the thought of autumn period! Here are some pictures of the Height Entrance Garden that we have been working on this last few months. I have to admit I don’t go dig and weed. I did do a planting plan and help source the plants.

I am hoping you can read the plant key. The center focal plant is a Queen Emma Crinum lily that can get up to 5 feet tall. I am hoping it lives up to my expectations. Just before the Club planted I was able to get my husband to have the crew of our landscaping company change the irrigation to drip. This will make it so much easier to keep the beds evenly watered through the heat of summer in this south facing garden.

The tall plants in the outer ring are Mexican Mint Marigold. It has aromatic leaves that are a substitute for French Tarragon with a sweet licorice flavor that can brighten up salads and main dishes. It is said to bloom all summer but these haven’t bloomed yet nor the ones in my garden either. Something to look forward to!

In the foreground are Purple trailing lantana a real heat lover and Mexican feather grass, one of my favorite grasses. I love the way it looks when it turns golden in the fall. Below you can see the Queen Emma crinum barely keeping up with the rudbeckias.

Happy Gardening!