I hate that when a beautiful garden is bought by a cheap skate. This is a magical garden dixie restore it if you can.

Hello, Dixie!
I remembered your post from Feb. '04, linked below:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/restoration/msg021322405665.htm

How have things changed/progressed since that time? Have you decided to take a more practical approach rather than a restoration based solely on the original designer's vision?

I like your Plan 2, personally; Plan 1 seems to leave the garden with a too wide/large expanse of pine straw mulch.

Ginger

Where did you go, Dixie?

Leave the camellias. Remove the ratty azaleas. Like the aspidistra idea. Mix up the ferns & maybe add Cyrtonium falcatum (holly fern) with Fatsia japonica also. An Osmanthus fragrans near the walk some where? The live oaks will shed the majority of their leaves in the spring ( usually after you have cleaned everything up for the spring!!lol) but seriously, something to consider if doing ground cover. just some quick thoughts
P

Thanks, all for your ideas. Today Nandina visited and checked out the garden. Her suggestions lean toward Plan 2, using holly fern, sasanqua camellias and bush ivy, and pots to add interest and emphasis.

This particular little garden has been on hold all summer -- we were short handed for 6 months and I was injured in June and unable to do much for a couple of months. At this point, I 'd just like the owners to decide what they want to do.

Gardener Rants: I'm beginning to suspect that it will take some high-priced consultant to come in and suggest just what I have already suggested. Actually, they've had several consultants look at the garden about 6 years ago and nothing came of that either. None of them could say why the old azaleas were dying out. None of them could say why the little dwarf hollies failed to thrive.

I also get the feeling that they want the impossible (lush happy dwarf azaleas) and that they know it's a risky proposition, but they seem to think that's how it's supposed to look. That's how it was when they first saw the garden and that's what sticks in their minds. Snow and Coral Bells. Even though the bloom period lasts for 2 weeks only.

We've even discussed removing select limbs from the canopy of live oak branches that shade the area -- but that idea was rejected too.

I wish I were an artist so I could create a watercolor picture of my Plan 2 vision. A picture is worth 1000 words.

Perhaps I'll feel less cranky about this project on Monday. I just want the garden to be beautiful and realistic, where the plants thrive and flourish. Humbug.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gardens are mowed and manicured and a picture of loveliness.

I'm not the best gardener in the world....but I'm not the worst.

I wish you all could have joined me yesterday as I stopped to see the plantation where Dixie Rose is head gardener. It is not too far from here and I was interested in seeing the Umberto Innocenti landscape. Last year I spent hours studying his design for Millikin in Spartanburg, NC. which is truly fantastic and not open to the public.

It was a beautiful morning; light breeze blowing in from the old rice fields. We found Dixie Rose in the tack barn waiting our arrival. As we started walking the sandy road past many outbuildings toward the main plantation home I was struck with two thoughts. First, I don't know how this gal maintains such an expansive piece of property so well! It is in beautiful condition. She has already done some marvelous restoration work on the plantation. Secondly, how can one describe the very old Live Oaks that dominate the plantation. They are unique, each with its own personality. I could visualize Innocenti when he first saw them realizing that his design would play second fiddle to the oaks as long as they survived. So, he selected five oaks with character and designed a formal garden of brick walkways and walls which highlight the oaks. Many of the old handmade bricks used are 'seconds' which means that they were burned or discolored in the firing process and this adds a nice patina to the walks.

The soil is what we call Low Country gumbo and this is why Dixie Rose is having a problem growing azaleas in dense shade. Her 'Plan B" idea is excellent and the plants should suit the soil condition. She is worried about the owner not approving her ideas. Dixie, why don't you put together the cost for your plan along with the reasons for your plant suggestions and just present it to him. Add some azaleas to the mix in the side gardens to keep him happy. But, the formal lines of the main garden must be planted in the general manner as we discussed and Innocenti visioned.

Dixie Rose has figured out how to grow hybrid tea roses in this hot, humid climate. Her rose gardens are healthy and loaded with blooms. She has a special green thumb! Especially when the summer has been spent fighting off armadillos which have been very destructive to lawns and gardens.

Yes, you all would have enjoyed this plantation stroll, standing beneath oaks that witnessed Sherman's troops burning the original house to the ground. Some of the old buildings remain such as the laundry house and sections of an old greenhouse. It is a beautiful plantation which can be purchased for a bit under five million dollars. Don't choke! I was at a new development last week where three acre lots were selling for a million dollars apiece. They don't begin to measure up to this old plantation with its history, beauty and restoration challenges.

Dixie Rose' persistence in garnering expert opinion, Nandina's message, and the working relationship between the 2 gardeners is priceless in many ways--and what a name for a Southern gardener: "Dixie Rose." Thanks so much to both of you for providing a window into the world of Southern US restoration/historical gardening.

This is what I had hoped this forum would become when I lobbied for it last year.

Ginger

grrrr. Azleas are NOT going to be happy under oaks that size...even if they water constantly. Too much shade...not to mention the soil conditions. I like the holly fern idea--and camellias should be fine. (as y'all know!) Pots are an excellent way of dealing with poor soil and massive oak roots.

I run intothis all the time. A customer came in yesterday--wanted suggestions on what to plant in a partly-shady bed, with large trees (she wasn't sure what kind--but I'm sure they are oaks.) When quizzed on what she meant by "partly shady" I discovered that this bed gets MAYBE an hour to 90 minutes of dappled sun. A day. In the summer, anyway. She was "drawn" to all the sunny-perennial plants--lavender in particular. I tried to convince her to go with the shady stuff that thrives in my yard...and get her "flower fix" from bulbs, but she would have none of it. So this woman bopught a lavender plant that she was CERTAIN would "get enough sun"...along with several coreopsis, and a number of other, unsuitable plants.

Plant torturer.

Hope you have better luck iDixierose!

melanie