Azaleas

Azaleas beneath Bottle Brush Tree

Azalea beneath Lugustrum

A few days ago, we talked about planting azaleas under some plant for dappled sunlight in the very hot climates to protect them from burning.  We also discussed why putting them beneath a Bottle Brush was not such a good idea.  Then, today I was walking my dog and I see someone has come up with this bright idea.  I decided to snap a photo for you to see what it looks like.  The passerby isn't sure what the show is, the azaleas at the base or beautiful bottle brush blooms.  What a shame to waste these showy blooms.  I saw directly across the street from this a properly planted azalea and thought you might like to see that as well.   The lugustrum azaleas are better protected and overall healthier; not to mention the show is clearly not upstaged.  Remember that when you plant your gardens, a bit of time spent planning can make a whole world of difference and save you a lot of grief later.  Think about how the color scheme goes together, when the blooms show their best display and how will that affect the plants around it (Art).  This is all in addition to the sunlight and soil type (Science).  So you see gardening is part art and part science, just like cooking and everything else that's really fun and gives something good in return.  :D 
This brings me to another area of garden art.  I told you I was stuck on this patio for now and that kept me in containers.  This is good in some ways because it lets me be artistic with my plantings.  I can play creatively with how I plant and each year is different from the year before.  Did you ever notice how we seem to fall into that trap of planting the same thing the same way as we did the year before in the same place or nearly the same place or the nearly the same way?  Breaking out of this pattern of sameness is good for us because it lets us express ourselves and have some fun with our plantings.  Plant your strawberries in a pocket planter and tomatoes so they are vertical and hang upside down.  This makes them so much easier to harvest as well.  Plant your potatoes in a plastic bag!  I searched a few of these out for you and looked for what I believed are real bargains and purchased myself.  However, I do not spend more than an hour or so looking.  If you are more dedicated, I suggest that you keep looking and use these to get a good head-start.