To be honest I am at a bit of a loss for ideas for this week’s blog. Well, not at a loss for ideas really, but at a loss for ideas that the muse can turn into a blog. The muse is being a rhymes-with-witch this week. Some weeks I can pound one of these out in a couple hours. Other weeks are like this one, three days off and on and I’m still not there. And the blog is hardly something I can afford to spend too many hours on. So it finally came to me to describe in a bit of detail this summer’s design for the circle bed in front of the Museum. I can’t let you into my head for the entire thought process however. It is a far too dangerous place. There are things in there that even I’m afraid of.

Each year as I begin designing my gardens I hope for some bit of inspiration from which to build a complete thought. There might be an individual plant that starts the design development. A desire to use a certain color might be the catalyst. I might even copy a design I have seen elsewhere. Probably not copy exactly but use many elements. A comment from someone may be the guide to a plant or plants that the idea forms around. Last year the truly fabulous Pam Stokes asked something and from that question came an entire design. The question? “Why don’t you ever plant those black elephant ears?” No reason. I just had not used them here at the IMA. They were a staple at home and in clients’ gardens.  So I decided there was my first plant.

Now, what would look hot with it? I had done containers and small designs using black and chartreuse foliage with red flowering plants. Ideally the flowering plants would also have black or chartreuse foliage. I had all the color elements needed for a design. Now all I had to do was decide which plants (making sure I had a mix of foliage textures) and how to arrange them.

For the black elephant ear I chose Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Runner’. It has a beautiful matte finish to the upper leaf surface (none of the green that often shows in other cultivars) and an equally beautiful silvery gray underside. Plus as the name suggests, it sends out lots of runners with new plants at the end. That sort of thing can kind of knot the whole look together. And the pups as we call them can be used to fill any unexpected gaps. What else could I use? Another plant with good black foliage is an ornamental hot pepper called ‘Black Pearl’ (Capsicum annuum). Even the fruit is jet black before it ripens to red. When the peppers turn red they appear to be lit from within. That adds some of the red I was wanting as well. The smaller leaves also give texture contrast to the large leaved plants in the design. Another good choice for black and red is Canna ‘Futurity Red’. This fairly short (3-4’) plant has good black color to the foliage and arrest-me-red flowers. Unfortunately there are a limited number of plants with true black foliage so for my other dark leaved plants I would have to accept some not quite true black leaves. A just introduced cockscomb (Celosia cristata) named ‘Chinatown’ had promise so I ordered seed. The foliage turned out to be more bronzy than ideal but had that look of stained glass with sun filtering through. The plants also had bright red plumes for flowers. For my tall center element the only plant I could think of was castor bean. They get huge and are available in a very deep burgundy. The palmate leaves would also contrast with the entire-margined plants.

What about my chartreuse elements? I had Xanthosoma ‘Lime Zinger’ and Colocasia ‘Elena’ both on hand. They would be the perfect color contrast and the perfect texture echo to the ‘Black Runner’. Salvia elegans ‘Golden Delicious’ would give me chartreuse foliage and red flowers come late summer. I used to want everything to start blooming as quickly as possible but over time have come to appreciate the later blooming plants. When the same plants have been blooming for months it’s nice to have a new element appear in the garden. What else? I had some variegated ginger. The Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata’ had long narrow pointed yellow and green striped leaves making it a texture echo and color contrast for the Canna ‘Futurity Red’.

I had all my major elements so I could start infilling. Some ‘Big Red’ coleus in red and yellow. Duranta ‘Lemon Leaf’ and Talinum ‘Kingwood Gold’ for chartreuse foliage. Musa zebrina with burgundy and green foliage. Alocasia plumbaea ‘Nigra’ with dark slate-green leaves and burgundy stems.  Some Colocasia macrorrhiza with plain green leaves but oh-so-tropical.  And then because my castor beans were so small I simply had to put something in the center to hold the space. I chose one my largest single stemmed bananas. It wasn’t what I had planned but it did the job. Adapt or die my little future designers.

Despite long weeks of slow growth I finally got a planting I really liked.

In fact one day I got so happy about the results I just felt like celebrating. First I checked to see if the coast was clear.

Sure enough, there went Chad on a death march to another exciting meeting in the big house. He’s so lucky he doesn’t have to work outside on sunny days with blue sky overhead and a breeze in the trees.  Then it was grab the pole and express myself. Gotta dance!

Personally I don’t think a date on the calendar brings bad luck. Frequently what appears to be bad luck is actually the result of bad judgment. When I rear ended the car in front of me many years ago it wasn’t bad luck. It was stupidity. Why did I take my foot off the brake at a red light? Maybe I was distracted by the Scotsman in the other bucket seat. When I don’t have a presentation ready and I have an article due and a blog to write – all on the same day, it isn’t bad luck. It’s procrastination (I almost said procastration. Entirely different. And as a general rule I am not but sometimes…..) We make much of our bad luck in my opinion. So on this day that is rife with superstition I’m looking at why this is a GOOD day.

I am alive. Therefore I can still change things that I don’t like about various aspects of my life and world. I have a job I love.

Part of the reason for that is I work with a group of people that in many ways are one of my many families. Which means moments of “Get out of my face or else!” and moments of “What would I do without you?” Just yesterday so many of them helped me get caught up with my own areas that I can take a breath now. And they are talented designers as well. I think Katie’s pots at the Lilly House with the beautiful foliage in coppers, bronzes, burgundies and golds accented with deep purple and orange flowers are going to be great. They are looking good already.

I’m anxious to see how everyone’s designs turnout as the season progresses. The tall plants in that image are Euphorbia cotinifolia, sometimes called tropical smokebush. Purple smokebush, Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, can be found on the north side of the main parking lot.

The connection between the common and scientific names is simple. The Euphorbia cotinifolia has leaves similar to the leaves of the Cotinus. So we have the specific epithet of cotinifolia, cotini – cotinus and folia – foliage. Foliage like cotinus. See? Euphorbia foliage on the left, Cotinus on the right.

It’s so simple.

I have wonderful mix of friends. Freaks, geeks, and uniques.
I like my biological family. It’s easy to love family but harder to like them enough you actually are willing to spend time with them.

I am planting lots of plants that are new to me in one way or another. New cultivars of species I’ve grown before as well as species completely new to me. This is a new cultivar of Colocasia esculenta called ‘Elena’.

It’s the first chartreuse elephant ear from this species. I think it will be beautiful. It’s chartreuse, of course it will be beautiful. Learning feels sooooo good.

I can listen to 2008 album releases from Dolly Parton – Backwoods Barbie (Bless her, she is a Barbie doll!), Madonna – Hard Candy (Oh yea, I want some of your Turkish Delight), and Donna Summer – Crayons (The queen is back). Any Grammy winners there? I don’t give a crap. Music is about what touches your soul or makes your booty bounce.

And lastly but not leastly, this is my momma’s birthday. I’d be a no-account son if I didn’t mention her when my blog entry falls on the same day. She would have been 88. Now perhaps I would have been born regardless of her existence (some things are just meant to be you know) but no doubt my love of gardening was greatly influenced by her. I’m sure she thought I was crazy and going to hell at the very least. But she never said too much. All in all we did fine considering how differently we viewed so much in the world. And we could always talk plants. She and zinnias are forever connected in my mind.