What's the Big Gardening Idea?

Just how many different agastaches can I combine into a colorful, deer resistant garden design?

Agastache varieties are available in an array of shapes and colors - cool and hot. I long to group them into a mass planting beside my driveway.

Such is my dream... because agastache is my signature plant.

This underused perennial is a thing of curiosity to many gardeners, but it is one of the easiest plants to grow in tough conditions of lean soil, little water and lots of curious critters. Don't kill agastache with kindness by overwatering, fertilizing or cutting it back in the fall. The basal foliage will remain through the winter on the western agastaches (tubular flowers and small leaves) and the herbaceous agastaches (bottlebrush flowers and wider leaves) will die back.

I started my collection a few years ago, quite by accident. Last year, I began the hunt in earnest - for the best colors, longest bloom season and strongest survivors. You can take away all of my other garden plants, but please leave my agastache!

The very challenge of a new garden generates enough excitement to make me spend hours on my computer, drawing out more garden designs than I can grow in my lifetime. So, why not dedicate one big canvas and paint a swath of an agastache garden for this year's big gardening idea?

I have allocated over 600 square feet of meadow to use as my canvas. My design includes a few select companions, with similar growing conditions, to punctuate the plan in such a way to add impact to the agastache as well as add some structure and color in other seasons.

But first, I must eradicate the meadow grass and add good garden soil. I will add some small, sharp gravel to the soil to make sure the drainage is suitable for the agastache.

Finding all the agastache will be more of a challenge than doing the work. It will take a few years to take the garden to maturity. I still have testing to do before buying large quantities of any new variety. I've learned to take it slow, rather than rush a garden project to completion.

This spring will provide me with more information on which new agastache successfully overwintered from the stellar performances in the summer of 2009.

Besides the colorful garden design, there are other advantages...

1. Deer resistant
2. Rabbit resistant
3. Drought tolerant
4. Attracts butterflies
5. Attracts bees
6. Attracts hummingbirds
7. Attracts Goldfinch
8. Low maintenance

...for basing my 2010 big garden idea on agastache!

Summer 2009 (click photo to enlarge)

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

The Garden Before the Storm

The snow is on the way. Our local meteorologist is confident that we're in for a big winter storm. All you gardeners up in the snow belt, please don't laugh - seven inches of snow is forecast! That's a lot for a southerner.

We did the usual things that southerners do before a storm. We went to the grocery store and bought bread and milk just like we're supposed to do. My husband has the generator ready to go in case of a power outage. We're excited about snow, but if this front moves slightly, we could get an ice storm. That wouldn't be any fun at all.

I am convinced that we're in for a snowstorm because it was 60°F here today. The worst snowstorm that I can remember followed a 75° day. So, I took advantage of this warm day to do a bit of tidying up in the garden as well as sow a few cornflower seeds.

It's rather interesting to note how many perennials retain green basal foliage during the winter in zone 7 - achillea, western agastache, coreopsis, gaillardia, mums, nepeta, rose campion, shasta daisy, stachys hummelo, solidago and verbena bonariensis.

Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue' has just started producing buds and blooms. This little perennial is evergreen here in zone 7. Unless the snow sets it back, it will bloom vigorously through the end of spring, and sporadically through fall.

Rated for zones 4-8, scabiosa (pincushion flower) is a good, carefree, short edging plant. The plant in the photo is the oldest perennial in my garden. It is growing along my stream inside the cottage garden fence. I added several more along a path, only to find out that the bunnies will eat what they can reach. I will relocate the new plants to the same area by the stream, away from little bunny noses.

While scabiosa is not deer or rabbit resistant, it is a cheerful little perennial and a fantastic butterfly magnet!

If the snow comes, it will cover all the signs of spring. I will just have to sit inside and browse the big stack of flower and seed catalogs that arrived in the mail recently!

Scabiosa blooms in winter

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Morocco Series: The intricate, breathtaking Ali Ben Youssef Medersa in Marrakesh

I'm not exaggerating - the Ali Ben Youssef Medersa was unbelievable. Every surface, nook, and cranny was adorned with meticulous stucco, or wood detailing. See for yourself.

*please be patient during photo upload - I've specially uploaded higher-res images so you guys get extra detail! :)






Amazing detail!

This is a shot looking out of an upper level window - the detail extends all the way up to the roofs.




Beautiful views out the dormitory windows. The dorm rooms themselves are actually very modest rooms.

A hall within the Medersa.














*All photos taken by my boyfriend, Chris

** I am by no means an expert and after 7 days of running around Morocco please feel free to correct me if any information I give in the Morocco Series is incorrect!

Substitute Pulmonaria for Hosta in Deer Country

Once upon a time, I grew beautiful hostas. I lived in the shady woods, had fertile soil and could keep their roots moist with little effort. There were no deer problems at that home, so my hosta garden looked fabulous. I miss those hostas.

My growing conditions now include deer. I don't expect a hosta to survive and flourish planted in my open garden. It will be eaten - guaranteed! I don't want to take heroic measures using spray repellents nor fencing in the shady area of my garden. The cost of doing so would exceed the cost of a few hostas.

I have learned to substitute and love the plants that are happy in my growing conditions. So, what perennial can I grow instead of hosta?

Pulmonaria! Yes - there's a big pulmonaria world out there that sounds just as exciting and interesting as growing hostas.

I am putting Pulmonaria 'Silver Bouquet' PP through deer resistant trials, totally unprotected from deer, rabbits and any other critters. This is my first experience with pulmonaria and all I did was follow the growing condition suggestions on the plant tag.

The trial pulmonaria plants from Terra Nova Nurseries arrived as small plugs and were planted out in late September. After watering the pulmonaria for the first month, I have totally ignored the perennials since.

The deer and rabbits have ignored the pulmonaria, too. As a result of all this neglect, the four plants are thriving!

Pulmonaria are herbaceous, so they should die back in the winter. The fragrance garden is a protected area in winter, located on the east side of my house and I've not had the die back yet. Which means, that if the deer and rabbits were hungry enough this winter, they have sniffed out these pulmonaria as possible food and rejected this menu.

Growing conditions for Pulmonaria 'Silver Bouquet' are similar to hostas:

zones: 4-9
light: part sun to shade
size: 20" wide/7" high/10" high w/flowers

In my zone and summer sun conditions, I decided to plant the pulmonaria in a spot that is full shade with a bit of dappled morning sunlight. The soil needs to be moist, but well-drained.

The silver leaves really brighten up the ground beneath the sweet bay magnolia tree in my fragrance garden. With a mature width of 20 inches, I have spaced the plants to make a ground cover in this spot.

We use the fragrance garden in late afternoons for dining in good weather, especially in spring and fall. The pulmonaria should bloom in April - in my favorite colors, changing from pink to blue. The understory in this area is also planted with Spanish bluebells. I look forward to seeing the impact of combining these two deer resistant spring-blooming plants.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.The pulmonaria plants were provided for free by Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. Deer resistance may vary in your garden.

Amy Adams's beautiful shoot in an Georgian Dublin mansion

If you didn't catch the Amy Adams feature in Allure's August 2009 issue, I have some shots for you right here. Other than the couture gorgeousness she was wearing, it's impossible to ignore the Georgian mansion backdrop, which is in Dublin.


I tried to find more info/photos of the mansion for you, but all I could find was this - "In flipping through the pages of this month's Allure, I was intrigued to read that the cover story on Amy Adams was shot in a "bone-cold 289-year-old Georgian mansion in Dublin". This sounded very familiar, as we had been in just such a place back in March of 2002, while shooting our Autumn catalog.

We left Kansas on a warm spring day and traveled all the way to Ireland. We soon found that we had not packed adequate clothes for the cold and damp conditions. In an old Georgian mansion that had gone though periods of elegance and grandeur, and times as a bullet-ridden tenement, we were chilled to the bone, building fires of peat bricks in an attempt to keep warm. Our French model, dressed in a tweed wool turtleneck and leather skirt, looks quite cozy as she stands next to the fireplace. Note the woodwork on the mantel and the frame of the mirror - same as the mantel and woodwork next to Amy Adams in the September issue of Allure, even cozier next to a roaring fire. " via Common Threads

Their photo below:

Create a little escape when you need one – glamorous and bohemian bathrooms

The world has seen better days. Tragedies, war, economic crisis, and everyday stress leave even the toughest of us in need of sanctuary. Somewhere one can go for warmth, solitude, and to literally and figuratively shed a new skin is vital to go out and face the world able to help shoulder it’s burdens and care for oneself.

I know that for me, a beautiful bathroom is a must, and it doesn’t necessarily take a whole lot to create a save haven where you can go in a little rough for wear and come out refreshed. I thought I’d share some photos that inspire me.


Via Flickr


I love the “homey” feeling of this bathroom. The plants against the aqua blue is beautiful
Via Bohemian Hellhole


A minimalist retreat
Via Nikreations.co.uk/



You can’t get much better than this tub
Via RoomEnvy


Sweet and serene
Via Elle Decor

This is from a Spanish decor magazine, I just don't remember which one.

Morocco Series: Marrakesh by Night

Marrakesh becomes an even busier, more stimulating place by night. The food vendors fill Djemaa el-Fna and the souqs are lit with lanterns and the reflections of all the metal work, ceramics, leather goods, jewelry, wood crafts, and so much more.

*please be patient during photo upload - I've specially uploaded higher-res images so you guys get extra detail! :)







A beautiful street in the Medina adorned with Moroccan lanterns

I tend to find beauty in older things with a bit of patina and wear.


It was a treat to watch this young guy making wares and other wooden objects using what he called "Moroccan black and decker;" his feet, a chisel, and a bow and rod.



An upscale restaurant entrance


The square at night from a rooftop cafe - quite different by night right?


Back down in the square entering the food stalls - everyone asks you to eat at their stall, and you can get so many delicious foods - vegetables, meats, fish, soup, fresh squeezed juice...the list goes on.



*All photos taken by my boyfriend, Chris

** I am by no means an expert and after 7 days of running around Morocco please feel free to correct me if any information I give in the Morocco Series is incorrect!

Reader question - Help source a paint color

Kimberly took a liking to this photo below, which I posted awhile back. She wanted to know the cabinet color.

After checking at the original source - this gallery in House and Home, I believe the cabinets are custom, so I thought I'd find some close options, and open up the question for you guys incase someone had some better ideas, or is even able to source the color!


Benjamin Moore had a lot of lovely options close to the cabinets - sweet daphne is fairly close.

2 chips above found on Benjamin Moore's virtual paint deck


Glidden's "Celery Sticks" is also close.
via Glidden

The below from Sherwin Williams are also good matches. Sherwin Williams, by the way, has a really great "virtual room" section on their website which lets you test colors on their photos or yours. I found their virtual room site better than many other paint company's.

6418- Rural Green

6417 - Tulepo Tree

6416 - Sassy Green

0014 - Sheraton Sage