Georgia Gardening: Maypop Garden and RU Plant Gifts, 2 by MaypopLaurel

MaypopLaurel wrote:
It's one thing to appreciate the garden, Sally, but it's folks like you, Wholy-Brenda and others who have helped bring it along. I've not included Randy's gifts nor Ken's. Mike's p'butter bush is in a big pot next to my outdoor tub and his buckeye is potted at the back end of the garden.

Sterling, love the "wildlife" photos. Toads and mantids are always welcome in the garden. Great pics.

Brenda-nutz, the one problem with mantids is they also eat each other. lol Very territorial.

Mike, I'm sending wishes for Miss Daisy to be healthy soon. Chickens are a very worthwhile time eater (keeps you out of trouble). We used to raise rabbits and ducks. As for Vitex agnus castus, my Atlanta one drops seed onto our stone and gravel patio and those sprout. The one in north GA does not self-sow. I think it's the builder sand, a course gravel substrate between the fieldstones, that works as a good medium for germination. BTW, mine bloom twice; once in late spring for four to six weeks and again in late summer. The late bloom is not as heavy, but nice.

The double rose of Sharon is a wonderful shrub. It was blooming when ya'll visited and it's still going. Wish I had better photos. I have shared babies with several DGers. The third photo is a red Mandevilla. It's got lots of blooms. I had trouble a few years ago overwintering a pink one after digging it up so I potted this one and masked the pot with other plants. I'm going to cut it back off the post and transfer it into the solarium for winter this year. Hoping that not digging it up will allow us to enjoy blooms in winter.