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Penny’s a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won’t pull that out yet, it’s still got a green shoot. She likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.
Kim Franke-Folstad
Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.
Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.
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Betty puts the ‘country’ in Town ‘N Country—a garden you’ll want to visit (and can)
Posted Sep 28, 2010 by Loren Omoto
Updated Sep 29, 2010 at 10:46 AM
A couple weeks ago, Betty Morris of the Town ‘N Country Garden Circle invited me to join some club members at her garden for a Saturday morning potting party. Betty and other club members were potting seeds and cuttings in preparation for their big plant sale in April. I knew I’d be writing about that for The Tribune version of The Dirt, but I also know what you Dirty on-line folks like, so I took extra pictures and extra notes just for you.
The photo above is Betty dead-heading her clerodendrum bungei. Leading a garden tour is no excuse for not working!
Betty has a wonderful garden and she’s a rare flower of a person herself. She’s 73 (I would’ve guessed years younger), funny and pragmatic at the same time, and works so hard without breaking a sweat, she makes me feel like a slug. She lives in a nice, old-fashioned two-story clapboard house about a block from the Veteran’s Expressway and directly under the approach path to Tampa International Airport. But you wouldn’t know it! (Well, except for the airplanes.)
Her huge, shady backyard includes this adorable shed and a big patio under the trees. She has a pond with a sort-of working water wheel. (Alas, no photo of that, sorry. I took some back in 2009 and now I can’t find them.)
That’s when I wrote about her last—August 2009. She shared her pineapple-growing secrets, which are worth a read if you missed it. But I posted only pineapple pictures then. The photos I’m sharing now are not the half of her garden – trust me. And since she likes nothing more than showing other gardeners around her slice of paradise (she even has hand-painted signs to ID many of the plants), consider this both appetizer and invitation. She says you’re welcome to visit.
Among her many fruit trees (avocado, Surinam cherry to name just a couple) is star fruit. It’s a beautiful sight to look up and get the surprise of seeing glowing golden orbs. Even better when you know how sweet they are.
I plan to copy her great compost system: She pushes a wheelbarrow under this screened table, shovels compost from the ground onto the screen, then sifts it into the wheelbarrow. (Hers is ¼-inch rabbit wire – she says ½-inch would be better.)
Who would’ve thought we need a greenhouse here? After the last couple winters, Betty’s greenhouse makes her garden the prime storage area for all those little Garden Circle plants being nurtured for the sale. Even if I didn’t need one, I’d love to have this just for the adorable factor.
These are those clerodendrum Betty was dead-heading. They’re as prolific as the pagodas I’m always bragging about. (Mine may be Java Bower and not pagoda – it’s so hard to nail down these things!)
If you visit Betty’s garden, you’re likely to get lots of tips. Including this very wise one:
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Reader Comments
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on September 29, 2010
Great advice, Betty. And so true. As I wait patiently for the last of the Monarch butterflies to be born I have more questions than answers and respect Nature more and more. I adore that greenhouse, find the sifting system very clever and am still drooling over anyone’s cute little shed. Betty’s yard is a treasure.
Posted by (kgardens) on September 29, 2010
Betty surely has an interesting garden. I definitely have greenhouse envy. Good idea on the compost sifting. That’s another idea going on my list of projects for winter. The Town n’ Country Garden Circle sounds like a great group of folks.
Posted by (Chip) on September 29, 2010
It is a small world! I went to school with two of Miss’s Morris Boys, She has three and I spent a lot of time at her house when I was Teenager. Your garden looks great Miss’s Morris!...“Chip”
Posted by (Pumpkin) on September 29, 2010
Betty, Your garden is sooo cute, love the garden shed, greenhouse. I’d imagine when evening comes you have to make yourself go in;I do. You have the only starfruit tree I have ever seen. How long did it take to bloom the first time? Can we really come see your garden? Thank you so much for sharing. Pumpkin
Posted by (Janna) on September 29, 2010
Betty, your shady backyard paradise is beautiful. I love the greenhouse! I think we all wish we’d had one this past winter. (My dining room had to act as greenhouse and wasn’t totally suitable for that purpose.) I’m a big fan of the clerodenrum pagoda that Penny introduced me to, and your clerodendrum bungei also has gorgeous blooms. I’ll have to add that to my “want one” plant list.
Posted by (betty) on September 29, 2010
Hi Gals and guys,
I loved your comments and I want to share most anything in the garden that I have. I have firespike, which the longwing zebra butterflies love, and a pink angel’s trumpet that roots about 100% of the time. I want you to see the ground cover that has taken over. I love it. It grows very well in the shade. Some people call a weed and pull it up, however, a weed is only a plant out of place. I will pick a day for you all to come over and look. Regards, Bettymuch
Posted by (Chip) on September 29, 2010
It has been a good day! Got to see a nice garden on the blog and got reconected with some old friends that I have not talked to in a very long time. I passed by your house early this morning after reading this blog. The only thing that looked the same was your house! What a nice garden you have made…“Chip”
Posted by (Janna) on September 30, 2010
Betty, I know I’m not the only one who would LOVE to come see your garden! Just let us know when. Your offer is very generous and I would be thrilled to see more of your shade plants and the ground cover you referred to. Almost half of my yard is shaded by a huge oak tree and I’m always looking for new ideas and plants that would do well in that area. A close-up of that awesome greenhouse would be pretty cool, too.
Posted by (kgardens) on September 30, 2010
Oh yeah, count me in as another one eager to visit your garden, Betty. The plants, the greenhouse, the composting, and the gardener would all be wonderful to see in person. (Did you realize what you were getting into with this group?)
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on September 30, 2010
A garden stroll in Betty’s yard. Sounds divine. And I’m glad you mentioned the Irish Petticoat, Penny. Is it supposed to get leggy at the bottom? I love the ruffly leaves but it’s a little naked at the bottom. Is that normal? Should I cut it back to fill it in?
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on September 30, 2010
clip it back now or in the spring? And clip it back to the leggy part and leave no leaves?