When Lightning Strikes

One of our members, Tess Hart Ross, Dogwood Circle, has a unique experience to share with us.

July 4th came early at our house this year. On June 3rd during a driving rainstorm lightning struck an 85' laurel oak tree about 20' from our house. We were not home at the time but various neighbors have described the event in vivid detail. Most included finding religion from the vantage point of under their kitchen table.

We came home to find the A/C, the computer, our phone recorder and four remotes, and one TV totally fried. And because of the proximity of the underground telephone and TV cables to the roots of the tree, all their connections to the house were toast as well.

Living in Mandarin under a canopy of live oaks, laurel oaks, water oaks, black cherry trees, longleaf pine, and hickories such occurrences don't come as a surprise. We don't even bother to call our insurance agent anymore as he disowned us years ago after the first strike.

We set about making contact with all the service folks needed to get back up and running, with a special trip to purchase heavy duty surge protectors for all the new electronics. We've got it down to a fine science.

They say lightning does not strike the same place twice. NOT TRUE! Three weeks later in the middle of another downpour, the wounded oak took another hit. The same underground cables were fried but nothing else in the house was damaged. In three days every leaf on the tree was brown. It was a goner.

We lived with its standing corpse for a couple months hoping for signs of life and attracting all kinds of drive-by tree removal companies, full of advice. We were too fond of our giant and were just not ready to see it go. It was safely in a far corner of the yard so falling limbs were not an immediate threat to pedestrians but we needed a unique solution to the tree's demise.  (Click below to read more)

Mandarin Garden Club Plant Exchange

On Saturday, September 6th, the Mandarin Garden Club held a plant exchange.  Members of the club brought plants, gardening accessories, garden art, books, and magazines.  With a crowd of 50 or more ladies and gents, the exchange was quite lively!  Might I even say rowdy???

Watching the members jockey for position, and laying hands on their first choice was quite entertaining.    Some were discreet, and some were bold in marking their territory.

The plant exchange takes me back to a time when guests to our homes always left with a “cutting” in hand for their garden.  Watching our  Exchange plants grow or making use of the garden accessories will be a constant reminder of the friends we have made at the Mandarin Garden Club.

Many thanks to Becky Bathen and Mary Forester for their organization of this fun event and the memories we made.

This post was written by Karen Rowe, a member of the Mandarin Garden Club's Dogwood Circle.

Cats

This poem and photos are written and provided by Tess Hart-Ross of the Dogwood Circle.  Enjoy!

And now as I grow old and gray I shall gather 'round me--CATS, for keeping a smile on my weathered face and mirth in my tired heart...

The Secret Garden

Diane Frisco's Secret Garden

On the hottest day in July, I went to visit Diane Frisco's Secret Garden. Diane is a member of the Dogwood Circle, and has created a beautiful garden in honor of her dog Abby. She told me this story.

After losing their beloved black lab, Daisy, the Frisco family went looking to rescue another black lab. Their granddaughter, Rachel, was with them the day they visited the shelter, and fell in love with a white American Bull dog. So Abby came home with the family instead of a black lab. Abby had been abused and was found roaming the streets so the family knew it would take a lot of work to gain Abby's trust.

It took about a year of Diane talking to Abby for that trust to be gained. Abby is now a quite, gentle dog that welcomes visitors to the Frisco home. Since Joe and Diane are "gardening people", they decided to create a place in their backyard for Diane to sit with Abby and to talk to her.  Diane told me she tells Abby all of her secrets, and that's the story of how the "Secret Garden" came about. Oh, Yes, Diane says, "Abby understands me when I tell her my secrets".

There is a fence around the garden and a mailbox at the entrance. Inside the garden you will see an old fashioned water pump, a table with a tea set and two chairs, a water garden in a tub, birdhouses, and mirrors. Diane's favorite item in the garden is an old chandelier that was found at a yard sale. Her husband turned it into a solar chandelier and it now hangs in a tree in the garden. You will see a yellow bird cage with a miniature rose bush growing through it, gingers, caladiums, rudbeckias, yellow lilies, and a red drift shrub rose hibiscus. Diane is a succulent lover and planted desert plants in a framed window on the side of the shed next to the garden.

It is a lovely place for a lady and her precious dog, Abby,  to relax and share secrets together early in the morning or late afternoon.


This post was written by Mandarin Garden Club member, Betty Waldrep.

Dogwood Circle - Garden Visit with Mary Anne Williams

On a beautiful June afternoon, I visited with Mary Anne and Charlie Williams in their lovely home. It was such a pleasure to sit with this couple at their kitchen table, which looks out on their gardens, and listen to them tell me about finding the perfect place to build their home sixteen years ago and how they started designing their gardens. They knew they wanted a wooded lot with lots of trees, grass, plants and flowers. And believe me they found the perfect place to make their dreams come true!

You enter their property by driving down a long driveway, and along the driveway, you will see the large trees and beautiful flowers Mary Anne has planted. Recently they installed street lights along the driveway for night driving. Sometimes this summer I'm going back for a night drive down the driveway. Ha! As you arrive at the front of the house, you will find a large fountain enclosed in a circle using bricks, and inside the circle around the fountain, Mary Anne has planted blue Plumbago. The beds at the front door are filled with Saliva Gregg ii and Blue Daze. What a magnificent welcoming sight!

On the back of the house is a screened porch, that leads to the English Knot Garden. A Knot Garden is a formal design in a square frame using hedges, plants, annuals, rose bushes, herbs and focal points in each area. Squares and circles seem to be the most popular designs that are now used in a Knot Garden. Walkways of gravel, flagstone, bricks or other materials are weaved among the knots. The Williams put down 85 pallets of grass on their property and then began work developing the gardens. Sixteen years later their home and gardens are spectacular! 

 

As you enter the knot garden you will see mint, parsley, oregano, two kinds of chives, and basil. Along the west side of the garden is a row of rosemary bushes and spirea bushes. On the opposite side of the garden are three fully grown Holly Stevens Trees, which were planted to give privacy to the garden and to separate it from the rest of the property. Mary Anne has included

Mexican Sage, bush daisies, hibiscus, Florabunda roses, and Firecracker plants in the back half of the garden. In the center of the knot garden is an old fountain surrounded by dwarf Marigolds and multicolored Pinatas. Agapanthas (Lilies of the Nile) surround two sides of the garden and were just beautiful when I was there. The back side of the garden has Knockout Roses and "7 Sister Roses" which flank two stone benches. The walkways wind through the different knots of the garden allowing you to just walk around enjoying all the loveliness. Charlie and Mary Anne have created a haven for humans and birds (and squirrels).

 

 

The day I was there I was just amazed at the beautiful birds. As we sat at the kitchen table talking, the birds and butterflies were all a flutter feeding on the flowers and at the bird feeders. Mary Anne did tell me how much the squirrels enjoy her garden, too, much to her distress. She has shared some of her bird pictures with me and I will be featuring them on Facebook.

 

 

The garden is rather sad in the Winter according to Mary Anne, but I just can't see that. She plants petunias in the winter, where the pinatas are in the summer, for color. She does try to use perennial plants to keep the cost of replanting in line. But each year she uses some annuals. This property has to be beautiful in all seasons!

You can tell Mary Anne and Charlie love their home, and have worked hard to make it a special place for their family and the wildlife that live there. Mary Ann told me that," she works hard to keep her little piece of earth something the Good Lord would like looking down upon". I would say she and Charlie have accomplished this big time! Thanks for the visit.

 

 

 

Mary Anne is a member of the Dogwood Circle at Mandarin Garden Club and Charlie is a retired dentist who enjoys woodworking.

 

Article written by Mandarin Garden Club member, Betty Waldrep

Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Butterflies (Diane Frisco - Dogwood Circle)

Diane Frisco, from Dogwood Circle, is raising Monarch Butterflies.  She had a question about some of the crystallis turning black.  Mary Howe, also from Dogwood Circle, shared a link about the signs and causes of "Black Death".  This is a link that should be helpful to all Gardeners:  http://www.Insects.About.com.

Thanks to Diane and Mary for sharing with us. We are all waiting and watching for the butterflies to return!