How could there have been enough humidity to make a frost this week?

We can't seem to squeeze out a few drops of rain dependably, but we can make the roofs white with frost.  Hmmmmmm.

I hope my plantings do all right.  Gardening in Cary and Raleigh, NC is a delight and a torment.  We have a long growing season, but one that can be a nightmare of drought and hardpan clay.  We have a ton of opportunity for trying new things.  We also can pay the price of frustration if we try to force Northern species to grow in this climate.

After this drought, I intend to stick with indigenous, native, heritage, or other North Carolina-proven plants.  I'm trying to grow a fair variety of shrubs, trees, and flowering plants in the back, without putting in any grass.  It is very heavy and fairly wet clay, so I have lost in quite a few attempts to force plants to grow in more damp clay or heavier shade than they really want.  And next year the dowdy fescue lawn comes out, to be replaced by Bermuda grass, which will be much hardier in Wake County, NC.

Nandina Domestica may be a little pedestrian, but it sure won me over this summer.  I like plants that take no care, and live a long time.  Nandina turns up in old homesteads and abandoned cemetaries, happy as a lark after decades without human involvement.  My kind of plant!

Firepower Nandina seems to have survived its first summer, and is starting to turn its signature bright red for winter.

I'm not to worried about my Lagerstroemia Indica...Crape Myrtles.  They were nipped hard by the 28 degree frost we had for Easter, 2007, but seem to have survived.  I even got a few stunted blooms after one of our infrequent rains early in September.  In the spring I will have to trim them a little harder than I would like to remove the frost-killed tips of the limbs.  But...NO CRAPE MURDER HERE!

 Survivor!

Somehow, I have three happy Winter Daphne.  I was told how finicky they are, but it would seem that they are a little satisfied with the location I have put them into for the last three years.  Sweet smell of success when they blossom!

The area on one side of the driveway and at the curb is vexing.  I have lost two mop cypresses, two euonymous bushes, one cotoneaster and losing another one.  And I did lose a Nandina, but I take a little blame there, since it is directly in the sun for hours through the day.  But stuff just turns black.  Looks happy, and craps out on me.  I think we are looking at a serious excavation next year, and importing some new dirt.  I'm not THAT bad a gardener:

I have a few of these Confederate Jasmine.  This one that I have covering an old ladder is a favorite.

Similarly, I have a Carolina Jessamine going wild on the mail box post.  I'm going to shape it up a little bit in the spring after it blooms, but you have to love something that is in hardpan clay during a historic drought, handles it with aplomb, and makes me smile everytime I go to the old billbox.

Along with the Firepower Nandina at the curb, I have put in some Blue Rug Juniper.  "Drought?  What drought?  Bring it on!"  Thriving and looking forward to next year.  They will take a little work, as they spread into the street.

I love this tree beside the house.  It provides filtered shade in the summer and drops its leaves, letting winter sunshine into my breakfast table where I enjoy a morning cup of coffee.  I don't know what it is, but will take a branch to the Arboreteum one day to be identified. 

The hedge (another euonymous variety?) seems bulletproof.  Very happy where it is, and needing pruned.  I didn't prune much this summer, afraid to shock plants during such a hard drought.

The Magnolia is misplaced, and not very happy.  I wonder if it will survive a move to a less crowded and drier spot?

The Bradford Pear is an attractive weed tree.  There are about 20 on my street.   Gorgeous in bloom, and colorful in fall, but weak and short-lived.

We used to have a twin to this pear, but it came apart in an ice storm 5 years ago and I replaced it with the Natchez Crape Myrtle.   I like the appearance of the bark as it sheds.

 A Natchez Crape Myrtle may grow as tall as 35 feet.  That would make this a very appealing ornamental small shade tree.  It blossoms for a very long time, up to 110 days, with profuse lush large white blossoms.