When someone hires me to design a garden, is it my job to give them what they want or to make a beautiful garden?

The two things are often in conflict.

I’m sure this is a perennial and universal discussion among lots of professions – right? Doctors, lawyers, welders and golf pros must struggle with it…

What I’m totally sure about this morning is plant stuff. I’ve spent weeks organizing my new collection of plants. A really cool, new garden center (Hay Hill Garden Market) in Columbia asked me to come up with tags and endorse the best of perennials for Zone 8.

Don’t Overlook Dormant Plants

What a blast! Unlike the big-box nurseries they will even sell DORMANT plants! Yep, ugly ducklings.

Those dormant, nothing-but-dirt pots of Adenophora lilliifolia will be spectacular with your sunflower gold adirondack chairs. Where do you find stuff like that these days? My first experience with Adenophora (Blue Lady’s Bells) was in a sort of research experiment. I’d been asked for years why we don’t use Campanula in Zone 8. (the answer is that it dies after a year or so) But I was determined to find one, one relative that would work. Lots of seed later and Lady’s Bells erupted in spikes of blue in Riverbanks Botanical Garden.

February and March are great times to plant the ugly ducklings, the dormant plants bursting with plain old hope. You can divide these things and spread them around your garden too.

This morning, my buddy Jacob and I will start on all the antique garden Mums. They seem to be coming back into favor. I’ve read about the heyday in the 1940s. But I remember the renaissance of old mums in the late 1980s– ushered in by the juggernaut of southern gardening Mr. Ryan Gainey. Remember Chrysanthemum Ryans Pink? The die-hard Mr. Gainey never stopped loving them, now he has an entire series of called Ryan’s Rainbow.

I have to be true to my Momma though, she taught me to love plants. So many horticulturists love her Chrysanthemum Miss Glorias Thanksgiving Day — its my favorite too.

This warm February week is a perfect time to plant and divide dormant perennials for a warm and colorful spring, summer and Thanksgiving.