Speaking of bonsai...

A white pine that Fryar has been shaping since the 1980s

Bonsai on a large scale is topiary.  See this great article on Pearl Fryar in Bishopville, South Carolina in this month's American Craft magazine.

This and That

Bonsai Gingko - fabulous!

Last week's Memphis Area Master Gardener meeting was one of the best ever.  The Share and Learn was on landscape photography and the meeting speaker gave us a wonderful presentation on pruning small trees and perennials using techniques he learned by working with bonsai.  I took great notes.  Unfortunately those notes are in Memphis and I'm not.  So this is a teaser for future posts!

On Saturday I went with friends to Waterworks in Memphis to hear Cheryl Converse demonstrate good principles of container gardening.  How is it that she can just place a few plants into a container and it looks fantastic, but when I try to plant mine I end up agonizing for hours?  Not fair.  But I learned a LOT about thrillers, fillers, and spillers and about even using perennials in pots, which I've never done.  It's made me look at containers in a whole new way.  I was walking around downtown Blowing Rock, NC yesterday evening.  The main street is lined with these hanging planters on every streetlight, that the merchants' association maintains:

A water truck goes down the street every morning and these baskets are hand-watered!  Most of the merchants also have planters on the sidewalk outside of their doors.  Some are better than others, of course, but it's so nice to have the greenery and colors as you walk down the street window-shopping (or real shopping!)

A thriller and a spiller, not no filler

Green and white, a matching pair is on the other side of the door

Nasturtiums and petunias, does it need something tall?

My favorite!  Phlox, hosta, petunias, rose moss and something I didn't know

What are your favorite combinations?  Comment below or on our Facebook page - send pictures if you can, they're worth a thousand words!