Monday, December 19, 2011

2011 Year-in-Review: Lowcountry gardens and Landscapes

So many gorgeous things to document this year.... The owners of this live oak have been decorating this tree like this for years. The entire area around it is illuminated.
A live oak at the James Island County Park Festival of Lights. I LOVE this idea. Can't imagine how long it took someone to do this!
My daughter and her friend pulled this really old dead christmas tree (frasir fir) out of the marsh and decorated it with sasanqua petals, pine cones, and long leaf pine needles.
"Marsh Christmas tree" ornaments.
Ligularia always starts blooming in early December. The flower stalks stretch out over two feet! The yellow flowers are such a bright addition when everything else appears spent. My blue hydrangea, flowers now dead, take on a beautiful purple shade. I'll cut them back around New Years.
Sasanqua is always in full bloom on Thanksgiving Day. This thing had been running wild and growing out of control so my husband and I cut it back so that it felt more like a specimen. To our delight it produced twice as many blooms this year!
My daughter and I made this little appetizer label out of pin oak leaves.
"Halloween porch"
Folly Beach in July. The dunes are so huge now. Back in the '70s I remember there were no dunes. Now sea oats cover the entire Folly Beach coastline.
Wild morning glories on Folly cover the dunes during the morning hours.
Hurricane Irene brushed the Charleston coast on Friday, August 26. It brought little more than gusty winds, big tides, and a gorgeous sunset.
The last outer band of Irene exiting the coast. Marsh is full.
Sunset as Irene began to move away from the coast.
Back yard paddling during Irene's high tide
This gorgeous live oak is actually in the parking lot of the Bessinger's in Mt. Pleasant. It's so gorgeous.
This gaura comes back up every spring. I love the way it bounces in the wind or sways when a bumble lands.
Another beautiful scenic foggy highway on James Island.
My daughter took this with my iphone from the car on a really foggy morning on the way to school. Spartina grass looks like it was painted.
One of my daughter's favorite reading places in the back yard. My husband made this great swing that hangs from a towering live oak.
Early summer back porch.
Folly Beach shells
Downtown Charleston window boxes in the spring