What you didn't see in Southern Living

The cliffs at Whiteside Mountain are 390 to 460 million years old

One of the unexpected pleasures of writing this column is I get a chance to see who in the world is taking a look.

According to Blogger audience statistics, I have a healthy following in the UK, the Netherlands and as of yesterday, Romania.

So to all the readers in far-flung places, let me begin by telling you Southern Living is a classy magazine that covers culture and travel in the southeastern United States. It also features a variety of mouthwatering recipes.

Now on to the subject at hand.

The foxgloves are volunteers

A recent issue of Southern Living includes a very nice article about a lovely mountainside garden in western North Carolina.

“Grow Roses with Ease” talks about the creation of the garden, which included schlepping 2,500 bags of cow manure and mushroom compost down a steep slope to build the walled terraces that are now home to his 300+ roses. I wondered how easy it could be to take proper care of all those bushes as well as an untold number of perennials.

Hardy, non-grafted shrub roses thrive on high

My husband Chris and I visited the owner* Doug,  last Friday and discovered what we already suspected: caring for this garden isn’t exactly like laying back and eating bonbons. There is always something to be done; the deadheading chores alone take hours.

But the hard work actually becomes a labor of love, especially when the result is this amazing garden.

A treasure trove of plants and ideas

Both Doug and his wife Shari warned me the roses were a bit past their best but believe me, they were still impressive. And there were many other treats aside from the Queen of Flowers to be savored in this ¼ acre garden showplace.

For example, to help keep the weeds down, Doug has cleverly planted all manner of groundcovers under the roses and other tall perennials. Sedum spurium ‘John Creech’ (named for a past director of the US National Arboretum) forms dense mats of scalloped green leaves that will be covered with mauve pink flowers in the fall.

Sedum John Creech

It’s taken many years for this weed-smothering sedum (also known as Stonecrop) to spread, but it was definitely worth the wait. John Creech will tolerate drought and poor soil but it doesn’t like wet feet.

Lamium White Nancy

Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’ (Spotted deadnettle) is another tough plant that makes an ideal spreading groundcover. Nancy is also a showoff -- her eye-catching silvery white leaves are edged with a dark green margin, and she sports clusters of white flowers beginning in the spring.

Evergreen Lamium is tolerant of dry shade and spreads easily without being overly aggressive. Plants can be divided in spring or fall.

Hens and chicks ramble when planted in rock crevices

Doug has also planted several varieties of creeping thyme that spill over his walls and line paths. Sempervivum live between the cracks of the stones. I was so taken by this idea that I rushed to the local garden center and have started my own brood of Hens and Chicks in our newly created rock planters.

Amazing photo ops

The Gifford’s garden faces Whiteside Mountain. The cliffs there are the highest in Eastern North America rising to an elevation of 4,930 feet.

When Doug first built his house and expressed an interest in starting a cut flower garden for Shari, he was told roses wouldn’t grow there. Undaunted, he started out with six bushes and through trial and error discovered non-grafted roses could take the wind and cold.

Now hundreds of bushes live happily on high, some in partial to full shade.

But the truth is, you can’t take in the entire panorama in one visit.

 Shari's studio

I understand the photographer for Southern Living came down from New York and spent an entire week capturing the garden in different lighting at different times of day.

Not wishing to take up too much time (both Doug and Shari are artists), we stayed for just over an hour.

I can’t wait for a return visit.

* I am not disclosing the last name of the owner since they have had uninvited guests, including a busload of people wanting to see the garden.