Madeline Hooper and Jeff Hughes of GardenFit

Plant of the Week:

Carex ‘Everillo’

Most plants come with a playbook: rules on how to treat them and grow them. We fall hard for the ones that can play a lot of roles in the garden, but it’s particularly fun when we accidentally find out that a plant can more than is advertised.

Here’s the REALLY sunny container, and sure, there is a bit of wash out in some of the foliage.

I felt confident about planting Everillo down in the bog.

Wet soil? Check.

Shade? Check.

But it surprised the heck out of me when it lasted all summer in these sunny planters. You can see a little bleaching on the one, but overall, a lovely and unexpected performance!

How did I make the discovery? By shoving them in place for a temporary solution to an empty pot problem. And there they stayed, all summer long!

But this guy is almost as much sun and look at that color! Winning!

Painting and Plant Pairing

from

Karen Blair

You heard me mention my friend Karen Blair on the pod this week. Karen is a Charlottesville based painter whose work I know you would love. She is known for her joyous use of color and for exuberant mark-making. Her own garden and those of friends inspire the flowers and trees also prevalent in her paintings.

I am so excited to start this partnership with Karen, and each week I will feature here one of her paintings with a corresponding garden photo! Follow this link to see more of her paintings.

I had some zinnias, but didn’t put any in— had fun trying other things to match Karen’s palette. I think the underside of the Begonia grandis worked well!

And follow her on Instagram here.

GardenFit’s Madeline Hooper and Jeff Hughes

I first heard about this show on Margaret Roach’s podcast, and I thought it was a fantastic idea. From there, I think I got 3 recommendations from friends on it: '“Have you heard of this show? Don’t you want to have them on? Isn’t it a fabulous idea?”

Yes, yes, and yes!

I really enjoyed talking to both of them— we all know that gardeners are always the very nicest people, so Madeline was no surprise. Jeff was charming not just in personality, but also in how must he has taken in from being exposed to lots and lots horticulture.

Together they have made an amazingly fun and fresh gardening show that is good medicine for our weary bones and joints!