The Plan for the Southern Monet Garden 1999 The Monet Garden in my former yard has a story. Dothan Nurseries, JoAnn McFarland, Christie Thomley and I collaborated in planting a Southern Monet Garden. One must first one must understand Monet’s theories of gardening from an artist’s perspective and then one must choose those plants from Monet’s design which will prosper in a Southern garden. I used Vivian Russell’s Monet’s Garden, Charles Prost’s The Garden of Monet, and Derek Fell’s Monet’s Garden as resource materials. I began to understand the garden as a palette upon which Monet practiced his color theories, combining red-green-silver, blue-pink-white, yellow-violet, and orange-blue. He preferred single flowers (flowers with a single row of petals) because of their translucence when backlit and their reflective properties when front lit. The play of light upon the garden determined where a plant was planted. Cool colors appeared where the sun rose and hot colors appeared in the sunset borders.
The design plan expanded. Christie, my friend, fellow Master Gardener and mentor, sighed. She knew the immensity of our endeavor. Marcel Proust wrote: "If one day I can see Claude Monet's gardens, I feel that I will see, in a garden of nuances and colors, more than flowers, I will see a garden which seems to be less a traditional floral garden and more of a colorists garden, for example some flowers arranged in an ensemble that is not quite like nature, since they have been planted in such a way that those which blossom at the same time have nuances that harmonize in a pink or blue range; and that the artists intention, so powerfully manifested has dematerialized in some way, all that is not color. Earth flowers and also water flowers, these delicate water lilies that the master has depicted in sublime paintings of which this garden (a true transposition of art, more than a model for paintings, a painting already executed within nature which is illuminated under the eye of a great artist) is like a first and living sketch." (Les Eblouissements by the Countess de Noailles, Figaro, June 15, 1902)
The Southern Monet Garden began on September 20, 1999, with bed preparation. Chris and Bryan arrived with energy, tools and a vision to begin the process of creating our Southern Monet Garden. We realized that with my sandy soil, the foundation would be critical to success. Weeding and watering would be crucial to success and enjoyment. We decided to implement the fallowing method suggested by Ed Givhan, Montgomery, Alabama physician, and his wife, Peggy, in their book, Conversations with a Southern Gardener. They recommends preparing the bed, leaving it to lie fallow for several weeks to see which weeds will pop up. Those weeds are then zapped with Round-up. Only then are we ready to follow through on planting our seeds. Then we just sat back and waited for those weed seed to show themselves. September 21, 1999, was the day we tilled the soil after the beds had been cut in the sod.
September 22, 1999 Mushroom Compost was added to the new beds to enrich the soil Step 4 Then came the fun art…planting already established plants. Bryan at Dothan Nurseries designed the background for the Southern Monet Garden. With his artist's eye he strategically placed plants using color, size and shape as visual elements while pleasing the other senses with plants with smells that enhance the garden environment Arches were added to the Southern Monet Garden to incorporate the same vertical gardening technique that Monet used so effectively. Climbing New Dawn and Zephrine Drouhin were planted to grow over the arches. At the same time weeds that had sprung up in the fallowed beds were zapped with Round up.
The corners of the house are anchored with pyramidal Carolina Holly. Radican Gardenias soften the edges coming around the corner in front of the Holly. Variegated Pittosporum and Lorapetalum with beautiful burgundy leaves and a spring blooming pink flower provide background against the house. Tea Olive grows higher in the areas between the windows. Lacy pink spirea flank the sod pathway. Pellea fern grows in front of the bay windows. Sage, Basil, and Thyme are planted in front of the Fern. Old fashioned blue pansies grow low in front of the porch. An arbor covered with coral vine and French hydrangea grow in the shade of the south side of the house. Antique and David Austen Roses surround the bench on the northern side of the house. Climbing roses grow over the arches above the brick walk. Old fashioned purple thrift is the ground cover beneath the roses. Jewel toned Nasturtiums were planted in font of the house.
October 23, 1999 was seed planting time. Hollyhocks take special care. We mixed the seed with builders sand and then shook the mixture over the area of the bed JoAnn had plotted for those seed.
  We pat down the soil to ensure seedlings have firm contact. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
JoAnn sprayed the seedbed with water. This helps set the seed and start germination. December 10, 1999 Germination actually began only two weeks after planting, but the plants were so tiny they were hard to photograph. Truly one cannot tell the difference in the plants with only two leaves. They must have at least four for differentiation.
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Lunaria is the first to blossom. These beautiful fragile spires are Lunaria. The tiny blooms resemble Easter eggs. As you can see we now have a great stand of "greens." Gardeners will recognize the poppies of all different types. (February 28, 2000) As you can see, all of our efforts have produced something beautiful. All the watering during the drought, the weeding, the shifting around so that plants would have room to grow have come together. And we've only just begun!!!!
Lunaria Apply PREEN for weed control before the weeds germinate. Use a light coat, EXCEPT IN THE SEED BEDS! (We want the weeds to germinate in the seed bed so we can zap them with Round Up.) Use this once a month ALL YEAR. Use Round Up to zap the weeds in the seed bed. Then spot spray WEEKLY. Hand weeding will still be necessary, but will be much better if taken care of with diligence. FERTILIZE with Florikan 15-4-9 w/ Nutricote Mulch with Pine Straw. It is actually easier to place the pine straw in the bed before planting little annuals like Pansies. But not in the seed garden. Seedlings need light to germinate. WATER, WATER, WATER, preferably in the morning
 Sweet Peas on the old scuppernong arbor
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 Poppies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
At this point, I must admit, "the sin of pride was upon me" as Celestine Sibley said of her home in Sweet Apple. So beautiful This is what makes gardening worthwhile. Here you see poppies, bachelor’s buttons, Queen Anne's Lace, and violas. Our lunaria continues to bloom. Unfortunately, we have had some very hard rains that have beaten down some of our beautiful flowers. We should have thinned our poppies more drastically so that air could circulate a bit more near the roots. Some that were sown in another bed actually got the dreaded "root rot" and had to be pulled up. This picture reminds one that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." Some of these exquisite blooms resemble peonies, while others have a single row of translucent petals. Those were Monet's favorites. Monet loved to capture the light reflecting through the petal of a bloom. The Southern Monet garden has been gorgeous with outstanding poppies. By April 22 they were turning to seed. The garden was then in transition from Spring to Fall. I pulled out many of the poppies and replaced them with cleome, touch-me-nots, and cosmos. Sunflowers will soon be planted as well. One patch of poppies, sown late, was just coming into bloom. This was a good lesson in staggered planning. Gathering seeds is one of gardening’s greatest pleasures, especially with poppies. I spread my seed upon newspapers on an old screen in the rafters of my greenhouse so that they will dry. I then collect the seeds in paper bags and look forward to repeating the planting process --and sharing my seeds! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sharman Burson Ramsey writes Historical Fiction and Mint Julep Mysteries (published as Sharman Jean Burson), family history books, and recipe books as well as the website Southern-style: A Downhome Look at All Things Southern
Monday, October 20, 2025
The Plan for the Southern Monet Garden
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Gardening Southern-Style: May Garden
GARDENING SOUTHERN-STYLE: MAY GARDEN
I now understood what Celestine Sibley meant when in the first line of her book she writes, A Place Called Sweet Apple. "The sin of pride was upon me."
So now many of my lovingly planted seedlings and plants were blooming-- and it made my heart sing. The sin of pride was definitely upon me. My back yard had undergone a transformation to enable me to travel through my garden. The brick patio was original to the home my husband and I purchased in 2019. My husband passed away in 2020 and I immediately turned to gardening to occupy my mind and time.
Now comes the preparation for the new garden.
As you can see, when we purchased the home it was beautiful, but without the flower beds or structures. We brought the gazebo (a gift for my 50th birthday when our home sat on 2 acres) to this property. You
do not see it yet, but we also brought the playhouse with us that now has a pergola attached. The two metal arches also came from that property when we planted a Monet Garden along with Dothan Nurseries
with Joanne McFarland guiding the seed planting there in the front yard. Both arbors have Confederate
Jasmine and roses, the one closest has a Generous Gardener rose.
Comfortable seating is placed on the brick patio to listen to the birds and look at the roses and seedlings now plants.
Raoul Dahl, an apricot David Austin rose, and the yellow Julia Child (on the left) tree rose love their
place in the sun. The Iceberg tea rose to the right is a Kordes rose developed by the German Reimer Kordes. The David Austin roses I planted a couple of years ago are:
| Constant Gardener |
| Thomas a Beckett |
| Darcy Bussell |
| Benjamin Britten |
Rouol Dahl |
| Jude the Obscure |
| Lady of Shallot |
| Olivia Rose Austin |
| Queen of Sweden |
| Ancient Mariner Winchester Cathedral I have been reading THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS. If you are a gardener or just someone interested in the stories of living beings, plants included and our relationship to them, I recommend it! Winchester Cathedral has a story. She was originally planted on the far left of the picture above. I noticed she was reaching for the sun and not blooming very well. That was one reason I redesigned this part of the bed. There were several others that I had to replant because they didn't like their spot. They had been moved to other parts of the garden, but still didn't prosper. My back yard is pretty shady. When the landscape people came, they limbed up the trees and cut back the ligustrum. Sun streamed on the shady places, mushroom compost enriched a bed where Winchester Cathedral could be in the sun. So I moved it and I thought she would be happy there. Unfortunately, some ant like thing invaded the hole in which she was planted. I picked her up and moved her to another spot. Unfortunately, she lost all of her leaves there. I looked at her one day and thought she had had it. I would just have to pull her and dispose of her. The next day I went out she not only had leaves but she had branches. OVERNIGHT! The Secret Life of Plants reveals to us how we communicate with plants. Somehow plants know. And Winchester Cathedral knew my intent leafed out so I knew it still had life. And now it blossoms out with the most beautiful blooms. |
In the process of preparing the ground for my pathways some of the bulbs already planted there like the twelve apostles given to me by family friend, Mary Kirkland, had been divided and divided. They were once again divided along with some iris that had lost their previous home and some daylilies. From the look of that leaf, one of the bulbs I thought was a lily must be an elephant ear. These plants line the new patio in the center of my yard that my new flower beds (enriched with a load of mushroom compost), have been created. You will notice the different leaves that are planted among them. These were seedlings I planted in compostable pots and nurtured under the grow lights in my bathroom where my African violets now abide. You will see that these are quite vigorous.
Caladiums are slowly popping up in this urn. You will see some of my favorite tools: the post hole digger, the hula hoe and the dog poo picker upper.
Here I will note that one of the major things my landscape guy, Matt Cardin, had his people do was to limb up the trees in the center of the yard and trim the Ligustrum on both sides. Now a path lead to the concrete bench. The New Dawn rose came with the arbor and got transplanted in the sun and now blooms much more happily than the it was under the tree. I also planted a Nellie Moser Clematis. Amazingly the Confederate Jasmine on the left has also survived transplant and seems to be prospering. I planted a Jackmanii clematis to climb up the Confederate Jasmine.
My granddaughter, Megan, helped me plant the leftover seeds directly into the soil at the end of March. We put sand in a large container and decided to add all the seeds rather than focus on individual types of seeds. We shook it up and spread the seeds on the right side flower bed. Megan then spread the zinnia seeds I got at the Dollar Store. Zinnias were my Grandmother Burson's favorite flowers so they will become a staple for my garden. Zinnia now grow inside the arbor and within the beds.
Old Fashioned Garden Mix Calendula | |
Babys Breath | |
Cosmos | |
Shasta Daisies | |
Papaver Rhoas | |
Bachelor Buttons | |
California Poppy | |
| Delphinium | |
| Mallow | |
| Black-eyed Susan | |
| Painted Daisy | |
| Blanket Flower | |
| English Daisy | |
| Zinnias |
As you can see, those directly sown seeds are not nearly as large as the seedlings grown inside in the peat pots or the seed trays or the winter sowing efforts. Here you see the beautiful purple hydrangea in the back of my yard. To the left you will see the gorgeous drift roses planted quite soon when we moved into this house To the right is the former playhouse now she shed with the pergola.
The terra cotta pots are filled with herbs to make tea with.
Here you see another view of the directly sown seedlings. We also have a camellia that was not doing well elsewhere and was transplanted here out of the hot direct sun of the front yard. Behind the directly sown seeds is my new effort with dahlias. In this bed I have also planted some hardy geraniums (much loved in English gardens), echinacea, and a plant loved by Laura on Garden Answer--a Chitalpa. I also ordered from Jenny with Gardening with Creekside another tree, Temple of Bloom. You Tube shows on gardening like Garden Answer and Gardening with Creekside are inspirational.
| Sage "Rocking the Blues" (Gardening with Creekside) | |
| Denim and Lace Salvia (Braces | |
| Multi Colored Geranium (Bricks) | |
| White Jubilation Jardenias (Lowes online) | |
| Sedum | |
| 100 Gladiolus bulbs and 3 Garden amaryllis | |
| Hawaiian Punch Elephant Ear | |
| Multicolor Colocasia Waikiki | |
| Pink Caladium Bulbs | |
| Multicolor Colocasia Maceira Star Elephant Ear | |
| Pink Cannas Dwarf Pink Futurity | |
| Black Magic Elephant Ear | |
| Schneider's Irises | |
| Breck's Coneflowers |
Here we are looking across the patio and see the Twelve Apostles lilies growing under the tree with the lady at the well statue. The large yellow urn is surrounded by Rocking the Blues salvia, anemones and little lime hydrangea. A bed of daylilies are to the right with the gazing globe. Gardenias form a sort of hedge dividing the new garden area from the old lawn and daylilly garden.
Molly and I bought these Daylillies on our trip to the daylily garden.
| Accent on Style |
| Altered State |
| Gypsy Rose Lee |
| Javanese Jewel |
| Jay Turman |
| Look Here Mary |
| Mama's Cherry Pie |
| Orange Velvet |
| Pastel Classic |
| Pearlfisher Pink |
| Ruffles Have Ripples |
| Small Gestures |
| Two to Tango |
| Tuscovilla Snowdrift |
| Victorian Lace |
| Signature Truffles |
From the pergola you can see my efforts at the beginning of a fruit orchard. Near the large yellow urn is an apple tree. The other apple tree on the other side did not survive. Directly opposite here in the daylily garden is a fruit cocktail tree. On the other side of the fence, in the front yard, I planted a pear and a plum tree. I will wait until fall to purchase replacement trees for the apple and the peach that did not make it. Behind the yellow pot grows little lime hydrangeas, ligustrum, and azaleas. I will wait until fall to plant replacement trees. The fig tree is every happy there on the corner of the house. Unfortunately, I have failed once again with my attempt at growing blue berries. One plant survived but the one he was intended to pollinate with did not.
My granddaughters helped me plant the 100 gladiolus bulbs scattered in the daylily bed and in the bed leading to the gate.
Ferny yarrow has shown up throughout the daylily garden.
The grass here is regrowing after being a part of the construction of the garden. Directly before us is a butterfly garden with lantana, agapanthus, butterfly weed and a baby forsythia that will be beautiful next year. (above)
The pavers have certainly improved getting around in the back yard. Formerly the playhouse, now the she shed with a pergola. the generous gardener and confederate rose may someday cover the pergola but I think that is Virginia Creeper. Gardeners must deal with the strangest things.
Here beneath the buzzing of the many bees that adore the Vitex, bulbs have been planted in the pots but are taking their time popping up out of the soil. However the pink cashmere verbena looks lovely front of the Black Magic elephant ear.
Daylilies came from Enterprise at the Neighborhood Daylily Farm on a trip with granddaughter, Molly. | ||
| Perfecto Mundo double white azalea | ||
| George Tabor are the white azaleas along back | ||
| Vince Dooley Reticulata | ||
| Frank Howser is a reticulate camellia named for the doctor who oversaw the medical evacuation of wounded soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge where my mother served. | ||
| Merry Christmas | ||
| Mary Ann Lawrence | ||
| Robin Ann Cross | ||
| Lemon Glow Betty Sheffield, Professor Sergeant and Pink Perfection were camellias in most older Dothan gardens. | ||
| Betty Sheffield | ||
| Prof. Sargeant | ||
| Pink Perfection | ||
| Miss Santa Clara | ||
| Mine No Yoko (white sasanqua on north side) | ||
| October Magic Ruby (red against the back wall) | ||
| Blushing Bride Hydrangea | ||
| Limelight Prime on South | ||
Variety of daffodils:
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| True Blue Butterfly Bush | ||
| Vibernum (aka snowball) |
| Hibiscus Pink Paraplu is new to our yard. I also ordered some hibiscus seeds and all three granddaughters helped me plant them in some peat pots. They have joined the African Violets under the grow lights with my African violets.  The photo below shows the raised beds Megan and I planted. In the right bed, she planted all the lettuce seeds I had collected over the years, In the left bed, I planted the spinach seeds I had collected. Megans seeds grew well. My spinach seeds did not grow, period! So I planted nasturtiums. I added half a bag of compost. The nasturtiums seem to like that spot. And I LOVE nasturtiums.  When one plants a garden there is always something to look forward to. People who plant gardens are optimists. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever" (John Keats) If you are interested in commenting or sharing with me your own garden, email me at:  The Vitex is so beautiful! Sitting here one gets a view of the whole garden. |
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