Sunday, October 19, 2008

Fall Flower & Garden Fest - Part I

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day and we decided to take a drive to Crystal Springs, MS for the flower festival. This is put on by the MS State Univ. Extension Service. We didn't know what to expect but we had a marvelous time! They had seminars, plant vendors, workshops, exhibits and demonstration gardens.
These two pictures are from the shade garden. The first was of various shades of impatiens. The second is a garden of coleus, impatiens and begonias. Just simple plants but beautiful colors.
This garden was made up of verbena, mums, Diamond frosts, and gaura. Once again simple flowers but just a beautiful display.They were doing trials of banana trees which are really neat. Got us to thinking maybe we need a couple in our yard.This is a bed of New Guinea impatiens they had grown out in the boiling hot sun all summer. Aren't they magnificent? This is a sunpatiens trial bed.I had to take this picture just because of the beautiful fall colors planted together.

I have never seen a morning glory bloom like this one. The bloom is obviously a double. I really like the raspberry color. Sorry the close up isn't better. The sun was very bright and I couldn't see well.I'm a fan of grasses and love this display of Muhly in front of the pampas. We have sold Muhly grass at work but I wasn't ever a big fan. Maybe I should change my mind?!?This is a new plant for me but probably not for a lot of you. I like the shrubby like growth habit and the color. This would be a great addition to a garden. It's probably a big hummingbird magnet.For the last flower picture I had to get this beautiful hibiscus posted. It was just so large and gorgeous. I do love hibiscus!

I hope you enjoyed the flower fest as much as we did. Next post will be about vegetable gardening. I have never seen such beautiful plants. You won't want to miss it!!!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful Garden Festival Susie. I wouldn't mind spending a Saturday afternoon looking at beautiful plants. That Mulhy (sp?) Grass is on my wishlist ever since I saw it in France's garden (FaireGarden). Beautiful pink plumes.

Susie said...

Racquel-That Mulhy grass is so pretty! I like the color, the softness and the light texture of it.

Meadowview Thymes said...

I know you had a wonderful time looking at all these beautiful plants. I love, love the grasses. I like the texture they add to gardens and the wild look they give. Thanks for sharing your pictures!

Susie said...

Meadowview-You are welcome! Looks like we both had wonderful Saturdays huh?

Becky said...

Wish I could have gone with you guys. Looks like you had a wonderful time!

Susie said...

Sis-We had lots of fun! Wish you could have gone too!

flydragon said...

Susie, what a great day you must have had. I've never heard of Scutellaria and really liked the look of it. Is it an annual? Sun? Only in the south?

Unknown said...

What a way to spend the day!! I enlarged those pictures and it is just wonderful. Sun loving Impatients huh?

Susie said...

Darla-It's was a perfect fall day with a crisp breeze, beautiful plants and brownies for lunch. Can it get any better? haha

Those sunpatiens were the New Guinea variety. They were spectacular!

Rose said...

Susie, I know you've been reading Beckie's blog for awhile, so you know how much she and I enjoy gardening exhibits like these. You come away with so many great ideas. I really like that fall bed with the coleus and mums; simple plants, as you say, but I wouldn't have thought of something like that on my own.

Frances at Fairegarden has been showing lots of photos of her pink Muhly grass; I've become a big fan. Now if I can only figure out where to put it:)

Unknown said...

Such gorgeous blooms, Susie. The shade garden plants were stunning! So were the grass plants, the fall colours....and all the pinks!!
What a lovely way to spend an afternoon...admiring gorgeous plants and photographing them.

Susie said...

Rose-Festivals are great places to get ideas. As a matter-of-fact I may have talked my husband into building me an arbor like one they had.

Kanak-The shade garden was really pretty. I admire all the colors impatiens come in. The dark rose color is my favorite! I think!

beckie said...

Susie, wow! What a delightful way to spend a day. I would think the trial gardens at the University would be a great visit any time of the year, but their fall displays are beautiful. The morning glory is one to go one my wish list as I think the coleous and mums make a great display. The 'sun patiens' are new to me but I will be looking for them next year. Wonderful post!

marmee said...

this looks like a wonderful day! beautiful flowers everywhere.

Susie said...

Beckie-It was a wonderful fall day! We saw some things I had never seen before such as that morning glory. I can't get over how good those sunpatiens looked. There was no shade whatsoever.

marmee-We had a wonderful time and we were glad we went. We really enjoyed those blooms!