Paradise Persists

 

I was kindly reminded by Mom that my blog still shows an old post when she visits my page.  I'll take that as my cue to get back to it, and a high compliment.

 

I dragged out the camera early this morning to see if I could get some pics with different lighting.  Most everything I've shared from our new place has been taken in the evening.  The experiment was successful; I found some very pleasing vistas to share.

 

I enjoyed tromping through the dew laden grass in my flip flops, with only the sound of a few birds singing in the background.  The weather here is quite awesome, 58 degrees with very low humidity.

 

Now, I sit curled up in my cozy office with a mug of hot chocolate, writing this, with my little boy playing Legos behind me.  It's a happy morning.

 

 

What I enjoy about looking out on our field in the morning is that almost half of it is in shade.  The large trees in the front of our property cast long shadows across it until almost 9am.



I spent some time rearranging the front porch plants this week and I came up with some great results.  This lovely houseplant is now set off by one of my favorite red pots; a TJ Maxx find.

A copper handled bin from Home Decorators makes a great place to stash outdoor toys.  The ferns have really filled out the large Ikea pots nicely.

An old crock finds new life as adornment for a peace lily.

I've read lots of gardening books about the importance of framing the view.  I've never felt like I had a spot where this has really occurred.  Who can argue that I've got it now?  The side of the porch provides a fantastic natural frame for the vista beyond.

Last weekend, Eric and our dads (kudos to Eric's dad for the surgical-like precision of felling the tough spots) worked on taking this partially dead tree down.  Eric rented a towable boom.  We had no plant casualties, since I moved the hydrangeas before-hand.  That is, of course, unless you count the wildflowers.  There remains a few wild asters that haven't bloomed yet.  Hopefully the last ones standing will go ahead and put on a show this fall.

And here's what's left of the tree...



Once we get the wood cleaned up from the tree felling job, these nice snowflake viburnums will live in that spot.  They supposedly bloom all summer, on new wood, and get 6' x 6' tall.  To sweeten the deal, they were $8 a piece at Lowe's.  Viburnums are very drought tolerant and most have great fall foliage.



I've had this cool outdoor iron plant stand for a while now.  In the past, I've tried cocoa liners filled with annuals and had partial season success.  I was staring at it this week and thinking, I could probably just set a fern in there and let it cascade out.  So that's what I did.

It's hard to see, but the blackberry lilies are doing just fine, mostly gone to seed at this point.  The catmint continues to put on a few flowers here and there.  The daylilies are starting to wake up from their state of transplant shock.

Our driveway is a circle with two steep sides.  Oh, and did I mention it's all gravel?  Needless to say, visitors and deliveries have a hard time getting out.  This is the future home of a new, fairly level, straight driveway.  We've got a handful of very nice trees that need to be relocated first.  I can't bear to think of losing the nice Montmorency cherry tree and the special evergreens.



I just like this pic.  Everything is nice and tidy... a looong way from where I started.

Discover Card sent us a packet of cosmos seeds last year to promote home loans.  I found it while unpacking this spring, so Tyler and I decided to give it a whirl.  These beauties bloom constantly, and the flowers start out bright orange (as shown toward the top) and fade to a bright gold color as they age.  What you're seeing is only two plants. I'm collecting seeds, in hopes that it will retain the genes of this hybridized version.  I'm planning to fill the entire space with them next year.  And a bonus, the swallowtail butterflies love them.

This maiden grass looks pretty happy.  Mom gave me two seedlings from her massive grass in the spring.

This is the berm next to our road.  It's a good dust blocker (for gravel dust) and wind break in the spring.  It has quite a few open spots, so Eric suggested filling them with grasses.  I thought it was a great idea, so I implemented the suggestion last weekend, adding 8 grasses of 3 varieties.

My heron is still happy to call this spot home.  His feet are now covered by Creeping Jenny, which I have been babying and weeding constantly over the summer. It's paid off.  The knockout rose is starting an umpteenth flush of blooms, while the crape myrtle continues to celebrate August. 

This is a sedum I found peeking out of the mulch in the early spring.  It was choking with weeds and I used tweezer type precision to get them out, without taking this out with them.  I could tell it was going to be a really interesting sedum.  Its round, blue foliage against the hot pink flowers makes you want to sit on the step and stare at it.

We have three crape myrtles in the back of our house.  They were overgrown, rubbing the siding, and spilling out into the walkway.  A trip to Wine Country Gardens reminded me of the pruning techniques often used on these to give them a tree-like appearance.  In the south, this is common, because they don't die back to the ground each year like they often do in this area.  These get winter protection from our house, so I don't think they'll ever die back.  I'm really pleased with my pruning efforts, and this also gives the little dark pink crape in the front of the photo some room to spread out.

It's harvest time!  My little stick of a fig will produce several handfuls of figs before the end of the season.

The front garden is looking quite nice.  Remember back in the spring, this was a big blank empty space.  I'm sort of sad that it's filled up so fast.  I want to keep planting!  I do have plans for the little niche on the left of the photo.  There is a shrub, some Japanese ferns, and a few clumps of Sum & Substance hostas that they left behind.  I'm envisioning something a little more formal and edged with a tree in the middle. More to come.

Another nicely framed view.

Weeds that Make You Go Hmm...

Our new home has a very diverse range of wildflowers in the wooded area.  We only moved 5 miles down the road, yet I'm seeing plants that I never saw at my old house, which was almost completely wooded.  The same varieties also grow at my grandma's farm nearly 3 hours south, so I'm familiar with them, and excited to see them in my own backyard.  This just hits home for me that we must be good stewards of the land, because we could accidentally wipe out plants that are rare or aren't found anywhere else.

 

I went on a walk with my mom this spring and we found wild Ginger, Larkspur, Trilliums, Solomon's Seal, Indian Pink, and May Apples, just to name a few.  I continue to discover wildflowers as the seasons change.

 

I believe this is a wild coreopsis.  Each stalk holds many bright yellow flowers.  They are growing near my driveway on 4' or taller plants.  I don't think I have to state the obvious here, but how pretty for free with no labor required.  Not to mention that because it's a native, it is also drought tolerant.

 

 

I'm not sure what this one is, but the flowers are beautiful.  Tyler must agree, because he brought me a handful of these last night and asked me to put them in water.  The stems are thin and tall, reaching 4 feet or more.  Again, a free show, requiring no more work to enjoy than a quick walk around the driveway.

 



 

 

And while we're talking about weeds, I have to give a shout out to Butterfly Weed (Asclepias Tuberosa).  This fabulous Missouri native grows in fields and along the sides of highways and requires full sun.  It has a deep tap root, so don't try to dig one up.  Many local nurseries are starting to carry Missouri natives, realizing many of them are quite beautiful and desirable additions to the garden.  While this one has passed it's peak bloom time, I wanted to show you the cool seed pods that it dons.  Interesting in their own right.

 



 

 

Okay, I know this isn't a weed, but they just happened to be in very good bloom today and I wanted to share a pic.  This daylily is Firestorm, a spider type.



Progress Report for June 2013

As June ends, I have to say things are looking quite good.  There are a couple of gardens that I have yet to get a hold of, in terms of weed control, but I am making progress with the weed situation overall.

Rain has been frequent and plentiful, and nothing is burning up.  It's actually so chilly this evening that I took pictures wearing jeans.  It's amazing that this yard survived last year's drought, without any care.  We did have to take out a few trees, and do a healthy amount of trimming, but the survival rate is phenomenal.

The entry and deck gardens have gotten the most attention the past two weeks.  Neither are done, but the entry garden is nearly full.  I can't believe it, really.  Kind of disappointing that I won't have much room for end-of-the-season deals and the occasional Lowe's clearance rack find next year.

I have also pretty much filled the garden around the raised double parking spot.  It isn't a very big garden.  In my mind's eye, I always think it's wider than it is.  I suppose going to the nursery is sometimes like loading your dinner plate; your eyes are bigger than your stomach, or in this case, your planting space.

You should never have a garden solely filled with in-ground plantings.  Always use potted plants here and there for interest.  Ceramic and clay pots are quite beautiful and add a hardscape element to your space.  The change in elevation is also a great break for the eye, and gives cascading plants a place to relax.

These are some houseplants that I got from my friend Rube.  If you are interested, let me know!  She has a wonderful selection of plants for sale.

My new PeeWee Hydrangea, variegated liriope, and Lemon Lime hostas, all planted in the last two weekends.

Snowflake hydrangea.  Double white blooms.  This is a little shrub now, but it will reach 6' x 6'.

Entry garden



Twisted Rush (top), requested by Eric.

Beautiful glass wasp catcher, compliments of Mom.

Mixed coneflowers.  Don't forget how great long-blooming perennials can be in pots.

Lemon Tree... with lemons!  Also having a second flush of blooms.

A $4.88 hanging basket from Home Depot provides a quick filler for this large pot (the purple petunias and verbenas).  This is a huge pot, and they've consumed about 3/4 of it.  The other pot-fellows are Basil and a perennial grass.

My fig tree is filled with fruit, and joined by new houseplants from Rube.

Deck garden.  Still looking a little shabby, but I've got newspaper and mulch down either side now.  The daylilies provide wonderful color.

A daylily that I brought from my old house.  It was a single fan that I found along the fence line, in the wooded area.  It took a few years to bring back, but now it puts on a great show.  The most floriferous daylily that I have.

Blooming Sedum en Masse

Just wanted to post a quick update.  The green sedum around my pool did produce a lovely, yellow, starry bloom.  It reminds me of a Bob Ross painting, where he'd take the brush and just tap it across the canvas.  Not concealing the ground cover, but more like icing.  As if the green mounds of lacy edged foliage was not good enough, I got a bonus round.  I especially like how in this photo you get to see how it has draped itself across the lower rock staircase.  And, as you can see, I have plenty to share, if anyone would like a start.

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

There comes a time in every gardener's life when they've reached the point at which they will do anything to get their garden whipped into shape.  I reached that point last weekend.  The heinous weed situation in the pool gardens drove me to near madness.

I resorted to using RoundUp.  I am not an advocate for such things, but folks, things are bad.  It's a desperate time.  I have crabgrass growing in every crack of every paver.  And the weeds were so thick in many of the gardens that it looked like the previous owner installed a random granite edging in the lawn for giggles.

I spent a few days working my way around the edge of the pool gardens, picking out a weed every 6 inches or so, growing amongst the lovely bright green groundcover sedum.  I had to find small bare spots to stand in so as to not smash the sedum. You know you are desperate when you are fully aware that there is a large black snake curled up underneath a rock, and you decide to stand on that rock anyway so that you can reach the last weed.

My parents came over this weekend and helped Eric and I knock out quite a few garden chores.  We hand- and chainsaw-pruned trees.  We mulched.  We weeded.  And my mom carefully pulled rock after rock out of the edging, removed old crabgrass, and placed the rocks back with only the prettiest rocks on top.  Dad climbed into the waterfall, and used the shopvac to clear out at least a year's worth of debris.

Amidst the cleanup, I found time to scurry off with my parents and grab some more plants.  Home Depot had selected baskets for $4.88, so I got three.  One got planted in a pot, one shedded its hanger and now sits on top of another pot, and the other adorns my new shepherd's hook in the front, opposite a bird feeder.

I also purchased a very large, healthy looking Pinky Winky hydrangea at Lowe's, and three Atlanta Full House daylilies from Wine Country Gardens (WCG).  I am already the proud owner of one of these daylilies.  It was my first daylily purchase there nearly 12 years ago.  I dug up that daylily from my first house and it has been with me to every house since.  The flower is lemon yellow with a chartreuse throat, and nearly the size of my hand with fingers outspread.  Stunning.  It's one of the daylilies in the WCG fields that you can see from a distance and know you need to own.

The knockout roses are in full bloom and living up to their name.  I have the cotton candy pink variety as well as the original dark pink.  There are also some carpet roses and some Jackson & Perkins yellow and pink shrub roses.

Yesterday, I realized the sedum groundcover around the pool garden may be a bloomer. Most sedums bloom, but as I process this, I realize the entire surrounding may very well turn into a sea of color.  This could be one of the most brilliant seasonal displays I've ever seen, if this particular variety of sedum puts on a good show.  Stay tuned.

New Beginnings

I've taken nearly a 10 month long hiatus from the blog.  The first reason was obvious... last summer's scorching temperatures left me with nothing but dust and dead plants.  Even the grass blew away, literally.

The second reason was our move.  While Eric and I had discussed it in the summer, we didn't know we'd be jumping ship so soon.  I found our new piece of paradise while I was checking real estate listings one evening.  This little beauty has 6.25 acres -- approximately 5 of them are open field, and the rest is wooded.  We have room to spread out and I can have shade and full sun gardens.  A gardener's dream.

The previous owner was a landscaper by trade.  He created a wonderful framework of trees and shrubs, and hardscape, for me to begin with. The gardens were somewhat neglected, but I'm finding it enjoyable to bring them back to life.  It feels like a secret garden that I've discovered and am in the process of restoring.  Okay, it's not nearly to that ruin, but it sounds romantic.

I have done a considerable amount of work already, and have a lot of plans for what's to come. I would have taken some before pictures but I couldn't find my camera.  And then when I found it, the batteries were dead.  I'm all up and running now with fresh batteries.

In honor of being the proud owner of a new garden, I have relaunched my blog with a new name.  I hope you will join me in this adventure in "Taming Rugged Acres".

I found these great planters at Ikea.  To give you an idea of scale, I placed my little model in front.

I brought these planters from our old house entry, and I'm using them in virtually the same location.  I thought I'd get rid of these, but after popping in these great New Guinea Impatiens, I see how lovely they look.  I also realized they are almost the same color as the stone foundation and porch.

The beds are all outlined in a lovely stone edging.  The hostas you see here, I added last weekend.  There was not much in this bed except for a couple of shrubs and some Sum & Substance hostas in the corner.

The other side of te porch.  Lemon Lime mini hostas and Drinking Gourd blue hostas, along with a classic -- boxwood.

This stacked rock surrounds a small parking area we have off the driveway.  Even it is lovely, planted with a tree (not sure what kind), a lilac, and some dogwood trees.  I am turning this into my perennial garden and the idea is that it takes on sort of an English flavor, being packed and diverse.

The lilac... my assumption is this is "Miss Kim".

Yellow baptisia that I planted.

All of the gardens on the south and west sides of the house are planted full of this groundcover sedum. It is really quite beautiful.  I love the shade of green.  Great choice for the sides that get deer tracking through, and are in the most sun.

The front porch.  I love formal and symmetrical arrangements.  Simple and elegant.

These are the hostas he left behind.  Again, giving you an idea of scale with Tyler in the foreground.  I am pretty sure these are Sum & Substance.  I bought one and it looks identical.

The rose and daylily garden.

My crane has a new home!  Check out the backdrop.  Borrowed views are a very important design principle.  Our gardens would not look so great without those hills in the background. 

The shrubs surround the pool area.

WEEDS!  The rose and daylily garden looked just like this, as did several others, but I painstakingly cleared them one weed at a time.  Can't use roundup because these beds are filled with tender japanese maples.  This bed has daylilies in it so I definitely want to try and keep them.

I have always wanted a stone stairwell and now I have one.

Those sticks you see toward the middle of the photo is the start of an orchard.  Apples for sure, and I'm starting to think there are peaches in there.

One of my stand-by ideas, taking a hanging basket and popping it into a planter.  Looks full and lush right out of the gate.

Drought Survivors

Many of you probably saw my Facebook post about my garden of the month award. Don't be fooled; the drought has taken its toll in my gardens in a big way. What I haven't posted are the depressing sights of hydrangeas burned to a crisp. Coneflowers that have scraggly blooms and whose leaves have basically melted off. The poor daylilies that not only lost most of their foliage and had naked stems, but which had also fallen victim to a munching rodent, desperate for some form of moisture.

One thing for sure is that this garden sign at my entry has me standing outside in triple digit degree weather, hand watering one garden while the solitary sprinkler we own works on another part of the yard.

Despite the near and eminent death of some of my flowers, I wanted to share what is surviving. First and foremost, the boxwoods look fantastic. Glossy green foliage holds up in harsh conditions, including harsh winter winds, and now extreme drought. The key to my garden having as much life as it does is in the fact that I have a boxwood in every garden. Many of them are a mature size, so they have a lot of presence with the absence of other foliage. It's almost like what they do for the garden in the winter.

Next in the roll call of survivors is Annabelle hydrangeas. They have laughed at the temperatures and have not once been caught wilting. My blooms are already done and they have dried to a fantastic chartreuse green. If you live in the area, stop by for a bouquet. They are hanging over the sidewalk and need to be trimmed back.

Another noteworthy item are the liriopes. They have remained full and lush and appear unphased.

An unlikely candidate for the list, given the state of the other "natives", are the tiger lilies. They have very small blooms, but they aren't melting and the foliage is nice and fresh looking.

Now, granted, I do have a partial sun situation, with my own special micro-climates, but I think these are some plants to note for your own gardens. I am waiting for a big break in the weather to see how I can increase my liriope collection.