KathieB's Garden

Spring Inventory April 11, 2010 - Side and Front Yards

2010-04-11T10:49:00.004-05:00

The previous post covered the back yard. Here we are leaving the backyard along the south fence. The stepping stones need a little touch-up after a wet winter, less than I'd anticipated. One of the arbor vitae was dead before winter and will have to be replaced. The peony has buds! When we moved here 4-1/2 years ago, they were planted along the back fence, where they got no sun. To make matters worse, Lloyd managed to mow them down several times. "What? That's a flower?" Before we had the fence put in last summer, I transplanted the scrawny little things to the south side of the house, where they get a lot of sunlight. They seem to like it. :)

Moving toward the front, there is a bush rose already budding out and the red raspberry planted summer before last. Am hoping we'll get some fruit this year. It seems happy here as it is putting up new sprouts. Will have to put up some kind of a trellis for it and define its territory before it takes over the whole side of the house.

The south side of the front of the house has a new feature: a sump pump discharge pipe and gutter. It will be a challenge to plant around it. It has been in less than a week, and already it is apparent that we will have a small swamp right in the pathway from front to back. I'm in favor of a nice little bridge; Lloyd is ready to put in a water feature. Not much was planted here last year. The baptisia is coming in nicely, but the butterfly bush is still a no-show. This area doesn't get sun until early afternoon, so the ground near the house may not yet be warm enough to encourage growth. If the bush is a goner, I'm going to replace with with a much larger butterfly bush. I want to see it growing up and arching over the other sump pump cover beside the stairs. (Yes, an indoor sump and an outdoor sump, both discharging several time a day. Do you think our house may have been built over a spring?)

The southwest corner of the yard had gladiolus and mums last year. Not sure if the smaller mums are coming back; no show of green yet. And fairly certain the glads are goners as I didn't pick them up last fall. Yesterday I bought a Japanese quince for this corner. Will plant more mums if these don't come back so there will be color in the fall. Will also put in something for summer color, not sure what.

The beds along the sidewalk are coming back but looking ratty. Will put a lot more plants in here in a few weeks.

The north side of the front yard needs a lot of work. The flower beds need to be defined, and the middle area needs to be smoothed and seeded with grass. I'm tempted to have it and the south side sodded.

The magnolia in the northwest corner was lovely for about a day and a half, then heavy rains beat up. Beneath it, the pachysandra that dear friend Norma Jeane planted last summer has also taken a beating. I'm guessing only about 20% of the plants survived. There were three variegated plants from a mail order nursery; I see one of them. The rest came from NJ's yard. Will see how bad the damage really is when I get this corner cleaned out. (Which I could be doing right now if I weren't blogging!)

The grass is growing well outside the fence. This low spot in the brick walk needs to be repaired so dirt won't accumulate. I thought the repairs were to be done last summer, but I'll have to call the mason again to remind him.

There are no photos of the north side of the house. Not much happening there yet except for a lush crop of moss. Time to pull on the gloves and head outside!

Spring Inventory April 11, 2010 - Back Yard

2010-04-11T09:46:00.009-05:00

Yesterday I walked around the yard with camera in hand to record early spring activities. The first three photos are wide shots of the back yard. Despite having snow on the ground three weeks ago, plants are growing all over the place. It's too early to plant tender new plants. That's okay. I still need time to do spring clean up. Please note the height of the grass in these photos. Have you guessed that the lawnmower we bought last fall is still in the box? Maybe today (she says optimistically).

You can poke the photos to see them larger. I should have used a larger font in the labels in many of the photos.

The lily garden is thick with leaves, but some lilies are already poking through them. I'm hoping the leaves were thick enough to protect the delicate lily bulbs from our few deep freezes last winter. If all goes well, a lovely vine with orange flowers (whose name escapes me) will come back to cover the trellis.

Last fall I planted some primroses bought at half price closeout. It looks as if about half of them survived the winter and are already blooming. I want to get more and plant them earlier this year so they'll have a better survival rate. I love the bright blooms this early!

The next shot was taken behind the tree in the photo above. It was cleared last year with Roundup but nothing was planted. My hope was that the wild violets would come back as a natural ground cover. They did! I'll be planting other perennials in the area and let the violets fill in between. I'm surprised to see so many white violets and some with purple & white blossoms. In previous years they were mainly purple. I wonder if the chemicals in the Roundup had anything to do with this, although the same thing is taking place in areas that weren't sprayed. The Japanese maple tree is going into its third summer looking very healthy. Lots of leaves unfurling.

Too bad I can't say the same about the dogwoods that were planted at the same time. The white dogwood (foreground) is dead. The pink one has leaves but will not be blooming this year. Between them can be seen mounds of coral bells leafing out. Most of them were purchased at the Powell Gardens plant sale last spring. I'm thinking about putting in a Japanese Rose (Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora') when the dogwood comes out.

There is no photo, but I'm sorry to report that all three of the Encore azaleas are dead. Found out from the Powel Gardens blog that only one variety -- Amethyst -- is hardy enough for Zone 6. You'd think the numbskull at the local nursery would have known that. Another nursery gets their Encore azaleas from a nursery farther north than we are; I asked them to order 3 more for me.

Along the north fence (looking toward the front yard), the daylilies from Lilywood Farms are poking through their covering of fall leaves. The long rows of green are surprise lilies (aka naked ladies) that were here when we bought the place. Apparently they plan to be here forever. All efforts to dig them up have fallen far short of goal! The foliage will yellow and dry in several weeks, then in August there will appear lovely pink lilies, one bloom per stalk -- naked without any foliage. I'm rationalizing that they make a nice border for the long bed of daylilies.The area by the "kissing tree" (a double pin oak) shows the hellabores leafing out. The witch hazel that was presumed dead yet put out a couple of leaves last fall again appears to be dead. The other two have leaves already. Always the optimist, I'll leave it in the ground for a while and see what happens. None of the ferns are showing green yet.

The Bradford pear has me a bit concerned. Instead of being solid white with flowers (as are the other Bradford pears around town), ours put out leaves with only a few flowers. I'm wondering if all of the spraying I did to kill off the invasive vines on the ground didn't mess with the tree. The container says it won't cause harm if not directly applied, yet so far as I know, this is the only difference between our tree and the others. We'll see what happens next year.

The last photo from the back yard is of the wild violets growing between the edge stones in the little plots beside the shed. Aren't they lovely? I don't understand why some people treat them as weeds. Look at the pansies! They were planted last fall and came back with colors flying high.

This is a long post. I'll report on the front and side yards in the next one.

The Garden Awakes

2010-03-21T14:46:00.003-05:00

Today - March 21, 2010 - I braved the spring snow to trek out to the back of the garden to snap the first blooms of the season. One of the three witchhazel whips that were planted last summer has produced three blooms. The two whips on the other side of the oak tree show no signs of bloom. I hope they made it through the deep freezes we experienced this past winter. A walk around the garden before the snow revealed more signs of spring. The daylilies are poking up, some of the ground cover plants are turning green, the pansies left over from last fall are actually blooming, and the little red nubs of peony stems are showing. The surprise lilies (aka naked ladies) are going strong, but I would expect no less of them. :)

If Mother Nature can bless us with a few dry days, I'll be able to rake up the last of the autumn leaves. The ground is way too muddy to even consider it now.

A cactus for all seasons

2009-11-15T12:19:00.003-06:00

These Christmas cactus plants spent the summer out on the screened porch, so I guess I can include them in a garden blog, even though they're primarily house plants. This photo was taken on November 14. Do you see why they're special?

What makes them even more special is that they also bloomed last spring, for Easter. Let's see ... Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving ... what holiday will they celebrate next?

With a note to the outside garden, we bought a rotary lawnmower yesterday. It's not self-propelled. I don't see much point in that, since the areas of grass are losing ground to the ever expanding flower beds. Why a power mower when I profess to enjoy using the non-motorized reel mower? Well, the reel mower won't chew up leaves and small twigs. When the rain stops and the leaves still on the ground have had a chance to dry out, I'll use the power mower to turn them into mulch to spread over the daylily and lily beds. I don't see much point in buying mulch to keep the plants cozy and prevent the frost from heaving them out of the soil.

Daylilies Planted!

2009-09-18T21:38:00.009-05:00

It has been 18 days since the past post. There hasn't been much happening in in the garden until the past several days. The daylilies bought at Lilywood Farms were picked up over Labor Day weekend. There were nearly three dozen of them to be planted. The majority went in along the north fence. (Sorry for the bad photo -- it was late in the day, so the shadows were deepening and making for awkward contrasts.)

This bed reaches from the sunporch to the hosta and lily garden in the back corner. It's five feet wide and about 35 feet long. I turned over the dirt for about 10 feet and then gave up. The rest of the lilies were planted in decent sized holes dug out of the hard dirt. My shoulders couldn't take any more digging. I thought about renting a tiller but never got around to it. Three daylilies were planted along the north fence, just inside the entrance to the back garden. They've been mulched and look better now. This was taken just after they went in.

Four of the daylilies were planted up front, at the SW corner of the house. I'm hoping they'll grow up enough to help mask the hose connection. I'll put some other plants in front to give it some depth.

Several daylilies are planted in the maple island. You can't see much of them behind the ferns and hostas. I think they'll get enough sunlight there. I got 3 of each kind of daylily, but I didn't plant them together. When they start blooming, there should be a good mix of colors and styles.

I saw some pansies at a good price at Lowe's last week, so I bought a couple of flats for color and put most of them along the edge of the island for color. I put more of the pansies by the pink dogwood. The scrawny nasturtiums were pulled up. A couple of them managed to produce a single flower, but they weren't adding much to the yard decor.

Did I mention that last spring I bought three witch hazel bushes from Michigan Bulb and that one of them died? Well, it didn't! Just last week I noticed that the stalk has leaves on it! If this isn't a great reason for extreme procrastination, I don't know what is. I can't tell you how many times I nearly pulled up the stick and threw it away. It's hard to see the leaves against the grass, but they're there -- I swear! You can see the top part of the stem where it got so dry that it cracked and fell over. [Poke the picture to see a larger version.]

I'm proud to announce that we got the first beautiful, red, ripe tomato off the plants yesterday! There are probably a half dozen more that are very green but firm and healthy looking. I trimmed back some of the foliage so the fading sun can get to them. If they never turn red, I won't mind. I love fried green tomatoes. I'm just tickled that we got any at all.

I trimmed back all of the gladiolus foliage, which was getting pretty raggy looking. What green remains is mainly weeds. I think I'm going to mulch them well and leave them in the ground, although in Zone 6 we're warned to take them up for the winter. I'm banking on a warm winter and hoping for a warmer summer next year. If they don't do well next summer, they will be history. That one mum is looking good. I think I should get more to edge that flower bed in a semicircle from fence to fence. There are some later mums by the gate that are just beginning to show color.

Here are the hollyhocks. The slightly smaller ones in back (red arrow) were planted from seeds. The larger one up front (yellow arrow) was purchased from Michigan Bulb. They're not all that different in size, even though the seeds were planted fairly late in the season. There's a lesson here. They should make a lovely patch of tall color at that corner of the house next summer.

One of the arbor vitae bushes died. I need to go back to the nursery and find out if they guarantee them. The other one is showing a small patch of browning. I'm hoping it's just natural aging and not a sign of a serious problem.

I noticed the leaves on one of the dragon flowers by the front walkway had some white on it, almost as if it had been sprinkled with flour or plaster dust. You can see some of it on the leaves behind the flower. I noticed the same thing on a friend's flowers when we visited last week but thought they had just dusted it with an insectide or bone meal or something. Maybe not. I need to figure out what this is and if I need to do anything about it. So far this is the only plant I've seen with the problem.

The weather is holding nicely . I'm having fun getting the garden ready for winter, even if it does mean some awfully sore muscles at night!

Surprise!

2009-08-01T14:46:00.005-05:00

It has been nearly a month since my last post. The garden is pretty much sleeping, except for the surprise lilies. They're growing along the north fence and part of the east fence. These are the lilies that produce foliage in the spring, then die back completely only to send up a beautiful stalk of pink flowers in mid summer. Believe it or not, these were thinned a year ago. They're royally hard to kill. I think I may try to move some of the bulbs of them later in the fall. They're nice lilies, but it seems unnatural to have them growing in such a straight line.

Other parts of the garden aren't faring so well. The coral bells haven't bloomed and are showing signs of ill health (circle), and the nasturtiums, which should have grown to three times this size and been flowering for weeks, are still stumpy and weak (arrow). I don't think they get enough sunlight here.

The bleeding heart has passed on to botanical heaven. I'm not sure if it thinks August 1 is the time to go dormant or whether it just up and died. I guess we'll find out in the spring.

The tomato is not exactly the picture of health, either. It is just now flowering. It's on the north side of the fence, but it does get sunlight several hours a day.

Lloyd's cacti, however, are thriving. He has plans to replant them, but while they're patiently waiting for new homes, they're blooming quite well.

The yellow arrows point to real cactus flowers. The red arrow indicates straw flowers that were glued onto a cactus. Silly, isn't it?

Other than chasing weeds, there's not much happening right now, which is good, as we're leaving tomorrow for two or three weeks. That's right. At this point we're not sure when we'll be back. My good friend Norma Jeane will come water while we're gone. I can't wait to see how it will have changed in our absence!

Sidetracked again!

2009-07-07T18:10:00.003-05:00

I hope you enjoyed your Fourth of July holiday weekend. We relaxed with friends, our favorite way to celebrate.
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On Monday I got back to work, digging and planting the lily garden. Three cheers for Walmart's 50% off sale. There are three heights of lilies. The shorter ones in the front are a pale pink, but they're finished blooming already. The low plants in back and in the front are hostas. When they fill out, this corner should be green and blooming nearly all spring and early summer. The garden is framed by the little Japanese maple on the left and the crabapple tree. Very pleasant, and the cranes look right at home here. Next season I may plant a vine on the trellis, but for now, the cranes rule.

This morning, Tuesday, I went out to finish spreading the mulch but got seriously distracted by the startburst pavers. I bundled off to the farm store for paver base and a tamper and got to work. This is how far I got ... the stones in place on the paver base. I need to get sand to fill in between, and Lloyd promises to stake the frame so it won't shift.
By the time I finished this much, it was getting too hot to mess around outside, so I came inside to work on the kitchen. I got most of the cabinets, ceiling, and woodwork washed, so tomorrow we can begin painting.

Mulch, Lattice and Yard Art

2009-07-03T20:13:00.007-05:00

Finally, photos. This is the entrance garden mulched. I used a dark brown dyed mulch that supposedly won't fade. It took longer to pull out the weeds than to lay down the mulch, but neither activity was fun for my back, knees, and shoulders. Inside the gate, I had to leave two patches uncovered. That's where I planted the tiny seeds for the Russian sage. The sage is sprouting, but I can't tell those seedlings from the weeds. I'll have to wait a few days until the sage starts putting out recognizable leaves. All of the other plants look so much happier with the mulch.

The pachysandra stands out against the mulch. You can see in the front a few that aren't going to make it. I left them in place in hopes that the roots are still viable. The plants farther back are much more robust.

I finally planted the arbor vitae bushes at the entrance to the back garden. The mud dauber wasps were unhappy, as they had begun to look upon the holes I dug and watered well for several days as their personal mud mine. They are building their little channeled home in the shed. I bought some wasp spray today. I hate to evict them, but it's too scary to duck into the darkness of the shed and not know what's buzzing around.

The frame between the bushes is for the mosaic that's lying in the grass beyond it.

The lattice that was installed a few days ago has really changed the look of the yard. We used the style with smaller openings on the stairwell railing in hopes of keeping some of the autumn leaves from blowing in. It gives that area a nice finished look.

Here is a better picture of the mosaic sunburst. The tomato props on the fence are metal pipes. As the tomatoes grow, I'll use bands of cloth to tie them to the pipes. It looks nicer than tomato cages, I think. The "rock" edging the raised tomato bed is concrete from the old gate that was dug up to make room for the arbor vitae. I have some rocks to fill in the middle part. It was nice to be able to reuse what would have gone to the landfill.

Two of the lattices went up by the kitchen garden. [I'm calling it that because it has edibles planted in one section. :) ] At the base of the one on the left you can see the trumpet vine peeking out of its protective collar. It has a little way to go to reach the lattice. When it gets a little taller, I'll add some strings for it to use as a ladder. There is nothing planted under the one on the right. Instead of using a 4x8 foot lattice and trimming 2 feet off so it wouldn't stick up over the 6 foot fence, I had them cut in half, so each section is 4'x4'. I think it will work just as well, and at half the cost!

This section of lattice is on the north side of the yard, by the screened porch. The Autumn Fragrance clematis is growing in its protective collar. I marked it with a circle so you could find it in the dirt.

The last of the trellis/lattices is in the northeast corner, which is becoming very oriental. I had the handyman put it at an angle to soften the look of the fences meeting. I think it will get a trumpet vine. The metal cranes came from the farm store, on sale. (I'm jumping ahead here, but I want to tell you about the half-price lilies from Walmart. I just happened to see them on sale this afternoon and bought up a whole bunch. The area in front of the cranes will be planted with the lilies and hostas. If it doesn't rain in the morning, I'll get them planted.)

This sun caught Lloyd's eye at Big Lots several weeks ago. He said he didn't need it, but he kept mentioning it, so I got it when I was in Sedalia a few days ago. The picture doesn't do it justice. Looks as if it's skimming along the back fence.

I got another piece of yard art at Big Lots, the metal flowers above the shed door. The plain bulkiness of the shed has been annoying me. The flowers help soften it a little bit. Sorry for the blurry photo. There are three 18"x8' strips of the small lattice left over from the stairwell project. I haven't figured out what to do with them yet, so they're temporarily resting against the shed wall.

I thought I was caught up on the picture taking, then Lloyd moved the two large Mexican urns to the area between the kitchen garden and the fence, where the stones are. They block the view of the rainbarrel as you enter the back yard. Its presence was annoying him. You'll have to wait to see them, though, as it's now too dark to photograph.

Another Day with No Photos

2009-06-30T22:35:00.003-05:00

Today got away from me! I managed to plant the living wall this morning, dug the holes for the arbor vitae (no mean feat, as one hole had some serious concrete left from the gatepost that used to be there), then supervised the workers who came to install the lattice on the fence and the stairway railing. Lloyd cut some wood to frame the flagstone area between the arbor vitae. I put a couple of gallons of water into the holes and let it soak down, so the ground will be moist when we plant them tomorrow.
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Then it was off to Sedalia, a haircut, lunch, and a stop at Big Lots with NJ. At BL, I snagged a couple of metal wall art pieces -- one for the back fence and one for over the door of the shed. By the time we got back, there was time for a little yard cleanup. After supper we headed over to the farm store and got a dozen bags of cocoa mulch, showed off our progress to some friends who stopped by, and then watered everything well.
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In the morning, I'll start weeding and mulching in the front, which gets the most sun, and then work my way around to the back yard, which is shadier and doesn't dry out as quickly.

A New Look

2009-06-29T19:32:00.006-05:00

Every day in the garden brings a new look, but the new look of the title refers to the blog background. It comes from Hot Bliggity Blog free blogger backgrounds for the cool peoples. You can reach the website by clicking on the little bar in the upper left corner of the screen.

The new look in the garden today includes many plants. Two rectangular planters were added beside the front steps. They were intended for a baker's rack on the screened porch but turned out to be too big. They are planted with dusty miller and cardinal flowers (lobelia x speciosa) "Fan Scarlet". I used Miracle Gro's soil with the moisture beads, as this area gets hot sun every afternoon. I'm hoping the moisture beads will keep them from drying out too quckly. Just below the steps, on the left side, is a salvia "Eveline"; it is replacing one of the plants from Michigan Bulb that didn't make it.

On the left side of the porch, where the hollyhocks are, I added an echinacea "Pink Poodle" (red circle) and nepta "Blue Dragon" (blue circle). Inside the yellow circle are three hollyhocks. The larger one is from Michigan Bulb; the two smaller ones are from seed. I have no idea what the tall leggy flowers in the center are. The ID stick was missing from the pot. They have lovely white flowers. [Click on the photos to enlarge]

To the right of the porch I planted two baptisia "Carolina Moonlight" (red arrows) and three amsonia hubrichtii "Bluestar". I'm not familiar with these, but they should grow to about three feet tall by 30" wide and effectively block the gas meter from view. Inside the red box is the butterfly bush. It still doesn't look like much, but it has added some new leaves.

Moving to the back yard, I finally planted the four lilies I got on sale at Walmart weeks ago (red arrow). The only ID on their little tag said Lily, pink. In the foreground are three heucheras (coral bells) I got at the nursery sale last Friday. From left, they are: "Miracle", "Berry Smoothy", and "Lime Rickey." The stick in the background (yellow arrow) is one of the witch hazel bushes from Michigan Bulb. It's leafing out nicely. The other two aren't as robust; one has some leaves, smaller, and the other seems to be dead, but I'll leave it where it is for a while, just to be sure.

In the peninsula end of the Maple Island, I added a columbine (yellow arrow). I don't know its proper name, but I'm sure it will be lovely all the same.

Have you noticed something depressing about these pictures? The flowers seem to be awash in a sea of gray: dried dirt, dead grass. I think I'm going to have to break down and start mulching the areas that are planted. I was hoping to avoid mulching, and maybe I can cut way back on it next year, as the plants get their growth, but this year I think it is a must. I hope I can find enough mulch so that it can all be the same kind. It's getting a bit late in the season and the stockpiles at the farm store are dwindling.

I added eight sweet basil plants to the little kitchen garden bed. They're lined up along the soaker hose on the backside. I don't recall if I mentioned the four yellow pepper plants just to the right of them. They came from Walmart and were planted a few days ago.

Despite all of this planting, there are still a few in their pots. I took the begonia out of the turtle planter and put in a creeping phlox plant. The other small plants will go into the crevices of the wall itself. I'm going to stuff more of the Miracle Gro potting soil with moisture beads into the cracks in hopes that they will be able to root into the dirt mound behind the wall before they dry out and die.

Sunday Morning ... a Surprise!

2009-06-28T09:27:00.004-05:00

The heat wave broke last night. We should be in the low 80s today instead of the mid 90s. I'm happy about that. I got out this morning and planted the daylilies along the north fence. The shadows in the early morning pictures make it difficult to see, but there are four clumps of lilies spaced along the board fence. The three nearest are the same, a burgundy color. That large clump broke into three pieces. The other clump is much smaller. I could have divided the clumps even more, but the grower suggested planting them as is for now and separating them in the fall, when the plant begins to go dormant. I'll do that after Labor Day, when we pick up the other daylilies from the farm. These are the hybridizer's didn't-make-the-cut rejects. This is the burgundy lily. Its petals are narrow and star-like. It shows up a bit red on my monitor. The petal touching the bottom of the photo at the right looks to be nearest the right color.

This is the yellow one. This photo is a bit green. In real life, the blossom is a beautiful clear yellow. The blue tape is how the plants are marked for digging. You go up and down rows and rows of plants to choose the ones you want. They're marked by one person with your name on the tape and dug by another.

You may have noticed a bunch of greenery in the first photo, along the fence at the right. I saw it for the first time today for what it is: poison ivy! I did a round of weed killing before I started planting this morning, and this puppy was hit with both RoundUp and Weed B Gone. Last year there was a small poison ivy vine on the big oak tree, but Lloyd managed to kill it off.

The main reason for the killing spree this morning is this vine. It has heart-shaped leaves, grows about 6 feet a day (it seems) and seems impervious to RoundUp. I'm hoping the 2,4D in the Weed B Gone will do the job on it.

This is the infected part of the yard. The main body of the vines is on the other side of the fence, so I sprayed all of that, too. I want to plant decorative grass along the fence here, but there's no point in doing that until the vines are gone.

This is the grass that will go in that corner so that something else can go here, beside the shed.

Lilywood Farms Adventure

2009-06-27T20:35:00.006-05:00

It certainly was an adventure! Check out this blurry photo of the GPS in NJ's car. See where the bridge is? See where we are? If you didn't know there was a ferry at this point, the image would be pretty scary! This 1933 something-or-other was ahead of us to board the ferry.

Here's the reason for the temporary ferry service in Glasgow, Missouri: a new bridge is being built to replace the decrepit one. I was used to White's Ferry at Poolesville, Virginia. The boat is called the Gen. Jubal A. Early. The fare there is $4 one way/$7 round trip. The Glasgow ferry is $8 one way! I was amazed at the price difference. But, that said, any day with a ferry ride in it can't be all bad. :)

We wended our way through Glasgow and out into the countryside to Armstrong, Missouri, the home of Lilywood Farms. I was surprised to see how hilly the land is south of the river. Some of the roads were like roller coasters. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! NJ was a good sport about waiting while I stomped around in the lily patches. She was waiting in the car for me to get my purchases wrapped up and snapped this shot of me in the side view mirror. It really doesn't tell you much about the day, but I think it's a cool shot.

Here are some of the many workers trimming and bagging clumps that have been purchased. The deal was, the landscape clumps that normally sell for $30 were on sale for $15, cash and carry. These are plants that are quite nice, but didn't make it into the gene pool of the hybridization program. They aren't registered, don't have names. I got one that is a pretty clear yellow and another, taller one, that is deep burgundy.

Here I am with a lily clenched in my teeth. I think the sun was getting to me by that time. Thanks to NJ, my foolishness was duly recorded.

Some of the registered lilies were on sale at 50% off for double fans. I bought 7 or 8 different kinds. These won't be dug until the plants begin to go dormant toward the end of summer. I can pick them up Labor Day weekend. That gives me time to decide exactly where each one will go, and I won't have to worry about them while we're away in August.

When I came home, I found the flowers here all gasping for water. It was 98F. I spent an hour giving them a good soaking. About 7 pm the cold front finally arrived. Now, at 9 pm, the temp is down to 81. Tomorrow should be a good day for planting.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

2009-06-27T07:14:00.007-05:00

We've had temperatures in the mid to upper 90s for the past week or more. Not much happening in the garden beyond weeding. Tomorrow's forecast is for a high in the low to mid 80s, which is super, as I bought several plants at a local nursery's end-of-season 50% off sale yesterday. And today NJ and I are going to Lilywood Farms (motto: Daylilies for the Distinctive Garden). They have some beautiful varieties, and they're having a sale this weekend.

I wandered around the yard this morning and took some random shots. There was once a low berm on the other side of the sidewalk running parallel to the front of the house that let rainwater run down to the foundation. After weeks of digging a bit at a time and wrestling out many dogwood roots, it is pretty well flattened. You can barely make out the dirt in the shadow. The dirt in the foreground will receive many of the plants bought yesterday. The yellow arrow indicates the butterfly bush that was but a twig several weeks ago. It now has some leaves.

Lloyd likes cacti. He has them planted in several saucers. We couldn't figure out where to put them. I suggested he put them alongside the drystacked brick wall and use some of the extra bricks to raise them up a bit. With the concrete patio as a base, they won't get muddied when it rains. I was thinking maybe a couple of bricks under each pot, but he got carried away. Here is Mount Cactus!
Last week I planted a bunch of nasturtium seeds for some quick and easy greenery and color. One of them is yellow! It seems to have a minimal amount of chlorophyll, but it keeps on growing. When I first spotted it, I thought it was dying, but since then it has produced more leaves. I'll be keeping an eye on this one! [This photo was taken at 7:30 am. By the time I got home at 4:30 pm, this little guy was toast. RIP, little fella.]
Here are the plants purchased yesterday. I moved them out of the sun right after I took the photo. The lattice was delivered yesterday. The tan will go on the fence to support vines. The white will be cut to fill in the openings in the white railing behind the plants. The railing protects the outside steps down to the basement, and the stairwell fills with leaves every fall. I'm hoping the lattice will keep most of the leaves from blowing in, and it will look nice, too. Behind the wagon is a new bottle of Weed B Gone. I'm going to use it to attack an evil vine growing along the back fence. It seems impervious to RoundUp, in fact it seems to gain strength from it. I'm hoping the 2,4D in the WBG will do it in.

The caladiums are finally up. I planted four of them. They were in a mixed bag. Two seem to be the pink/green variety. Not sure what the black one (arrow) will be. Look at how healthy those little weeds are.

Here's a long shot of the north fence. It is along this fence that many of the daylilies will go, with the exception of the section with the X. One of the lattices will go there to hold a fragrant clematis. It's just a few feet from the screened porch.

You Load Sixteen Tons ...

2009-06-23T09:05:00.005-05:00

Well, not exactly sixteen tons, but Tennessee Ernie Ford would have been proud of the way I carried the 22 bags of pond pebbles from the farm store to the back yard. I shoveled the pathway smooth, put down weed barrier cloth, and dumped, pushed, and shoved the rocks to form a walkway between the Shed Garden and the fence. The brown lump is part of a flower pot. I cut the bottom off and am using the ring as a protective collar for the trumpet vine planted there. A trellis will be added to the fence for it to climb on. I used the larger pond pebbles with the thought that they won't migrate as fast as pea gravel when stepped on, and won't start sinking as fast when the weed barrier rots away in a year or so. This was done a few days ago. I'm playing catch-up in the blog.
We're in a HOT spell this week ... upper 90s and humid. My friend NJ brought over four crape myrtle sprouts from her yard. I planted the biggest one in the front of the house, where it will get some morning sun and a lot of afternoon sun. As it grows, it will screen the length of the yard to create some privacy. I can't think of any other place in the yard for a crape myrtle, so I've listed the remaining three on Freecycle and the Midmogardeners lists. I marked it with an arrow, as it blends into the shadow. It was 82F at 7:30 am, when I finished watering it.

While I was outside the fence taking the photo above, I snapped this one of a daylily. It's one that I got at the master gardeners sale. I have no idea what its name is, but isn't it pretty with that little ring of orange in its throat?

On the way back into the house (where I plan to spend the rest of the day in air conditioned comfort!), I snapped this picture of the gladiolus bed. They were planted June 3, so they are 19 days along. You can almost watch them grow!

A Quiet Sunday

2009-06-14T16:20:00.003-05:00

No photos today, but progress was made with planting. In the front yard, purple salvia seeds were planted just inside the front gate, and hollyhock seeds were planted next to the house, where the hollyhock plants were put in yesterday.

In the back yard, most of the remaining plants found a home. I didn't tackle the big area in the rock garden. My muscles rebelled at the thought of digging and turning all of that dirt and peat moss. Tomorrow.

The Great Wall of Marshall

2009-06-13T21:36:00.007-05:00

Before we get to the wall, let me share some photos of the Grand Entrance in its current incarnation. My friend Norma Jeane came over today with a bag of pachysandra from her garden and shovel in hand. It's so much more fun to have a kindred spirit in the garden, and as an experienced gardener, she helped a lot. She gave me a certificate for a day's work for my birthday last January; today I cashed it in. When we were finished, the front entrance had been reworked. The square tubs with the hibiscus are now on the ground instead of hanging over the lower step. When they start blooming, their red blossoms will really pop against the black shutters.

Here's a closer view of the left side, part of NJ's planting. The red lines are pointing to hollyhocks. I'm going to plant hollyhock seeds behind them, so next year there ought to be a grand display of hollyhocks there. The blue lines point to some to some lavender grass. The orange arrow is pointing to pink pampas grass that is hiding behind the planter. The brown arrows indicate the chocolate chip ajuga that she planted all along the front walk. When it starts to fill in, it will be better than mulch and won't have to be replaced. It's a good place for it, as it doesn't mind being stepped on once in a while. I just wonder how it will fare when we put deicer on the walk next winter.

Here are the pachysandra plants under the magnolia. You can maybe make out the half dozen variegated plants that I put in a few days ago. All the rest are from NJ's yard. They'll make a nice neat carpet when they spread. This bed is ready for edging now.

While NJ was working in the front yard, I was busy in the back. I planted the three reblooming azaleas; I love their delicate light green leaves. I also planted the three witch hazel bushes. That stick with the white tag on it is one of them. I put an arrow on it so you can find it! [Remember, you can make these pictures bigger if you click on them.]

Continuing along the back fence, I also planted the Lenten Roses (hellebores). I've never seen them in bloom, but the pictures are lovely. They bloom in early spring. The arrow in the upper right is pointing to another witch hazel. I'm having a hard time imaging these sticks growing into real bushes -- they look like willow switches.

Besides the planting, which was almost incidental, I managed to complete two major projects. Below you're looking at the backside of an L-shaped wall. Yesterday I built the stone part, and today I made a wall of bricks along the patio side of this island. It took six trips to the front yard to dig dirt for the backfill. It's a big wheelbarrow, and I can only roll it when it's 2/3 full. I did take a good sized chunk out of the berm in the front yard that needs to be removed anyway. The flowers in the foreground are primroses bought on sale at Walmart yesterday. The little tag identified them as annuals, but I know they are perennials, as I've grown them before.

Here's the front of the wall. The bricks, like the stones, are dry stacked. I turned some of them at a 90-degree angle to sort of anchor them into the dirt. If the little wall (it's only 4 courses high) starts to wobble, I'll take it apart and add some Liquid Nails for stability. I don't want to mess with mortar. The lilies in front of the wall were half price at Walmart. I like sales.

I did say two major projects. The other one was clearing out one end of the rock-bordered garden. This is what it looked like early this morning. The holes were left when I lifted the mums and moved them to the front. In the course of clearing out the weeds, I found two more mums, very tiny. I moved them up front, too. If they make it, fine. If not ... well, they can always be replaced. Note the rocks in the lower left corner. They were messed up with the fence installers rolled over them with the mini Bobcat and had to be reset.

After several hours of labor, the bed was cleared of weeds and six bags of topsoil and a bag and a half of peat moss had been spread. The topsoil bags leaked, so the soil was very wet and weighed more than the 40 pounds marked on the bags. I broke it up with a hoe as best I could and then spread the peat moss over the top. Tomorrow I'll get in there with a spade and do some mixing. Some of the rocks are still a bit cattywampus, but at least they're lined up again. I got some herbs and tomatoes at Walmart yesterday. This is where they'll go. I may put a couple of flagstones in the middle, a continuation of the center line in the next bed for easier access to the inside of the square.

Rain Delay Bonus: A Living Wall

2009-06-11T12:59:00.005-05:00

Before I explain that cryptic title, let me show you the plantings done yesterday from Michigan Bulb. This is part of the Grand Entrance garden. I must admit, the plants look nearly twice as big today as they did when planted yesterday. I may want to get some close-out annuals and poke them in between for some color. Or maybe not. We'll see.

This little number will be a black butterfly bush about 4-5 feet tall. It's meant to grow up and overhang the sump pump well at the left. It has a pile of growing to do!
These are the plants yet to be put into the ground. There are three witch hazel "bushes" in there, lying down. Each one is a thin whip about 3 feet high. It will be interesting to see how these become bushes. I hope it will be dry enough to plant tomorrow (Friday), but the ground is so soupy that they may have to wait until Saturday.

The gladiolus bulbs are sprouting!

Over the past few days, a plan has evolved for what I'm calling the gateway to the back yard. It's a transition area from the colorful, flowery front yard to the greenery of the wooded back and spans the area between the back corner of the house and the place where the pickets meet the privacy fence. The two tall arbor vitae will define the area; they're not quite where they will be planted. Xochitl pulled up all of the bricks and stacked them neatly. They'll be used elsewhere, eventually. Something will replace them -- an anniversary present Lloyd got for me -- but I'll keep that as a surprise. I knew there was some reason why I was reluctant to dig up the stepping stones.
Since it was too wet to plant (the rain delay in the title), I lugged a number of rocks from one side of the yard to the other and built a living wall. Lloyd has been wanting one, but I didn't see a place for it until today. It is an element in the gateway to the back yard. I left spaces between the rocks for soil and will be looking for plants to fill in. I put a couple of Lloyd's cactus saucers on top, but I'm not sure they'll stay there. The location of the cactus garden has yet to reveal itself to us. I think a tall ceramic pot will go where the bags of peat moss are stacked to anchor the patio end of the wall.

I don't recall if I mentioned it earlier, but that saucer in the middle island marks the spot where the fountain will go. The solar-powered fountain pump arrived today, so Lloyd can now start work on the ceramic bowl that will be the fountain.

Ducking Tornadoes

2009-06-10T17:58:00.003-05:00

We're under a tornado watch until 1 am, but this post could also be titled "Weather for Ducks" for all the rain we've had. The plants arrived from Michigan Bulb today. I've ordered plants by mail before, but I always forget how small they are until they arrive. About half got planted; the rest will go in tomorrow. There are no photos yet. I don't want to embarass the poor scrawny things, especially in this gloomy weather. If the sun comes out tomorrow, maybe.

The Grand Entrance

2009-06-09T12:37:00.005-05:00

Well, maybe not grand yet, but it's getting there. This photo is where we left it last Friday, with half of the central flower bed dug and looking like a fresh grave.

This is where we are today, Tuesday. Both sides are dug and the clods broken up. They're ready for the plants coming from Michigan Bulb. I put in a couple of stepping stones, one on each side, so we don't have to step in the dirt to cross the yard or walk around to the back of the house.

Two young men came out from the nursery this morning and dug out the sad bushes that were at the foundation. Some dirt needs to be moved around a bit before anything is planted there.

You can see on the right side of this photo where some of the excess dirt from the entrance garden has been deposited. This area is very low, which I think adds to the problem of water leakage in that corner of the basement when we have torrential rains. With any luck at all, raising the ground level at the foundation and sloping it away from the house ought to reduce the leakage if not stop it entirely. There was one bush right in front of the gas meter. I had the young man dig down a little way and cut it off with a chain saw, then cover up the stump. I'm not going to do any major digging there, and I wasn't too keen on them digging out roots that may or may not have grown around the gas line.

Here's part of the area being filled in. I put in a couple of stepping stones for access to the water faucet when the ground is soggy. Some kind of bush or tree will be planted at the corner of the house to block the view of the hardware. Not sure what it will be yet.

The next thing to be done in the front yard is to move all of the dirt in the center mound. You can just make it out running parallel to the house. We rarely get water in the basement on that side, but I'm sure the fact that the ground slopes toward the house can't be good. The excess dirt from here will add some fill by the water faucet and will also fill in some low spots on the other side of the house.

Mother Nature gifted us with more rain this afternoon, so my muscles are getting a little break.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

2009-06-05T12:15:00.004-05:00

When I take the shovel out of the shed in the morning and head off to work, I think of the seven dwarves and start humming "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go." This morning I worked on the entrance garden. I managed to get one side of the gate turned over and a little bit of the south edge done before the sun got over there. I need to get out earlier.
I planted the coral bells. I like the one with the bronze leaves. It will be a nice accent in that little peninsula.

I also broke up some more sod clods with the trusty hoe, but I didn't photograph it. You really don't want to see yet another pile of dirt, even if it is watered liberally with my sweat.

Tomorrow we're going to the Scott Joplin Music Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, so there won't be much gardening happening. I'm glad that all of the plant purchases are in the ground. One day next week another batch will be arriving, this one from Michigan Bulb. I couldn't resist their "up to 67% off" sale.

Have a great weekend. I'll see you in a day or so.

P.S. Adding this later in the afternoon. I took a little break and then went back out and finished up the one side of the entrance garden. The ground is turned. The clods need to be broken up, and some of the excess dirt will be moved to some low spots in the yard. I'm happier going into the weekend knowing that at least half of this garden is dug.

Planting and dying ... the cycle of life

2009-06-04T14:36:00.006-05:00

Today we hit a high of about 72 F, a great day for the garden. The first step was to plant the corner with the electric meter. The grass here has been dead for a good long time, and with all of the rain we've had, turning over the sod and breaking up the clumps was almost fun.

My first father-in-law, a farmer, told me that it's better to leave small clumps of dirt rather than break it down and rake it until it's nearly like sand. The clumps and the little spaces between them accept water easily and hold it longer and don't tend to form a hard crust as it dries out.
The candidates for this little bed were the lilies-of-the-valley I bought at Powell Gardens and a piece of a hosta that I took from beside the screened porch. There was a nice little pup on one side of the mother plant that was just ready to leave home. I think the meter is read electronically from the street now, but I put a stepping stone there in case the reader has to come into the yard to do it.

The next project was dealing with the clumps of sod from the front yard that have been piled in the low spot near the pink dogwood.

The rain broke them down a bit, but it took some serious chopping with both a pointed hoe and a rake to break them down the rest of the way. But the tufts of dead grass are gone and it's smoothed over. I think something will be planted there tomorrow, and those two little coral bells can get out of their pots at last.

Next up were the six caladium bulbs that have been waiting patiently for release from their bag. The label says they are mixed, so we'll be surprised by the colors when they come up. They're spread out in the area indicated in yellow.

Another small step was to get out the hammer and drill and hang the wind chime on the fence and put up a hook for the bougainvillea. The plant may need a couple of links of chain to lower it just a bit so it doesn't hit its head on the rain gutter.

Then came the dying. I sprayed Round-Up in this back corner to try to kill off some vines that have been a problem for years. Last year they nearly tied up the Bradford pear. When I'm convinced it's really dead, the ornamental grass near the shed will be moved against the fence. I think it will make a nice background for a fairy village. It doesn't seem to be as invasive as some grasses. It has pretty much stayed right here for the past four years. This will clear the area by the shed for something special ... a secret for now.

While I had the Round-up out, I sprayed along the two sections of fence that flank the gate to get the grass out of the way for planting the mums that are taking up space in the garden. It's about time they got out on their own. And I sprayed a larger profile for the Maple island and sprayed a fourth island, to be known as the Tear-shaped island between the Big Oak island and the Maple island. The fountain will go in the Tear-shaped island.

While I was in search and destroy mode, I also sprayed the few weeds in the brick sidewalk up front and the area under the picket fence along the south side, where the mower can't reach.

And speaking of mower, I found out that American Lawn Mower Company sells a sharpening kit for their reel lawn mowers, so I ordered one. Using the non-motorized push mower is really relaxing. No noise or fumes! And when the lawn is reduced to pathways of grass, it will be a pleasure.

That's it for today. I'm going to hit the shower and then work on my garden notebook. I'm really trying to keep track of what's planted where, where it came from, when it was planted, etc.

Small steps

2009-06-03T18:15:00.004-05:00

Small steps is how this garden will move forward. I talked to two landscapers about doing much of the work, but neither one really got what I'm going for. I've decided to act as the general contractor and hire people to do specific chores. Since I'm the main work force, progress will be measured in small steps. Gardening is fun, and I want to keep it that way.

Today I planted the gladiolus bulbs. The white flag marks the outer line of bulbs. I want to plant something in front of them and don't want to disturb the bulbs. Some of them had begun to grow. I think I got them in just in the nick of time.
Here's another small step taken a day or so ago -- I rearranged the pots and the chiminea on the patio and got some petunias and impatiens on sale to top them off. The green plant to the left is a Tahitian impatiens. It bloomed last summer and overwintered in the house. It doesn't show signs of reblooming, but it's fine where it is. There is a tiny begonia between the two pots. I'm on the lookout for a weatherproof container to go between the middle pot and the chiminea to hold the twigs that we collect from the yard. Right now we're just putting the twigs into the firepot and burning them when there's enough. It would be nice to have a stash, in case we decide to do hot dogs or s'mores over wood coals one night.

I'm thinking about getting one of those hose-hiding pots so the hose can stay where it's coiled instead of having to horse it off the on-the-wall holder ever time we need to use it. The faucet is just out of the picture, to the left.

This is the second small step taken today. I pruned the rose bush back. Yard waste pick-up occurs on Tuesdays, so we put the trash containers on their side so rainwater won't get in. It's bound to rain before Tuesday.

I've decided to get a submersible, solar powered fountain pump kit for Lloyd for Father's Day. He has volunteered to make a ceramic basin for our water feature. If he has the pump, that will hopefully encourage him to get on it. I'm also thinking that if the cord to the solar unit can be removed from the pump, he could make a suitably sized hole near the bottom of the pot to thread it through. It could be sealed with silicone to prevent leakage. That will avoid the awkward cord-over-the-edge-of-the-container issue.

General progress

2009-06-02T22:40:00.003-05:00

These photos were taken June 1, 2009. Many of the plants from the Powell Gardens plant sale and the Sedalia Master Gardeners sale have been planted. The hosta behind and to the right of the statue was transplanted from its spot by the screened porch. All of the hostas there need thinning.

Outside the front fence there is about 18 inches of plantable space. At the Master Gardeners sale I bought several varieties of daylilies, lariope, and three iris roots for $17. They now stretch along 65 feet of fence. Of course I got the daylilies mixed up, so it will be fun to see what colors appear. I put the two clumps of ornamental grass from NJ at either end.

The clods of dirt I dug out of the front were distributed in low spots all over the yard. Some of them ended up by the pink dogwood, where a former owner's dog had done some serious digging.
The next mini project is a bed for gladiolus bulbs I bought on sale. I think this SW corner will be nice for them. It needs to be dug up and some of the dirt distributed elsewhere to lower the corner a bit so that dirt doesn't wash under the fence and on to the brick sidewalk nor does it run toward the house and contribute to basement leakage.

I started on it this morning but got sidetracked. More photos tomorrow.

2009-06-02T22:35:00.002-05:00

On May 30, 2009, the demolition crew took down the carriage house. They were masters of their trade. Gravity sent a few boards into our yard, but the fence wasn't disturbed at all.
The vista really opened up with the carriage house gone. By the way, those sticks in the ground are solar lights that Lloyd got at Walmart. The ceramic sculpture at the base of the kissing tree needs to be raised up a bit, but I really like it there. One of the dragonflies I made is just to the right of it.

Round-Up and Mother Nature

2009-06-02T22:17:00.006-05:00

These photos were taken May 24, 2009. They show the the main "islands" in the back yard. One surrounds the big oak, another spreads out from the maple near the patio, and the third encompasses the two dogwoods and the kissing tree (oak). Th first photo shows Precious Possession, the statue, installed on her stand. We had to pound a piece of rebar into the ground and slide her down over it to keep her from possibly toppling; her base is a bit narrow for her height. She looks content in her setting. The plants near her and on the other islands are still in their pots. Many of them came from the Powell Gardens annual plant sale on May 1. They have been patiently waiting to be planted in their permanent spots.
There is a large grassy area surrounded by the three islands. It needs to be reduced. I think the smallest island, the semicircle around the maple, will be extended. This would be a good place for a fountain.

The maple's island is rather small. It really does need to be extended. The bags are topsoil and peat moss, which will be spread in the garden area by the shed when the plants in there now are transplanted to their permanent homes. It is holding ajuga (a ground cover), mums, and a sort of blonde coral bell, all bought on sale last fall. They overwintered nicely and are ready to move out.

The cacti are Lloyd's babies. They need to be transplanted. The grass clumps are from Norma Jeane's garden. I love free plants.

Dragonflies for the Garden

2009-06-02T22:05:00.003-05:00

On May 17, 2009, my friend Norma Jeane and I took a class at Powell Gardens in which we each made two dragonflies out of old insulators, metal rods, and sheet metal. The instructor supplied aluminum for the wings, but NJ and I raided her husband Charles's stash of copper, so ours were special. This photo of the finished dragonflies is from the Powell Gardens website. I haven't take a photo of our efforts yet.

Here's NJ straightening up the insulator so the body will be properly aligned. The wing patterns and copper are on the table, along with the glitter that was added to the resin fo give the tail some sparkle.

There was a variety of stamps available, including an entire alphabet. It was interesting to see how people used them. I made one set of wings using only Us, overlapping them like scales. Some people hammered the whole surface and some just made lines of shapes. They all looked fine.

The fence is up

2009-06-02T21:20:00.007-05:00

The fence went up between May 6 and 9, 2009. It was done by Hulver Fencing of Concordia, Missouri. I was very pleased with the quality of their work, their speed, and the price. I'd recommend them highly to anyone looking to put in a fence in this area. These photos were taken on May 13.

I love the way the pickets set off the front of the house. When I walk out the front door, I expect to see Angela Lansbury ride up on her bicycle.

Here's the view inside the fence. It has the feel of a new room on the house.

This magnolia used to just sort of hang out in the corner of the yard. Now it has a presence!

Here's the north side of the house. Notice the lack of surprise lilies. They and a lot of the rest of the vegetation in the yard was done in by the tractor. The stick in the window well? A snake escape ladder. Lloyd found snake bones when he cleaned out the well one day and decided it couldn't get out. I've seen them slither right up a wall, but the ladder stays.Going on past the window well along the north side, the 6' privacy fence comes into play. The "nice" side of the fence is on the outside of the N and S walls. The nice side of the E fence is on the inside because it came so close to the old carriage house that the fencers couldn't get between them to nail up the boards. The carriage house has been taken down, but it didn't happen until a couple of weeks after the fence went up.

Another view of the NE corner. The little trees are the Japanese maple, white and pink dogwoods (left to right). The tree in the corner is the flowering crabapple, and the trunk to the right is another elm. There are two trunks sort of intertwined. It has been dubbed the kissing tree.

The east fence from the patio with the big oak at left.

This is the SE corner with the Bradford pear. The dumpster which will haul away the demolished carriage house is being delivered.

Here's a longer shot of the dumpster delivery. The corner behind the shed is very private and cozy. Something special needs to go there, but I'm not sure what.

The south fence makes a nice backdrop for the garden. The privacy fence transitions to the pickets where the old picket gate was.

The rest of the south fence, toward the street (west) brings us nearly to the front again. The bricks were under the old gate. They'll be take up and end up somewhere else in the yard.

A quick trip to the back yard so you can see the faint ring of dying grass around the big oak. This photo was taken a few days later. One of the landscapers said that would be the way to kill off the grass to clear the area for flowers. It's a lot faster than pulling the grass by hand. I'm all for Mother Nature, patience, and a liberal dose of Round-Up doing the work for me. At this point, the statue is still leaning against the tree.

Before

2009-06-02T14:50:00.012-05:00

These photos were taken May 2, 2009. It's hard to believe that was just a month ago. The entry will be the longest and most photo-intense. Future posts will deal with day-to-day activities in the garden, but here I want to record an overview of where we began.

The front of the house. It's a cute little house built in 1941 with 1970s or earlier landscaping. The bushes need to go, to be replaced by softer plantings. Only the back yard was fenced. The little picket fence and gate was the most picturesque part of the yard. I was sorry to lose it, but it was made of wood and ready to retire. This view is of the SW corner looking toward the NE.

The north side of the lot had a wooden picket fence, also rotting and ready to fall. It needed to go. This photo shows some of the original brick sidewalks of the town, circa 1900 or slightly earlier. Many have been replaced with concrete sidewalks that have buckled and cracked from tree roots. The nice thing about the brick is that it can be repaired when that happens.

The next view is along the north side. The greenery along the fence are the leaves of surprise lilies. They are the kind that put up the greenery in the spring and then die down completely; in July or August, lovely pink lilies pop up on a single stem, no greenery. In California, we knew them as naked ladies. I guess the Heartland is a bit more modest when it comes to flower nicknames. There were big flagstone walks in front and back. I don't know where this one led. It just sort of ended when it got around the corner.

This is the north side of the house, facing east. The overgrown bushes at left had just about taken over the fence and kept trying to grow into the screened porch. The carriage house in back was in our neighbor's yard. The line of greenery stretching toward the carriage house comprises more surprise lilies.

Just beyond the screened porch is the big oak and the stone carving we bought at Powell Gardens last year, when the Chapungu exibit was on display. The huge rock carvings from Zimbabwe were wonderful in that setting. We were pleased to be able to buy this one, called Precious Possession, by Brian Nyanhongo. Other sculptures can be seen at the Chapungu Gallery & Sculpture Park in Loveland, Colorado. It is of a young mother holding her baby. You'll see better photos later in the blog.

Here's another angle, looking NE, of the big oak, the surprise lilies, the ugly wire fence, and the carriage house. The bare spot under the tree is where I started to remove grass by hand digging it. The plastic back of peat moss made a great seat, but this project got old really, really fast.

You can see how the carriage house is leaning backward. The tree is a flowering crab apple, and the little reddish tree in front is a Japanese maple I planted last fall. It overwintered quite well, as did a couple of dogwoods of about the same size.

This view is looking along the east fence, toward the north. The carriage house was not only leaning backward, it was heading for a crash landing in our yard. Another view of the unlovely wire fence.

This is the SE corner of the yard with its Bradford pear, and our nice sturdy little shed. There are two rows of ornamental grass growing beside the shed. It will get moved. The small tree in front is the pink dogwood.

The view to the south, our neighbors' house. It is brick, with concrete flooring. If ever there is an air raid, their basement will be the place to go. In front is a garden I built last summer. All of the rocks were edging for the bushes in the front yard and the hostas by the screened porch along with some of the smaller flagstones. It was hard work turning over that much sod, but there was little cost for materials, just some weed barrier cloth and white stones for the part adjacent to the shed. The greenery is Stella d'Oro daylilies purchased for pennies at the end of last season. There are some mums and ground cover, also purchased last fall on sale that overwintered there and will be moved, offering a nearly clean slate for this year.
A view to the SW, showing the backside of the old picket gate and the garbage/recycling cans. Those were moved into the shed after we put a lot of junk on the curb for the citywide cleanup to make room for them. I didn't see them figuring into a pleasant landscape. That's the pink dogwood in the foreground and the trunk of a maple tree at the edge of the patio.

This is the south side of the house. The rose bush in the middle is an old one. It thrives on being pruned down to knee level. The two tiny bushes are raspberries, also purchased on sale last fall. We may get a dozen berries from them this year, but I have high hopes for next year.

This is the back of the house with the camera-hogging pink dogwood in the foreground. We use the screened porch a lot in the summer. The big pots came with us from New Orleans. The lawn mower is from some dear friends who gifted us with it when they moved away. When the fence crew discovered it, they treated it like a new toy. They'd not seen one, much less used one and spent some time taking turns running it over the lawn.

Here's the view of the shed & garden from the patio,, looking ESE.

This is the railing to the basement stairs. I have plans for those open spaces.

Unfortunately, there aren't many photos of the fence construction. The old fence was out and the new one in in four days, and that included a half day's delay due to rain. Here are the picket posts by the front sidewalk.

And so the adventure begins.

Welcome to the Garden that will be ... one day

2009-06-02T08:20:00.003-05:00

Welcome to our home in Marshall, Missouri. We moved here in the fall of 2005. Our house was built in 1941. I'd describe it as having old world charm, but I was born that year and don't consider myself old world. Maybe traditional is a better description. We have done a little remodeling and decorating inside the house in the past four years. We had fencing installed toward the end of May 2009, which gave us an excuse to move outside and do some serious landscaping.

I want to keep a log of the changes, and what better place to do it than here? To step off, here's a rough drawing of the house and yard. It's not quite to scale, and the orientation is a bit off. The top side of the plan is east; south is to the right, west at the bottom, and north at the left side. In my mind's eye, I was facing the front of the house when I sketched it. The shaded places are, you guessed it, shady places. There are a lot of big trees here. The shade in the lower right corner (SW) comes from a tree just outside the fence but not shown on the plan.

[Hmmm. The plan is supposed to show up with an enlarged version when you poke it, but that's not happening on my computer. If it doesn't happen on yours, let me know and I'll try to figure out what little box needs to be ticked or unticked to make it happen.]

My plan is for a garden with lots of flowering plants and bushes, vines on the fences, sculpture here and there, and maybe a fountain. Most of the flowers will be low maintenance perennials, and much of the grass will disappear; grass pathways between islands of flowers would be ideal. I'm basing this somewhat on the perennial gardens at Powell Gardens, a wonderful botanical garden southeast of Kansas City and romantic notions of English country gardens.