Beginner Gardening: It's still December: let's continue to celebrate our gardens, 1 by willowwind

willowwind wrote:
Thank you ladies, Magnolia and her little sister Acacia (both named actually for trees) are some of the brightest parts of my landscape, but like the rest of my flowers, they need a bit of maintanence to keep them happy. That's, of course, part of the fun!

Now for that awful corner behind her...I'm afraid I really do have a job coming to get it out (the honeysuckle) for all I know it may have been there since the first part of this house was built back in 1927. The good part is that I've not seen too much of the vine spreading out to the sides, but there's an odd array of old roses and daylilies here and there that I'll also have to consider. On the very end, right behind Nolie, is a Zephrine Droughin (not spelled right) that has done pretty well in the shade and I'd like to keep going, but I think the others will need more sun, so this is going to be a major excavation in general. I may have a big cook out, invite the kids and their shovels, and try to do it that way. :) Sharon I would love some starts of the Baby Tears. I'll check back with you when it's a bit closer to spring. I think they would make a beautiful ground cover and should do well here if they grow for you. I may need to bring a bit in next winter just in case it freezes here, but that's a fairly protected area. I'll just be sure to plant part of it somewhere else so that if the honeysuckle would come back and need more digging, at least I could re-patch in the Baby Tears. Thank you for the offer.

HollyAnn, you've convinced me to try the Trumpet Vine. Yours is so pretty, and, as I said, I really wouldn't mind if I eventually lost the tree...it could just turn into a God-made trellis that way.

Pirl, you two sound like my Uncle Ted and Aunt Lucena. They had wonderful gardens and Uncle Ted could build anything and loved maintaining their very sizeable yard, but they always had a handyman named Mac. We children, (my cousins, sisters and I) used to tag along behind Mac constantly, as he also helped several other of my uncles as well as my Grandparents. Poor Mac never had a quiet minute, but we all learned alot from him. He was one of the gentlest, sweetest and most patient men I've ever known.

This is Charlotte, one of the other roses caught in the honeysuckle web. It's done alright on its own there, but is diminishing some every year so I really need to get it out into the sunshine. At least I know it can put up with some root competition so I should be able to plant around it.