Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Yardening Fall 2013 Part 2, 1 by ssgardener

ssgardener wrote:
All the bulbs are planted! It took about 6 hours to get about 250 planted. Most of them were little muscari and iris reticulata bulbs so it shouldn't have taken that long, but I had to deal with my rocky soil.

I came across a large boulder that I couldn't dig up myself. DH had to break it up but still couldn't get all of it out. I think this large boulder (a part of which was dug up a couple of years ago to plant a Limelight hydrangea) is the reason that almost *everything* I have planted near this area has died. They either rot and get fungal disease or dry up and get crispy. The boulder starts about 3-4 inches below the surface and runs very deep. The box in the first picture is a large fruit box.

DH got way too close to the Limelight and ended up hacking away at the roots, a foot from the trunk. :( I hope this doesn't kill the tree. It's the only thing that's survived in this area.

The rocks are still sitting on my front yard. I can't lift them at all so my neighbors just need to deal with the view for a few more days!