Dang you Wee, I knew I should have stopped by for a tour when we came through SL back in May!!!!
Doug
Your woodland shade favorites
OK, Wee - I'm guessing your plant list is running close to 400? Always love your inspiring photos. I'm just starting to appreciate (via the wallet) dwarf Hosta. I have a trio near the patio - 'Kabitan', 'Chartreuse Wiggles' and 'Frosted Mouse Ears'. I think I like keeping them close to the house or they'll get buried by other plants out in the bigger beds. I'm wondering if they'd survive over winter in tufa containers. Hmm...
Here in zone 5 Utah I have my Mouse Ears in the ground and they came through well last winter which was a hard winter. A friend has a large Blue Mouse Ears that has been in a container for several years. Here are my Mouse Ears
This Blue Mouse Ears has been in this container for several years.
This message was edited Jun 27, 2011 10:11 AM
Cindy - I totally agree about Wee's vast collection of beautiful shade plants. Inspiring.
One question? Does Blue Mouse Ears bloom?
Yes...if you look closely at the picture above you will see bloom stalks. One of mine in the garden this year didn't start to grow when the others did but sent up an odd looking little growth but no leaves. When I looked at it closely I recognized it as a small bloom stalk. I cut it off and the plant immediately started to send to leaves.
Where is the best place to get the minis?
Not only does it bloom, but 'Blue Mouse Ears' is incredibly cute when it's blooming. :)
I don't have any pics of my own, but here's one Google found: http://www.tgreenhouses.com/FCKeditor/uploads/hosta_blue_mouse_ears.jpg
KyWoods, I think ebay is a great place to buy hosta. You can buy starter or larger plants. I've never been disappointed with purchases from ebay.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=hosta+blue+mouse+ears&_sacat=See-All-Categories
Gardenlady, sure Mouse Ears blooms!
Cindy, I've been a little afraid of trying to overwinter a dwarf hosta outdoors in a small container. I've always brought mine in. I have some dwarf hostas in a large container which have done fine.
Doug, next time you pass thru, you're welcome to visit. I appreciate your and Cindy & Pirl's comments, though we're all just doing the same thing. Just doing what we enjoy. I will never have as polished or beautiful a garden as most I see posted. I enjoy trying lots of unusual plant material. Many don't work out, of course. Those that do, end up on Dave's. I love seeing everyone else's version of 'works in progress'.
And from all your successes we get to view the photos and select what we'd like for our own garden - can it get any better than that? Thanks so much, Weerobin.
Mouse Ears is sweet.
I am waiting for daylight and see if Nana has opened its blooms.
Wee - thanks for your input on winter vs. dwarf Hostas. If you have reservations in your zone, it sounds like small containers outdoors over winter are definitely not prudent here. The only time I've ever had a Hosta indoors is when I got my very small baby 'Kabitan' that just could not thrive on it's own in the garden. I did keep it indoors in a sunny window over the winter to let it grow a bit several years ago and it's now happy in the garden and ready to divide. And I do appreciate your philosophy and am glad that you share your successes. Keeps me motivated.
'works in progress' is the ultimate understatement! I've been working on an 'Asian Garden' up on the hill across the path from the woodland garden. It's not an ideal location but when you live on a slope you have to go with what nature gave you! Couple of pics:
Doug
Pic of my pride and joy at the moment. Bought one of those $2.50 Junipers last year at Lowes and pruned it to look like a bonsai. Also bought the pot at Lowes and cut the bottom out of it. Buried the pot and planted the juniper in it. Since the pot was a terra cotta colored plastic I think it works well in the situation.
Doug
And finally, I moved Buddha from another bed to oversee everything.
Wow, Doug, your place is gorgeous! Since I live in the woods, I would love to get your input on how to keep the critters from eating, digging up, and otherwise wreaking havoc in the garden. Spraying stinky stuff is impractical with all the rain we've had. The giant pinwheel I put up in the coneflower bed did nothing to stop something from biting the heads off half the coneflowers just as they were about to bloom!
WOW doug is right.
Doug - I love how you work with the existing topography! Have you put together any "before" and "after" pics? You had some beautiful beds being developed last year.
Deer love coneflowers! And columbine. And especially Hostas but usually the softer-leaved ones. They tend to leave the heavy, corrugated leaved Hostas alone if there are other goodies to eat. They'll even nip the tips of roses as well and they love Astilbe flowers. The only thing that's worked for me is putting up mesh fencing (the cheap way) and studying the possible access points. I still can't keep them from walking into the backyard off the street. Here, it's usually very early morning foraging.
Doug, your garden is looking lovely! And I adore the Buddha--he looks so joyous. :)
Kinda like me, fat and happy!
Doug
Wow, Doug, I'm glad to see how haven't been wasting your time this spring.
I also love that Buddha. And your Juniper looks great!!
Like Ky, I'm also interested in how you protect your guys from the deer. I've pretty much given up. I think fencing is the only answer, but my property has a long road-front, so I can't imagine fencing the frontage. So I just cuss them out. And what about erosion control on your slope? My garden is basically a wooded hillside also, so I struggle trying to find a ground cover to hold the soil without letting loose the proverbial garden thug that would overwhelm everyone including the Great Buddha himself!
And how about last year's project?? Are you going to share some follow up pix?
Trillium in a friends garden last May
Another trillium in May
Epimedium foliage
Epimedium blooms
Hosta Liberty
Beautiful, Paul! I didn't know there were yellow trilliums.
Our property is also a wooded hillside, choked with japanese honeysuckle.
I love epimediums.Mine are out of bloom now.
Beautiful yellows Paul
Ky, I spent the better part of two summers clearing away all the choking honeysuckle from my wooded hillside yard.
It's 2 acres. I pulled by the roots those that I could, others I just cut to the ground.
The stumps resprout avidly, but if you keep snapping off the sprouts it will eventually give up the ghost.
I've been able to keep the yard pretty clear of the stuff ever since, though I'm constantly pulling seedlings.
But what I didn't realize was that all the native wildflowers being choked by the honeysuckle jungle are still laying dormant, waiting for an opportunity to spring to life.
Here is a picture of wild phlox in the cleared area the very next summer.
I didn't plant any of it!
There are also native trilliums, mayapples, bloodroot, geraneums, jack-in-the-pulpit, solomon seal...
Very pretty, Weerobin!
Love the yellow Trillium! And the wild geranium is so pretty.
Would you believe that 20+ years ago, I purposely planted Hall's honeysuckle? On my back 45 degree slope, I was searching for something for cover to retard erosion. Never did flower well as a groundcover but occasionally a runner will make it up the fence where it does have a pretty yellow and white flower. Now it's mixed in with Vinca minor so it's doubtful I'll ever get rid of it unless I undertake a month-long project (not!). Seems like it'd be more of a challenge than getting rid of my Campanula rapunculoides.
Cindy, did you finally eliminate the Campanula? I've heard it is impossible to get rid of.
There are over 25 acres of honeysuckle on just our side of the hill. I have managed to clear small areas, and make trails through the rest, lol. We need a team of gardeners/landscapers to live here, but that's for rich folk, sigh...
The deer aren't usually a big problem for me. I used to see a lot of them crossing over the hill but the last few years we have seen them less. (Until last year during the drought when they found out that I watered my woodland garden and things stayed green and fresh - instant Bambi salad bar..) I have never had a runoff problem either. I guess because it had a lot of poison ivy and virginia creeper before I started the garden it kinda helped hold the soil in place. I still mulch mostly with chopped leaves and pine needles so that mimics mother nature's leaf mold mulch. I'll try to get up there next week and shoot a few photos and post. I'm still weeding after being gone three weeks in April and May, plus working on the Asian Garden, a fern bog below that and transplanting some natives I don't think it will ever be done! It really is a joy to do though. I'd MUCH rather be up there on the hill than sitting in front of a TV
Doug
NO - the Campanula still lives and flowers. Grrr! Haven't made a serious attempt (another in a long series) on it yet this year. Have been pulling the flowering stalks before they open up though.
Your comment about the PI on the hillside - same thing here although I didn't know what PI looked like (especially the roots pulled during a January thaw) until after cortisone shot and antihistamines. Ugh! People at work treated me like a leper - especially a pregnant co-worker who thought I had the measles.
Oh, nooo, you poor thing!