Garden Projects #4

that is pretty cool

Love it!

noticed this morning a very large branch off a hickory fell into my new bed back by the pond - it has been hanging there from the ice storm a couple years back. missed everything - or fell around everything is a better description - could not pick it up as it is about 20' long and 8" around - fell from almost a 100' up - i planted 4 dogwoods in the back of the bed and tried to calculate where this would land when the time came - got lucky - would have been cool to see it come down as i am sure there was some bouncing off the tree on the trip to earth - the heavy end was on the outer edge of the bed - will need the chain saw to get it out of there

LUCKY indeed

Eeeek! Good thing it fell when no one was out there working under it.....

Wha, Glad for you and your new plants. I lost a small Japanese Maple last year when a big, but small compared to your branch came down and flattened it. I thought it was a total goner. I cut it back to the graft after it happened and forgot about it, and now it is growing a new leader and lots of leaves. A trooper.

Weather has squashed all my good intentions of work outside this week, so I have been cleaning up piles of old paperwork and garden catalogs. What a pile to throw out. I also did most of my fall bulb orders this week and have sent them off to Van Engelen, John Scheepers, Brent and Becky, Old House Garden and McClure and Zimmerman to add to the big order I did earlier to A.D.R. BULBS. I will have a few more when they post their goodies. Now to list them all in my journal. I have been more restrained than normal, so far.

Next big project is moving all the plants out of the Greenhouse to the porch. Next week, if it stops raining. DH took this cool shot of a blooming Calla in GH this week. Obviously the plants are going wild and need to go outside. Patti

Pretty bloom....

Wow! Bill and Christina - those new beds are fantastic! I love all the phlox in yours, Christina, and the stone work is lovely. Like you, I don't like things in straight lines - much prefer the curves of nature. That is also what I like so much about Bill's yard - you wander around from one curving bed to the next on a path of emerald green grass that provides such a nice contrast to the mulched beds with so many nice plants and trees splashed around them.

JoAnn - your yard is also becoming a pretty park-like setting with your artistic approach to each of your beds. I hope those neighbors know how lucky they are to abut your property and gardens!! I think Marilyn's neighbor has the right approach! Lots of hard work has gone into all of your creations!!

Peter - I'd love to see a shot of your stone wall and semps! Sounds very nice!

Patti - I'm so happy to hear that you got such a good doctor's report! What good news to share!! I'm also not at all surprised that your pots are selling like hot cakes! Do you have a catalog for online shopping???? You could perhaps make deliveries to customers at a July RU.....hint, hint!! :)

Here is the "before" of my re-worked stone wall garden with many of my better daylilies tucked into and around it. I've also tried to add lots of things that will bloom after the daylilies and iris are history - like JoAnn's Woods asters, some mums, some colorful sedums like Neon and Autumn Joy, some phlox and a few snapdragons and trailing petunias. We also divided Hank's heirloom family peony and put one clump in this garden for some early blooms, along with the creeping phlox, columbine, primroses and brunnera and heuchera. Those of you who come in July will get a first shot at seeing how it all looks with the daylilies blooming. This area was choked with ditch lilies before.

This was actually how wild the same area looked before. That black cherry tree is now gone and the barrel of geraniums now sits on its stump. The ditch lilies were planted in areas where it didn't matter if they spread. I keep yanking up more and more that survived the Big Dig last fall. They are historic to the farm - some well over 150 years old - so they had to be shown the respect they deserve. :)

Love that shutter project! I wanted to build a pergola using antique old farm ladders. We gathered the ladders from our friends' old barns at their farms here, but we haven't done much with them yet and now they are all getting perhaps beyond being workable.

Bill - you are really fortunate that the huge limb didn't do more damage! I'm guessing you'll find something useful to do with the wood!

DonnieBrook. That is quite the change and much for the better IMHO. I love the fact that you are respectful of the old ditch lilies. I do love them up in Vt. Funny that the old double that I brought here from there croaked. I must remember to dig up some more and bring them down here to try again. Didn't think it possible to kill them, but I did. Deer ate them more than any of the others. I had to move all our DL's to behind the deer fence some years back when it became apparent that the deer had added Hemerocallis to their diet. grrrrrrrrr.

Thanks. I have had it for quite a few years from one of the old coops run by 4paws. I it is Calla Green Goddess and blooms every winter rather than the summer like the others. Here are some of my late blooming Hippeastrum today. Both of these from a 2008 coop from Blooming Bulb. Kind of looks like Christmas. Most of my Hippeastrums have been rather slow to spike this year. But I don't care when they bloom as look as they do. Patti

Thanks, Patti. The area is much more cleaned up now (the pile of buried old brick pieces is gone) and the annuals are now planted for some immediate gratification of color. I love nothing more than to re-do a garden and see it grow into something pretty. That's why I loved following your stream thread. This is the other garden I ripped apart and added a new path through.....it will also be fun to watch it transform a bit.

Love that red hippy! I put mine in the ground in Florida before we left. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll make it through the summer! Many people there have them in the ground, so I'm giving it a shot.

Wow, look at that cool Bird House. A treasure. Is it an original Wha or did he knock yours off . . Looking great. Endless stream is doing well and the whole are around it has expanded. I need to post some shots of it, but the rain keeps making that difficult. Good for all the new plants. Patti

My thoughts exactly! That is indeed an original Wha from the Crafty Man himself. It is a real treasure to me, and it spent the winter inside my potting shed, Cuppatea, just in case someone else decided they too could not live without it. It needed a suitable surrounding, so that's what spurred me on to clean up the Friendship Garden it reigns over, and clear out some stuff that gets too thick, including the ever-menacing oregano. Pixie's white lilac is directly behind it, gaining steam every day. Buttered Popcorn, one of my birthday daylilies last year from Davis Brook Farm will stand behind it to the left as we look up at the garden from our front porch. All of the plants in that garden were gifts from friends or family, including the Talavera Turtle that sits at the top of the erratic stone.

Please do post some shots of the Endless Stream and adornments once the buckets stop pouring.

Wow - word count contest between Patti and Louise!!

Sorry, Boss!! :)

^_^ No apologies necessary! Just making an observation.

Wow, good observation, Victor. I need to see some of your "Wow" pics of your pond too as I would describe it with that word too. Patti

Well, I'd have to agree with you that I did yak away a bit too much! Thanks for the reminder!

Welcome back north Louise.

I have a question about Lilacs.
Where do you find plants? of a decent size?

Thanks, JoAnn!!

I'm sure they sell lilacs at the festival but not sure about price or quality. Have you looked at the local places?

louise can't wait to see the improvements at the ru:)

Have one more delivery - the three hydrangeas. Aside from that, all I have left is annuals and veggies.

just two more boxes of hosta liners and sedum - should have one tomorrow

I will try Oriental Garden Supply. We want a Black and a dark lilac. My guys at Birchcrest will do the work.

My goodness, Louise, you have been busy! The garden will be super looking, just in time for us to see it. Bill's birdhouse fits in there perfectly! Jo, there must be nurseries in Rochester that sell the lilacs you want.....

i'm checking

Thought 'Oriental' wasn't pc! ^_^

Lilacs are in bloom here now too. My white one is sulking as I moved it and now think it needs to be moved again. Poor dear. A super yummy dark one called S.Monge is opening up and is always a big "wow". Pollyk is the one to ask as she has a large collection of them.

Today was a major project day. We finished the paths in the new Japanese Maple beds with its stairs to no where that we have dubbed Jed's Bed after our friend from Brooklyn who has helped so much over the last few winters to clear new areas on our property including this part. We laid down weed barrier and raked up tons of pine needles from the driveway to cover the paths. I spent a long time deadheading all the spent tulips and daffodils that really took a beating with all the rain. Moved a few things and divided some others. Cleaned around some shrubs. And I took photos. Downloading now. Will Post. Patti

Who knows or cares what the latest pc is.
I cant keep up.

Planted a few things, mulched a little....mostly shopped today.......

Here is an overview of the new area with the newly laid pine paths. Pretty happy with it. I have a a few rocks that I want to incorporate into the bed to give it interest until the Maples grow. I am awaiting my final spring orders of some hellebores, sedums, heuchera and a few shrubs to finish it off for this year, I think. But who knows. Patti

One more and then I am going to bed early. Patti

NICE, Patti

Looks great, Patti. I really like the pine paths.

Amazing layout.Nice paths. Wish I had thought to make mine wider.

Terrific Patti!!

VERY nice, Patti.