Garden Projects #4

Very nice Jen!

Good job, Jen!

Looks great Jen!! Where are you going to put the golden Rain Tree? ;)

We had a vote a few weeks ago to let the property taxes go up 2 1/2% rather than 2%. If we kept the cap in effect at 2%, the town was going to privatize the mua, which would have been more expensive. We were the only town that voted yes to the 2 1/2%, but we have great mua service, except for a little problem with snow plowing last winter that took out a JM.

Bad MUA, bad.

Looks great, Jen.

LOL Marilyn. This is New York State.Taxes is us.

The gasoline taxes here in CT are the pits......gas went "down" to $4.05 here, & I paid $3.72 in MA......same brand....

87 tomatoe plants. Starting on peppers and running out of room! I cant take much more. Black flies and sun poisioning, I am about to croak.

Thanks, everyone!

DW planted a golden rain tree last year and the snowplow guy got it. I managed to salvage some of it. I'm trying to root the trunk but I do have growth on the root stem. DW ended up buying another one with plants to build a brick wall around it (lol). Way to go jen. Good job.

Don't worry Weeze, I still have tons of room for that Golden Raintree.

Thanks Frank!

I call Golden Rain tree, Pee tree.

Filled all my new containers with soil. Started planting. On the patio, which is full sun, so far I did basil, cleome, millet, pink and a few dark purple petunia at it's base. I will add more edibles and probably a few castor bean seeds. Possibly more annuals.

At the front door, I planted some caladium bulbs and will add fern and probably some shade bloomer.

Need some ferns & hostas where my son rototilled....

a pee tree would have a different purpose here

Need time off but that cant hapen. Oh dear

Haven't visited this thread in awhile. You guys have been getting a lot done.

Jen, your berm is looking very good.

Louise, can't wait to see your place in person. Looking great. I did not get to go to your last RU, so this will be fun.

Bill, your new gardens are looking wonderful.

Patti, I like what you've done with your new area.

Yesterday I started work on finishing up the bed behind my pond, just an extension of the bed that's already there. I first had to dig out all the lily-of-the-valley that was in there. What a chore! I put in stepping stones. I planted a hosta that a friend gave me last year, as well as one of the new ones I got this year for $2. I also planted my two geraniums from Bluestone, Cheryl's Shadow and Orkney Cherry, and I put in the campanula 'Blue-eyed Blonde', also from Bluestone. I'm very happy with the results so far. Here's a pic of part or yesterday's progress. Worked in the heat and humidity and was sweating like crazy. Today was so much better.

Karen

Here's a picture of it after I doing what I did yesterday. Still have more to do.

Karen

Oh, and now after looking at that picture I'm reminded that I also planted the Nicotiana alata grandiflora from Annie's and the Brunera 'Looking Glass' from Bluestone.

Karen

A horizontal shot...

And here's a shot showing the big pile of lily-of-the-valley and other weeds I got out of there.

Karen

I know the lilies of the valley spread like mad, but sorry that you couldn't find a place for them deeper into the woods.

Love the stumps Karen

Karen, That is going to look light a beacon of light to walk through. Love your combo choices. Lily of the valley is wonderful, but oh so invasive and it is taking over a few places that I would rather it not in our garden too. I pull and it comes back, but trying to keep it manageable. It will win no doubt.

The Project today is to continue planting the truckload of things we bought. We ended up with twice as many veggie starts as we can use, so the new bed that we were going to leave fallow this year has to get cleaned up and used. That means deer fencing has to go up. So we now have another new project and money not planned on for this spring. Out to the garden as I have a zillion new perennials to plant too. My order from Deer Resistant Landscaping came yesterday too. Kind of late, but they all look good except one, which will probably rally.

Rhamnus frangula Fine Line
Buddleia x Santana
Hippophae rhamnoide Sprite
Buddleia x Flutterby Grande Sweet Marmalade
Caryopteris x Sterling Silver or Lissilv
Geranium wlassovianum
Verbascum White Bride
Verbascum Caribbean Crush
Nepeta yunnanensis Blue Dragon
Echinops bannaticus
Papaver orientale White Ruffles
Aconitum cammarum Blue Lagoon
Digitalis grandiflora Temple Bells
Caryopteris Blue Myth

Have a good day all. Patti

looks good there karen

patti you continue to marvel

Karen, I know how hard it is to get rid of LOV....I planted some in memory of my Gram, but it takes over......your new garden is lovely.....Patti, sounds like some wonderful choices there....here is the area I'm trying to clean up, no before photos, it was too awful....full of PI, barberry, goldenrod, etc. I need a few more hostas & some ferns....actually found 2 small hostas I didn't know were in that mess!

Robindog, It must have been a jungle to hide those beauties. Looking good. Still planting, but it takes longer the more weeds I keep finding to pull. Great crop this year...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Patti

Funny, I never had that problem with LOV. Weird.

Maybe you have a non-invasive hybrid.....

I hope these spread like crazy!!

Yeah, prettier than mine!

i have the pink too celeste they are just starting to spread slowly after a few years - may move them out to safer pastures though after reading this - have the white growing wild and they keep to the woods.

The pink LOV are more tender?, but much slower growers.

Celeste, Those Pink ones are very pretty. But I already have way too many of the old white ones. I do love them but they wander way too much in our sandy soil. Victor is a better parent if his aren't going wild like mine. The pink ones that I once saw at a nursery were a very insipid pink, almost flesh colored, not at all like the one you posted. They must have been going by, so I should rethink the pink some day, but where? Always where, when the garden is bulging in all directions already. .

Got some things done, but was very tired by mid day to do more. Not good as I have so much to do. No photos today either, just needed to take a nap. Now regretting my lack of energy. Patti

After 13 years my LOV have finally spread to where I have to pull some out, dry shade must be the trick.

Maybe that's why mine haven't spread too much, same dry shade.

Same here. Also lots of maple hairy roots.

just to let those of you who have pink and white LOV that if the pink are plants with the whites they will revert to white... so keep your pinks as far away as possible so you don't have pink one year and white the next.

Jan

Interesting... I discovered this year that there is a patch of pink LOV in one corner of the property. I hadn't noticed it before. I was thinking of moving some to a more prominent spot, but there is white everywhere. This all was planted at least 50 years ago- maybe I'd better leave well enough alone?!

Pam

Guess I won't plant white then. :(

didn't mean to disapoint anyone but hated to see folks plant the pink next to white to find out in a season that they lost their pinks.

Jan

Thanks, guys. Yes, lily-of-the-valley is very invasive. I do have a lot of it, Lucy, so I'm not loath to give this stuff up. I do hate throwing out good plants, but what can you do? Can't keep all of it. I do have some striped ones that I want to put in some woodland areas. I tried some in one area, but it can't compete with the hay-scented ferns there. They are invasive, too. I also have one called 'Creme de Menthe' that I got last year and have yet to plant. http://www.losthorizons.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=740&flypage=flypage.tpl&pop=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=61 It will go in a bed where I don't mind it taking over. I do have the pink and the double flowered form as well, and they do seem to grow slower and maybe not as thickly populated. They do really well in dry shade. Patti, I have found that pulling alone will not get rid of them. Their roots can go pretty deep. I had to double dig here, as I do in most new beds. Even so, I'm sure there will be roots I missed and I'll keep seeing them pop up. Not to mention that they've grown into the grass pathway. I keep mowing it down, but unless I dig up the pathway as well and get all the roots out, then it'll keep growing back into the bed.

Oh, Patti, I got that Santana budleia last year.It's got so much crap growing up around it I haven't even seen it this year. You reminded me that I need to check on it and weed out around it.

Marilyn, that bed you're working on is looking good. I hate it when I have to clean out PI. I did that with one of my beds in the early spring, and I had a rash for weeks. Finally got rid of the rash, but there is still PI in that bed. I need to get in there with gloves and newspaper and handle it with the newspaper and put it straight into plastic bags and into the trash where it belongs!

Jan, I didn't know pinks would revert if planted with whites. I have mine planted with whites. Now I have to check them and see if they're all white.

Karen