Finally, I'm posting pictures!

Meet the gardener, 2007. This was my first year of seriously working on this wonderful, very old garden. For about 35 years it was owned by a man named John Savage, who raised and sold unusual perennials and alpines. He also hybridized daylilies. He retired and left the area in 1970. I would love to find out more about him, if anyone has any ideas... We have some of his old files, very cool.

My friend came on the scene in 1978; the garden had been minimally maintained during the interim. For the next two+ decades maintenance improved and occasional professionals were brought in, but by the time I arrived chaos reigned inside the borders.

in this picture, one section in the long border on the left had been cleared by a crew, and I had replanted with a few roses, some fool-proof annuals- you can see the white cleomes- and lots and lots of nasturtiums to keep the weds at bay.

Pam

This is how it looked that fall

Bit by bit, I've been tackling various areas. One of the worst was a huge Siberian Iris bed. It was crammed with, among other things, ferns, Tradescantia in every color-I think he collected them. I found many entries on them in his files. Some were from White Flower Farm...
There was also goldenrod, and a particularly nasty vine that is still one of the greatest banes of my gardening existence!
This section is atop the stone wall that backs what we now call the cut garden, where the cleomes are in the other pictures. All that junk would cascade over the wall onto my new goodies! Grrrrr...

Dirty girl !!! Lol kidding I get like that :-)

I divided it in two sections, and pulled out and potted the clumps after using a needle spray on the roots to clean them of weeds. This is one half. I'm still seeing the #@% vine pop up, and I'm still hitting it with Roundup. It does work eventually. I've start some planting along the edge. My plan is to make two broad bands of iris set back from the edge, and interplant closely with other thugs of my choosing- red monarda from another area and white achillea ditto for a start, and keep the edge a little more under control.

Getting dirty is half the fun, don't you think?

This is the other half of the Iris bed last week. I still have a few pots waiting to plug holes. Also, the monarda has already taken off- I moved three stalks into this bed last summer. But so far no nasties on this side...

The central daylily beds were another nightmare, particularly because of goldenrod, tradescantia and the vine, also tackled in two sections. Last fall I had a helper dig up the longer bed and divide the plants, then I again used water to clean the roots and tried to get weed roots out of the soil before I re-planted. A few of the clumps were so huge and woody he had to use a mattock to divide them! I've never before seen daylily roots look like that! This spring the second bed got re-shaped as well. I've been policing with RU while the daylilies were small enough to see what was coming up, so I have hopes even though I've already pulled out a couple of small clumps of Tradescantia and zapped a few baby vines.

On the right, the first section is at the top of what we call the Falling Down Wall. I wiped that out a couple of years ago and it's getting good now. A story for another day...

Beyond the big Rhodie is the last section to be renovated. I just re-shaped the edge a couple of weeks ago and got very excited about it. It needs some refinement, but all of a sudden the whole place took on a new look.

Enough for now... I hope you enjoy looking...

Pam



This message was edited Jun 12, 2011 3:39 PM

Cool! Looks great, Pam. Looking forward to more.

Thanks! Finally found a way to post from the iPad, using the app Always on PC. Firefox and Dropbox are integrated into the app. A bit slow, but it works. Yay! Now I have to get the rest of my pix into Dropbox. I have lots!

Pam

Nice. Have to get that app. So it connects to your PC and uploads directly, or moves to iPad first?

No, it's a stand-alone app. You put anything you want access to from your PC into Dropbox. Then you can access those files from Dropbox in the app. Cool, yes? But as I mentioned, since the whole thing in the app is happening from remote servers, just a bit slow.

Pam

Lovely Pam, nice to meet you! I'm cleaning out my daylily beds and iris beds...seems some crown vetch has found a home in 3 of them. It's a nightmare getting it out.

very nice pam - great to see someone else who is not afraid to get dirty! sounds like you have some great plants that have been passed on too.

Yes, I'm very lucky. The garden has great bones, and some wonderful inheritances. The soil is amazingly fertile, all those years of amendments... Anything that touches it grows. It's great fun to add. Also, like all gardening, an incredible amount of work. The first time I saw it, my heart sank at the same time I was lost in awe. I feel I've still only made the smallest dent, and there are a couple of huge design problems I will be addressing one of these days on these forums...so be prepared! Lol...

Pam

Bring it on! I envy you the inherited plantings. While you have to struggle with the weeds and whatnot, you have so many nice things to move around. I have to dig up some siberian iris this year for my plant sale next week. I have tons of it that all grew from one normal sized clump that came from my parent's place in NJ and that we brought with us when we moved into our house 28 years ago. I regularly dig some out on an annual basis and it grows right back. It has helped stabilize my hillside all of these years! Who cares about a little mud?
Martha

Everything looks wonderful, Pam! Must be a wonderful feeling to restore an old garden back to its former glory!

Thanks! I wish I knew more. After all this time of eliminating and moving things around, I realized that I had to find a way of adding new things that wouldn't break the bank. This winter I joined DG and it's been a great inspiration...thanks to all of you!

This is the before picture of the far end of the last section to be re-shaped and planted. Last year after it was cleared, I planted tomatoes, zucchini and nasturtiums to keep the weeds from taking over again.

Pam

Lots of stuff remained between the rocks. A few ferns, hosta, self-sown phlox in many colors, a nice vinca patch I'm saving as a source for other areas and all the usual bad guys. I also rescued a few daylily clumps from another weedy area and stuck them in there. To my great delight, they bloomed even though they were moved at the beginning of a heat wave. Now I know what they are, another thug...but I still love them.

Of course they've filled in beautifully, LOL. They're either Hemerocallis Kwanso or H Fulva Flore Pleno, depending on whether they have 12 or 18 petals. I'll check it out this summer when they bloom. Either way, they are aggressive growers to say the least. I must admit I'm a little worried, but at least I know the other junk can't smother them. And I looooove the flowers.

Pam

Looking great! what size is the property?

The part we see from the house is somewhere between 2 and 3 acres. There's an adjoining field that's all grown in and the property extends back as well. Altogether there are 9 acres. I try to pretend I don't know that!

Pam

Wow that's a nice chuck of real estate!!!

Yes! Would kill for that!

You need a sheep or alpaca herd to keep your acres in trim!
Martha

Victor, I'm afraid it will kill me!

Martha, if they would stick to eating grass and weeds I'd go for it!

Pam

Then comes the chores of clean up after them. And flies.

Pam, Truly inspirational to see you restoring this treasure of a garden. It will reward you 10 fold if you can stand up straight enough after all the weeding to enjoy it. Keep the posting of your garden coming. Patti

Thank you for the tour! Looks great! I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that gets covered in dirt when I garden!
I thought I was doing something wrong. : )

Nope, you're not alone, Meredith! I get quite dirty after a couple hours in the yard. I have an elderly neighbor who often stops by when I'm outside working. I'm usually a mess. One time he came by just as I came home from work. He commented that I looked all dressed up. I was wearing jeans! I think he had just never seen me clean before!

Soj, at least he still recognized you! I used to try to stay somewhat presentable (completely without success), now I don't care. But when it gets really bad I hose down before coming into the house.

Pam

Good for you, preserving the garden. It probably is very thankful.

If you're not dirty, you're not a gardener!

Wonderful tour, Pam! You've done/are doing a great job. Thanks for the tour. I love seeing the progression of it. You sure have a huge property. I would not know what to do with it all, that's for sure. I have all I can manage with the 1.25 acres here. It's really too much for me. My sister has been a big help this year, though, especially with the mowing.

Karen

Thank you all. So many of you have shared wonderful pictures and descriptions of progress in your gardens, which I've enjoyed seeing and have been inspired by. Since joining DG I've learned soooo much! A drop in the bucket...

I guess that's why we don't get bored, don't you think? LOL...

Pam

Yes, we certainly don't get bored!

Karen

I have been to Pam's gardens, & they are truly wonderful, but daunting.....just so much space! And the house should definitely be a museum!

I would love to visit someday. Sounds like a nice place.

Karen

Please do visit if you're ever planning to be in the area...but I warn you, I'll pick your brains!! LOL

Pam

I will take you up on it one day.

Karen

Great!