Garden Projects #7

Northern Gardens are asleep now but lets keep the dreaming and ideas comming.

We came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1196993/

This is an area at the front left corner of my house. 3 Dead Vibernums were taken out and replaced with 2 Lilac bushes,(dark color)
The rest is filled with Iris and allium and transplanted lilies, and mini daffs.

Oooh, be sure to take photos of the lilacs in bloom.....one of my lilacs & a clethra shrub were both crushed by falling oak branches from my neighbor's yard....have to see if either can be saved.....

I love lilacs.

Here's another rock project for Bill
http://factorydirectcraft.com/factorydirectcraft_blog/stone-snowman-doorstop/

Ooh...I have a bench on my porch that would be the perfect place for it!

I have copied the picture - i like it! thx jen

Cute idea

Here are some garden beds are in in-progress.

I think there will be room for two camellia plants in this bed. A slightly taller one will go along the side of the house between windows. The smaller one in the corner might require some pruning if the extra foot of height is too dense. In front are some small big leaf hydrangeas with the dark, unmatching mulch. Don't know yet about any other plants in there, especially while the camellias get established.

I could use some suggestions about the area around the ac. Once upon a time it was shady, but now that tree is gone and the new saplings twenty feet away (magnolia virginiana and a fragrant snowbell) haven't taken over yet. It's very sheltered with a giant yew behind the fence also, but there's overhead sun at noon near the house and this side of the house faces north. I've thought of giant hosta, maybe trying a needle palm nearby, and new hydrangeas are in here. There's also a new tree peony by the fence in the dappled shade.

There is a gate just to the right of this pic, and that is where the camellia arch is planned. It could take ten years for the plants to get tall enough to intertwine overhead, so the project is a test to see if they'll even grow there. By my reckoning the fence will protect a lot, but the camellias will get dappled morning sun for a few hours. My sources conflict on whether morning sun will burst a camellia's tender stems in winter. If there isn't any sun, then there won't be blossoms.

The forsythia has been tamed a great deal already and I popped a wolf eyes dogwood in the mulched area. The boulder was dug up from the foundation this August. The ground was a veritable junk dump, so more digging may reveal anything.

This is looking toward the South side of the house. This patch is mainly a test garden so far, though the Japanese black pine and the diablo ninebark will stay. As one goes toward the road, I want more native plants to create an understory at the bottom of the slope.

Finally, the new shade garden. This was a construction zone as we installed a wood stove/fireplace. So far I've gotten the berm up about three feet and planted it with triangle patterns of hostas, and filled in the triangles, one with hellebores, another with cimicifugas. Along the path are fresh plantings of white bleeding hearts and a couple kinds of fern. Under the hemlock are trilliums, oxblood, and more kinds of ferns. Right by the house behind the pic are tiarellas, heuchera, a clethra, and some wintergreen.

The rule is that all blossoms in this area must be white to brighten a very dark area in spite of the southern exposure. I think I will try one of the white camellias here to block the view of the neighbor's fence and front yard. The plant has to be evergreen to block their unsighly junk pile, or I'd stay with a native shrubs there.

I'm open to new ideas for all areas,

I have some bright Astilbe, mostly white and yellow Hosta, Hellebores, Japanese Painted Ferns and Bressingham Bergenia that all add some color to my only little shade garden area. The Wisteria "Tree" does quite well here also, for an area that gets only a few hours early morning sun.

Roses_R_Red, Oh, My, that area is to die for! My DH has always wanted a wisteria tree. Another "someday" plant. Patti

Rosemary, you could use a small azalea or rhodo to block the ac....I also like the idea of more hellebores and ferns ...Teri, that's a pretty area.....

Teri's "tree" is awesome!!!

Thanks for the suggestions, Robin. AC area will need a lot of work yet.

surprised you can do a camellia this far north.

The garden sources say 'yes' for selected cultivars of camellias, especally in sheltered areas up to zone 5b, in some cases.Lyman Estate Greenhouse is a location for local sales and encouragement.

We are pretty wooded here, garden is full of mini-climates. Irises take so much work, I don't have time to experiment. I was just surprised.

Thanks for your compliments on the Wisteria. Right now it is being held up by a thick rope tied to one of those huge spiral screw things into the ground. The recent weather became just too much for it and it fell over. Looks better now than it did before it got knocked down because it was beginning to lean over even though it is secured to a strong metal rod.

The wisteria doesn't need much sun and it still blooms? Now I'm starting to wonder if I can train my potted 'Blue Moon' to grow near the ac. Truly only a couple of hours of bright sun there at best. Enough sun for hyperion DL along the house though.

It probably would get more blooms if it were in more sun.

Hmmmm.

Rosemary, I see you were quite busy last month. That will look smashing this summer, but even better in a few years.

Teri, I love your very beautiful shade garden. I have a wisteria tree in full sun. Your garden may only get a couple hours of morning sun, but it looks like it's in bright shade, rather than dark, so that's probably why the wisteria is doing so well.

I'm just itching to get some gardening done. I actually got some daylilies potted up that I had purchased this past summer, the day of Louise and Hank's RU. I'm concerned about them making it through the winter, but if they die, it's my own fault for not getting them planted a long time ago. They were sitting in a cooler in water all summer and fall. Usually not much water. I tried being diligent and dumped the water out after any rain we had, but sometimes they sat in water a long time. Last month I finally took them out of the water and let them dry out so the crowns wouldn't rot when I finally planted them. They dried out quite awhile, and I recently moved them into the porch in plastic bags when the temps started getting down to freezing, though they did get exposed to some freezing temps. The foliage was actually still somewhat green when I potted them up today. I watered them well and put them out back with the rest of the potted up ones. I have so many that I bought last year, and I have no room to put them all. I keep planning on getting rid of old ones I no longer want, and they are going little by little. I do have some room for some new ones, and in the spring I will be putting some of the potted ones in the ground. I can't wait to get going on it.

Karen

DLs are very tough, Karen....I had a bunch sitting in a wheelbarrow full of water while I was waiting for the town to backfill my roadside gardens....it took weeks longer than I expected...of course....but the DLs looked great when I finally planted them.....

They are tough, yes, so I'm really hoping these will be troopers and make through the winter. We've had a mild one so far, though it looks like we're in for several days of really cold temps. Seems Wed. will be the coldest, with only a high of 27. The weekend is supposed to be back up in the mid 40's. I think I will get some yard work done.

Karen

It's funny, but now every time I see something that is made with rocks I think to myself, "I wonder if Bill has seen this?" So, here you go, Bill.

Awesome!!!

hey gsox - we saw something similar except it was tall lamp - tricky part is drilling the holes without blowing out the back side. i've done it with thin drill bits not with one that thick. thinking about trying to build a lamp, i have plenty of colorful rock to do it.

eeeehhhh go for it.. tikki torch holder!!!

Very nice! Go for it Bill!! You can do it!!! ^_^

I agree....would make a great lamp....

My GF sculptor has made cairn lamp bases and other sculptures from clay molds she made from rocks.I have posted her site before but here it is again.
http://www.janjacque.com/lamps.html

These lamps are way cool! As is everything else on her website. What a wonderful artistic career she has! I think I'd especially want the floorlamp but they're all great.

I agree, beautiful work!

She created those lamps 5 years ago they are her best sellers.

Very cool!

Loved them all!