Whats new in January 2012?

you will be the hit of the tour patti!

That's wonderful news! The folks will love seeing it! I must do some serious trimming here as well....my shrubs have gotten out of control & some were damaged by the Oct. storm.....

We got a full day in of pruning in today. We got out the chain saw and every kind of lopper and shears that we own as well as the weed whacker. It was a very productive day. as we produced another huge pile of brush that we will burn later this winter. I think we now have 4 days of pruning's all ready to torch and we still have many more areas to attack. The Weather isn't suppose to be good tomorrow which is probably a good thing as I am pooped.

Wha, I hope I can lay some better stone walks in a couple of spots that are too narrow and rough. I would also love to do a garden sculpture made out of clay. Your garden sculptures are inspiring. But any thing that I might try to do might be too difficult to do with the short time frame that I now have. I am a bit slow. I think all my time will be taken up by me having to be a weeding fool, so my pottery work may get put on a bit of a hold. However, I am suppose to be in a ceramic show in the spring in Brookline which I still want to do. So that leaves no time to make anything clever for the yard. I might make a fun scare crow for the veggie garden which would be quick and I could try to sculpt the face with clay and maybe make a clay crow for the top of her/his head.

I am mentally moving things around the garden in spots that need improving and I am starting a list of things that I will want to have in the way of annuals for fill and for containers. I think I will add a few more Asiatic lilies than I normally plant as they will be in bloom during this time and that will fill in a few areas that are a tad boring. Bert (Bleek-Touch of Nature/Eflower garden.com) is having a great sale now on Lilies, so I am going to add tonight what I had ordered from him last week. He has a lot of the little ones which look great along the edge and in pots.

What I really need is a herd of DG people to come to Nantucket to cheer me on. Patti

What is the date of the garden tour, Patti?

I would love to go on that tour patti

have you thought about putting down pea stone and setting the stone into that, i think they would hold up longer, i have been debating that for the small stone walkway to the veggy garden that really should be redone.

When is the DG garden tour in Nantucket? (Hint, hint)

The open garden is June 21. I have to figure out if I can deal with guests and still get the garden in visitor shape. I should invite my mom to come then, but that means getting little work done as I wouldn't want to ignore her. Dilemma. I have a brother who is a work horse, but he doesn't garden though he is so organized that nothing would be out of place if he came. He cleaned up our shed one summer and it was beyond perfect. I have tried to keep up his standard, but it has never looked as perfect since. My best friend who will be coming soon loves to clear and create, but isn't a weeder, so he wouldn't be much help in June. He would be wanting to build some bizarre structure in the middle of the yard, a folly or a moat around one of our beds with a draw bridge. So I don't want him to come that week either. Picky me. Actually my DH and I do all the work normally so we should be fine with making it as good as it can be without other help.

Wha, I am going to do pea stone in Vt with some stepping stones. but rocks of any kind are hugely expensive on Nantucket, so I will be re-purposing the stones that we already have. I just need to make a few of the paths better and lay one short new one. I may have to bring a few choice stones down from Vt. Patti

Patti: Take a look at some of you heavier prunned branches and see if they wouldnt make a base for a clay addition to make a sculpture. Bird heads or whole birds comes to mind.

Clever lady. Looks like another decent and warm day to prune away. Trying to drag my tired body outside. Patti

Something to plan while prunning.Maybe make them removable so they wont disappear next winter.

Just finished another good day of pruning big cedars, pitch pines and lots of scrub oaks, viburnums and bay berry all along one edge of our property. DH used the chain saw and I hauled and clipped the small stuff. We will keep at it as long as the weather is decent. We still have some virgin land to tame, though we will be doing judicious pruning and not clear cutting it which would be real quick. I ordered a ton of new lilies last night from Bert (Bleek) and will do an Avant order tonight to take advantage of their early bird sale which ends tonight.

Jo Ann, I am saving a bunch of big cedar branches as per your idea to do something with them at some point. Thanks, Patti

I like your progress. Relax and let the ideas percolate.

Sounds like a great plan! The combination of JoAnn's and Patti's creativity is bound to lead to something we'll all want to see..

patti i have a questions - prunning all the vib's at this time, doesn't that mean no blooms?

Wha, Yes and No, I am taking out suckers, deadwood, old stems and crossed branches but leaving everything that is happy and healthy, so I will still have plenty in bloom come spring and summer. Plus we have hundreds....not kidding, as they grow wild all over the property, so we are mostly dealing with the indigenous ones. Some of them are huge. They look so much better and be happier once we clean them all up and get out all the invasive vines and intruding other trash shrubs around them. I should be out there now, but too sore to move, plus I need to go to Vt in the morning so I am doing indoor stuff and playing on the computer.

I sent in my Avant order and got the 20% discount, but had to pay sales tax and shipping. Patti

Baptisia 'Decadance Cherries Jubilee' 1 $12.95
Baptisia 'Decadence Dutch Chocolate' 1 $12.95
Geranium wallichianum 'Crystal Lake' 1 $12.95
Geranium wvlassovianum 'Lakwijk 1 $12.95
Kalimeris incisa 'Blue Star' 1 $8.95
Ligularia 'Last Dance' 1 $14.95
Phlox paniculata 'Sherbert Blend 1 $12.95
Primula vulgaris 'Ken Dearman' 1 $9.95
Rudbeckia maxima 1 $9.95 $9.95
Solidago 'Little Lemon' 1 $9.95
Symphytum grandiflorum 'Hidcote Variegated'1 $10.95
Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination' 1 $12.95
Acanthopanax sieboldianus 'Variegata' 1 $19.95
Agastache 'Summer Glow' PPAF 1 $8.95
Geum 'Alabama Slammer' 1 $9.95
Geum 'Mai Tai' 2 $9.95 $19.90

Those Baptisia sound good enough to eat! Love the new colors in the geums.....

I'm looking at the same two geraniums, Patti, and they have a silver heuchera I like too.

I can always fit in another geranium!

Or two. This year I am going to be adding lots of filler plants, biennials, and annuals, so the garden looks good for the tour in late June, rather than adding more perennials and shrubs this year. I am hoping we are up to having all these rabid visitors, as we rarely have anyone see our garden except you guys on DG. The Garden Conservancy wanted some shots for publicity (posters and postcards) so I sent them this album of shots so they can chose what they want. I have release forms to fill out as well as all kinds of questionnaires. Including questions about allowing bus groups to visit. OMG, I can't imagine that. All of this highly organized stuff makes me nervous. And then after all the work, what if no one comes? I guess we would be doing most of it for just us anyway. Patti


https://picasaweb.google.com/pmc.ack/AlbumForTheGardenConservancyS2012OpenDay?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCP-eqNKqoaTKHw&feat=directlink

This message was edited Mar 1, 2012 11:57 AM

My GF went on a Garden Conservancy tour last year on your island.
There were quite a few people on it. Can't you scrape a bus turn-around in your spare time??
Stand by for anything I guess.

patti i saw one photo where a hose was on its hanger a bit sloppy.

Fantastic!!

Who wouldn't want to see those gardens? You'll be packed!

Wha, just trying to be normal and not look like we have a herd of hired help, but leave it up to you to see that spot with that eyesore. I'll make sure all hoses are coiled perfectly and in the right shade of green.

A Bus turn around and port a potties will be going in......Not. We are kind of far out for most folks to travel....a whole 2 miles or so thus I doubt that we will be packed with visitors. Itt will be fun if some folks we know come as most people have no idea that we actually get down and dirty. I will print out lists of what people might find in the beds though no doubt some things will be listed wrong or missing and I will get called out on those things. I wish some of you could come, but we are a tad out of the way. I'll take pictures and post them if I am not cowering up in the house. Patti

i might have to convince the wife we have to go

What a treat. Hope she goes for it.

The boat ride is not my thing.....I get very sick....but, I would love to see Nantucket...never got farther than Block I.