Garden Projects #8

nice Patti!!.. I have to plant more frits

Beautiful! I love the frits, don't have any yet. :)

Just loverly!!! Love the broad pics.

I think I'll try the pepper spray idea on my tiny shrubs.

I'm considering how much soil and compost to order this year. My helpers have to be coerced, so I've been keeping it at about the five yard minimum usually, and then regretting that I have to dig up our old leaf pile for more. Then another ten yards of pine mulch after planting. You can rent a high school football team to do these jobs.

Your garden is looking awesome, Patti....the garden tour will be very successful! Rosemary, that's a nice service the football team is offering.....our town has no football team, but it would be great if any of the HS teams did raking.....

just received my order from of jm's from greer's - all arrived in good shape - one was a liner that will go into a pot, was small and a liner although not advertised as one, it is still over 3' tall so it was probably a one gallon that was do for re-potting.

What cultivars did you get this time?

i will dmail you :)

Photos, Bill.....

just bare trees right now - they all have a place to be planted so stay tuned

Will do! Am planting hosta Dream Queen, hosta Hudson Bay, & DLs Jedi Free Spirit & Dominic (in memory of a friend).

Thanks all for the compliments. pixie62560, today I found a whole bunch of frits about to pop. They are always a big favorite of mine. Some do well, while others make great foliage but rarely bloom for me now matter where I move them to, the Persian ones especially. I planted some of the Imperial ones last fall which are looking like they will be stunning, if the deer or dogs don't trample on them as they have massive buds on them.

RosemaryK, not one branch pulled off by the bad doggies since we used the pepper wax spray on the shrubs. Fingers crossed.

We planted a whole mess of lilies today, but wish I had more. DH found in bloom a long lost bulb planted in 2006 today, a snake's head iris or Hermodactylus tuberosa. Quite dramatic, but only one of the 10 that I planted seems to be there. But it a treat and a very strange flower. I will take a shot of it tomorrow before I catch the ferry to Hyannis.

I happily also found a mess of now blooming primula that I thought the deer had eaten even though they are not suppose to like them. The peach Hyacinthus Firelights and H. Gipsy Queen that we planted last fall are a new favorite of DH. We would have had an army of them in bloom but the rabbits or deer ate all the ones planted outside the deer fence, so only the patches of them that we planted inside the fenced part of the garden are blooming now, and they are stunning. I will dig all the chomped ones up and move them next week, not that they will bloom this year but I will at least remember to do it and maybe save them to bloom again next year. I planted 50 of H. Gipsy Queen that they ate to the ground. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I am also loving Hyacinthus Woodstock and will add more of them next year. It looks great with orange tulips.

We are going up to Vt tomorrow as the walls in the renovated part are now painted and the kitchen cabinets have arrived, but won't be installed until they put down the floor and paint the base coat on it. They delivered just one cabinet, so we could see it with the wall color and then I will get a sample of the granite counter top. That way we will have a sample of everything so we can chose an appropriate floor paint. We are having a painted pine wood floor. I am very excited to see the space with color, though we are using just a warm straw color for the kitchen and a cool greenish white for the bath. The floor will be a green and then spatter painted. DH is rather color shy.

I have too much on my plate this spring, so it is a good thing that we are about a month behind schedule on the house. There was way more foundation work required than we first thought which put the project hind. Everything we need to finish it up has now arrived and ready to be installed except the towel bars, a mirror, and two sets of door hardware plus the drawer pulls. I will get those things soon. The appliances are now in stock at the store in Brattleboro and can be delivered when we want them.

I fired some tiles that I made for the back splash behind the stove which turned out well enough to use, but I screwed up the light fixture I made for over the sink, AGAIN. Third one will be the charm. I love each of them before I fired them, but the first one was two short after shrinkage and the second one tipped over in the kiln and got a big blob on one side plus it had too much glaze on the inside. Learning. Ge1836 will understand my disappointment, but there is no crying in pottery. I will just make another one or two or three until I get it right.

Robindog, I have a nice shady spot to landscape in Vt that will be a major focal point from the new family space, so I am excited about planting Hosta back there along with ferns and astilbe, primula and trilliums and it is in a spot that the dogs won't trash.

Wha the new shady garden space in Vt needs a rock wall repaired that runs through it. I may need to send you pictures so you can give me online advice as to how to do it. But this is not happening until later in the summer or the fall as I have no time or energy to throw rocks now. Except for a rock walk I must build very soon here on Nantucket, but it is short, less than 20 feet and it will be very simple. DH will help or more likely, I will be nis assistant while he does the work. It won't be up to your standards, but it will be done, maybe. Especially if I stop writing novellas on DG. Blah, blah blah. sorry Patti

Firelights and H. Gipsy Queen ~ My new favs too!!

Patti, I admire your energy! Your projects sound just great.

I agree....you need to clone yourself, Patti! The kitchen sounds wonderful.....will love to see the finished photos....Hope the pottery will cooperate this time....

Jen, I was just thinking with the pitchfork you'd be leaning over a lot more. Anyhow, you'd have to hold it a lot differently than a rake, and that would hurt my back. Not that a rake doesn't already do that to me, but I'm thinking it would be a lot worse with a pitchfork.

Patti, if I had a DH or BF, then I would love it if he got me a load of mulch and hired a couple of men to do the work. What a great birthday gift. Your place is really looking nice, btw. Lots of blooms now.

Patti, I understand your disappointment with your pottery efforts as well, as as been there, done that myself. Wish I could get into it again. I would love to get into making mosaics, especially. I did some in high school that I really liked. One was a scene from The Hobbit, and the other was a scene from The Lord Of The Rings. I wish I had pics of them. Last I knew my brother had the latter one. I don't know if he still has it, and we have not been talking to him (long story that involves his psychotic wife).

Marilyn, you'll love that DL 'Dominic'. I have it, and it's great.

I got some work done on the ongoing project of renovating that large garden in the back. I got a small section done, and took a good, long time to do it. Not only is there trad and invasive grasses in there, but also rasberries, 'Valerie Finnis' artemesia, and golden rod. I'll be keeping all the daylilies in there now, but eventually some will go. Many are my late mother's seedlings or NOID's. I have bearded iris in there that will stay. Also there are Sibs, but none that I want. Would like to put some different Sib varieties in there. I put in an echi called 'Vintage Wine' that I got last year and never planted. I also moved a foxglove that I found in a random spot into that bed, and moved some young oriental poppies that had seeded-in in another bed. I have a bunch of 'Husker Red' penstemon seedlings that can be moved over there as well.

Oh, I forgot to tell you guys that last month we had the bathtub area all re-tiled. It looks nice. I will take some pics and post soon. Now my sister is working on converting the porch into what she calls the Aruba room. She came home with paint swatches tonight, and we picked an orange color with a purple for the trip. We will be getting a faux wicker patio set. It's going to look really nice. Will take pics when we get it done.

Karen

would love to see the wall project patti - it sounds like you certainly do have your plate full!!

Beauty as always, Patti. Please make some room in your calendar to work here.

Karen, sounds like your life is super busy, but good! Those newer sibs are very tempting, aren't they?

Karen is a flurry of energy and activity too! Maybe I can channel some of that. One year from now I think I'll understand why I feel tied with weights.

We did get our last two ancient amur honeysuckles uprooted, and de-rocked yesterday. The piles of our own compost and soil that I'd dug over warm days in winter went into the cavernous holes. Spaces are almost ready for the viburnum bushes and evergreens to go there.

We're trying to find an automated garden cart to rent because getting fresh soil into our backyard is so hard with the high elevations going on.

Wish I was more of a flurry of energy. I was out there not too long today and hauled 5 loads of wood chips to the pathway in the front to refresh it. Did a bit of weeding, just a bit, and I was pooped. It doesn't help that it's cold out there today. I do my best work when it's in the 60's and 70's.

Rosemary, I had to look up amur honeysuckle. Turns out I have those here, too. They are an invasive species and prohibited for cultivation and sale in MA. They are banned in CT.

Karen

Karen, sounds like you're doing quite a lot to me. Amur honeysuckle grows low, so the birds don't get a very safe habitat, and they get very big, as you're might also. I put up with mine for the 20 years we've owned this property, initially wondering why I couln't prune my shrubs to look as nice as other peoples' and then dreading the digging of their deep roots because the bushes were easily twelve feet high. I read they were introduced over 200 years ago to the northeast. to me they are the second or third worst invader, after burning bush, and tied with privet.

We have burning bush all over the place. I've gotten rid of some of it, but there are a couple of wild areas abutting the garden and it's really taken hold in there, along with lots of other baddies. I'm letting them all duke it out, just picking my battles in the direct view of the house, which is daunting enough.

Pam

Here is this year's project. I wiped out most of the mess last year- tradescantia, goldenrod, raspberries, Apios Americana, etcetera ad infinitum, and cut back a huge overgrown climbing hydrangea that had almost swamped an azalea. There were some nice daylilies and phlox which I still have to move,and some tall grasses which are staying. There is also a wonderful stand of yellow baptisia.

My idea is to add yellow and orange - annual and perennial sunflowers, asclepias, a little wild looking. The upper levels have gotten quite refined, partly because so many things are still small and need growing in, but also because of plant and color choices I've made. The only sunny colors left up there are the daylilies. I like that, but don't want everything to be the same.

It will be interesting to see how it all works out...

Pam

Well, I got greedy, tried to load 5 pictures from iCab. Here goes again, 2 at a time.

Here are the grasses and some daylilies

Now the baptisia, and an overview. The new project is at the far end of the lower level. Below that is one more level, and below that is a stream and wetlands that turn into a meadow once spring rains are over. Between the new project, continuing to fill in elsewhere and the weeding and general maintenance that never ends, I'll be busy again this year!

Pam

Pfg, So glad to see more of your amazing reclamation project again and would love to see a shot showing more of the stonework on your house. It looks beautiful
and that last shot is stunning.

nutsfordaylily, , sad about your lost mosaic work and relationship with your brother. A psychotic wife is never a good thing and I have two out of 3 brothers who managed on acquiring them. I avoid them like PI.

Rosemary, I ripped out some honeysuckle and threw it on the compost heap as we have more than enough growing in the untamed areas to still allow me those wonderful whiffs.on a early warm summer night, but I need to look up amur as I don't know what type we have running amok.

Got 20 yards of mulch so I weeded some more beds today to get ready to lay it down. More to do before I can do some of the beds, but if my helpers show up tomorrow I can put them to work. I took some shots today and in one you can see our mountain of nice dark mulch. It appears to be the best looking stuff that we have gotten in years. Here is the link to the shots. Too lazy to post them one by one on DG. https://picasaweb.google.com/pmc.ack/GARDENALBUMAPRIL2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOay_frCnYeH-gE&feat=directlink

Project in Vt is coming along. Thankfully, I liked the paint colors so we picked out the floor paint to go with them and also chose the trim colors. So when I go up next, hopefully we will have floors and cabinets installed. I need to do a bunch of yard work up there too as the yard is a mess.

Today I made a huge pot of a spicy ham and bean soup and was able to add to it fresh carrots dug from our garden, as well as parsley, chives now growing outside again as well as fresh kale, now growing from last years stalks that is very tender and delicious. I put in some of our frozen slow roasted tomatoes and along with home made stock, but had to add store bought potatoes as we used up our small harvest if them months ago. We will have a nice root cellar in the new space in Vt so I plan on storing more veggies next year. Off to bed with dreams of a mountain of potatoes dancing in my head. Patti

Patti, your gardens are spectacular... And so packed with goodies! Never a dull moment at your place. I'll never get mine so well layered.

And I see you're another night owl...

Sweet dreams to all,

Pam

This message was edited Apr 11, 2012 1:56 AM

PS...

great shots bulb lady! what do you do with the foliage after they turn?

will be nice to see the progress this year pfg

Patti, loved the spring blooms, especially the primroses...I planted hellebore Golden Lotus this year, can't wait for it to bloom. Hi Pam, glad you have your garden plans set for this year....I started a new daylily bed out back, but have already planted 2 hostas in it, because there will be more shade when the maple leafs out.....

Thanks for the support.

Pfg, I am a night owl too and that is why I am still not outside weeding but about to hit the soil. Love your home too.

Wha, I just let everything turn yellow and then cut or pull off all the dead foliage to tidy up them up as they are ready. The later ones seem to get covered up by all the summer perennials as they take over the space and hide any still dying foliage. It works pretty well with little visual impact in most places. Occasionally I get impatient and cut some foliage off that are eyesores before the usual 6 weeks after the spent flowers have gone by but not often as I want repeat blooms on everything next year. I deadhead daily to keep it as tidy as I can or have time for. I have packed our beds so it is a big mass of greenery as opposed to individually well displayed specimen plants. I guess it is rather a big jungle of plant material that diverts the eye from any of the messy dying foliage. Not everyone's cup of tea. Out to weed and move some topsoil to some new holes the dear dogs have recently dug. Cloudy day. Patti

I cut or pull of the foliage here too - a lot of work and i can only imagine your job with all the bulbs there!!

Thanks, everyone. It's good to be back.

I put daffodils in the daylily beds so I don't have to be bothered with the dying foliage. Once they're up I'll take good pictures so I can add in the fall without killing anything. Late last fall I bought a giant bit for the cordless drill and really went wild for a couple of hours, planted tons of Muscari, a few snowdrops and filled in some daffs. I'm thinking the bit will work well for planting this spring as well. It's fun to use, but there is a trick to it if you don't want to break your wrist!

I went co-op crazy this winter. I'm getting a bunch of hosta liners, several clematis and a couple of echies. I also ordered perennials from American Meadows and Bluestone. Whew! Everything's coming to the city so there's no chance of baking in the sun. I've made room in my city window seed-starting setup to hold them by transferring some of the more established seedlings to the house.

I'm trying so hard for low- maintenance, but somehow there's always tons to do. It's the nature of the beast, I guess.

Marilyn,The new area looks great. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress this summer. If I have anything you'd like, please let me know- and lets plan a visit once things get going at my place.
Karen, you've been busy too, I see. I feel for you, especially with the trad. But Valerie Finnis?! I just put it in last fall to replace Silver King! Did I make a big mistake?! Yikes!

You are all such inspirations. So many beautiful gardens, and so many different styles. I learn from you all.

Thanks!

Pam

I thought of you yesterday, Pam, when I went to weed & found the veronicastrum you gave me coming up...yay! Yes, we'll def get together....just let me know when you'll be in CT....

Pam, your progress is wonderful! Loved seeing the stonework of the house.

The house is truly unique....should be a museum!

Robindog, I agree about her house and garden being so lovingly restored into a historic garden treasure. Applause.

Yesterday I only worked in the garden until around one and then I crashed. I was just too tired and sore to continue, but my workers kept laying down mulch until dark so more than half of the job is done. Looks great, but I just hope they didn't crush too many emerging lilies while tiptoeing through the beds with the buckets of mulch. I nailed a couple lilies myself while weeding yesterday, but as the spring is so early this year, I thought it best to try to get the mulch down before we normally do it around May 5th despite the fact that many lilies are just emerging this week. But some lilies are huge already. I even mistakenly thought one bunch from afar was some crown Fritilaria coming up. Mulching next week would have been better for them, but not so good for other things, so you can't win. I also don't yet want to remove the cages around many shrubs and Japanese maples that are outside the deer fenced part of the property as the deer would likely nail them. Therefore we will have to wait to mulch around them which will look a bit odd for a few weeks, but I can't risk them getting eaten.

I took a bunch of shots of the pre-mulched beds on Weds. Below is a link with some the shots. I will post photos of the mulched beds in a few days as I am off to Boston and Vt today for a few days. DH is staying home to finish up with mulching. He will be stayong one step ahead of them to get the beds ready for them. They arrived before 8 this morning which is great as I know they will be done today. DH has some brush cutting to do this week end while I play in the clay and then go to Vt on Monday to check out the new floors and cabinets. I might do a little plant shopping at one of my favorite nurseries over near Deerfield Ma called Bay State Perenials in Whately. while up there as they opened up last week. Have a wonderful long weekend everyone. Weather couldn't be better. Run fast on Monday. Patti

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hgp9-Ij2pkz8KH-ufklBz_SRTXDy3BXTJqXQG4cUZQ0?feat=directlink



This message was edited Apr 13, 2012 8:25 AM

patti do your guys ever remove mulch from the beds before puting down the new stuff?