Garden Projects #12

Discount code did not work for me. I emailed him.

moved one of the rock cairns out into the yard a while back - about 4 1/2' tall - this is in the middle of a large patch of ferns most of the year.

Nice, Bill. Could have used a few more levels...

Just ordered caladiums. 4 diff colossal varieties.

Great tingeing Bill Solstice is tomorrow.

Yes, looks like a sundial....like the idea of the ferns...I have to order more.....

Very cool cairn... No word yet from our stone guy, hope he hasn't forgotten us.

Caladiums 4 less discount works now! I got 10 Miss Muffet for pots--really liked pirl's winning photo of it, Green and white "colaboration" and Scarlett O'hara too. If last years' overwinter well in my basement I'll have a lot and DS can stop photoshopping tropicals into our driveway photos.

I am still making dwarf and regular cold-hardy camellia selections for more sheltered shady spots including under the deck stairs. This year's crop amazes me for how much they tolerate shade and do not act as fussy in general as rhodis. Wonder how they'd look next to edgeworthia.

I didn't know that camelias were hardy here. Do you think that now our zone being 6b has made a difference?

Iris, I know a breeder has been breeding camellias to be hardy in zone 6....many of them have 'snow' in their name.....

Tried a number of 'hardy to Z6' camellias. None survived.

So 'snow' is a tag which shows them to be hardy?

I really like them and would love to grow them.

No, Iris, I can't remember the complete names of the hardy series...I saw them in Roslyn Nursery's catalog when they were still in business....I miss that place....I ordered many rhodos & azaleas from them...they were close to my stepdaughter's home....Perhaps Rosemary knows where to get the hardy ones....they should have been hardy for you, Victor, maybe you can try again.

Oh that's me. Yes. Clearly the best source for cmellias because it is the most complete is the Camellia Forest. I am only growing the very hardiest varieties, and taking some precautions until they are hardened off or at least three years old shrubs. I also recommend reading William Ackerman's book Beyond the Camellia Belt.

Iris, I still consider myself to be in zone 6a since I'm not right by the ocean, so that's the inly rating of camellia I am growing too. Best to grow early flowering or later spring flowering varieties so the frost doesn't get the buds. Many spring ones are part of the April series. My April Remembered has been looking like it would burst in blossom for the past month, but it's doing fine.

I saw some listed in Rarefind but I didn't buy them there.

Link to Camellia Forest Nursery
www.camforest.com/

A very nice blog about camellias near Philadelphia:
http://carolynsshadegardens.com/2012/12/02/2012-fall-blooming-camellias/


This message was edited Dec 29, 2012 10:39 AM

Because my camellias are only 2 yo shrubs (less expensive) I am protecting them well. It's probably a good idea anyway. The white sheeting is polypropylene which is porous to let light and water in but it prevents bursting of the branches from first morning sunlight and it helps to trap the house's warmth. I used the typical green shrub cover on Winter's Joy camellia by the fence and it's doing pretty well too. The third method I'm trying is to overwinter Kuro Delght and Korean Fire inside the plastic green house. They are the least happy but surviving.

While i'm showing off, this is the white peony bed asleep for winter under salt hay and manure. The soil still needs more improving (hence the box of kitchen compost), it's very rocky and the plants are young, so wish me luck in this project. I have to plant more to hide the fence too. The dwarf lilacs will be nice if they grow, but they need a cover behind them where it's pretty shady, and in this case, quite exposed to the wind. Any ideas how to plant by the fence?

forthyia? Or alternate leaved dogwood Our carnelian cherry which is a dogwood relatives does well, but it might get too tall.

Thanks, Iris. I do have some little Golden Shadows pagoda dogwoods in pots that I might try. And carnelian cherry dogwood is planted on the hill below but not small enough for here, I fear. Hmm. Hard to see but the space near the fence is not very large. Used to have lilacs back there but the towering maples on the neighbors' yard have killed them. I am also thinking about shade tolerant evergreens, but they'd have to be compact and hardy. One try with mountain laurel failed.

There are dwarf little leafed rhodos that turn a lovely plum color in winter, lavender, pink, or white flowers in early spring....super hardy....

What about climbing Hydrangea on the fence? It's quite tough, and once grown in would certainly block the wind. You could plant it in a bare spot and train it along the fence behind the lilacs, which would take up no ground space and keep the vine from encroaching on the shrubs. Just a thought...

Pam

Don't know much about azaleas or rhods as I grew up in WI with alkiline soil.

looks nice rosemary - do you use any wilt proof?

I have been working on another stone birdbath - this is the hardest (and heaviest) stone yet. Wanted it to be 5-6" deep, not sure i can afford it - started with a wet saw to make cuts and the outline of the hole and chipped out the stone and it was maybe 1 1/2" deep - then drilled holes into it with the hammer drill down just short of 4" - decided to use the chisel bit for the hammer drill to clean out and smooth the hole and have gone through 2 of them - when the stone finally chips it is sharp like glass and flys in all directions - i'm wearing eye protection although really need a goalie mask, that stuff can sting like a bee when it hits you. Not sure if i will ever get this smooth like the others here, stone is so hard it is difficult to work with. Those chisels cost $25 per and i have 10 hours in on it already. when you the stone birdbaths at garden centers for $100 now you know why.

What a project, Bill....didn't realize the stone chipped like that.....

Wow - I don't like birds THAT much.

Wha, Sounds wonderful, but difficult. Birds better love it. Pretty soon we are going to be calling you Mr. Michelangelo. I could see you in a Cheevers goaltender mask or a Hannibal Lecter mask with a some eye goggles.

I am poking around the web looking at shrubs and trees, but I can't really think about much as I am running out of room and not to mention a lack of funds. Fun to dream. Patti

No bathing tonight for the birds, but Bill's project sounds like a nice way to wile away the winter.

I do use a product like Wilt-Proof, Bill. I must use a gallon every winter.

Pam, I have never grown climbing hydrangea, but a climbing vine that can stand bad weather, not much water, poor soil and a lot of shade would make me a devotee.

I'm learning about new shrubs, too, Patti. Winter is when I read about them, dream and make diagrams, and realize how little I know and how many years are needed to see the results.

My front yard is starting to show the effect of digging and planning from about fifteen years ago. I copied one area from the WGBH Victory Garden which was a half mile from our house. Now it has become a housing development without a shred of gardening in it.

shame about the V G area. glad that you are doing well. Our front yard has a big beech tree which we love. We have our tube feeder & suet feeder hanging from that tree. Oak is the other large tree although a couple smaller birches are still there. We didn't plant them.

Awful about the VG.....I used to love that show many years ago, & I have a Victory Garden planting guide book....

Yes, I miss the opportunity to take a walk to it and around in the Victory Garden. They had every single plant well marked, and they changed them frequently. There was also a nursery called Lexington Gardens that sold nice stuff you couldn't find everywhere.

Iris' beech and oak trees must be lovely. We had made an offer on a house as much for their giant beech in the front as for any other reason, but the seller wasn't ready to let go of it. Instead we got much more land, albeit totally undeveloped. Our property belonged to a widower who lived alone. His son wanted a quick sale so my then prospective husband happened to see it and instantly stood in line to write a check. Within an hour of the open house, just as I arrived, we finallized. We immediately set to work to redesign and remake a little cement cinderblock bunker into a house and a year later, married and getting ready to raise triplets. The house is still a work in progress. I think the kids are mainly on autopilot.

thanks guys - not sure what this stone is, the first three i made cleaned up quickly and where much softer stone, last year I made one that was a hard/heavy grey/blue that took a lot of time, still you could see progress being made as you worked - this one is just a bear - it has a tan exterior if taken from the ground or is greenish that moss will grow on if above ground and very hard to get smooth, right now the goal is to get bottom roughly smoothed out so you can't see the drill holes and on the sides get rid of the saw blade cut marks and at least have a smooth top edge.

will have to dig it out of the snow under under the deck if i want to work on - it is NOT an indoor project.

Doesn't sound like it's New England "puddingstone" by any means. Please tell us when you find out, Bill.

i am sure it is some type of granite as was the stone last year - earlier ones were more sandstone.

Bill, that cairn will look great amongst the ferns. Sounds like the birdbath is a pretty big project, Bill. Good luck.

How long ago did they make that housing development where VG used to be? I was there just a few years ago. Maybe it's been 4 years, not sure. Really loved it, and the nursery there, too.

No projects going on here. Don't have any money to do any shopping. Maybe I'll try and list some daylilies in the DG classified adds and see how that goes. Would like to make some gardening spending money.

Karen

I don't remember exactly when Lexington Gardens closed. Maybe it was four years ago. The plans for the housing development dragged on a long time while the locals tried to get a portion set aside to keep the Victory Garden. By 2 years ago or so, the bulldozers came and now there are houses there.

Where in Lexington are you? I grew up near where Waltham St and Marrett Rd cross, about a mile from the center. There's no one left from my family there any more, I haven't been back for many years.

Had a bunch of friends in Lexington - grew up in Winchester. Did you know any Billie's or Hunter's?

Lexington Avenue?? ^_^

Pam I'm not far from where you lived, but closer to rte 128. Don't know any Billies or Hunters, Bill.

I hope to be a better hostess to visitors by springtime, so please Dmail if any of you are in town. It would be my chance to gather some gardening suggestions, too :)

It must have closed down the year after I was there. What a shame. Well, things don't last forever.

Karen

Are you near the old reservoir? We called it The Res, ice skated there and caught tadpoles in the summer. Memories...