Yardening Summer 2013 Part 2

I have a Black Lace that I stuck in a pot intending to plant it but didn't, and assumed it would die because of my poor treatment of it, but it was doing fine the last time I looked for it. I can take a cutting for you if you like, assuming it is still alive.....

Thanks, Happy! I'm also going to check the local nurseries to see if they have any left.

Critter, my concern for you with those Leylands is their structural instability... they grow so fast above ground, their root systems don't have a chance to keep up, hence they have a tendency to fall over a lot, especially in very windy storms. NOT good. I suppose this guy's "Professional" failed to tell him about THAT. One day, his bad choice may end up falling on his house.

I have had two Black Lace in large containers for 3 years. They do OK, but I'm sure they would be much larger if they were in our rocky clay soil.

I love mine just had it a year and it is growing pretty slow but seems very healthy. Heat hasn't been a problem for us but we are Zone 6 a bit cooler than your Zone 7.
Spent the last two days making and putting in edging so please with how it looks.
Here is a before and after what a huge difference.

Thank you all for your input on the elderberry! I'm definitely going to give it a try. I'm a big fan of dark purple foliage.

Holly, that brick work is gorgeous. I actually "built" a compost bin using free bricks I picked up from the neighborhood. Let's just say mine is not as straight as yours. :)

Speedie, I have two young Japanese Maples Higasayama. I was given them and have been puzzling over where to plant them, as they need a shady spot and I don't have much shade to offer them. They are in containers now.

Catmint, why do you think they need a shady spot? Both Mobot -- http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/plant-finder/plant-details/kc/d717/acer-palmatum-higasayama.aspx -- and PlantFiles suggest full sun is ok. They do get big though.

Catmint, Higasayama is an Acer Palmatum, (as opposed to a "Lace Leaf" or "Dissectum" type), and Palmatums tolerate more sun than the other ones, but the catch to that is, the variegated ones are just a bit less tolerant of full sun than greens... UNLESS you are diligent about keeping up on keeping it properly well watered. It's the drying out of the soil that may give it leaf scorch. As long as you can keep it well and properly watered, that baby should be able to take the full sun for you just fine.

Palmatum just basically means the leaf type - the 5 deeply-cut lobed leaves that are like a palm. The Dissectum leaves are far more delicate because they are so thin and lacy.

I hope that has helped you some. =)

thanks, Speedie and Happy. :-) I'm basing this on the guy who gave them to me, whose Higasayamas were flourishing in a shady/dappled sun yard, and who told me, 'They prefer a little shade', and also on my experience with the hot spell we had very recently, when both got a little leaf scorch when I left them in a spot where they got afternoon sun. Since then, I've been moving their containers around the yard trying to find a better spot, but I have so little afternoon shade. :-( It's been a challenge.

I do have one spot that I know would be shady/dappled, but it is behind the shed and I would never see it there, so scratch that!

One possibility is in front of the house in the strip of yard that runs between the street and the sidewalk. Northern exposure, and a large mature red bud nearby.

The other shady-ish spot is in the back near where I planted my weeping cherry. Back then, I believed this part of the yard got more sun than it actually does, so my poor cherry is there, but only getting part sun. Would have been much better if I'd planted the cherry elsewhere, and then this would be a perfect spot for the Higasayama.

I don't think the cherry would be easy to transplant, although it might do better in the long run if I could manage this...

That edging sure does make a difference, Holly.

Catmint -- is this your poor suffering cherry from American Plant that you put in within the last 12 months? I bet it would be possible to transplant it safely this fall. I can help dig....

Has any of you grown Asterageratoides 'Ezo Murasaki'? I have one plant from a swap and I am toying with putting it on my awful front hill, but I'd like some personal experience as to just how aggressive it is -- and how challenging to keep in check. I am also trying to lean towards natives, which is a knock against it.

These are my notes on it: Plant Delights: "Aster 'Ezo Murasaki' is a Japanese selection of the wide-ranging Asian Aster ageratoides var. ageratoides. Aster 'Ezo Murasaki' makes a large, stoloniferous mass to 2' tall x 10' wide in 10 years. In other words, this is NOT a plant for the small garden, and it does not play well with others its own size. What Aster ageratoides 'Ezo Murasaki' does very well is fill a large space rapidly and reward you in October and November with an incredible blanket of medium purple, very frost-resistant flowers." Avant Gardens: "We've noted that this is now being classifed as kalimeris. Our dear friend Margie Mott brought us this very late blooming Aster. Small deep purple aster blossoms with yellow centers adorn this plant on 2' stems from August through November." 1003 Gardens: "I liked it two years ago, and I like it now. What started as two 3" pots with one small plant per pot has covered 3-4 square meters. The flowers are small and the pinkish color is unusual among asters." Avant Gardens: "Our dear friend Margie Mott brought us this very late blooming Aster. Small deep purple aster blossoms with yellow centers adorn this plant on 2' stems from August through November."


This message was edited Aug 1, 2013 8:29 AM

Happy yes this is the one and same cherry. Oh if you could help me move it I'd so appreciate it! :-)

I'd be delighted! But we should wait until the fall, so as not to stress the poor baby....

Happy, you're an angel! :-)

LOL. There are those who would say I'm the Devil incarnate. But that being said, please remind me come September! I'll bring my spouse along and we will be able to make short shrift of it.

LOL Happy! :-)

At least those leylands are along the back edge of his property & mine... well away from anybody's house. One fell down this spring, fortunately falling forward onto his uninterrupted green grass rather than backwards onto my nectarine and plum trees! Prevailing winds during storms should push others into his yard if/when they fall.

My big project for the weekend is sealing/staining the deck -- if it would just stop with the rain showers already! I'd been putting off pressure washing for so long, finally realized there would never be a "good" time and I just needed to gitter done.

Moved ALL the plants on the deck and the patio out into the yard on Tuesday, so I'm hoping I can push along with this project so the pots don't sit too long on Jim's grass. I could probably fit everything on the patio if I had to, but just moving it back where it belongs is much more appealing!

Wednesday they PW'd the siding, front porch, side patio & walkway, and the deck. Ran out of gas, called it a day, and said they'd return Friday to do the back patio. Meanwhile I'm having option anxiety with stains and sealers, even toying with the idea of using a new-ish product called "Deckover" by Behr for a trex-like finish. I'll probably punt and just spray on a couple coats of Thompson's water sealer.

As my father likes to say, "DONE-liness is next to Godliness" (paraphrasing the old "Cleanliness is next to Godliness).

Critter.... (now I'm thinking of Happy just saying that some tell her she's the devil incarnate)... now I just gotta know precisely where you live.. and when that neighbor goes on vacation for a couple weeks. So I can sneak in there and install a GIANT STEELERS logo right smack dab in the middle of that perfect uninterrupted green lawn. Black Petunias for STEELERS, and then some gold Calibrachoa, red Verbena, and blue Plumbago for the stars. Wouldn't that be just LOVELY!?!? < =D What a treat for him to come home to, eh!? Wheee!!! OK, sorry, sometimes my imagination runs away with me. ;)

I LOVE your Father's saying, I shall have to share that with DH, I'm sure he will adore it as well. He is very much a "Git 'Er Done" kind of guy. :) But, what is the 'trex-like' finish you referred to for your deck? I've never heard of that. We're going to be needing to get our deck done here again soon too, but it will be a bit of a bear (or, Behr, if you will, heehee), 'cause it's composite, with real wood handrails and lattice. Pesky pesky.

Doneliness is next to godliness--love it! :-) I'm definitely going to keep that one in my back pocket.

Oh Speedie, I'm dying here ROTFL, just picturing your Steelers defacement. I think Paul would have a heart attack if he found that in his yard. :')

Hehehe.

Critter, My house has been needing a good pressure washing for quite a long time now. I was just looking at the side of the house when I was working on the edging and thinking maybe I will get around to it this fall or early next spring. About 10 years ago Ric bought an opaque stain for the deck (it's like paint) and it made the deck so very hot on the feet. Kids couldn't walk on it barefooted. I wonder if that new "Deckover" would do the same thing?

well, now Paul knows who can design his Terps logo garden....

Lovely deck speedster!

Catmint 20906 asked me to post photos of my awful front hill, so here thy are -- photos taken this morning. The first is an overview -- the rest march from left to right. You can see this is very much a work in progress that is not yet ready for show time!

With regard to the flagstones I painted to mark the columns and rows, typwc, yes, I'll put them out eventually.... The neighbors have been very kind, but they are long-suffering since THEY have to look at this awful hill whereas I can ignore it when I'm not working on it -- that's why it took me so long to attack it -- I just didn't see it. Plus balancing on that hill in the blazing sun isn't much fun. Before I planted it, it was just ivy and vinca and Virginia creeper (plus ditch lilies at the bottom). Very nondescript. Now it screams! The landscape guy who works on the house across actually stopped me today to say it was "very" -- then he paused a long long time, and finally he said "ambitious." But he was in truth very sweet. He said he's been watching it all season. I asked him how he figures out where to locate plants when he does an installation and he says he just does it by instinct. That's the problem -- I couldn't do it by instinct because I get lost in the hill, and I need to make sure there are some fairly large drifts of plants so it doesn't look too patchwork-y; moreover, I couldn't lay out plants and think about how they'd look before planting them, because they'd roll down the hill.

This message was edited Aug 2, 2013 11:48 AM

Here are more photos, continuing to move from left to right. Our property ends in that big eroded strip in the middle of the 3rd photo -- my neighbor pulled out her plants but doesn't want to replant until the fall.

And these photos continue the walk from left to right, but now we're in my neighbor's yard, which is what inspired me. (The photo on the left looks back at my house from my neighbor's yard.)

Many of the plants I put in will take a few seasons to mature -- for now, you can barely spot many of them. The task of the moment is to keep the weeds at bay until the intended residents fill in. Eventually I may pull out the ditch lilies at the bottom, but I may not -- they keep people from walking on the hill, which is a good thing, and no amount of injustice will damage them.

Wow, Happy! That is definitely an ambitious project. It's going to be SO beautiful when it's done! Actually it looks pretty nice as it is.You have a beautiful house. I am reminded a lot of an article I read in Fine Gardening. http://www.finegardening.com/design/articles/designing-with-curved-terraces.aspx?id=122227 In the last part of the article, the gardener talked about how they chose taller plants at the top and middle, and shorter plants at the bottom. Are you doing anything like that? I'm sure there's a lot of "instinct" to it but I bet a lot of it is trial and error too.
I have a slope that's about 1/10 of what you are dealing with, and yet I struggle with it too. I applaud your efforts!

Looking good!

You all are very kind -- I think our hill looks awful, but at least now I think that it has promise -- last year this time I wasn't sure it would work at all.. Typwc, I did put the taller plants at the back (closer to the house). I've had second thoughts about using very tall plants though; it'll look good from the street, but I think we'll feel a bit trapped when we come out of the house if we face a wall of tall plants. There is a fairly small strip of grass at the top of the planted area; I think I am going to pull that out (it is too narrow to mow easily -- I didn't plant it initially because it isn't very steep) and plant some shorter perennials there. Then I may start yanking the really tall plants - Miscanthus, etc. -- that are at the back if they turn out to be too opaque.

I didn't terrace it for several reasons, not least of which was expense. Though I'm not sure I would have done that even if money were no object. I think I prefer a more natural look, plus I'm trying to not make stormwater runoff a bigger problem than it already is.

But I was influenced by a different article from Fine Gardening -- http://www.finegardening.com/pages/tetiva-impress-from-a-distance1.asp -- that Pippi (another DGer who has been quiet of recent) and I chatted about. I love those pictures. The author pushed the idea of "drifts" of plants, which I really liked. I couldn't use her choice of plants because she gardens in Washington state -- very different climate -- but looking at it now, I'm wondering if Salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens' wouldn't be a good addition to my hill -- it tolerates drought and deer supposedly don't eat it. I really like Fine Gardening - it is my favorite gardening magazine.

Typwc -- the house looks a lot better on the outside than the inside -- leave it at that!

Happy the AFH is looking good. Coming along very nicely.
Typwc, Enjoyed that article.
I hosted a small spur of the moment garden tour this morning, for 4 of the neighborhood children. I was working out by the road when they came by on their scooters. They were asking questions one of which was whats in your GH. I asked do you want to see in it. Next thing you know I have these 4 grade school kids following behind me looking at the GH, loved going thru the hedge into the secret garden, looking at the tadpoles and fish in the little pond features and petting one of the chickens. When they left they told me I am so nice. LOL Then JR showed up about 5 min after they left so I sent him down to invite them to come up for a swim with him. No sooner than they got here than I got a call and had to leave so I left Jamie in charge of the pool. When I got back the kids were all gone and Jamie was getting JR ready to head home. So it was a fun day but I sure didn't get any of my Yardening done. LOL

Reviews of "Deckover" do say it gets hotter than bare wood in the sun, but that's also true of the various composite products (Trex, etc.). Jim keeps saying we should resurface the deck. Behr Deckover might give a similar look (that's why I called it a Trex-like finish) at much less cost... and in a few years when the wood really does need replacing, maybe composites will be more to my liking. Or maybe I can save up for cedar decking.

I love Speedie's idea! I grew up in Pittsburgh... so suspicion would probably fall upon me at once.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! A last-minute meetup is being thrown together tomorrow... lunch in Sykesville, MD (somewhat central to northern DC, Baltimore, and Frederick) at EW Beck's! Details here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1325546/

Happy, I think you have the beginnings of a wonderfully beautiful hill--it is already very pretty. And all the planning that goes into it for erosion reduction is quite impressive.

The FG photo you linked to is quite stunning!!

Thanks, Catmint. I credit the beauty of the FG photo to the weather in Washington -- all our gardens would look that nice if we were on the West Coast, wouldn't they?

Happy, I agree with you that terracing might not be so great for your hill, it would make your house look like a fortress. I have had the same problem with the tall plants that you are talking about. This year I had plants at the top of the hill that got really tall (3-4') and I felt totally closed in on the patio above it. I couldn't enjoy the rest of the yard b/c I couldn't see it (my backyard steps down from the back door). Next year I will try to stick with plants that stay under 2' tall at the top of the hill. I pick up Fine Gardening at the local library, usually not the current edition. Always great info and beautiful pictures. I loved that picture you linked to. Good luck and keep us posted!

Oh Holly, That sounds so idyllic.... *sigh*

1. My backyard a month ago, looking from my dining room window.
2. MY "awful hill" last month, when everything was still happy and thriving. Before I put the little retaining wall in.
3. The hill looking pretty bare since adding the wall. Also the Susans went to the Great Meadow in the Sky and the shasta daisies finished up.
4. Same point of view as #1, but this was tonight. With the shasta daisies out of the way, I planted Black and Blue Salvias to keep the hummingbirds close to the window so that I can see them (THANKS GITA!).

Typ, it is lovely!! The retaining wall is very nice. I like the idea of the salvia plants --hummingbirds are so cool. And the "Great Meadow in the Sky"--too funny! :-)

typwc, Your yard looks lovely, I definitely see what you mean about tall plants blocking the view of the rest of the yard. Wow you really have a serious slope there. Great for a water garden with some falls.
Yes it was a pretty nice but not very productive day. The call that I got that pulled me away for 2 hours was from my parents they locked themselves outside the house and called from a neighbors. Before that I was sitting with a gardening mag reading under the gazebo where I could watch the kids swim. They were being really good and playing well together and having a great time.

Holly, sounds like an ideal day except for that phonecall--LOL! :-)

Happy, I'm really impressed with how wonderfully your hill is coming along. I think you are now officially at a point where it can no longer be called "awful"... unless it's just the slope that you're referring to... otherwise, I'd call it "Great" now! :) (OK, if you're a realist, you could call it "Hard Work Hill"... but it certainly does not look Awful!) I'm sorry, but I had to giggle when you said you couldn't lay out the plants to see how they'd look first 'cause they'd roll down the hill. Haahahahaa, I could just picture it! Not funny, I know... but it sorta is. ;) I think you don't give yourself enough credit for having that "instinct"...you've got it.

OK, I promise not to visit Holly's neighbor and IMPROVE his yard (who called it a "defacement"!? Tsk tsk tsk!!) < =P .... maybe I'll just find some lovely black-and-gold planting containers to share with Paul at Sally's... heeheeheee (we can save him the heart troubles and just watch his eyes cross instead) =)

Typ - WOW!! That one, single, little change, from pulling out the Susans and putting Salvia in their place made a HUGE difference in the view from the top of your hill, it's wonderful!!!

Holly, it does sound like your were having an idyllic day... but think of it this way; you got to enjoy a nice impromptu visit with your parents too! It was a pleasant, unexpected little treat. =)