Yardening Summer 2013 Part 2

Sally, enjoyed your article about beyond autumn joy sedum! :-) I have autumn brilliance (guess that is not too far 'beyond' but it is a small step--LOL). Still waiting eagerly for it to bloom--it is so close!

Yes, I did have a nice visit with my parents and I got to see how nice their yard was looking. Wednesday Ric and Josh went up. While Ric was mowing Josh used his power edger to edge everything and I also got to tell Dad all about the brick edging I put in that I copied from him.

My volunteer celosia which is not only enormous now but also has so many baby plumes it made my head spin this morning!

My 'Autumn Brilliance' sedum--when will it finally bloom?? It is so close, and every morning I go out and look at it, and still no blooms! :-o

The 'Autumn Brilliance' sedum is lovely -- will it bloom more than it already is? I can't grow Autumn Joy (and so presumably Autumn Brilliance) any more -- I used to, but it in the last few years the birds have pecked it to death.

typwc: I really like the way your hill looks, and I like the retaining wall. I can imagine it with plants spilling over it.

Catmint: Thanks for your comments on Salvia -- I'm going to hunt for it on sale somewhere - should be about time for it to be discounted....

For those of you who grow Achillea, what cultivars are tough in our region? It sounds as if it would be a good candidate for my awful front hill -- deer don't eat it, and it likes drought.... But I've never grown it, and there are so many cultivars. I have one from SallyG that is going in this weekend (it's been in a pot since the last swap waiting until I got to the right "column") -- Sally, do you know what cultivar yours is? Any recommendations on other long-lived cultivars?

This message was edited Aug 3, 2013 10:01 AM

Happy, when I look at the tiny buds on my Sedum, most of them look closed still; there is a mound of unopened dark pink buds in the center of each head, so I think these are supposed to open, and it will look redder. But I don't know much about sedum, so I may be wrong!

Whether it does more or not, Catmint, it is absolutely gorgeous.

thanks, Happy! :-)

Here is a list of deer resistant plants I have saved:


Deer Resistant Plants
By Rita M. Brehm
For the Gazette

Lists of deer-resistant plants vary according to area. Your garden may fare better if you choose plants that deer do not like, but remember that starving deer are not particular about what they eat. If they're having a rough winter, or suffering from drought conditions, they'll even eat things that are bad for them, Jim Knight, Extension Wildlife Specialist for Montana State University said. Here is a partial list of deer-resistant plants:

Trees
Maples, Honey, Locust, Hawthorn, Oak, Birch, Ash, Douglas Fir, Bristlecone Pine, Colorado Blue Spruce, Austrian Pine, Mugo Pine, Canada Hemlock, Engelman Spruce.

Shrubs
Barberry, Juniper, Lilac, Mugo pine, Potentilla, Rubber Rabbitbrush, Spirea, Red Osier Dogwood, Mockorange, Fragrant Sumac, Common Buckthorn, Buffaloberry, Bridalwreath, Viburnum, Chokecherry, Currant, Elderberry, Gooseberry, Caragana.

Vines
Bittersweet, Clematis, Baltic Ivy, Honeysuckle.
Perennials
Columbine, Astilbe, Tickseed, Bee Balm, Blackeyed Susan, Bleeding Heart, Campanula, Catmint, Purple Coneflower, Gaillardia, Gayfeather, Bluestem Joe-Pye-Weed, Cranesbill Geranium, Foxglove, Dianthus, Hellebore, Bugbane, Sunflower, Canytuft, Iris, Japanese Anemone, Lavender, Lupine, Monkshood, Pearly Everlasting, Penstemont, Peony, Poppy, Lungwort, Daffodil, Goldenrod, Speedwell, Yucca, Yarrow, Salvia, Russian Sage, Dedum, Shasta Daisy.

Ground Covers
Carpet Bugle, Lily-of-the-Valley, Periwinkle, Pachysandra, Lamb's Ears, Lamium, "Silver Brocade" Artemisia, Snow-in-Summer, Thyme, Dead Nettle.

Thanks, Gita. There are a lot of those lists, but they do need to be taken with a grain of salt (isn't that true of all things gardening?) -- it turns out deer develop particular tastes. While some plants are disliked by most deer, some are "liked" by some and "disliked" by others. So I need to figure out which my community of deer dislike! At this point it is mostly a done deal -- my front hill is planted, so I just need to see if there are plants that I have planted that they are nibbling on -- as happened with Aster Purple Dome -- and check on any new plants I put in to fill in the empty spots.

wowon that Autumn Brilliance!

happy, my yarrow to you is plain ol white....

thanks, Sally! :-) I'll post another pic when all the blossoms finally open!

Thanks, guys. The whole yard is definitely a work in progress. We have only lived here for 4 years and the first year was all about ripping stuff out. And I was very pregnant 2 summers ago so basically lost a growing season there (busy growing something else! :)
I am considering moving that 'Crimson Queen' JM up into the middle-left of the hill. When is it a good time to move a JM?
Happy, I can't wait to have plants spilling over!

My experience with achillea has been lukewarm. I have grown and killed a pink one and now i have a 'Moonshine' but it doesn't seem happy: the flower clusters are all very small. Maybe I am over watering it. Didn't know it liked dry conditions.

Cat: I am always impatient about my Autumn Fire sedum too. They are at their best in the Fall, hence the name. :)

hi, Typ. According to this, the best time to move a JM is late winter/very early spring.
http://www.japanesemaplesonline.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.showpage/pageID/11/index.htm

My experience is that yarrow definitely does well in dry conditions! It's one of my more drought-tolerant plants and loves full sun, heat, and space to bush out. Unfortunately, I haven't given mine as much space as they would like, and it's been hard lately with all this rain to give them as much dryness as they want! Remember that heat wave we had a couple weeks ago? My yarrows were about the happiest looking plants in my garden when that was going on, and that was when the younger one finally started sprouting up on me.

I have two of them right now: a pink one Achillea millefolium var. rosea "Island Pink", and a red one Achillea millefolium "Strawberry Seduction".

Here's my Island Pink--squished between my Sedum and the volunteer Celosia which is huge now. It has bloomed continuously for weeks now, but would really like more room to bush out.

Also my Strawberry one, bushing out nicely now since the heat wave and just beginning to blossom.

The plant that I struggle with is Agastache--not sure why, but the acid-loving plants in a couple of my beds all seem to be flourishing less than the other plants, so right now I'm putting some Holly Tone in with them to see if that helps them.

I have quite a few sedums both tall and creeping.
I have two of them that look pretty much the same but there is a slight difference in the bloom I think one is probably Autumn Joy and the other Autumn Brilliance, then there is what I think is Autumn Delight & Autumn Frost. Then there is Purple Emperor and another one that looks like it but I think it may be a different dark tall sedum I doubt that I would have bought two of them. I have another very dark purplish green and another that has the biggest leaves I have ever seen on a sedum. Several of these came from a Sedum Co-op several years ago and the names were mixed up or lost.

Here are the others.

Beautiful Sedum, Holly--I especially love the way the colors of the Purple Emperor contrast with the other plants nearby.

This message was edited Aug 3, 2013 4:20 PM

Holly, mama said there'd be days like that. lol.

I forewent the housecleaning yesterday and moved a few plants- boy am I happy with todays showers. So today was some good cleaning time.
Then I took a break into the garden...found the world's biggest lushest crabgrass patch....lol. I 'thought' I was up on the weeding!

That Purple Emperor is gorgeous. It reminds me to put it on my want list. I managed to kill the bitty baby purple emperor plant that I was sent in the Spring by dumping a shovelful of dirt on it. I almost can't believe I was actually able to kill a sedum!

That's a variegated garden phlox behind it. Really shows off the colors well but it is a bit crowded. There are also a few lilies in there that contrast well.

Catmint -- I'd love starts of your Achillea - that way I can find out what works here. As to Agastache, it needs superb drainage from what I have read, and will not survive wet winter soil. I didn't realize it like acidic soil.

typwc -- I can't wait to meet you, and your baby (or is it babies?)!

Happy, would you like some Pink Island or Strawberry Seduction?

Good drainage for the agastache! Maybe it's not the pH but my drainage that it doesn't like... I think it likes mildly acidic to neutral. One of these days I'm going to have to get the pH checked in my various beds...

Catmint: Allan Armitage in "Herbaceous Perennial Plants" (well worth its very high price) says Agastache like good drainage and slightly alkaline soil....

alkaline! well, maybe that's my problem! I can also check on the drainage. I've been assuming the drainage is good but maybe I don't know how to check for this adequately. How does one improve drainage?

The agastaches that were still in gallon pots (in pro mix) overwintered just fine, but I lost probably half the others... betting drainage is the issue. I do amend planting holes and also plant on small mounds for better drainage, but I'm trying something more this time...

I'm making "collars" for a couple from pound-in yard edging, letting me make a more permanent mound for them... might add some extra perlite or sand to those mounds also.

Also tried knocking the bottom out of some of the nursery pots they're currently in and planting them, pot and all, with the rim 2-3 inches above the surrounding soil level... THinking this might protect the crown from being over-wet while letting roots run deeper.

I guess I'll find out in spring.

To improve drainage, some people say to add compost or Leaf Gro, but I think it is better to dig in pine bark soil conditioner plus coarse sand (not play sand) or grit -- you want something with a lot of texture to force air pockets into the soil. Compost is usually too homogeneous. Then ideally you should sprinkle compost on top annually or add some kind of mulch that will break down fairly quickly. Earthworms and bugs will move those particles deeper into your bed.

The classic test for drainage is:

"To test drainage, dig a whole about 1 foot deep. Fill with water and allow it to drain completely. Immediately refill the pit and measure the depth of the water with a ruler. 15 minutes later, measure the drop in water in inches, and mulitply by 4 to calculate how much water drains in an hour.

"Less than 1 inch per hour is poor drainage, indicating the site may stay wet for periods during the year. Plants that don't tolerate poor drainage will suffer. 1 to 6 inches of drainage per hour is desirable. Soils that drain faster than 6 inches per hour have excessive drainage, and you should consider choosing plants that tolerate dry conditions and "droughty" soils."

This, and a lot of other information, is from http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/misc/soilbasics.html .

A lot of sites recommend just trucking in "top soil." See, for example, http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/quickref/soil/improving_soil.html I really disagree with this -- most stuff marketed as "top soil" is not very good quality.

We do have a compost pile, so we have a good source of compost. We bought one of these compost pails 3.5 years ago, and it has been wonderful -- it has held up without a flaw. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00061N0S2/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This article is helpful, although, again, I'm concerned that compost can be too mushy for a soil additive: http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/improving-clay-soils.aspx?id=84074

You can get 10 pH test kits from Amazon for $6. http://www.amazon.com/Luster-Leaf-1612-Rapitest-Tester/dp/B0001LEPYA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375632235&sr=8-1&keywords=soil+ph+test+kit

I am way behind on soil tests, but when I did it years ago our soil was alkaline.

This message was edited Aug 4, 2013 11:07 AM

Anyone have an idea what you pay for a whole day of a tree service ? We have a big maple that I feel sure has rot inside, and near the house. If we have to have it taken down--someone once said its cost effective to just give them a whole day of work, if you have it. Rather than one tree this year, and other major work next year.
Think of all the lovely mulch we could make from a big tree chipping...

I haven't heard that -- you could call around. All I can tell you is that it is very very expensive. But a lot cheaper than having a tree fall on your house!

It definitely pays to get multiple estimates. Plus, in my opinion, so long as the tree folks are competent enough to make sure the tree doesn't fall on your house while they are working, you don't need to pay for the most skilled workers if all you are doing is removing a tree, even a big tree, rather than having it pruned (which really requires exquisite skill). Another thing to think about is what to do with the wood. You'll have to pay to have it carted away -- if your neighbors might want it for firewood and are willing to saw up the tree for it, you can save some money. When we had our work done, we had some of the trees left but had the tree service saw them into 2' rings. We then axed them into fire wood and stacked them.

Good info , thanks!

thanks, Happy and Critter. I'll have to do some drainage tests and/or build a higher soil mound and see if that helps.

Cat, I have grown Agastache (Tutti Fruiti) in 2 different areas. 2 were in my "Big Front Bed", which has been amended 'til the cows come home with compost; it's so amended it's like walking on marshmallow fluff, VERY good drainage. The suckers grew over 8' tall and about 4' wide, they were NUTS. One was in my driveway-side bed which is HORRID clay and rocks. It never got over a foot tall and simply died. They definitely, definitely need well-draining soil! Amend, Amend, (and) Amend. Amen. ;)

"Leaf Gro" is an amazing amendment--it is ALL composted leaf mold..
Made locally here--from all the leaves we all leave on the curb for recycle day.
NOT me--of course!

A bargain too--HD sells a bag of it (almost the size of mulch bags) for $4.97.
Look for it along the soil/mulch wall in outside garden..
G.

thanks, Speedie! haha--marshmallow fluff--I like that! That will be my goal! :-)

Gita--I actually have some Leafgro now in the trunk of my car, waiting for me to haul it to the backyard! Hope we continue to have this nice weather so I can work on the beds a bit.

I would really love more bed space. Most of the 'full sun' area of my yard is taken up by boring lawn--would love to turn some of it into new sunny beds!!

This message was edited Aug 4, 2013 5:36 PM

Happy, I have two kids, a 5YO boy and a (almost) 2YO girl. They are my prettiest flowers, but are growing like weeds.

Cat, I am slowly removing grass, every time I edge a bed, I take a litte more. I have to do it slowly, or else The Hubs will catch on that I'm taking out "his" lawn! ;)

typwc: With 2 young kids, you definitely have your hands full!

Typ--too funny! :-) I actually would love to learn more from you about how you remove the grass and turn the soil into more bed space. The two sunny backyard beds the previous owner left me have frames around them--one is brick, the other is wood. I don't want to dismantle the frames, but suppose I could just start creating more garden space on the other sides of the frames, but that means digging up the grass. Is that hard to do?

I also have about half a dozen smaller azaleas I'd like to remove from the back bed (just too many azaleas), plus I'd like to remove the boxwood hedges the previous owner had by the garden gate (just not what I want). I think I could dig out the azaleas (would anyone like some azaleas??) but the boxwood hedges are quite large, and I'm not sure how to remove such mature hedge shrubs without destroying them.

This message was edited Aug 4, 2013 10:02 PM

Cat: There are lots of ways to do it, I usually just dig it out little by little with the shovel as I edge, chopping up the sod chunks and turning them under the dirt. I like digging, it's theraputic for me to take my frustrations out on dirt/old shrubs. "Argghh! Die juniper hedge! You were a terrible idea!" So I don't mind just digging up whole parts of the yard.

This Spring, we bought several bags of mulch which I was too lazy to spread so I just put them down on top of the grass in a place where I wanted to add a few sq. ft. of bed, and let the grass die under them. By the time I finally compelled myself to take the mulch out of the bag, the grass under them was dead. I did put a thick layer of newspaper under the mulch too just for good measure. It looked like crap for 2 months, though. The Hubs kept making snide remarks like "Good thing we got all that mulch" and I was starting to look like that neighbor.

I hate digging up azelea bushes. They have horribly strong fibrous root systems. No experience with boxwoods but I have heard they are very sensitive to root disturbances.

Happy, Full time employee. Full time mom. Full time wife. Part time groundskeeper. Sometime housekeeper. ;) Only 37 more years till I (might) at least retire from the employee position.

...

37 more years. That is incredibly depressing.....

The grass keeps creeping into some of my beds. The ones that I took the time to dig in an edge stay nicer longer. I dug in the edge on this one last year and it still looks pretty good.

Typ, the good news is, as the little weeds grow up, they get bigger and stronger and more able to help you in the garden, and that is a BIG plus!! < =D I remember when my little weed was just 4 -- UGH, all the outside stuff was just TOO DAUNTING. Little by little he was able to do more and more. He could pull weeds, he could help me plant.. then one day HE COULD MOW! Wheeeee!!!! By God's good Grace, he has now grown up to by my Mountain Man, who loves to be out trekking around outside in the woods more than anything. Give him a hatchet and a canteen and he's all set for days and days, he'll figure the rest out for himself.

Look at it in those little increments, instead of "Oh Noes, 37 more years!", and it's much funner. In 1-2 more years, he could be taking 1 or 2 of those chores off your hands for you, while you work TOGETHER out there. Now THAT is fun!! And as he is more able to handle the more 'manly' stuff, your little flower will be able to start helping you with the more 'delicate' tasks, like watering and installing new babies. They are nothing but rays of SONshine, that get brighter and brighter as time goes on. =)

I have very poor draining soil, so the only choice I have is to raise the bed. I've found that even a few inches makes a big difference.

When I first started, I was told to incorporate LeafGro into the entire planting bed. LeafGro is a great product, and I imagine I've purchased at least 30-40 bags of it over a couple of years. But it didn't give me the right structure or drainage when I wanted to plant something that wanted super fast drainage, like Russian sage. That's when I learned about pine bark fines and chicken grit.

I have Golden Jubilee Agastache (from Donnerville), which has done very well with a ton of pine fines.