Projects 16

They should! We have 2 very prominent ones, and may, many others all over the place. They are all through 6 untended acres adjoining the cultivated part of our property as well as tucked in under established tall trees and shrubs on the periphery. I'd like to get rid of all of them, but the task is daunting.

I know those bushes have big branching roots. I set out to get rid of the burning bushes about three years ago. Sure enough, new ones are still turning up every year. They are getting to be easier to dig at this point. After all the effort I don't even like the red foliage anymore. I do like the witch hazels, viburnums, dogwoods and spicebushes that replaced them, though.

lucy they are on the invasive species list in MA now.

I still have them and trying to rid the yard of them except for the large screen for the fire pit - like rosemary I have replaced with others.

I don't have any on my property, but the state planted them along the exits on Route 8, so I see them everyday....the state seems to be into invasives, as they have planted lots of autumn olives as well.....

They spread by root underground, I think. that is why they are invasive.

And by seed- by the thousands!

Too bad the lilies in my garden don't spread that way!

Lol- but the RLB's do :-(

That's for sure, Pam!

I agree with you, Rosemary, the red foliage on the Euonymus Alata isn't attractive to me any more- reminds me of an angry flush. I'm going to focus on getting rid of as much as I can next year.

Now that I have more than enough perennial beds, and many are fairly well established, I've started paying more attention to what's going on elsewhere. This summer we (I had some temp help) worked on rogue vines- bittersweet, rosa multiflora, Virginia Creeper, Apios Americana, and I don't know what else. Also, now that I've finally noticed the Bottom Lawn, I realized that there's the remnant of a short path through the trees to an open section of the brook, the one that diffuses into what becomes the summer meadow at the edge of the lawn. Amazing!

1. The path starts just to the left of the big tree trunk. Recently I had a huge patch of Flag and other weeds cleared, and planted a Viburnum Opulus Sterile, some Red Twig Dogwoods, and a small Clethra. I plan to put the new Acer Sengokaku there in the spring.
2. This is the view from the house. We can just see the dogwood now from this window. The Maple will really show up, especially in the cooler seasons.
3,4. The flowing stream. Hah! And I thought I was getting to the end of the big projects!

looks like the stream needs a bit of cleaning up too - a least getting the fallen tree out of there.

nice area.

Sangokaku

That's for sure... I don't think anyone's even looked at that spot for at least 10 years or more... I'm surprised I could even get to it. I think it was pretty much blocked on this end by rampant weeds, including Flag. Once that all went, the path appeared. All the dumping of cleared weeds and branches from nearby areas over the last few years must have beaten down some of the underbrush as well. Anyway, I'm sitting at my favorite window now, trying to imagine seeing running water.

My first Coralbark Maple was spelled with an 'e.' I've seen it both ways since, usually with an 'a,' but favored the other spelling. I guess it's time to adjust...

What a beautidul piece of property you have to work on, Pam! So nice you have the other areas balanced so when you want inspiration to continue the work, you just go look.

This is the tip of the iceberg- there are 9 acres in all. I'm only using about 2. Straight out the back there are wooded paths leading to the stream, all the way up to a pond and a beaver dam. Most of the paths are completely impassable, I've never been all the way through. In addition to fallen trees and other brush, the woods are full of trash and debris going back decades. I've kept the blinders on all this time just so I wouldn't be overwhelmed. To find a short path to the water is such a treat!

DH and I were out for a while to make room out of the way to pile large branches, etc. We ended up cutting down a bunch of Burning Bushes, which left a fairly good sized clearing, before the mist became drizzle. Next weekend we'll tackle the actual path, and maybe even get the dead trees, etc, out of the stream.

lovely view

Is there a local boyscout (or girlscout) troop that clears paths for their project? They do that around here for public land, but perhaps you could offer them some limited opportunities to camp on the property.

As a former Girl Scout leader good idea.

Interesting thought! There is someone local I can ask. One problem is that there is no dry way to cross the stream, and most of our land is on the other side. DH says when the water is low there is place where you can get across by stepping on stones in the water, but I've never done it. He once had a footbridge built, but spring rains swept it away. I'd like to try again, maybe just a simple wide plank or two that could be removed and set in place when being used.

It can't be done at the end of my new path, because the other side is all wetlands, at least it looks that way now. One clue is there are no trees, which would suggest a lack of dry land. In the spring, when all the brush has been carried off, I'll get a better look at where the water actually goes.

1 View of the wetlands from the new clearing
2. The clearing
3 The new brush pile
4 The other end of the tree in the stream
5. View back to the house. Obviously we didn't get rid of all the burning bushes yet.

Edited to correct captions

This message was edited Oct 28, 2014 7:08 AM

Pam, it's amazing to see what you have accomplished in just the few short years I've been visiting your property! This next project sounds wonderful.....

Actually non used land is valuable for wildlife and health of the land. a crossing would be good, though. the trouble may be with deer as everyone knows they are over populated. But perhaps they don't like it so marshy.

Marilyn, the garden has come a long way since you first visited. It was still pretty rough then, and I was really struggling to make something-anything!- work.. This year really did it. All the work on the Lower Lawn started to show, and lots of other areas finally filled in.

Happily for me, the deer are not a problem so far. I see scat in the spring, and occasionally there have been a few nibbles during a drought, but for the most part they leave me alone.

I located the survey this morning. We actually have nearly10 acres, and roughly 4 are on the side where the house is. Next to the area we use, along the road and separated by a low stone wall, is a former field of about 2 acres, now gone wild. The former owner used it for daylily breeding. DH moved some onto the main garden and spread the rest around among friends.

I wouldn't want to clear on the other side of the stream up the hill, but it woud be interesting to be able to get there. On our side, I'd like to get the trash out of the old paths, but that's not really on my list, waaaaay too ambitious, they extend all the way back into the adjoining land. Maybe someday just to the place it's easiest to cross.

For now I'm content to play in the new little path and clearing. I don't even want to garden there. Well, maybe just a little here and there, Solomon's Seal or some other little surprise. And there are some wonderful candelabra primroses deep in the woods, maybe a couple of those. But mostly I love it natural.

Now we're back n the city...I'll be dreaming about it all week!

In my town, the high school kids doing community service projects achieved building a boardwalk and a modest bridge through several wetland areas. My kids got soaked to the skin when they did it. Of course you'd supply the material and someone would have to have the know-how. Since wetlands are so valuable to wildlife, it is an opportunity for an ecology lesson. Since you have private land, it may take a little bit of investigation to see if there are any local nature organizations that can consult or offer volunteers, and what difference being private might make. In this part of Mass the majority of wetlands are publicly owned. There would have to be a very satisfying weenie roast at the end of the day.

The town where Pam lives has a very small population....no high school...they are in a region....it's the region my grandkids are also in....last year there was no kindergarten at the school, the 5 kids were sent to the elementary school in Goshen....It's a lovely town, but hard to find workers....right, Pam? Anyway, the plans sound awesome....good for winter dreams!

Thanks, Marilyn, you know more than I do about what's available.

I grew up in Lexington, where Rosemary lives, and this summer revisited the old neighborhood with my siblings. The open spaces I once knew are long since built up. The dirt road I ealked to school is paved, and the old dairy farm it skirted is condos, as is the old elementary school. It was a thriving town even back then, unlike sleepy, rural Warren.

I did contact the local Master Gardener program a couple of years ago on someone's suggestion, but they only send volunteers to public projects.

I hope you find helpers who are as devoted to making the property nice as you are, Pam. I can't quite place the neighborhood you describe. Most of the housing developments were once part of a larger farm. Our parcel views a farmhouse from the 1700's that the historic commission watches very carefully. Easements to the elementary school that is now a condo are blocked by fences. Feel free to shoot a Dmail and come by sometime.

I grew up about a mile from town, off Waltham St. My street dead ended at the top of a hill. We walked down the back of the hill to Steadman Road, dirt then, paved now. Franklin was my elementary school, now apartments, and the dairy farm fronted on Marrett Rd. Murray Jr. High, just off Lexington Center, is now residential as well. Too funny, we all haaaated it!

I think you're off toward Bedford/Lincoln, right? I would have loved to visit...

But we never even got out of the car, just did a speedy drive-by. DH still laughs about the cacophony as we all talked at once, getting louder and louder as the trip went on. Like when my brother at age 12 lost his drivers license, had to wait until 18, because he got an old junk started and drove his friends around the neighborhood. More than once, lol! Not to mention all the lovely things we had to say about our least favorite teachers... I'll leave it there, just use your imagination, lol.

I've talked to a number of the older families in town and there are mixed views about how the town has changed. Estabrook Elementary school where my kids attended is now an absolutely gorgeous new building, but the fire laws mean no childrens' art in the hallways at children's eye view. When all was said and done, my kids managed to negotiate a good education and learn how to take performance pressure in stride. We actually overheard parents interviewing our kids' prechool directors about whether that particular school would get their kids into Harvard.

Speaking of projects, I am slowly getting plants into the ground in those lovely twilight hours. Just planted a Nootska yellow "cedar" 'Van den Akker' in a partly shady garden corner behind a Capistrano Rhodi that has taken five years to become a small bush. It is currently bright enough there to merit big balls of yellow blooms in spring. The Alaskan yellow cedar will grow at the rate of 15" per year if happy but only achieve 12 feet tall by 1.5 feet wide in ten years according to the catalog sources. The seedling had very weak roots and there is still only a little bitty bit of root material. I figure its best chance of winter survival is to be where snow might cover it. I've never seen if anyone has this exact variety around here, but other cultivars are in abundance at the Tower Hill gardens near Worcester. The 'Glauca pendula' cultivar is also supposed to be pretty shade tolerant, so I have that to plant next.

The town has always taken the school system very seriously. That's why my parents moved there. In the end, although I left as soon as I could, I did get good value from it.

I'm glad you've been able to get some planting done. You're going to have a lovely landscape some day!

Thanks. Fingers crossed that we can start our patio, wall and waterfall project after winter. Then many of the little seedlings will have a destination and the red peonies can move to a permanent home. Unlike so many here, we don't think we can handle stone ourselves.

It will be interrupted by things related to our kids, no doubt, but wisdom teeth are all out, and there are only so many that need tonsil surgery ever. We hope to go to Spain for a visit to DD, but don't even know where to begin, there's so much to see!

How fun, a visit to Spain! You'll have a great time, I'm sure she'll have some suggestions, especially if she's been there for a while. I'll always take time out from gardening for a trip!

True, the trip will bite into the gardening time.

It's an inspiration to get more plants into the ground now. An hour every decent evening allows some progress. Tonight a bunch of hostas and Italian ginger staked their claim to the newest conifer area with lots of pine bark chips for good measure. Still debating whether that is the spot for the 'Curly Red' leucothe or another miniature conifer. There is a narrow miniature juniper that might echo the other two newbys with their spire shape, and still room for another miniature conifer that is more spreading and a different shade. Not that he cares, but it will improve the view from my son's room since he tends to forget to mow there.

Sounds like it will be a lovely area!

Yes, but what a delicious bite!

And you'll appreciate the improved view! Although I'm very aware of how the garden looks to others, there are some things I do just to please myself, whether anyone else will notice or not. Once in a whole, some knowledgeable or particularly attentive person does comment, and my secret self smiles :-)

Like most people aren't looking for uncommon plants for example, and the standard garden here has a few columns of arborvitae fronted by knockout roses, so if fitting in happened to be the goal it would be entirely different.

This message was edited Nov 1, 2014 4:39 PM

That's for sure!

Where I used to live, the nurseries have become extremely sophisticated, responding to the demands of highly aware weekend gardeners with creative ability and deep pockets. Here, there are more of the expected, especially proven winners, a pet peeve of mine... But there are also at least 3 'smarter' nurseries.

One is White Flower Farm, where I rarely shop because of the prices. Kent is also expensive but often have locally grown bargains, often perennials in slightly smaller, more affordable pots. Litchfield Hills is also very helpful and often has things I like. They start a lot of their own annuals, so still have cell packs for a reasonable cost instead of commercially grown 4" pots- if you need a flat, those prices become impossible.

But it all takes doing your own research so you can ask the right questions when you get there. Then you find out pretty quickly if you're dealing with an expert or a cookie cutter type.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for givng us what we need to get what we want!!!

I just got my new bird feeder at Litchfield Hills...they are great! And don't forget.....the big sale at WFF is the weekend after Father's Day!

We use a tube feeder for the little birds & also have a suet cake holder. the kind with red pepper keeps off the squirrels.

Since we're not here all winter, I don't feed the birds. I do, however, keep them in mind when choosing plants,, especially shrubs, and i don't deadhead In the fall but leave the seeds for them.

Marilyn, I hope you remind me about the sale next spring- I suddenly need soooo many shrubs, and boy do they add up!

rain and cold - spent the day raking our beds and planted a couple hundred darwin tulips and allium. Also transplanted and planted the bushes purchased a few weeks ago. glad i got it done - more to go tomorrow.

And then the BIG RAKE.

Bill gets to do the BIG RAKE after the BIG planting. How nice for us all when we get our gardens put to bed for the winter and can dream of next year.

Discretion will be the better part of valor at my house, so we're adding a trivial number of new bulbs this time. It doesn't seem to ever dry up so we can take the lawn mower over the grass to mulch the leaves, either. What's funny is how I have all these little conifer seedlings, and there isn't one that I can't think of where it should grow. More shade tolerant conifers here, please.