Wow, you busy little bee! Shoot, I can't even think of the name of it now... Oh! It's 'Dazzleberry'.
Yardening 8 April 2014 "Better late than never"
I've been outside too...since 11AM or so. Now it is 3;30...Time flies when you're having 'fun"..
Needed something to eat.....
Was going to plant my Dill and Parsley--but ended up doing 2 other major things..
Trying to get the harder things done--paying a price for it too.. My whole arm aches
and tingles--and my fingertips are pretty numb. I know I am overdoing it a bit--but....
SO! Today, I decided to do some major surgery on my old, big Scheffalera Arboricola.
It is old--and this winter it just shed and shed and shed it's leaves.
I cut it back severely last night--put all the cut off tops in water to root.
Then--I un-potted it and worked all the soil loose from the roots. Geez!
That took a while...put it on the ground and washed off as much of it as i could.
Cut back the roots --pretty severely--and re-potted it in fresh, amended soil.
BIG job- but now DONE! This plant is about 23 years old...got it in a 5" pot
from thee grower I worked for. It was a reject.
Second job I did was separate the bowl of that little Hosta--that looked like "Mouse ears"..
Mamma Mia! It was SOOOO tangled...took me an hour! Wanted to be careful...
Re-potted the sections--now have 3 bowls of it.
Here's the-potting pics...
1--Loosened roots looking at the bottom
2--Looking at thr top and side of it
3--This was the single longest root of all of them....
4--Roots cut back--as much as I needed to do it.
5--All re-potted. This is a 16" pot it has lived in and will continue to do so.
I am confident it will re-grow in spades!
Sally--IF you want something big and beautiful for your shady front--come and help
me uproot and divide my big-leafed, variegated Hosta. The one by the shed.
It would look beautiful in your front. Clumps can grow 3' x 3'...
I'm afraid this one will be divided ONLY by hacking it in pieces...
It has been it it's pot now for some years.
Interested??????? G.
--Here it is......It is called "Frances Williams".
http://www.naturehills.com/hosta-frances-williams
--The little Hosta I divided today.
Forgot to show you what the Junipers I trimmed look from the house-side...
Like a medieval ghost forest....so old and gnarled....
Like i said--they were foundation plants already when we bought the house in 1969.
Down Memory lane a bit----
1&2--What lurched them forward that they never straightened up from was
the 4' of snow that sat on them for a long time in the big snow of 2009.
3--The two white humps to the right of the tall shrub are the 2 Junipers...
Because it was not an area that needed cleaning--they sat like that for a long time.
They NEVER straightened up!
4------The 4 evergreens I had in the back also never straightened up from the load of snow.
They were cut down the next year--and that bed became my raised bed in the back.
5--BUT--the Wintersweet bloomed anyway!
Gita
Awesome refresh job on the Schefflera. It's going to be gorgeous.
Seriously considering the Frances Williams. I didm't know they were so big and gorgeous. I guess I was think gin of ' Francee'.
My Ginkgo Craig hosta are going to get a forever home by the fairy/ gnome house tree. Cute little hosta, and a place the voles don't like, because of the maple roots.
Brugmansias are on the deck, except Dr Seuss. I'm not taking ANY chances on it, it is still growing and should be fine.
What a gorgeous day, and Gita and Sally so wonderful you were able to be out there being so productive.
I saw a couple bees today! They wandered by, sniffing at some hyacinth and my newly-opened cherry blossoms, then buzzed on. Sally, I won't say anything about your bees cozying up to the nonnatives. ;-)
1) daffs in full bloom
2) cherry tree blossoms are opening--yay!
3) hyacinth and tulips
4) Chionodoxa and Shooting Star Hydrangea
5) Scilla siberica
Muddy, your forsythia is really settling in, getting some nice leaf growth!
1) Forsythia
2) here is that mess of vinca... guess I should pull it!!
3) volunteers growing in the lawn by my right rose bush garden. I keep thinking it looks like muscari, but just not sure how it ended up there!!
4) 1st blooms opening on my lungwort--yay!
5) My Veronica peduncularis 'Georgia Blue' blooming nicely now.
And what a beautiful lungwort it is!!! LOVE the Veronica, and your little Sedum nearby looks quite happy as well. Very lovely!!
Aww thanks Speedie Sweetie. :-) yes that is john creech cute little guy and also creeping jenny
Wow, look at that scheff! I'm always amazed at how well they take to pruning. Mine's gotten quite leggy this winter and needs a good prune. So much to do... so little time...
Catmint, I LOVE those baby tulips! It's great that your squirrels have left the tulips alone. Btw, how is the raised planter that you made out of the brick structure that was left in your yard?
Is it slug season yet? Just wondering if I should be getting ready to spread the sluggo.
Cat--
Muscari travel on little feet when you are not looking....that's how they got there...
I have WAYYYY too many of them! you can dig and divide them almost every year.
Same goes for the "Wood Hyacinths"--aka "Spanish Bluebells"...
They multiply like rabbits....I have blue, white, and a few pinks.
My one clump of Pulmonaria is just starting to leaf out. It is in 1/2 day shade,
so it is a bit behind. may need to dig it up and re-plant it in a better spot....
SS--Chop away on your Scheff--do not fear! This plant is very tolerant of many things.
I have cut mine back almost every 3 years, but not as severely as this time.
Usually--I just cut the plant back--NOT all the roots as well. It was time--as the
unusual leaf drop while in the house was a "help me" sign.
I have seen some Slug trails.....not much for them to munch on yet....
Question: Is it rabbits or squirrels that like to nip off daff. blooms?
I have seen it happening a bit...Have NOT yet seen any rabbits...does not mean
they are not around....
SOOOO--Sally! Shall WE dig and divide this large Hosta????
That way--you can have as many clumps as your heart desires.
Will have to be this coming Monday -or I will not be able to help you at all
as i will be in my 2 week restricted period.
My daughter, Benita, from Seattle and her SO will be visiting here starting may 8th
until may 17th. I have taken off that whole week. They will be running around a lot,
so there may be times we could do the divide. I may even be w/o a car sometimes...
It WILL be hard and messy...bring Mark along....
If we wait any longer--the bud-eyes will be bigger and then breaking off will be
a real possibility. This is the time to do it! NOW!
LMK---Call or D-mail.....G.
Okay, SOMEONE has to stick up for the much-maligned Vinca minor, invasive though it may be : )
I transplanted some to a shrub bed today because I think it is a pretty edger. It grows into the grass and I mow right over it....no edging, and I love those twice yearly flowers! I also use it to stabilize a steep, dry and shady slope in my backyard.
thanks, SSG. It is a totally new variety of tulip for me! at least, the yellow ones that are already blooming are. The ones that haven't bloomed yet are supposed to be big red ones--I'm really looking forward to seeing them!
thanks, Gita. These were just planted in the fall on the other side of the patio. I'm thinking they might have had some help in their walking... :-( oh, well, they look nice there and are blooming happily...
LOL Muddy--let me know if you'd like some more! :-)
I've had muscari for a few years now, but they never spread for me, and the squirrels don't replant them, either.
I have a question about chelone! Does anyone here grow all 4 species of chelone? Greenthumb? Aspnehill? Are there big differences among them? I just found out they like wet soil, and I have the perfect spot for them at the bottom of the hill where it never dries out.
I didn't realize there were 4 kinds of chelone, SSG! What are they, besides glabra and lyonii?
There's obliqua, which is native to both VA and MD, and cuthbertii, which is native to VA.
our dogwood was pruned last month and now it is "bleeding" ... obviously bad timing to cut any branches ... live and learn. I just hope it survives. It's one of our best trees
Totally off subject here but, as I was reading about the Chelone needs, I was thinking to myself "How do you pronounce 'chelone'?".. so I went peeking around and I found this really cool site and I want to share it! =)
http://overplanted.com/resources/latin.php#T
SSG, I've had the chelone glabra for several years and it is thriving in a dry spot that gets some afternoon sun. I just planted the chelone lyonii last year from NC plugs down at the turtle garden - moist and very shady. I won't know until a few more years if it thrives in those conditions or not. Don't have the other two, but now that you mentioned them, I've added them to my "want" list :)
Speedie, long standing joke with me and greenthumb is how I can absolutely butcher latin names as well as common names LOL. If there is any way to put the inflection on the wrong syllable or totally tongue twist it, I can do it...
thanks, SSG. I wonder if the major difference is the color?
oh, I forgot to respond to your question about the firepit turned planter. Thanks so much for asking! I'm so glad I did it! Right now it's full of spring bulbs, but I'm hoping to plant some seeds there for taller plants as well.
Photos:
3 of the pit-turned-planter--I call it my 'Pit' Garden ;-).
Also, my peony which just sprouted eyes a few days ago and they've been growing like crazy! I think the light where it is is perfect until the redbud fully leafs out, and then the flower buds it's popped out never quite live up to their promise. :-(
This message was edited Apr 12, 2014 8:33 AM
Sorry to hear about your dogwood, Wind. Last year, I had terrible problems with a brand new snowfountain cherry I had just planted. It developed some kind of wound with sap pouring out of it and it looked awful. I took the photo to my local nursery and they thought the problem was borers, so I ended up treating it with a systemic. :-( Then, Happy and her husband were kind enough to come by and help me move the tree to a sunnier location. It's blooming now. So, here's a before and after photo.
1) The wounded cherry last year, poorly leafed out.
2) The cherry tree this morning--yay!
Anyway, I hope your dogwood does okay, Wind, even if it takes a little while. They're such pretty trees. Does it have some nice fat buds on it ready to open up soon?
Talking about Fire Pits.....
This year--HD has a wrought iron Patio Set where you remove a center panel
from the table and it becomes a fire pit. Nice! Sit around in chairs and
watch the fire....
http://www.homedepot.com/s/Fire%2520pit%2520patio%2520table?NCNI-5
There's another one by Martha Stewart--
http://www.homedepot.com/s/fire%2520pit%2520patio%2520table?NCNI-5
A new concept..............G.
wind--
If the pruned ends are not too big--you can close off the ends with Elmers Wood Glue...
This is also recommended after pruning Roses.. G.
That turned out to be such a great planter!
thanks, SSG!
Gita, glad to hear about the pulmonaria--mine have started blooming now, too. So pretty. And how wonderful that your family gets to come and you're able to take a lovely spring week off to enjoy with them.
No slug trails here so far, thankfully. I have the sluggo ready to go, though! :-o
Haven't seen signs of rabbits here yet, either, but the squirrels do enough mischief for me for now!! Guess I'd better get some marigold started to ward against the rabbits... Last year, I had trouble with them getting into some of my herbs until I planted the marigold around it and that seemed to help a lot. I love marigold!
Thanks for that helpful pronunciation link Speedie!
So here's what I did today. The first pic is the before but last year when I still had those hollies in. The hollies had been removed in the fall and replaced with Shepherdia canadensis. Also, the delosperma died over the winter so it too was removed. I didn't take current before pictures of the left side of the stoop so you'll just have to trust me that there wasn't much going for it. There was a holly there to that was languishing and that was also replaced last fall with one of the aforementioned shepherdia. In a couple weeks I have a bunch of inter mountain west natives coming that are hardy for my zone and xeric. I think I'm going to finish the garden off with pine nuggets after I install the plants. I'm really happy with how it turned out today; it really makes the front entrance to the house look nice.
Looks like a great start, Seq! It was such a nice day to be outside working in the garden, wasn't it?
I'm thinking my delosperma might have died as well. At this point, about 18% of my plants from last year don't show any leafing or budding yet (including all my hostas).
How long into the spring do we wait for signs of life before we decide that something didn't make it through the winter?
Gita, I'll let you know if we can come Monday. You are right of course, if we wait, he leaves could be messed up for the year.
Catmint- I agree the Pit Garden looks pretty cool!
Freaky thing- last night our power went out around 7 pm. Nobody else on the court and no storms. So we called BGE. Turns out our 45 yr old underground line was corroded by water. They got it fixed today by 2:30 pm, after making two big holes, laying a new section of line under the front yard, trashing my emerging Petasites blooms but not anything else in the way for them to hurt.
After using our solar panel to make coffee and poptarts, I spent a deelightful morning in the garden. I moved some of the crocus and some wood hyacinths, and little hosta Ginkgo Craig, and make a slate pathway and started a landscaped "yard" for the gnomes who are going to make a home in my Maple tree. I had a blast! The slate is in sections about five inches wide and five to ten inches long. We found it in the woods, someone had dumped it. The'' yard '' 'landscaping includes small black pebbles that I bought home from another dogwalk, where someone had dumped river stone from planter . So fun to make these little random treasures come together.
Thanks Cat. Lol...I'd say 85% of our plants haven't shown themselves yet this spring. All of our delosperma have taken a beating this winter though. I'm pretty sure they're all dead but I'm going to give them a few weeks before I start 'fixing' the problem with new plants.
Thanks, Sally. Glad BGE was able to fix the problem--but what a shame about the petasites! Aside from that, sounds like a fun day for you, too! Photos of the gnome garden once it's all done! :-)
thanks, Seq--I'll continue to keep an eye out for tiny leaf buds!
My delosperma was inadvertently planted on top of the buried patio stones, so it rotted over winter. :(
Sequoia, I bet that was a ton of work. It's always amazing to me how long it takes to redo just *one* bed.
Sally, I just had to look up petasite. I don't think I've ever seen one before. You have solar panels?! How handy on a day like today!
SSG: that shouldn't be a problem for it. Part of mine was growing on top of bare rock and thriving. I really hope it didn't die. Here's a pic of it from last year.
Catmint, I have hostas in one bed that are emerging but the others are nowhere to be seen. This feels super late for them. Or maybe this is what's normal!
I'm finally seeing new growth on the abelia, but still nothing on the weigela or the beautyberry. Catmint, did you also get Abelia Kaleidoscope last year?
I planted a reblooming weigela last fall and it has started to bud out but I think part of it died off. I think it's called Sonic Bloom Weigela. I got the pink one.
yes, I have the abelia kaleidoscope! My beautyberry has no growth yet either.
Maybe the hostas just need extra time this year?
We cross-posted.
My delosperma got stuck in a spot that held a ton of water -- between the end of the hidden pavers and a rock at the bottom of the bed.
I love that wide bed! Big trees surrounded by teeny circles can look silly, imo.
I don't have a weigela. :-( Such pretty shrubs!
Yes, I like the wide bed, too, Seq!
This message was edited Apr 12, 2014 8:11 PM
Seq, nice lawn! (also)
ssg just a few more days. I am just barely seeing hosta.
Speedie, thanks for the pronunciation guide. I never would have guessed the pronunciation for Chelone! Here's a fun fact about the name from the USDA site: "In Greek mythology, there was a nymph named Chelone who insulted the gods; in punishment, she was turned into a turtle. The flowers of this plant are said to look like the heads of turtles."
CatMint, what a great idea to use the fire pit as a planter. It looks very nice!
I've been thinking of planting something in 2 old overgrown stone barbeque pits in the forest. No one uses them, which is a good thing because someone could cause a forest fire if they weren't super careful.