New garden projects and retirement :0)

Those of you who know me may or may not know that I have had some health problems (fibromyalgia) and my employer was allowing me to work from home 2 days a week. Lately they have been giving me some grief and it has also been almost impossible for me to get to the office the 3 days I'm supposed to be there. So rather than fight any more, I have decided to retire early. The more I think about it, the more I know I have made the right decision. I will have more time to spend with my husband, who is already retired, and ... MORE TIME FOR GARDENING!! My last day in the office is technically May 23rd, but I have vacation accumulated, so I am off May 7-23. Feels good already!

AND I am very excited that my 2 BIG new garden projects, a rose garden (40x22') and a cottage garden (70x6') are finally underway. I have a landscaper building the beds and doing the hardscaping, but I designed them and will be doing most of the planting (slowly, at my own pace).

here's a link to my journal for the rose garden

http://davesgarden.com/journal/edit/viewbycat.php?cat=39875

and for the cottage garden

http://davesgarden.com/journal/edit/viewbycat.php?cat=46779

today they removed the sod from both beds and they are going to start building the stone walls tomorrow

spring is really here and I'm in garden heaven ~s...mile...s~

jan (aka gram)

Jan - one of my dearest friends has fibromyalgia and always says to me "I never have a day without pain." I can only imagine how hard it was for you to struggle into work. Hopefully the decrease in stress will improve the health also.

I'm very excited for you! That rose garden looks divine. Please post pictures as the project proceeds!

Carolyn

Congratulations on your early retirement. May all your days be as beautiful as the gardens you're planning.

Gram ~ You seem to be happy now that you have had time to digest the thought of retirement. I'm so glad your at peace with it and realize how good it will be for you. Just think of all the time you will have to with those roses and how envious you will make the rest of us!! Good luck and looking forward to pictures!

Congratulations on a big decision, Gram! (Plus the not having to work stuff is very cool too.)
They are probably sorry they pushed you. May it be all you wish!

Yeah Gram! (Shaking imaginary pom-poms in the air.)

thank all! I'm getting pretty excited. they cut the sod off the new gardens yesterday!

Happy Earth Day!

Congrats!!! Good for you! I'm only 48 (49 in a few weeks) and although I don't want to rush things I look forward to that day myself.

Time for you to have fun and enjoy yourself now, GO FOR IT!

Tom

I retired 5 years ago, and assorted increasing creaks and aches remind me that maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to reduce the numbers of annuals and perennials and put in more flowering shrubs to reduce maintenance needs.

That was an impressive pictorial plan. What software program was used to produce it?

thanks, Tommy

Don, I'm looking at some flowering shrubs...viburnum, flowering quince, ninebark, and I love the variegated weigelas. I use 3D Home Architect Design Suite Deluxe 6. I originally bought it when I was having my home built so I'd have a model of the house for arranging furniture and that sort of thing, but it also has 3D Home Landscape Designer. the only thing I find lacking is the variety of plants, but there is enough to produce a good representation of what you will be looking at. and there is a finer 3D rendering than what I have been showing as well. but it takes time to produce and I usually don't bother with it.

Congrats on your retirement! I think this comes at a good time for you especially with summer on its way. You have been through a lot and now it is time to enjoy yourself fully. Now you can take on those projects and do things you have always wanted to do with no worries about going to work. Enjoy!

From one NYS retiree to another, congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dawn & Polly, thanks much. I think it's a good time, too :0)

Great for you gram. Congrats and enjoy every second of it! Hopefully the increased gardening will serve as therapy and help with the FM.

Gram:
Viburnum is nice, I especially like the smaller V.carlesii--nice scent. I have several Weigelas, there are many showy varieties. You must try flowering almond. Lovely display in early spring even if it doesn't last long. Another good one is Kerria, yellow flowers late spring thru summer and greenish twigs in winter. And that's just touching the surface.
Don

Don, the V. carlesii is exactly what I am looking at, probably 'Compactum' and 'Diana'. I already have several weigelas, a 'Variegata', a 'French Lace', and several dwarf 'Midnight Wine'. but there are so many and I love them. I also have 2 flowering almond, but they are white and I like the pink. I don't know kerria..I will look. so many wonderful plants...too little (pick one or more) time, money, space.

Victor, thank you. I hope so, too. I know I will be happier.

You know, there should be another word for this . . . you are leaving the paid workforce, but you are hardly retiring . . . it's more like a redeployment. Now, you can focus on your beautiful home and gardens. :-)

There is another word - REWARD.

Congratulations on your retirement. You will enjoy it. And when you don't feel like working, you won't have to. Your garden plans look fantastic and they will be so rewarding and you deserve it. The other grammy.

Did you know Sam's Club has rose's? 2 in a box for $10.88
They had a fairly nice selection, these are the ones I can remember:

Chicago Peace
Paradise
Belle de Crecy
Golden Showers
Brigadoon
The Fairy
Lowell Thomas (I bought this one)

can I retire too???and just garden??? please?!!!!

Way to go Grams - I can't wait to see pictures of the garden once it's underway.

Congrats on the retirement and commiseration to a fellow FM sufferer. I think planting shrubs with winter visual interest is great. I love some of the viburnums for fall color and then for winter berries., but one of my favorite shrubs are the oak leaf hydrangea. It has a wonderful shape and buff colored bark in the winter and is incredibly beautiful in the summer with great fall color. The one in the picture is 10- 12' high but I have some that I keep smaller. I have some big stands of ink berry which are evergreen here in 6-7zone. The high bush blue berries are also an architectural delight in the winter, plus they have great fall color and masses of berries in the summer if you beat the birds. My Buddleia Alternifolia that I have grown as a weeping tree is great to see in the winter and has a nice lavender bloom in both spring and fall plus the soft grey foliage is lovely in the summer. I have big masses of Rosa rugosa that we don't cut back until late March so the birds can feast on the hips all winter. Some Ilex are great for winter green plus boxwood. Also my big lavender plants look lovely year round. Enjoy your new garden and the extra time you now have to do it and hopefully without too much FM pain. Patti

Hi Patti!

Hey Dave, this spring I expanded my 'Slacker', name partially because it took me so much time to dig last year and then you reminded me that I could have used a rototiller. Well this year we rented a big one and it took no time. Thanks. Now I have added to 5 beds. Patti

Amazing how much work labor saving devices create!

Dave47 And what a dummy I was being, or perhaps it was the Luddite in me that was rearing its head. I did name my DS, Ned, but really not in homage to Ned Ludd. I wouldn't t spend so much time on the computer if I was really a Luddite. So I am left with stupidity. Patti

Hi, Patti. and thanks. I love oak-leaf hydrangea. I do have a spot picked out for one. don't they prefer some shade? also love boxwood. I put in (or rather the landscaper did) 9 this week (Green Velvet) between the pool fence and the rose garden. I threatened them with bodily harm if they trim it into little round balls. I like it more natural. So it looks like a PLANT and not a bowling ball. and they're not close enough together to actually fill in and make a hedge...just individual plants. I think I've settled on 2 viburnums (V. carlesii 'Compactum' and 'Diana').

edit to add: the yellowish plant in the center is a Euonymus 'Emerald 'n Gold'. I got 2 of those to break up the boxwoods. O O O X O O O X O O O

This message was edited Apr 28, 2007 8:34 AM

Actually, both beds are finished. 3 roses have been planted. all that's left for the landscaper to do is plant some more roses (when they arrive) and mulch the beds. The rest of the work is mine.

Here's the rose garden.

here's the heart at the center of the cottage garden

a closeup of the gated arbor. they built a nice step out of the slate

the small area in the center is planted with 3 'Mother's Rose' and dedicated to my mom, who passed away 4 years ago. here's the plaque I got.

Greetings to the B-day gal, my oak leaf Hydrangea are in full sun. They do beyond good. The one in the picture has the most acidic soil and is the biggest. I have a Carlesii and it didn't do much in the way of blooms for many years ( I must have been a bad mom), but for the last couple it has been spectacular. It is totally loaded with buds now. Not a finer scent in my opinion in the spring. I don't know 'Diana'. My boxwood is very round and I have never clipped it accept to cut out any of the winter burn or dead branches. I agree about the bowling ball effect. I hate clipped forsythia Mine is just starting to bloom this week. We went over to Hyde Park last week and they were all in bloom, so we are a good week behind. I have roses to plant today from a coop. Cool and damp day, so a perfect planting day. When do you start the pool parties? Patti

Pool parties...late June at the earliest. We do heat the pool, but I like the air warm, too.

thanks for the b'day wishes! I have a few roses I could be planting, but will be getting b'day company off and on all day. maybe tomorrow. all I have left of work is a couple days this week...then I'm DONE!!!

good to know about full sun for the hydrangea. I think I'm going to get a few low-bush blueberries next spring. not sure yet, but definitely some type of blueberry. even if the birds eat most of them. I have to look at Buddleia alternifolia. you much have huge space. I have 3/4 of an acre, but a chunk of it is under the lake in the back. so I have to budget space. and I have to keep the plant height down in the back because we're not allowed to block the neighbors view of the lake. I figure if it's under 5-6 feet it shouldn't be a problem.

Happy Birthday grampapa! Your gardens are looking awesome! I can't wait to see them planted. The landscaper did a nice job - did you design them or did the landscaper? You are going to have so much fun playing in the dirt but don't over do it. The other grammy

Grampapa, We do have a 2 1/2 acres, but I would love to have some of it under a lake. The buddleia alternifolia can be kept at 5' just by pruning. I can't find a good picture, but it is the plant behind the oak leaf hydrangea on the right side of this picture. My favorite new shrubby plant is the Pink Bush Clover Lespedeza thunbergii 'Gilbraltar' which gets cut to the ground each year and is rather plain during the summer, but explodes in the Sept. with amazing color. There is a white, which I have ordered. I hope you are having a great day. I got all my roses planted as well as some new shrubs. I can't wait to follow your garden as it grows. You now have some great form to work with. Patti

Birthday Girl,
Your home is growing even lovelier. Looking like the Gram Estate!

grammy, I designed it and had the landscaper do the install. I have learned not to overdo, but I seriously want to get out there and play. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow!

Patti, you DO have lots of space.I love the lake, but I would like a bit more elbow room. I don't know that I could keep up with any more than I have though.

I had a great day today!

Question on the peonies I got for my birthday. these are not plants...just bagged roots. Can I pot these now to get them started and then plant them out after our last frost date?