Visions of Spring '08!

Okay, it may be a bit early for this, but with all this cold, nasty weather, I certainly am longing for April. What do you have planned? Any major projects? New beds? New annuals, perennials, shrubs, veggies?

Will you be planting more of something you really liked in '07? What is it? What will you definitely NOT try again?

I'm hoping to finally get that pot / oil jar fountain thing going. I am running out of room for larger things but will add a few more Japanese Maples, Hydrangeas and a Viburnum or two. Of course, more Clematis as well.

For annuals - I was very happy with Abutilon and Lavatera and will use them again. Otherwise I will wait and see. Will definitely add more Columbine and hardy Geranium.

Have to find and fix the leak in my pond and I want to re-design my rain barrel system.

Well that's a start. What about you guys??

Victor, what an optimistic idea for a thread, as we sit here looking out at our snow-covered gardens! I love it!
Thinking ahead: I want to extend out the borders of the various skinny beds that I inherited when we moved into this house. . . who needs all that grass? Dig it up! Then I can try to cram in all the seedlings that I am wintersowing.
There's a a shady woodsy area on one side of our lot that cries out for some development--presently it features a nice assortment of poison ivy. I could probably compost for YEARS and there wouldn't be enough to completely amend that sandy Cape Cod soil, but you have to start sometime. I've put in some rhodies, but I need more suggestions.
This is great!

Was talking to DH a couple of weeks or so ago. I asked him " Are you done extending the lawn and filling in"? he said yes. So I said "That means I can start planting trees, bushes and plants"? he said "YES"!

I keep my veggie garden but I will be able to start around the house and the 2 garages and the rest of the place. So in the spring I start kindergarden. In other words I know a little of NOTHING - I will be taking pictures and asking for advice from great people, students and graduates here.

A vision? uhhhh

Speachless

You're lucky, Sherrie - a clean slate! Wish I had that.


I agree Emily - ditch the grass! Woodsy area - wow, lots to choose from. How dense is the shade?

I have no plans as of yet...I pretty much prepared everything in the fall the way i would want it to come up in the spring and summer.....of course that being said I always make more changes as things go on..... The 3 things I am looking forward to most is;

1. seeing my new daylily bed come up
2. seeing my new bulbs come up
3. i am super excited to see my clematis and how they will do this summer....

I'm not usually longing for April until February. Last night when I was outside it was so cold and windy and my car was frozen and my front walk had a nice slippery sheet of ice on it... ugh. Okay, spring thoughts. Spring thoughts...

I saw something green growing out of my whiskey barrel potted hydrangea. Nice! Wait. Upon closer look, it's just the rubber chamelion's tail sticking out of the snow... The dog must've put it there.

I haven't planned anything yet! I will be, though... I definitely want to plant two Norway Spruces and more shrubs. I want to start a veggie garden. Maybe I'll start small and grow as my cooking skills grow.

"Hey, Mr. VictorGardener, you ask a lot of questions".

Mainly I'm looking forward to all my new Japanese irises. One terrific person sent me 35 and I received my order of about 15 so I want to see them in bloom. I'll get rid of anything required to get more room for additional JI's.

Four clematises are on order so I'm looking forward to them: Josephine, Anna Louise, Roguchi and, thanks in part to your photo, Victor, Crystal Fountain. More lilies on order, too, along with two more JI's.

I'd like an arbor but need the perfect place to put it. After seeing a neighbor do a terrible job with their arbor I'd rather not have one than have poor placement.

Arlene, you could try taking photos from different positions in your yard and drawing in an arbor right on the photo to just "see" what it'll look like. Maybe I can help you with that. I'd like to put an arbor along the south side of my deck. I wonder if I'll get to it this year.

I'd love to come out and help you dig for your JI's this spring!

I have an apricot coming to plant and I have the contorted filbert's waiting from this Fall. I think that I have a Goumi and some currants, including a black currant - or maybe just a black currant coming as well. I want to move the bush cherries back to the front yard in the sun in the dirt mountain that I vow to finish in 2008.

Funny about the tail, Harper! Pirl, nice Gilda reference! I have Rooguchi too. Just planted it last spring, so not much yet. I may have planted Josephine in the spring as well.

I may have to try a JI, since I don't have any. I have seen people make mistakes with arbors too. They end up not highlighting anything or being an entrance to anything. I have an arch arbor over a bench in front of my blue spruce. I plan another one as an entrance from my driveway to my back yard but not yet. A bigger need is a deck out back with a pergola.

Cat - what will the apricot be planting?! Nice to have 'servant' plants.

Harper - I have a shovel you could use! Ha, ha.

Cat - the term contorted filberts still makes me grin. A dirt mountain? How did that come to be? We have one in the back, from the leftover sod when we made the vegetable garden, and it's planted with asters so now it's called "Aster Hill".

VG - you're on the verge of standing in the corner again, young man! That opening line I used is the same one you used when I posed the plans for 2008 thread!

A great thread for this time of year. I'm with you Victor , March would even make me happy. I'm sick of winter already and it isn't actually here yet. Enough complaining, on with the dreaming and planning. I have a totally naked strip about 20' deep and 80' long thanks to DH finally getting all he trash trees and shrubs out of there. It will be a mostly sunny area along the first third of the driveway. I know I want some nice evergreen trees, a blue spruce and a couple norway spruce, flowering shrubs with three or four season interest, will take any and all suggestions, and some tough as nails perennials like daylilies, catmint and mums. Also some daffs and louisiana iris. DH wants a screen of arborvitae, the deer will love our eastern varieties but the western types are supposed to be less attractive to them so if anyone has experience with any of these I could use some info on what ones work best.

Pirl I love that "Aster Hill'. They are so tall and full, just beautiful.

Victor, thanks for asking the questions!!!!! what I am going to do???? let me think...... (thinking really hard).......
...... really hard........ ah, plant roses!!!!! I have ordered 38 of them.... so more roses!!!!
the only new plants will be the 38 roses and the veggie garden...

And of course:
I look foward on seeing the japanese irises my co-worker gave me as well as the ones sent by Wanda...
I look foward on seeing ALL my 138 roses surviving the winter...
I look foward on seeing all the daylilies coming back !!!
I look foward on the hostas coming back!!! I know they are supposed to be hardy but I want all of them!!!!
All the lavender I planted this year... all the columbines... all the dianthus... black eye susan, daysies... and I HOPE and PRAY that ALL my dahlias don't die! I have plans for them!!!

and last but not least, I hope to really get a compost pile going... I have started with the leaves...

No experience, ngam, but ColorChoice has one that supposed to be:

http://www.colorchoiceplants.com/spring_grove.htm

Of course any good evergreen will serve as a screen. I caution against using one specimen for a screen. First - it does not look natural - it looks like a fence or a screen! More importantly, if you lose one or two for whatever reason, you have a real problem unless you can get one the same size. Better to use a mix and stagger them front to back instead of soldiers lined up in formation. Then, if you lose one, it can be more easily replaced and the entire screen looks more naturalistic.

Hard to beat viburnum for multi-season interest. Also, Japanese Maples, Hydrangea paniculata, Itea, Fothergilla, Serviceberry and Enkianthus. I'll think of more!

Forgot to say I love Aster Hill as well, Pirl! Great looking sod pile.

Thanks, ngam! The hill looks quite strange when it's not in bloom.

Kassia - you'll have a gorgeous garden and soon you won't even have to mow. The hosta and daylilies should come back without a problem as should the roses. Lavender must have excellent drainage and some winters are harder on them than others.

Victor - staggered evergreen plantings are exactly what my guru, Ralph, talks about.

I was typing as you were posting, Victor. Thanks. I'll get a photo of it when it's bare.

Here's a shot of it from April when I had this delusional thought that if I put steps in the pile I could get up there to take photos during the year. No way! The asters grow fast and wide so I never did get to use them.

Wow - those asters really took off! I also planted a lavender bed this past year so I'm hoping it comes back. It is in a well drained area - a raised bed - so it should do well.

I don't have major plans as I am truly out of room. I will be adding a few echinacea and helenium. Dahliawise I will be trying a few new ones by trades, but am planning on a net loss of varieties since the ones at work I am giving up on because of bug problems. I would love to add more hydrangea and azalea, but doesn't look like it will happen. I am always excited about my annuals in pots(zinnias etc).

I agree Victor, I don't like those straight lines and you are right, if one bites the dust it never looks right again. I have talked him into the spruces and a staggered group of five of them in the middle of the space. Have Itea 'Henry's Garnet', Viburnum 'Cardinal Candy', a new Forsythia 'Show Off' and one of the dark ninebarks 'Diablo' or 'Coppertina' on the list so far.I also would like lime/golden green shrubs for additional contrast like Spirea 'Gold Flame' or Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls'. These will be all new shrubs for me so any suggestions or better recommendations are very much welcome. As usual this whole thing will change many times before a shovel ever hits the dirt, but that is what I like about this time of year, anything is possible. This space looks so huge but I have a plot plan and when you space for full size shrubs the space disappears very quickly.

I have 'Cardinal Candy'. Though they claim good self-pollination, you can't go wrong with adding another type for insurance. 'Micheal Dodge', which gets yellow berries will do the trick. Itea 'Little Henry' is very nice for smaller areas. Great fall color. I love 'Coppertina' and have about five of them. Just planted 'Chardonnay Pearls' this fall so I can't report anything yet. I have S. 'Gold Flame' - very nice but it does seed itself a bit, though not nearly as bad as other Spirea.

If you have lots of room, I can't say enough about Golden Dawn Redwood. It grows very fast and eventually reaches 75 - 100 ft high by about 25 feet wide. Breathtaking tree.

There are nice gold Sambucus and Physocarpus. I have a yellow barberry, though I would not plant it now since it is invasive in NY. My favorite golden shrub of all is Spirea thunbergii 'Ogon'. Check it out!

Al, we have the same problem - disappearing space. I need to dump a kid or two. Let us know what annuals you liked from last year and what you plan on.

We need to find the leak in our pond, also.

I am anticipating seeing a good share of the Japanese, siberian and median irises I planted bloom.

And I have some of the shrub magnolias that should bloom this year for the first time. I also have a buddleia lindleyana that might.

Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls' is a favorite of mine, and does really well in our sandy soil, Victor. It's lovely.

And Pirl, the picture of the flowers is wonderful, but I can just taste that asparagus. Very healthy looking stand of it. I think I need some for Christmas.

Here is my project for the spring. This is kind of a rough draft, My David has finally scanned this and put it on my flash drive.

Anyway - the big blank area in the middle is a fountain. there are four gardens separated by a 4 foot gravel path. Each garden is centred on the compass point. The east garden will be all in soft pinks, peaches, yellows and blues - it represents the dawn. The south is "noon" and it is all bright blues, bright oranges, and yellows. The west garden is "sunset" - magentas, purples, mauves, while the north garden is "midnight" - dark blues and whites.

Here is the south garden. I am definitely open to suggestions - as long as they don't cost money! There isn't any! I wonder if you open this if you can read the list of plants.

Maybe I will get up off the bed and find the original . . . .

The garden includes: Hardy Hisbiscus - yellow, Larkspur genation blue, cornflowers - blue, California poppies - apricot flambeau, Balloon flowers dwarf blue and tall blue, cosmos - tall orange, calendula - yellow and orange, marigold - crackerjack , venedum - orange and yellow, butterfly bush - blue, gailardia - fanfare, Amazon sun, Goblin, Yarrow - summer berries, also, irises (orange and blue) daylilies - stella d'oro, and oriental poppies - orange.

I'm open for suggestions. edited to add - also apricot and orange profusion zinnias. and Russian sage, and rudebeckia, and would love to have echinacea "sundown"

This message was edited Dec 18, 2007 8:45 PM

Here is the east garden:

don't have a list detailing the plants: here is what I was thinking: pink malva, weigelia - varigated (already have), Agastache 'Golden Jubilee, dianthus Helen, Daylily Happy Returns, annual lupin - Sunrise, I would like echinacea Sunrise - but, probably will settle for dahlia Kevin Limelight - 'cause I already have those.
Aster - Wonder of Staffa. Also maybe shell pink balloon flower, catmint blue wonder.

The east garden is the lower left side.

edited to add pineapple zinnia.



This message was edited Dec 18, 2007 8:49 PM

The south garden:
Wegeilia Wine and Roses, Malva mystic merlin, lavender Hicote, echincea Twilight, day lily Always Afternoon (well - I only have two - but someday I will have six!) Veronica Sunny Boy Blue, Hardy Geranium - majenta, Rose Campion, Minature Penstemon, maiden pinks - red, zinnia - purple prince.

Michaela, that is such a fascinating garden. . . I love the way it moves through the day and around compass. Are we going to get to help put things in when we descend on you in May?

I hope some people will come and help plant. Lots of things to do in the meantime.

All the plants have to be started - there are some daylilies and irises that will have to be moved.

Seeds get started this month (winter sowing).

The garden beds have to be made sometime in April. The ground is rock hard (and not just because it is frozen) so My David will have to rototill the ground. Then the soil will have to be amended - bring in some compost, etc. The paths have to be made and gravel brought in.

And it all have to be ready for May 10, when we plant! Gee . . I hope Easter is late this year. Well, anyway, I will have Fridays off this term (in theory).

I believe Easter is March 23rd - my SIL's birthday.

Rats! April would have been more helpful . . . .

Wow- I can't wait to see these plans through to fruition!

The north garden - no detailed sketch yet. I am thinking false blue indigo against the fountain fence, with white hardy hibiscus -"Blue Moon II" in front. Dark blue columbine with white columbine, white swan echinacea, Veronica Sunny Boy Blue, white profusion zinnia, white balloon flowers, white malva, dark delphinium. And I would like to grow a clemantis - venosa violacea - dark blue with a white stripe on each petal - just like a star - anyway, I want to grow this along the ground at the front of the garden.


As you can see - I need more dark blue flower ideas . . .

I figure it will take three years before it really starts to look good, Anita.

Michaela - that clematis is more purple than blue. I have it - beautiful, but not blue.

purple is okay - does it really have the effect of looking "star-like"?

Here's a PF photo of mine. I probably have a better one though.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/60207/

Hey! That's perfect! Definitely gotta get me one of those!

wow Seandor I give you credit... I could never be that organized

very pretty clematis Victor