Falland Cleaning up Your Garden...What are YOU doing??

Hollyann, I never tried transplanting an azalea. Last year I moved a 3 year old Laurel and it did just fine. Finally bloomed in it's new location. The reblooming Azaleas that I have came from Alabama via Ebay and said they were hardy to Zone 4. They did rebloom last year, but most of my Azaleas are suffering chlorosis this year. I'm told it's probably from all of the rain, I just hope that they are not all root eaten. All 6 of my deciduous azaleas fell victim to the voles.
I'm with Sally, a crepe myrtle would be nice. I have 4 Red Rockets and they do fine here, but I'm sure that it's colder at your location. Maybe you could try a Sungold Buddleiha or a white Lilac. My favorite new shrub this year is a Clethra Hummingbird. The blooms are white and the smell is devine. The bees just love it.

Lady, It's so windy here, I didn't think that even tied burlap would stay put. I keep putting more stakes down into holding my wire cages as I find them tilted from the wind. We had another storm Saturday that cracked a 2' trunk on my neighbors oak right in half about 35' above ground. The entire top of that tree is now on the ground covering his whole yard. Yesterday's storm had trees felled across all of the roads. Our northern regions had snow yesterday, but it melted immediately. Those plant stakes for the evergreen sound like a good idea. I have some Skyrocket Junipers that could benefit from that, but we didn't get any snow last year.

Stormyla, My older Azaleas are showing a bit of chlorosis. They seem to do that from time to time. Josh's looks terrible but I wondered if it was just too much sun his looks scorched to me.
Sally I was thinking about a crepe myrtle. I bought one for myself last year and it was so pretty I also picked up a starter at Critters swap so I have a small red one that needs planting.Along with a few Red Buds that also need planting. They came from seeds that Josh helped me collect so I think he should have one of them.
It's cold and windy out there today but the sun is shining and my veggie garden is calling, gotta go.........

We get strong winds too and the wind is bitter cold. I think it was last year where a small piece of the spiral stuck out of the bottom of the burlap and that turned brown and I had to cut it off, so that proved to me that the burlap was doing the job. We didn't have the almost continous snow cover like we usually get last year. The snow acts as a blanket against the wind.
Well, it is snowing now but not covering the grass yet.

WOW, time flies when you are having fun!!! I got out there and at first thought that I was nuts, it was colder than I thought but the weeding was going well so I stayed. After awhile I was pretty comfortable so I stayed a little longer. Did a good job but there is so much more to do.
The clouds have moved in and it's not as sunny as it was. Now that Ric is up I may stay inside for awhile but I sure would like to get back out there again later today.
Lady, How the snow doing up there?

Holly Here it is at 10:30 this morning.

Snow flakes are still coming down but not the big fluffy wet ones like this morning. The side streets have a slushy covering but that is all.

Thanks for the picture Lady, I'm still enjoying our fall leaves, not ready for snow yet. I know snow can create such a hardship for many people but I love when it snows. Is that your evergreen topiary in the picture? Very pretty.

Holly, yes it is, good eye! I bought a regular shaped full tree at Wal-Mart cost about $25.00 and shaped it myself. Sort of a hold your breath and start cutting. I plan on wrapping it this weekend, I like to give it a shot in the cold first before wrapping, in case there are any bag bugs hidding.

Here is a close up.

I've been in and out of the house all day. Took Ric out to show him what I did in the veggie garden this morning and stayed about another 1/2 hr or more. Time really runs away from me when I'm outside. Then I went and got the wheel barrow for another job later and as I was sitting here decided to put it to use on another job. I had a lot of millet growing around my bird feeder and I noticed that the neighbor's cat has been hiding in it so I wanted it gone. I saved the seed heads and pulled the stalks out. While I was in the vicinity I pulled all my Perilla looks like the seeds are all gone from that.

I'll have some red perilla seeds available, as I harvested some before frost... Holly won't need seeds... they are pretty remarkable self-sowers!

Don't know about you all but my digging today consisted of digging out the winter long johns and wishing the cold would go away. We had light snow this morning as the tail end of the snow went Northeast of us. There were no seeds on the long johns. :)

All hold over flowers are now rooted cuttings being pinched close by our large Southeastern windows. We are ready for next spring but may need to wait awhile for it to appear.

I will have lots of goodies to share at Critters next RU when it gets scheduled. They are nearly all sampled here in this picture. A couple of the X-Mas Catcus are in bud looking more like showtime will begin in another two weeks.

Love the carousel horse.

Not sure about "fun", but seems like it's been forever since I posted :( I've been following along but have been trying to get used to new computer recently installed and getting everything organized and back to normal - hopefully I'll be able to catch up soon!

Lady, I love your topiary - what a neat DIY project and much cheaper than buying one already trained! I might have to keep my eyes open for a good specimen and try it myself - I'm looking for something "different" to plant in the area where I want to dig for the new pond/stream :)

Last week in anticipation of the new computer I spent three days cleaning and missed all the beautiful weather for working outside :( I'm paying for it this week - have been working in the cold and WIND with layers of extra clothing! I started this project back in August and here it is almost November and I'm finally getting back to it. This garden used to be in full sun when first planted and has always been called the 'herb garden' but I've had to switch the whole 'theme' as the trees grew and the 'sunny' plants suffered because they were in too much shade. The only plant that didn't suffer was the Comfrey and it had become a nuisance almost swallowing everything in its path. A lot of the other plants had suffered from the two years of drought we've experienced :( I'm ashamed to say that since I didn't "like" this garden anymore, I rarely took the time to give it the extra water the other gardens received. Anyhow, this was finally the week to tackle the final stages of 'clean up' and start planting. Unfortunately the first day was spent moving some of the plants I wanted to save and tossing others (yes, I actually threw away some plants! LOL) I have no idea how many plants I've planted but I've still got spaces to fill :( After freezing my butt off for two days I finally took a break yesterday and spent some time inside organizing my photos. It's amazing looking back at old photos how much things have changed! It's actually kind of sad, I'm not sure if I liked this bed better as a sunny 'herb garden' or the shade garden it will be in the spring :( I'm going to take a few photos of what I've accomplished since the weekend even though you can't see much because most of what I planted is dormant but wanted to show you what made me sad - this is when I "liked" this garden, photo was taken 8 years ago.

Another shot, taken a little farther away - wait until you see the new photos and see how much the trees have grown!

This one's just for fun - a scanned photo from the fall of 1999 when I moved here and started planting this garden :)

Oops, actually found a photo that was taken in August before I started moving and tossing plants.
What a difference! After attempting to organize all my photos I realize I have a new winter project - working on my journal to show the progression of the gardens over the years!

Oh rcn, I agree that the first photo is really gorgeous. The lay out is somewhat like I want my steep front yard to eventually look like.

Not done yet, even tho tomorrow is November 1.
I'll be planting two nice pots of big, scented Hosta that "magically' appeared where my bachelor Jim Dandy winterberry used to be. Plus two baby azaleas.Thanks claypa! claypa came by to swap those and I got to give him the five cent tour and talk plant stuff. It is so cool with DG to be able to discuss things with someone who knows what you're talking about., plantwise.

Well I did get some pictures of the "herb garden" but it doesn't show much, everything is so small or dormant, but at least they're planted! But it does show the bright color on the Japanese Maple when viewed from the deck :) The original path has taken a new direction - used to be a V shape leading from the driveway but removed one side of the 'V' and used the slate for the other path. Unfortunately I now need four more pieces :(

Basically the same photo but from a slightly different angle - this is the best color we've ever seen on this Japanese Maple - it just glows when the sun hits it!

Beautiful, Is that a blue spruce next to the Japanese Maple? The colors go beautifully together.

Will move us over to a new garden bed soon.....Couple more days....

Gita

Holly, that's the 'Blue Ice' Cypress http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/79394/ that's growing beside our deck on the other side of the driveway. It just amazes me when I look at older pictures and realize how much it's grown in the last 8 years. When I first moved here it was just below the railing of the deck - now it's almost 10' higher than the deck!

I thought it looked a bit wispy in the first picture to be a spruce. What a beautiful tree.
The deck is painted except for a few boards, the replacement lattice and under deck supports.Ric's picking up more stain and some lattice today or tomorrow and I can paint that and then he can install it under the deck. While we have the lattice out we are going to pick up a scoop or so of stone to toss in under the deck. Buddy loves to lay in under the deck and gets so muddy. I thought if we put in a bed of stone it would still be nice and cool but not muddy. Since that deck is next to the pool it really gets muddy under there. I'm still weeding, cleaning out plant debris and working on the veggie garden. And I'm ashamed to say that there are still a few plants in the driveway to be planted. I think several of them may end up over at Josh's house.
Here is a bit of fall color from my yard. Red Maple.

This message was edited Nov 3, 2008 7:15 AM

All the work getting the house plants back inside is paying off big time several of them are blooming for me and most of the plants are doing very well. I have a few that are a bit rough and a few signs of bugs here and there but all in all they are looking pretty happy. There is a Neem co-op going on right now and I will be ordering some later today maybe I can get rid of those last pesky pests. I have gotten them all arranged so that I can get in and out of both sliding doors and I can see and get to all the plants to care for them. In the next few weeks I will need to make serious headway cleaning out the upstairs room where most of them will have to go for Christmas or I won't have room for a tree. LOL
Saturday was my Hobby Greenhouse meeting and they always have a raffle $5.00 worth of tickets got me a Banana, Purple Taro,Orchid and a broad leaf creeping phlox. By the time we build the green house it will already be overfilled. LOL

I had fun visiting sallyg this weekend on my way to Virginia. Her dog is really nice, too. I think she wanted to come with me, because she hopped right in the car! (Addie, not sallyg). I can't imagine why though.
I'm planting winterberries in front of my little blue spruce in the back yard, where the maple used to be. I'm digging the stump out myself, which is going s l o w ly but surely. I got some pruning blades for the sawzall to cut the roots. It would have been $150 or so to get the stump ground out, but I want it gone entirely. It's great not having a thirty foot tall and wide Norway maple dominating the small back yard. And no raking!!!

The idea is to have nice winter color out the back door, kind of like the red of the maple in front of that spruce of yours, Holly. And I love the topiary and the cypress pics.

Here's a fuzzy picture of a blueberry I saw in the woods:

Yup- its true. Addy will not pass up a chance to "hint" that she'd like to go for a ride!
I look forward to an arrangement of hosta, fern, daylily(if I decide it can stay) and swamp milkweed. Picture will be forthcoming next spring as those things are not at their best now, you all know.

Oh Sally - What a beautiful dog. Thanks for sharing the picture.

Ruby

Thanks Claypa, I'm afraid that the Blue Spruce isn't doing very good. It has been dropping needles even tho we have sprayed it well. I took samples to the extension office of both damaged and undamaged branches and they didn't find anything. It's approx 30 years old and I may end up needing to replace it. :{
Well, I have finally finished staining the deck, for as long as it took, you would think it was a huge deck, not! Last spring I pressured washed most of it Ric kept jumping in and doing little spots, over my protests. LOL I stained the lower deck and the lattice rail along with several other things in the yard. But I never got to the rest of the upper deck and the lower deck on the other side until a couple of weeks ago. We took out damaged lattice from under the deck and while we have it out Ric is going to put a bed of stone under the deck to keep Buddy out of the mud. Once the stone is down the new stained lattice will be put up. I'll post pictures once it's completely finished.

I managed to flop the stump over and over into the woods. It took me an hour just to get it out of the hole. Good thing maples don't have tap roots! Now I have to figure out where to put the shrubs I've been collecting. It's like having a new yard.

Claypa, What a big job digging stumps isn't easy!
Poor Ric crawled off to bed a few minutes ago. He unloaded the stones into a wheelbarrow and then unloaded the wheelbarrow into 5 gal buckets which he pushed under the deck and crawled around under there dumping them. He could dump a few wheelbarrows at the edge and could throw some shovel fulls in under but mostly it was a bucket brigade maned by one. I can't believe that he got that whole job done in one day.

Well here is my finished deck. This is an old deck that Ric built years ago. A good PW and coat of stain and it looks like new. There will be one more piece of lattice put up under the deck to the right with a small space from the post to the pool side for Buddy to use when he wants a cool spot to lay. You can't see the stone, but he put a 2 in bed under the whole upper deck. Which is approx 10 X 16 ft. Today is rest and relax day starting out with a soak in the hot tub, massage, and visiting a few family members. Nothing the resembling work will be done today..............

Good for you, Holly!!!

Nice!

I'm finally getting around to putting the garden to sleep for the coming winter. I lost control fo the weeds this year again, not enough energy to keep mulching the beds I dug. I also have about 80 daff and allium bulbs to put out, just waiting for it to warm up just a bit. Here's a pic of DragonflyLake which is really a pond pretending it's a lake, LOL!

HollyAnn love the deck and got any room in the hot tub? I helped set up for a Holiday show last night and the bending over to tape off booths really hurt my back!

Are hot tubs hard to keep clean? Do you have to spend a lot of money to keep them hot or just turn them on for a while before you are ready to use it? I never wanted one before but that sure looks tempting!

edited for spelling errors, so embarrassing! I can spell, just can't type!

This message was edited Nov 8, 2008 9:10 AM

dragonfly--I love your pond/lake. I would love to be able to retire to a place with water on the property.
I pulled up my gourd vines- tired of waiting for frost to kill them. I looked for one weed of fleabane for a picture to compare for stormyla in the ID forum, and think I found one or two. But the henbit
The henbit,,Oh the henbit!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And dug into some awesome compost that'd been buried under the gourd vines. I 'm using some to enrich a spot by my driveway to start a new sedum and rock minigarden. I think I should get some turkey grit or sharp sand for drainage. Well, it is a dry spot anyway because of its location...

Dragonfly, that is one beautiful photo. You should have entered it into the contest.

Sally, I'm amazed that you always know the names of weeds. There are so many of them. Every year I have to wait for things to bloom to figure out if they are weeds or something I planted. Every year I get new kinds of weeds growing!!!!

Dragonfly, Love your lake what a peaceful setting. Our hot tub is an old Hot Springs, we picked it up second hand maybe 8-10 years ago. They are very efficient Ric thinks maybe $15 a month to run it but I really don't know. Yes we do keep it running all the time it takes about a day to reheat. It's been wonderful for Ric's arthritis he puts epsom salts in it and soaks several times a week and if he's real bad or has done too much sometimes several times a day. It's a great spot to sit and talk with a glass of wine.
Stormyla, I have weed issues, too. Never sure if it's a plant or what in the spring and quite often let things grow until I decide and then I'm still not always sure like my evening primrose. We have a very nice selection of weeds at my house, too.
That Sally has a pretty good knowledge of plants. ;}
My oldest daughter Julie was just here for a visit and sometime later today I'll be seeing Josh. I told him he needs to get more stuff out of my garage as I have been staging things in the driveway to go it there. Ric wants to get a load of firewood so I'll be doing that sometime later, too.
This is my main focus for this morning. I had been waiting for one of the boys to come over and help Ric get the monster water iris out of my birdbath/pond. I removed all the other plants and set them aside. Now that it's out Ric will check out the pump and I can stack the other plants back in the bottom for winter storage then I'll clean off the bird bath and refill it. I'll cut the monster iris into pieces and store them in the side of the compost pile till next spring.

Sally, I just moved some sedums and hen's and chicks back outside the other day. They were part of what came out of my stone wall and I had potted them up when I was tearing every thing out. Finally got around to moving them back into the new bed. I didn't get to put them into the cracks just tucked them in at the top of the wall for the winter. I hope the dirt isn't too rich for them, should be OK till next spring when I can work them into the cracks. If you need any sedums let me know I have several types. I'd love to see pictures of your project

Spent about 2 1/2 hours outside today, had on a fleece hat, pullover and Hubby's old Carhartt jacket with a broken zipper. Was out till the temp started dropping more and started to feel chilled.
I got my shrubs wrapped, put away some garden statuary, emptied some 6 packs of annuals I didn't get planted and put some unplanted baby perennials in my wintering-over spot. So I did get quit a lot done.
Holly, those water plants sure have a way of taking over, I think you have to devote more dividing time to them then the plants in the garden.
Here is a picture of my Topiary all bundled up for the winter.