Mauryhill Photo Tour

Well, since I suggested it, I figured I better follow through. It would be much more satisfying if we could all congregate in person at each member's home, and maybe that will happen someday, but I'd like to get a start on the virtual photo tours to give a sense of our garden homes. This way those far away members (across the country or across the ocean) can come along as well.

So here is the beginning of my humble home garden tour. It will start with the beds by the parking area and up to the front gate. I'll get pictures of other places in the yard next week. Gotta start somewhere.... I grabbed the camera kind of late in the day after finishing up edging my new iris bed (more about that later). The sun was close to the horizon, and it's Fall, but luckily there is beauty to be found in every season.

Having trouble with my connection, so this may be a very slow tour.

On the other side of the car is a raised bed bordered on parking side by a low wall constructed of broken concrete chunks. The mainstays of the bed are a Ceanothus, an Evergreen Osmanthus shrub, and a Chinese pistacio tree.

Here's the Pistacio, bare branches right now, but a brilliant orange-red before the leaves fall. it is supposed to reach about 20 feet tall at maturity.

The opposite side of the raised bed needs attention, as the first shrubs I planted there didn't work out (Mahonia with very prickly leaves) and the dog has taken over a section under the Ceanothus as his lookout location.

Further along is doing a little better, though greatly overgrown with senecio and cotoneaster. The gray leaves of the former and the red berries of the latter are pleasing together at this time of year. i also enjoy the Mexican feather grass with its soft plumes.

Across the 'grass river' from the broken concrete raised bed is a wide bed on the south side of the house. It contains a yellow flowered evergreen Berberis, an overgrown Escallonia in desperate need of pruning, a Calycanthus, and various smaller plants including a Gladwyn iris with amazing orange fruits in the seed pod.

Other end of that bed...

All of the previous photos are outside my deer fence, so I have experimented and found things they generally leave alone. Last one tonight....The new iris bed leading to the entry gate.

No irises in there yet, as I just got the edging placed and the compost incorporated. It will have daffodils and crocuses and a few derr resistant perennials as well.

Mauryhill - what a wonderful tour. I love how your low wall accents the plantings. A Chinese Pistachio Tree; does flower? Your dog is beautiful and looks so content in his spot. I like the bed with the Mexican Feather Grass also. Your tour has given me some ideas to add to my notebook for the day when I actually get to start planting things. I'm still working on structure (clearing really) and defining my spaces/reclaiming them from nature.

Thank you for beginning our garden tours.

Thanks Ladybug! The Pistacio has only inconspicuous flowers, but it has lovely light salmon and green colored new leaves in the Spring and its real glory comes along in the Fall. I had a heavenly bamboo planted next to it to mirror the red/orange, but it died one winter that was particularly severe with ice and freezing temps. I have heavy clay soil everywhere, and it might have been that too. Now there is an open space that I'd like to fill in, where the lambs ear has taken over as a ground cover until i figure out what will survive the deer, the clay, and complement the other plants nearby.

This message was edited Nov 16, 2008 10:48 PM

Holly love the tour and the puppy ( I know), was not sure how we were going to to the tours, but you have done it, good job. Love your place.
I will link this to the tread.
The house in the foreground, does anyone live in it? looks cool.
Want to know more about the feather grass. How would it work mixed with Irises?
If weather is nice in AM, I will be next, Love your idea. ^_^

This message was edited Nov 16, 2008 11:16 PM

What a great tour. You certainly have put a lot of work into it. Thanks for identifying what you have growing. Being new, I don't recognize everything. And those itty bitty plants grow up! I am envious. Nice dog. I am envious there too. I want a dog, but DH says no, we have 2 cats, and a million moles. I think we are feeding all the deer too, not intentionally. We need a fence like yours.

Mauryhill - Thanks for getting the tours started. Since I am down here in Portland I won't get to see the gardens in person so the photos are great. Your garden makes me once again want to live in the country but for now I have to be content with my city garden. I will post photos when I get a chance to take them! Love the dog.

Tilly, I think feather grass would work ok with irises. It doesn't get very big and would not overwhelm them. It does re-seed a bit, but they are easy to pull out where not wanted.
That dark gray house with the blue roof and all the windows was built by the neighbors a few years ago. They designed it themselves, so it is fun and unique with the cupola on top. I think that must be for catching a view of Mt. Rainier.

Lynn, the deer fence works somewhat, though not completely. Occasionally there is a visitor who finds a way in, under, over or through and then they keep trying because they know there is something delectable to be had inside the perimeter even though an old dog might bark at them occasionally. He sleeps most of the time now, so is not much of a deterrent. It can be hard to figure out where the fence has been breached if it isn't an outright breakthrough.

Portland, I would love to see your city garden. Small spaces can be just as lovely as large swaths of garden. Also, you have that great porch to sit on in sun and rain while viewing your garden comfortably.

Wonderful yard, Holly. Now I know how to "picture you" working in your garden. How old is your dog? He has quite a coat. That must be some work.

Think about physocarpus (ninebark) 'coppertina' for fall color with your pistachio. Mine still has its leaves and they have been rivaling the Japanese maple in the intensity of red. I love it as well as cotinus coggrygia (smoke bush) grace. They were both so red this year.

That iris bed will be so much fun to plant. It looks perfect!!

Thanks Holly, I really think that would cool mix with the Irises and the Dals. do you think that would work here?

Tilly, I think feather grass, and maybe some other short grasses like Carex ice dance (or there's a curly leaved one whose name I can't remember) could work there to soften the line of the bed. Maybe a few things to trail over the edge too, like Lithodora diffusa or a creeping phlox or thyme. I don't have a lot of experience with things like this, I just plop things in the ground and see what happens. Those are beautiful dahlias! Mine have gotten powdery mildew and look terrible.

Kathy, I even have a coppertina that I have been growing up from baby size in the pot ghetto until it gets big enough to compete in the yard. It could work in that empty spot by the pistacio if it would not be likely to be munched by the deer. Do you know if it can handle the big 4 hoofed wildlife?

Hi Tils - how wide is the bed?
I would hesitate to plant Carex 'Ice Dance' there unless it's a very large space - it will get huge, especially if the soil is amended. I dug up one that had reached 3' in diameter in 2 years. Not fun.
If you are looking for some Stipa (Mexican Feather grass), I can oblige you as I have been growing them for several years and have young ones to share. Also have some of the carex flagellifera: it's bronzy-green & takes full sun. Please let me know.

I grow many types of grasses - they are fun, and easy. Well, except for those gigantic Miscanthus that are a bear to divide.
(Think axe, machete, beer & plenty of help. Then - more beer.)

Nix the Carex ice dance. I had no idea. Mine is very small just now, but it's a baby. I better watch out. Do Carex testacea or Carex Frosty Curls also behave so thuggishly (is that a word?)? If so i need to reposition them while they are manageable.

How about a Helianthemum as a groundcover companion for irises? They have small greyish leaves and are low growing, with a pretty summertime flower in pink, red , yellow or orange depending on the variety.

Kathy, Doggly (a.k.a. Methow - his official name on his veterinary paperwork) is guessed to be about 15 years old. He was found abandoned on the roadside in the Methow River valley by my former neighbors. They gave him to us about 6 years ago, after he had already adopted us as his second family on New Year's Eve 2000, the turn of the millenium. He had been frightened by someones fireworks in the road and barged into my doorway, making himself at home. He came to visit after that, sometimes for several days at a time. In his prime, he would thunder down the driveway to scare away any deer that dared set hoof on our little acre. Now he totters around and takes naps under the porch or the shrubbery. Yes, the coat is a major piece of work, constantly full or briars and dredlocks. There are chunks of it shed all over the rug. He loves the snow. I guess with a fur coat like that.....

What a wonderful picture!! Boy and his Dog (or Dog and his Boy). I'm so glad Doggly found a forever home with you.

I have Ice Dance and I'm amazed at how quickly it's grown. It hasn't really done well in wet clay - a plus.

Holly, I think that Coppertina would do fine with traffic. Physocarpus is a native here. I have Diablo growing in wet/winter and dry/summer clay. It seems fine. I've heard that there are those who cut their physocarpus down completely in the spring to keep it small. I like the bark, so I am pruning selectively for a few large branches. Diablo is a little more spidery that the native. I don't know yet what Coppertina will do - mine's young yet. I can't imagine the deer will faze it much.

Kate - love the (hic!) grass-splitting party idea!!

Katye,
I want to go to your next dividing party, sounds like a hoot. "more beer please" As the axe falls. LOL
I did not know about the Ice Dance, or do I? I got some from Pix at Gordons, I think she told me I can't recall. Was so many things to try to remember that day. I also got some Wooly Thyme cuttings from Catgal,
Still in GH and doing good. The bed is 2' wide and I do want to add to it. I think the grasses and small trailing plants would be great to give it a more of a filled in look. The dals will be divided this spring and wont be so full.
I would love some, would look get around the bird house poles.

Love the story of Doogly, he looks very happy. ^_^

What I was thinking with our tours, is to remember. Where we took each pic and to show them again thru the seasons. What do you think?

Hi Mary -

I'm a big fan of feverfew (tanicetum parthenium). There's one with a single form of flower, one with a double form of flower and one with lime-green foliage.

It's an annual and reseeds readily, but is very easy to pull out. I will have lots in the garden next year of all forms. It is really under-appreciated as a late-summer filler plant. That might be something to add to your bed.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/319/

Kathy,
Not so sure if that is what I am looking for in this spot, but would like some, have other places it would work really good. And also would like to see, all the plants you are talking about in your yard. I don't have alot of time to look them all up. Please. ^_^

Holly, can't wait to see the rest, went back and reviewed the first pic's again. I like that Iris with the orange fruit, will look it up. I bet it is hard to find non edibles for you hoofed friends, for some reason they do not come on my property, I see them all up and down my road but then again I am the lowest in the valley. maybe they don't like soggy LOL
I would love to have a house like that, all those windows, Oh to die for.
Got my tour ready, but will not post until you have posted all of yours.
Waiting.... Waiting.... Open open Ha Ha
Hugs

Oh Tilly, don't wait for me! It could be days before I can really get out to take more pictures, and weeks before I've made it all around the yard. If its not raining this weekend, I'll get a few more, but if its drippy who knows when.... Then it'll be into Thanksgiving, and then I have to write report cards which takes me hours and hours.

That Gladwyn iris can be found in plant files under iris foetidissima. It actually doesn't smell so bad, and that's only if you crush the leaf or roots. The flower isn't much to speak of, but the leaves are evergreen, the berries are interesting, and the deer don't bother it (the smell of a broken leaf is supposed to be like roast beef--maybe they don't like that, hee,hee). There is supposed to be a variegated variety as well, which I'd like to find a source for. Apparently the seeds take a very long time to germinate (months or more), but if you'd like to try it I have plenty. This is the first year it fruited. They looked better before getting pounded down by the rain.

Here's a few more pictures taken at other times of year. First, beneath the Ceanothus this Spring. The Hellebore is in bloom. I had just planted a Heuchera, but it did terribly there and I need to move it to a better place. I want to replace it with another Hellebore, but can't find any in local nurseries just now. I'm trying to get various trailing sedums going in the crevices of the broken concrete wall

Here is the same Ceanothus in the snow.

And in bloom (I love that blue--the leaves are not that spectacular the rest of the year, though they are evergreen), when the grass was in great need of being whacked back during our rainy Spring this year.

A close-up of one of my favorite sedums. Can't remember the name, but it has a reddish blush on blue leaves.

Going under the grape arbor at twilight...

I would like to try, I have alot of Hells and more waiting to germ. it takes 265 days for a hell to germ ( Laurie help) . I did very well with the last seeds from her and have more I'm waiting on. And waiting to collect seeds from my own ones I got from Heidi.
Not sure if you can see the little pots on the right side of the GH, those are all hells. should be popping up in Dec. I hope.

Is that 'Dark Star' the Ceanothus?

O.K. I'll go harvest some. I have several things I need to send you. I'm very bad at getting to the post office, generally at work before it opens and leaving work after it has closed.

You clearly have an abundance of plant germinating patience. How exciting to have the moment of new baby sprouting coming soon!

Yes, that's Dark Star. It was recommended as the one the deer would be most likely to leave alone and they don't bother it with its small resinous leaves. I had planned on pruning it to a more tree-like form, but I didn't know what to look for when purchasing, and got one that has many branches spreading form the base.

O Lord, I have a baby 'Dark Star' guess I better move it, not going to work where I put it.
I like this tour idea, we are finding out whats good and not good in places.

Tils - Echinaceas, and some of the Penstemons that tolerate more moisture would work, too. I will save some Stipa tenuissima "teenagers" for you. They will grow nicely by your Dahlias as long as they get the sun they love, and not too wet in the winter. You can let me know - best time to hand them over might be at the next event we have; they overwinter quite well in my soil.
Carex 'Ice Dance' is a fantastic plant, but it does fill a space "fully". In my opinion, it looks/does best where it has room to spread, and not competing with its neighbours.


Funny how we are geared towards looking ahead to the next growing season.
I can't handle the Christmas creep, but have no problem thinking in terms of February/March: sowing veg seeds & next year's annuals...

Tilly - the grass in the foreground is Stipa - it is about 3 1/2 years old, and about 30" tall.
The slightest breeze moves them. Turns a buff colour in Summer, otherwise it's green.

Thanks Katye.
Please save me some, I am interested.

Got it on my list, Tils!
I'll see if I can find a picture of the Carex...

This message was edited Nov 19, 2008 8:04 PM

This is the general shape of the Carex.
Not the best shot - but the flash went off. It's a bit dark when I get home nowadays.