Mauryhill Photo Tour

I like that bronzy look, will look them up. Thanks

These are the adults that the teenage offshoots came from. They are bedded down cozy until next spring, at which point they will make the big move to your place. (Now that's a question: Are you ready for teenagers?)

Well I think they will fit in as most of mine will be teenagers next spring, they are no longer babies, I do have a few that are just toddlers. Have very little adults. LOL I think I can handle them, as long as there are no
bullies. LOL

make sure they don't get into the weed hee hee

I think they call them Juveniles, I don't want any I have to send to detention. LOL

I can just picture your garden with a little fenced area with a "detention' sign. LOL

Thats to funny, I'll have to keep the younger ones, with bared gates saying keep out 'Pre School kids only'

Tilly, I'm dredging this thread back up at your suggestion, even though my yard is not so lovely as the tours we have been treated to more recently. Maybe someone else will be brave enough to post their garden tour if they see that not all our gardens appear to be fantastically beautiful and well designed.

Anyway, here are some pics of my new fruit trees. First one is the plum tree. It is planted to the east side of a new bed I am putting in where my compost heaps used to be. I had thought prepping this location was going to be easy, but unfortunately there were several nettle plants that were sending runners out into my nice composty soil and it took hours to dig them out.

Ooooh, that soil looks nice.

And your yard and gardens are much farther along than mine!!

Next is the Compact Stella cherry tree. Beyond the fence you can see the neighbor's chicken yard and their unusual and interesting house.

Yep, Kathy the soil under the compost heap was pretty nice, but that location slopes into a swail, so I did mound up compost and soil there to level it up with the gooseberry bush. You can kind of see in that picture the grayer soil to the left that wasn't under the compost and is a funny combination of sand above and clay below because the guy we bought the property from had some fill dirt piled up in some spots for his septic system business and it appears in various locations.

Moving on, here is the Pear tree, and beyond it the apple.

Last new fruit tree, the Emperor Francis cherry, which is supposed to be a yellow cherry.

Beyond you can see one of our ancient apple trees by the corner of the house. It has a hole in the trunk that you can practically reach your hand through, but for now it still cranks out the apples every year, and they are really sweet and good, and big as well.

This message was edited Feb 21, 2009 9:28 PM

Now for some help. I have been struggling with indecision about what shrub to plant in this corner bed. There are several perennials around the edges, Heucheras, a Lavender, a Dierama, a Carex, and a few other little things. There is also a tiny little Evergreen huckleberry shrub planted to the middle left, under the tree. This will eventually get to be 4 feet tall or so. I am trying to figure out what shrub to plant in the middle right of the bed. I was thinking something tallish but not very wide spreading. I have a flowering currant that needs to go in the ground somewhere, but I wasn't sure if this place would cause it to be lopsided or sunburnt since it is so close to the house and would only get western sun in the afternoon. Any thoughts on this....or ideas for what might work there?

Oops, forgot the picture.

What about a lilac? There's some lilac discussion going on on another thread . . I also like ninebark. Smoke tree likes sun and you can keep it cut back. One of the small varieties of Japanese maple would look nice there. Oh, and wiegela and lavatera are both nice shrubs that like sun and can take pruning. Mock orange is another.

Holly, thats what I like about the tours mostly for us newbies, The tours from all those that have work so long on theirs is where we get the best ideas and the help from them, I am proud of my place, junk or not but we have ideas and so called plans ( they may change at times, but we have the plan) Wish others would share theirs also.
If I had that spot, Mmmm I would go all out. 'Tiger eyes'

Mock orange would be nice there as the scent would come in thru those windows! Or one of my new faves, the 'peanut butter' tree which also would bring the scent in through the windows.

Thanks everyone. All of the above are good ideas. Now I need to investigate the growing needs and form of each one and see if I can make a decision (something I find challenging at times). I have always wanted a lilac, but haven't got one yet, and that would give flowers for the house too. Tiger eyes I have seen in Sofer's pictures, and that sure is a beautiful and dramatic plant. Smoke tree and Maple both have lovely red foliage that would look great against the gray wall. And then there is the scent coming through the windows idea. that is my bedroom window, and it would be so relaxing to have a lovely aroma wafting in. i planted a Sarcoccoca around the corner under the other window, and I caught a little drift from it as I was digging a hole for another plant in that bed. Very nice...but it is quite a small plant right now and is several feet below window level at the moment. I saw a Weigela (wine and roses) on a nursery website once, and thought it was lovely too with pink flowers and dark leaves..

Clerodendron is a fun plant - its leaves do smell like peanut butter when you crush them. They can get big, though.

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/cltr5.htm

One more question...What are the PH needs of these plants? I have been realizing that I often put things together in the same bed either because I like how they look or because I just bought them on impulse and they must go in somewhere and there happens to be an empty spot. I am now trying to be more aware of the plants' cultural needs. It gets so complicated with sun or shade, drainage or lack thereof, size of plant, color of leaf and flower, PH. I need some kind of cross reference to keep all this in mind when choosing plants.

That corner does get kind of wet with runoff from the roof, and it is clay soil, which is ubiquitous at my place. i put a load of compost in, but it seems to disappear into the clay in little time. Would any of the plant options mentioned tolerate that, along with drying out somewhat in the summer because of the western sun exposure?

The plants I mentioned are pretty tough and like sun - the mock orange likes sun and can take some clay. My lavatera is in clay. The ninebark is a native, so it can handle clay conditions and the dry summers and wet winters pretty well. Lavender is also tough and tolerates some clay.

Here are some great pictures of mock orange: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&sa=3&q=mock+orange

And details from the plant files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2727/

Pictures of lavatera: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=lavatera

Details from the plant files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/24/

Thanks for bumping up this thread. For some reason it had gotten unwatched for a while. I do love everyone's pics and ideas.

Thanks for the links Kathy. Both of those are very pretty. The lavatera reminds me of hollyhocks. I still haven't made any decision (may take me weeks) but it is fun to dream of all the possibilities. From what I am reading about these different plants, all of the suggestions will do okay in the clay soil except perhaps the Smoke tree and the Japanese Maple which could need better drainage than I have to offer. I do like both of those though, and just might have to build another raised bed somewhere to accommodate them.

There are lavatera shrubs all over Ballard. They make beautiful sprays against a building. The one I have did great in heavy clay the first year - I'll wait to see what this winter has done to it. No mildew on the leaves at all - it's a great way to get a hollyhock-like plant here.

But I still like the idea of mock orange - the fragrance is so lovely.

So many plants; so little time.

Still pondering and researching. On the current short list are:

Rhus "Tiger Eyes" (Plusses are the fabulous foliage colors and interesting form. Minuses are possibly outgrowing the site-not exactly sure how big they get, different sources suggest different ultimate size and possible suckering)

Philadelphus "Innocence" (Plusses are wonderful fragrance when in bloom, pretty white flowers that would go with any other colors nearby. Minuses are possibly sprawling form)

Physocarpus "Coppertina (Plusses are interesting foliage color that would contrast and show up against the gray wall of the house. Minuses are possible suckering and need to prune to get good form, which I am very bad at doing)

Callicarpa, either bodinieri or dichotoma (Plusses are purple berries. Minuses are I'm not sure what the if any interest the foliage and form have the rest of the year)

Probably the decision will ultimately be made by which of these I happen upon first and fall for in Nursery visits this year. Or, knowing myself, I might just buy something totally unplanned one day that catches my eye and need a place to plant it.....and there is that empty spot......

Any further thoughts on or experiences with the options welcome : > )

callicarpa bod.: I have one that is almost 8 years old. It is planted to give afternoon shade to other plants that prefer that siting. It is very tall - mine's pushing 8', and has a nice arching shape. You can selectively prune out entire branches to give it a mor eopen look. The berries are metallic-violet, and stunning. I like the texture it provides along with the shape - a nice easy backdrop shrub. dichotoma is shorter, get about 4 -5' tall' if I remember correctly. If you have the room plant them. They are very low maintenance.

I absolutely love Physocarpus and have 'Diablo', 'Dart's Gold', 'Coppertina' (this is an outstanding color and looks beautiful combined with Cotinus coggygria 'Grace'. Physocarpus will grow quickly and will be at least 6 ft tall and wide - maybe too big for that space?? Its natural form is a 'spray', though, so that will allow you to underplant. That having been said - definitely pick one up if you can get it. The bark is lovely - it does well in the PNW - the blossoms are nice (the bees love them). You can't go wrong with this plant.

I think the Rhus might not really allow you to underplant, which I think you might want to do in a bed of this type . . . Soferdig should know more about that.

Best I got on Tiger eyes. Get Steve LOL

Mine is small as yet, they are not fast growers.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/102887/

I have started a new tour thread with projects form the Summer, and I think I'm getting these cross links done okay. This might do it.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1048775/