Spring Projects - Show Us Yours!

I'm making progress on my spring projects but getting ready for our Open House this weekend is interfering with my plans! Once I can relax a little I'll get some pictures posted to show you what I've accomplished :)

sally, just wanted to pop in quick and tell you what a great job you did with the salvaged stone! Suggestion, something that has worked really well for me to "settle" the stones is the crushed rock they sell at Lowes or Home Depot. I'm not sure how much comes in a bag but it's fairly reasonable, about $3.00 a bag if I remember correctly. When I lived in Maine they called it "stone dust" but I think they call it something different on the bags. It's not as fine as sand but works much better - you just pour it over the stones and gently sweep it into the cracks with a broom. Once it's in place it's almost like cement yet still is easy to dig in if you want to plant something there. A lot of people use it in their alpine gardens to protect the crowns of rock garden plants so they won't rot. Just a thought :)

It is called "Something-or-other"--Step #1--and Step #2.... and comes in 40lb. bags. It is out in garden next to all the other bagged stone and it is sold to be put, about 3" deep, underneath stone or brick if you are laying a walkway. #1 (coarser) goes first--and #2 (finer) goes on top of that and also to sweep in between the pavers/stones you lay down. You can still finish up with sand as a final filler.....

Hope this helps.....

At the concrete block retail places stone dust can be purchased for about a dollar per five gallon bucket full. Trailer loads become much less expensive. Better yet we can go to the quarry and at least halve the cost of retail block retailers. A cupic yard will test the muscle of a trailer or smaller pick up truck when dry. Most states require that loads of material that could blow off must be covered. Do not make the "it rained last night" mistake or your truck or trailer may be confined where it last stopped until the dust dries out. LOL.....I speak from experience in hauling chicken poop as well as stone dust.

I have a hugh project that I didn't want this spring. My crabby neighbor installed this hideous fence down our bordering property. It is 250' long & 6' high.

There were nice shrubs planted along here, but her fence people dug them up and disposed of them, MY shrubs. What shrubs are left, they cut back severely, MY shrubs.

It would have been thoughtful to let you know beforehand so you could take care of them yourself.

She always claimed that her property went right to the tree line. But the survey showed that hers actually ended 3' back from the tree line. So now I have all of this space covered with grass behind a bed planted all with low WHITE flowering plants. But some of the shrubs and trees there prevent the access of a lawn mower.

So, I put down wet newspaper and rocks to kill the grass. The ground slopes down away from the tree line and there are big gaps below the bottom of the fence and the ground.

Yes, Jan. But she is a certifiable nut case.

So, I brought in 30 pickup truckloads of topsoil mixed with Mushroom soil and added peat & sand to it.

I used to tend this bed from both sides and the plants were all low so I could just step over them, I had to dig the plants out of one section to be able to get the wheel barrow back there.

Stormy, Sorry for your loss, any plant would look better than that glaring white vinyl, it's a shame you can't invite a local elementary class over to paint a mural of flowers on it. Something like that may drive the old crab over the edge. :-) LOL I think some trellises and vining plants will help give it a softer look. You could also go to the other side when it's dark out and plant some poison ivy for her. Ric

There are a number of shrubs planted here, but they are all young and tiny and most have WHITE blooms.

LOLOL - now that is funny as heck! "Accidental PI" -planting in the dark of the nite!

Good idea, Ric. I had to dig up 4 Hostas that were planted too close to it as they would rub against it when they got a little bigger. This whole area was completed shaded by her immense, never trimmed maples which extend 20 feet into my yard. They lose giant limbs in the storms and have twice pulled all of the wires and fittings off of my house.

She did not cut back any of the maples, but she butchered the two Norway Spruce growing directly behind my glider. I used to get morning sun in this bed, but not now. The part down by the glider will get afternoon sun.

My 3 very old Bridal Wreath Spirea are down the end by the road. They Have WHITE blooms and these WHITE concrete baskets filled with red annuals looked very pretty between them.

So now I am collecting trellises and vines and all kinds of colorful taller plants to fill in the background. Bec, Your Delphiniums are going back there. Thank you. There is NO accounting for some people's lack of taste.

On the good side, I do like the privacy it provides and it does give some structure to the bed. It will cut down some wind and particularly her millions of fallen Maple leaves. The white should reflect the sun and make it easier to grow things other than shade plants.

stormy!
I was just about to make the same, positive comment about this fence.
Not having seen the "before"--it looks pretty nice to me.....I can see all kinds of tall, colorful annuals there--Hollyhocks--Clematis--Lilies--Morning Glories, etc....

As the saying goes--"If life gives you lemons--make Lemonade"---OR--if you have been following the Lemoncello Post under recipes--Make Lemoncello!

Here:..... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/760056/

Smile! You are awesome--and no fence is going to change that!!!!

Gita

This message was edited May 22, 2009 12:31 PM

Thanks, Gita. You are so sweet. Wow, Thanks, I didn't even think about Hollyhocks. I'll have to go get some now so they'll bloom next year. What a great idea!

...........and if you are absolutely sure that fence is right on the line paint your side any color you wish. I think pink with blue poka dots in random sizes would be nice. roglmbo

Sheesh, If they did that in Jersey the township would make her take it down. I kinda like the fence though. Of course she def didn't go about it in the right way. Or purple with yellow polka dots.

Stormyla, LadyG put up a fence like that. She had neighbor issues and it was her last resort. I know she did quite a bit to soften up the stark white look. You should D-mail her she might have some good ideas.
Also give it some time you will get use to it, after all I can ignore that old mobile home behind me. LOL Holly

Stormy---

Among my zillions of seeds I have collected/traded/own, I have mixed Hollyhock seeds from someone????? Would they still sprout and bloom--or are you thinking about next year? Kind of in the "biennial" mode?
Be glad to send a baggie of them to you. Again--I have NO idea what they look like.......

How about some Foxgloves--while you are at it? You can seed them soon as well and enjoy those 3' spikes in bloom next year. I am sure you saw pictures of mine....

How about some Grandpa Ott MG? I have lots of seeds of that--as well as Cardinal Climber and also Blue Picotee MG's.....not so rambling....different leaves....

How about starting a Pyracantha and work on espaliering it?

You could also start a collection of ornamental, wrought iron sconces (or something similar) and hang them (how???) randomly along the fence...Kind of look at it as a blank canvas--250' long canvas!!!! WOW! So much potential!!!!
And you did NOT have to pay a penny for having this beautiful backdrop to your beautiful bed! And--it is NOT likely your neighbor will come and check up what you are doing to the "other" side of HER fence! I bet it cost her several thousand $$ to have that installed.....and it became a "gift" to YOU! See? Positive thinking.....
I don't know what shrubs you lost---but it is now in the past---Think of the future!!!!
And all the potential you have at your disposal.....VIVA Lemoncello!!!!!....:o)

"Grandpa" is so pretty! Bright blue with that magenta throat....However--it does climb up to your rafters! I have all kinds of volunteers coming up in the bed they were last year! NEVER again! It just about killed my Multi-Blue Clematis!!!! Priorities are priorities!

I am trying--bit by bit--to clean and dust and vacuum and straighten my house up for my "mystery" guest! Finding it hard to do--as I keep wanting to take breaks and sit at my computer and chat with you all.....Procrastination rules my life--but ONLY because I know i will get everything done when it is crunch time!

As of now--I have the rest of today (not much) and half of Sunday and all day Monday left--so, I am not exactly sweating it.....Need at least a couple hours to clean off my patio and the tables....Will be throwing out all my crippled tomato seedlings. They are "frozen in time"--and have NOT progressed any in the last few weeks.....WHY bother trying to plant them? They look just like they did when I posted my pictures taken a couple of weeks ago! 2" tall--and no leaves to speak of.....

Bought a "Sweet 100" red cherry tomato at Lowes today and planted it.....Have ONE more spot for ONE more tomato--or it will be the 3rd Mortgage Lifter I will be planting there....They did OK--for some reason! AMEN! Done with it!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...Maybe I should write another Poem, tongue in cheek, about my woes with seedlings this Spring...Hmmmmmmm........Should be a humorous Poem in the least.....Sort of a SAD joke?
I will have to wait some night--when I have had too much wine--and when my brain is all "liberated" from the mundane every day stuff so I can "flow" creative!!!

Wrote a Poem to my "Mystery man" last night. He never mentioned it (such a non-emotional man!).....Just does not want to appear "sensitive"....Oh, well!
Don't know what I will do with him--or....v-v....

OK! Digressing here.....Gita...

Grandpa Ott......

Blue Picotee MG. Seems to also have some pink ones mixed in.....

Want ANY of these??????

Gita

Gita, You are just full nof good ideas. I have been collecting some trellises and even bought a wrought iron sconce (pedastal type) last week. Now you've got me thinking about one that I left at the flea market. Although the idea of a series of ladders is also "growing" on me.

I remember admiring the MG's in Holly's window boxes so much. Such gorgeous blues the two of you have. I also want to look into that vine Critter suggested.

Gita, You have scared me away from MG's with all of the talk of them killing everything in your beds. Guess I'll go visit the MG forum.

I'm not worried about the shrubs. I suscribe to the philosophy that when something or someone leaves you it is because they or it has served it's purpose in your life. Gone but not forgotten!

I have a pyracantha around the other side of the house, that I've recently trimmed to start an Espalier with. Another project for DSO. He was here fixing things all day!

Gita, you do realize that you're going to have to devise a way to tell us all about the "Visit". Probably don't want to do it on a thread, but maybe a dmail blast!!!

Here's thinking of you as I pop open a cold brew!! First one of the year.

Stormy, I do have a white fence like Holly said. I had the property surveyed and got a permit before I had the fence installed. I had some serious neighbor issues, and was also afraid of their kids falling into the water garden, and I wanted my privacy, since I am on a corner lot. Not many places to hide.
I find the white fence is a nice back drop for colorful flowers, I stay away from all white flowers.
There was not much room between the houses, and having the shrubs and other over grown plant material removed gave me actually more space then I though I had. I really like it, I have not gotten to the point where I am ready to grow vines or hang things from the fence but have given it some thought.

I think once your initial shock wares off you will view the fence differently. I really love your bench and the large planter to the right of it, they really pop out with the fence as a background.

Here is just a corner view, the picket is at the front of the yard. It runs from the corner of the house to the privacy fence.

Now let me show you what I had before the fence.

Before fence

Just taken yesterday.

Thanks, Lady. I can see why you prefer it. Yes, you did pick up more room by getting rid of the shrubs. And it is much neater looking nicely complimenting your picket fence.

You are right, I'm having a hard time getting used to it. So is everybody else in the neighborhood and all of my visitors. I would have much preferred a wood fence, but it's not mine. Prior to this I looked out into all greenery and had a nice view of some very mature trees and a great view at Christmas of all of the houses down below all lit up.

Also, I used to sit in my living room and watch the sun come up from over there through the trees. C'est la Vie!

Thanks about the glider and urn. There is a mate to that urn a little further down to the left of the glider.

For two years, I haven't even brought my pots out of the basement. This year they are all coming out as I have some very large ones that I will put annuals in to put some color over there.

Doc, That's pretty good about painting the fence. I wouldn't have the nerve, as it is not mine. However, I was considering erecting tall 2 x 4's and stapling a giant jungle printed or flora printed faric to them all down the length of the fence. Then some form of sanity overcame me!!

I had a neighbor's white garden fence and white pool fence whipping up on my emotions. Little by little I planted them literally out of the picture at least during the summer months when I enjoy my lawn and gardens so much.

We are begining another juniper planting to block a headlight sweep from another's driveway where the line of sight is straight into our patio. Low's has nice small three foot junipers in gallon cans for $11.99. Five will do the trick very nicely in about three to five years. The sixty dollar size would be an instant fix. We shall watch the grow. Juniper is rated deer safe most of the time. While our lot is dead center in surburban territory we have the look of being in open woodlot if we can hide a few undesirable (to us) sights.

Getting all worked up like many do is just a waste of time in my book. The usual thing is to start a war and regret it later. Better to play with the plants. That way they never know what the heck you might be up to. LOL

The neighbor behind us put up his privacy fence before us, it runs the length of his back yard that borders the problem neighbors and then a few panels up right on our property line. I don't see his fence that much. When I had the fence put up all our neighbors remarked at how nice it looked and they were wondering how long before I did something to block out the problem.
My privacy fence just runs right behind the garage and then the rest is wood open picket, not high, just enought to keep the kids out of the yard.
Putting up the fence was a pretty expensive job, but was worth it in the end. The house on the other side of them has been up for sale for several years, I wonder if the 2 fences are sending a message to potental buyers. Of course the high asking price, no garage and the upkeep of an inground pool in this part of snow country is a big non selling point.

Oh such a shame about the view you lost. When the neighbors cut out the hedgerow I hated that I could see their house and I missed my privacy but at least I did get a great view. Did the neighbor at least follow the survey line, or is it on your property?

Lady, Could be. One of the problems of living along a very busy road is the amount of trash that daily blows into the yard. Most of it is tossed out of car windows. Across that street is a Junior College. When I first moved here, the bus stop servicing the school was on my sidewalk. There was an always overflowing trash can chained to the telephone pole. On windy days trash always ended up on my lawn. Also if the custodians at the school did not close the lid on their dumpsters, whole cardboard cartons would blow across to my yard.
The bus stop is no longer there. A student was hit by a car crossing the street. Now the school buses the students to a large covered bus stop up at the shopping center. A few phone calls to the school has solved the problems of the open dumpster.
The neighbor with the fence had asked me to put up a fence to block the trash from blowing into our yards. As I have mature trees lining 3 sides of the property, this is not very feasible. The neighbor behind me keeps saying he is going to put up a post and rail fence. He has been claiming that some of her property and mine is actually his. This is one of the reasons she put up the fence, to beat him to it!
A fence on my yard would make it very hard for everyone in the development to pull out onto the busy street, which is already a challenge. I won't put any bushes or trees out there for that reason. There are enough accidents out front. My tree line on that side starts 125' back from the corner. I would not have moved here if my house and driveway faced that street.
We get really bad wind storms here and many neighbors lose large sections of their fences from falling tree limbs. Another maintenance headache!
We've had so many in the last 3 years that people without pools, animals and small children have stopped repairing them and are taking them down. One day while working outside, I watched a large wading pool blow down the street and then it wedged itself between two of my trees!

Holly, It is exactly on the property line.

Well at least that isn't an issue.
I was just reading on another forum that someone is looking for a quick easy arbor to put up. Her neighbor trimmed his trees and now she doesn't have any shade over her shade garden.

Holly, I think about that every time a storm knocks down some giant tree limbs. I had a hugh one come off of one of my maples down by the road. It got wedged inside of the apple tree. Had to cut it out. The ensuing trimming to both trees let a lot more light into that part of the bed. Most of my shade comes from my trees. A little bit on her side comes from her trees. Believe me, she won't pay to have those behemoths cut down. Our township requires everyone to have a trash service. She does not. Takes it to her mother's house. She used to sneak trash in my dumpster and put yard debris on my outgoing piles.

LOL I remember how odd she was, the fence will solve some of those issues, too. I planted a row of Leland cypress down along the one side of the pasture, to give us a bit more privacy at the pool and hot tub area. Didn't really think how it would effect the neighbors yard. They are nice neighbors with great kids, when the trees get bigger I'll probably miss talking to them as they come and go. They have no interest in gardening other than they mow the grass and the trees will be on the one side of their driveway and garage parking area. So I don't think it would do much more than give them some morning shade. They have a good size garage where they work on race cars, sometimes quite late a night. So we thought something good sized would do the trick. Nothing like being out in the hot tub late at night with a glass of wine and have their big garage light come on and the big door open up. LOL

I love ther way that Hart created her shade garden. Her pergola is wonderful. Other people do the same.

Stormy, I know about trash, we had a Mini-Mart 2 blocks away. By the time people walked down near our house they were done with their candy-bar wrappers and Big-Gulp cups and they all landed in my yard. Since it closed and got torn down not so much trash for me to pick up.

Wow! I've got a lot to catch up on! Stormy, it's a shame you lost your shrubs but I honestly think that's quite a handsome fence as a backdrop for your gardens and opens up tons of possibilities for you! I agree with Gita, "If life gives you lemons--make Lemonade" :)

Time for an update on my first project of the year! If you look at the first photos in the thread I think you'll see I've made some progress :) I haven't been able to get much planting done around the new arbor but I did manage to get one Hosta planted and a new Clematis to climb up the left side! My plan was to plant the two Clematis I ordered together, one a climber and one a shorter bush type. But the stock of the bush type failed so I ordered another climber and planted them separately. Here's the arbor with Clematis alpina 'Constance' on it and Hosta montana 'Aureomarginata' along the edge behind it. The Giant Solomon's Seal on the right were planted in 1999 when I brought them from my gardens in Maine :)

If you head to the left after walking under the arbor, I planted Hostas 'June' and 'Abiqua Drinking Gourd' along the path. Dicentra 'Gold Heart' is planted in the corner with Hardy Begonia on either side. I had used this combination in one other area of the gardens and it works great because the Begonia comes up late and once the Dicentra goes dormant by midsummer, the Begonias have grown tall and cover the empty space :) This is also where the second Clematis was planted - a large white flowering 'John Huxtable' which blooms later in the season. I'll train it to climb up the trunk of the weeping Atlas Cedar which has been suffering for the past several years. If it finally fails and has to be cut down I'll just have to buy a new 'art object' for it to climb on!