Mary's Muse

Hard Work

Root removal is hard work.  Help is always appreciated.  Hard work made quite an 'impression' on the landscape. :o)

Total Shade Garden 2011

This garden rests in the canopy of a walnut tree to its north and a few hazelnut trees to the south.  I've been warned that nothing can grow under a walnut tree because of the acid the leaves give off after they fall.  I think this will work with a little preventative maintenance.  The perennial geraniums and sweet woodruff are the only "old" things in it.  Other items are a Lenten Rose and English daisies.  I'm considering hostas and bleeding hearts to fill in empty spaces.  Maybe next year.

 

Here are some fledgling astilbes along with another Lenten Rose.  I planted some St. Brigid anemones here in a horseshoe pattern around the biggest geranium as well, but they haven't popped up yet.  Where the pole is was an ostrich fern.  It never made it. :o(

 

 

Rock Wall Garden 2011

Here's where I start needing more help.  We rescued two peonies from between fruit trees and planted them here.  One of them I didn't think would make it.  We cut the roots nigh in half.  Also here we have another yellow ice plant and a Grace Ward Lithodora.  I have no idea what's growing between the rocks.  It was planted before my time.

 

Dragon's blood sedum and yes, another dianthus on top.  Not a clue what's between again.

 

Here's where I have to start being careful to determine what's a weed and what's something I want there.  Somewhere amongst all this mess I planted some dwarf plumbagos.   There is yet another dianthus here.  I had plans for several of these plants.  When they showed signs of not thriving in the first place I put them, I moved them.  I moved them again, spreading them out to various places, when I didn't like the lineup I had created.  Once again, I have no idea what's in the rocks.

 

What's with the tulips? I do not remember planting those there.  Also there's one of those plumbagos in front of the tulip with no flower.  And some silver-leafed thingie with pink flowers sits in little clumps to the right and left of the plumbagos.

 

And here's more of the same...

 

At last we're at the end of this painful experience.  There's a phlox here (my first one!) I planted this year.   I clumped  a bunch of hyacinths at the corner. I don't know whether I like these so much as they tend to bend and sag.  They droop and die off way too fast as well.

 

2011 Tree Garden

All of the following was planted last year or this except for the tulips which were here before we were.

Candytuft brightens a corner like nothing else can.  There are three etain violas.  Beyond these are three pincushion flowers with no blooms yet.   Bunches and bunches of ajuga as well as the orange flowers (some are calendulas and others are cooky avens, which will get taller) really draw the eye to the border of this garden.  The orange ones were planted this year.  I also replanted some gallairdia. I'm kind of bummed that these didn't winter over.  They're supposed to be hardy to zone 3 and we're zone 5 or 6!  Anyway, the delphiniums (two of which are new this year), the hostas, the coral bells, and the bleeding hearts all came back.  Also a few asters that i forgot I had planted there.  I added some pansies and johnny jump-ups for border interest.

 

There are a few raggedy lavendars, a small delphinium, and a dusseldorf pride sea pink here.  To the right is a burning bush.  The story behind this little guy is actually pretty funny.  I bought it when it had three leaves left.  It was like planting the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  But now look at how big it's grown.  And it leafed out very well.  Can't wait to see it this fall.

 

Following are a couple of balloon flowers coming up, a dianthus, a weigela ... how this managed to get planted here is because I accidentally bought three ... a coreopsis (tickweed), and just behind it, barely visible, a Russian sage.  The brightness in the front is due to three more calendulas.  There are a couple of daylilies in there somewhere as well.  Oh. And a messy Colorado Blueberry/holly.

 

The western end of the garden is ironically also the best protected from the sun in the hottest season.  So I put a collection of astilbes there.  Around the tree to the left are columbines.  A euonymus shelters from the north winds under a quaking aspen.  To the very right of the picture is a couple of shasta daisies and another dianthus.  To the very left is my herb garden.  So far, I only grow perennial oregano, reseeding parsley, and basil.  Can't do without basil.  And there are, like uneven teeth, tulips bording the whole back.  I prefer tulips in bunches rather than borders, but I don't know whether I want to put forth the effort it will cost me to complete this project.  I also like them to be more sheltered.  As you can see, they are wind-battered.  What you perhaps can't see is their leaves are also deer-eaten.  Someday I'll get to it, right?

 
 

 

2011 Front of the House Garden

This whole garden was put in last year after, the year before, ridding a great big section of the yard from fitzers.  Starting from the south side of the garden in front of the house.  This is under a birch tree canopy.  There are five astilbes (the right-most one is new this year) of varying color. there is a caramel coral bell, by far the best performer in the coral bells I have yet.  Also in this picture is a diabolo ninebark.

  

I am impressed by the growth of these astilbes.  They were shipped as bare root plants last year.

 

Never one to miss a photo opportunity, Chestnut managed to squeeze right into this picture before I snapped it.    Also in this one is a weigela, an arborvitae, and a Frans Hals daylily.

 

Progressively moving toward more sun, we have another ninebark, another arborvitae, three spirea goldmounds, a couple of asters for fall interest, a stray mum leftover after last winter's killing the other three, and some little, battered snap dragons, barely visible.  The spring winds, rain, and cold, have done some damage to these little guys. 

 

From the north side of the garden, we see another weigela, another ninebark (three in all), a couple of new Frans Hals daylilies, a strong salvia we planted new this year, and  a yellow wallflower who definitely does not act like a wallflower.

 

2011 Rock Stair Garden

These Lamium maculatums did well in these two holes.  These are two years old.

 

Added the Lamium galeobdolon (Hermann's Pride or yellow archangel) this year in a place that's so far been tough on other growing things.

 

Yellow Ice Plant does well here. Haven't seen it flower.  However, two steps down I planted another last summer and it hasn't spread at all yet.  Maybe it was too late in the season.  I look forward to seeing what will happen with it this year.

 

A view going up the rock stairs with Angelina sedums and creeping speedwell spilling over each other.

 

Top of the rock stairs.  Here we have a dianthus with buds not quite ready to pop and a lovely Hosta whose unfurling leaves my two-year-old decided to yank.  In the background is a stunning purple coral bell.  I transplanted that late in the season last year because it started to burn up in the summer sun.

 

Not Yet

I bought sweet basil yesterday to plant in the spice corner of one of the flower gardens we have. 

 
They sit on the counter in their biodegradable pots, waiting.  I ran outside last night in the rain to rescue them because it was supposed to snow last night.  And it did.

 

This is just what's left this morning.  The forecast calls for more snow today.

A New Tradition

He is Risen!  Alleluia!

We may have started a new tradition.  We planted seeds this past Friday.  As I contemplated Good Friday, I realized that seemingly dead seeds fall from dead flowers.  We buried the seeds in soil.  They will not be mourned, as Jesus was, but neither will they be forgotten.  And though they don't rise out of the ground on Easter day, they will rise at some point during the Easter season.

Pray for Us as We Will for You

 
I discovered a love for gardening when we finally settled in a house for more than three years at a time.  And so I dig, attempting to avoid worms, but diligently destroying snails and slugs.  I just received a box of plants and bare roots Friday, some of which I'd been waiting to introduce to my gardens for over a year.  I was outside, planting and moving plants all day long.

I tag some plants for friends.  That means, when I look at them, I remember the person for whom I bought that plant.  For instance, for the friend with Lupus who introduced me to hostas, I have a Frances William Hosta.  I pray for her to live life to the fullest.

 

For a friend who seemed to have a year full of Lent, first thyroid surgery for cancer in her thyroid, then the death of her mother, and now a total hysterectomy, I pray when I look at the Lenten Rose.

 

One family gave us boxwood shrubs when they moved. Every time I look at those, I pray for that family.  The peonies remind me of my mom.  The burning bush reminds me of my dad.  The bobbing English daisies and pincushion flowers make me laugh, and so remind me of bright, cheerful friends.  And so it goes.  If you associate my family by plants you see in your garden, please remember to pray for us whenever you see those plants.

 

Watching the Weather and Seasons

Yesterday, it was nearing, if not at, 60.  Kids were all over helping me clear spaces in garden areas, move perennial geraniums, and plant a few new things, one of which was a Lenten Rose that waited for weeks in a pot for me to plant.  The dirt you'll notice on the bowing flowers is due to a hard rain last night that splashed up on them.  I have a certain attachment to this plant that I don't have with others.  It boasts an understated beauty and even its placement is low key.  It is how I imagine Jesus was in life.  Quiet, almost hidden, but attracting attention as a result of the beauty radiating from within, just the same.  I also had a need to plant this during Lent.

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Today, we're under a hard freeze watch.  I hope this makes it through any freeze we might have in the next week or so.  And then, I hope that's the end of the freezes for about 8 months.

Today, if time permits, we'll be making our customary Lenten pretzels.  I have to work on a gluten free dough for mine.  We'll read two more Lent picture books.  I don't think we have the right kind of egg cartons to make caterpillars this year.  But we do have to work on do-a-dot butterflies for our windows one day soon.