| Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 05:45 pm: |   
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Vacation is a good time to start this. Escaped sunny Seattle to visit Arizona snow and rain. The amazing botanical garden in Tempe tempted me to stray into the cacti and succluents, despite my history of killing them.
I'm re-thinking the red twig dogwoods that I planted in the fall. Sometimes I think they're too close to the fence, and other times I think they have enough of a vertical habit to be just fine where they are. They're so small now. I guess time will tell. |
| Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 02:24 pm: |
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This is the front yard December 2003.
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| Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 02:26 pm: |
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Summer, 2004: still a work in progress, but much better.
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| Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 02:43 pm: |
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This big rhododendron was very healthy in December 2003.
We probably should have seen this coming (Jan 2004). It survived, but is a LOT shorter now.
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| Posted on Thursday, March 03, 2005 - 10:31 am: |
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I'm back at work, but my mind is still on Arizona. Was taking a break just now and researching alligator juniper. Guess I will have to live with the memories and photos, I haven't found a nursery that sells them.
Got an Edgeworthia chrysantha from Leigh today. A belated birthday present. Was so inspired, that I moved a bunch of things around to make room for it. Its tiny-only about five inches tall-but will be around 6ft eventually.
I just realized that this year I didn't have any "downtime" in the garden. I think I accomplished more in December and January than I did all summer. |
| Posted on Monday, March 07, 2005 - 07:43 am: |
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Some neighbors had yard crews out for spring cleanup. Dylan and I are our own yard crew. We put in 20 hours between us this weekend. I demolished one of the ugly brick foundation "beds". The other one is not at grade,so I will have to figure out what to do about that before taking the sledgehammer to it.
We worked for quite a while shaping the giant nameless tree/shrub, getting it rounded and about two feet shorter in all but the very top branches. The pole trimmer took some time to adjust to, and one of us stomped on the black mondo grass in the process. I hope it will survive.
Finally, I shaped all four junipers. They look so much better after a haircut! |
| Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 12:45 pm: |
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No marathon this week, but did put in 10 hours yesterday. Mostly weeding and shaping plants. Made some cuttings of a shrub that is up front. I need to remember to get names for these things!
I bought two camellias and still have to find a place for the strawberry tree. Also some beautiful Japanese sedge grass. Unfortunately, Sugar went right to it and started chomping on it. Dang cats!
The back yard is starting to take shape. Today is the first day I've looked out back and really seen the structure of what will be. It helps-after all the days when I was depressed because everything is still so small and I have no idea what I'm doing. Here is the back yard right after we bought the house.
And the front yard only a year ago when we were building the rock wall.
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| Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 12:31 pm: |
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I've read: "If a plant is not happy where you place it, move it." But I've moved the same pieris 3 times now, and its still not right. Third time it went back into a pot, and is sitting in the very back corner of the yard waiting for me to reshape the berm.
Maybe that will happen this weekend. Dylan has promised to help me dig up the plants there so far. I worry most about the weeping blue atlas cedar, because it has been in the ground for 6 months and is quite heavy.
We DID have a plan. I just didn't stick with it. I found plants I liked better, and read more about Japanese gardens, and the plan went right out the window. I obsessed about this berm for a solid month, doodling at work and at home, researching photos and plants, and I came to the conclusion that I had better do this work now, because I would regret it if I didn't.
I found out the latin name for the strawberry tree means "I eat only one." I love that. That will be an easy one to remember. And , happily, I found the perfect spot for it. Funny how with some plants I can clearly see how they will grow into their space, and others are a mystery.
Our evil squirrel appeared to be eating the non-toxic-to-mammals slug bait yesterday. He likes to hang out near new plants: the more fragile, the better. He has resisted copious cayenne in our shade garden, and picked his way through pine twig punji sticks to bury his peanuts - and a painted fern that was just emerging. I can't find the exact spot where it was. I fear the worst. |
| Posted on Sunday, April 03, 2005 - 06:59 pm: |
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I know for sure that this pieris is happy. If only the other ones would put on new growth. I saw a pieris 'mountain fire' in a nursery this morning, so I know what mine is supposed to be doing right now. Maybe this year is too soon after planting.
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - 11:49 am: |
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A crow was trapped in our chimney last week. The chimney sweep ended up pulling him down into our living room instead of pushing him up. As the huge, frantic bird tried to escape through closed windows, he stomped on and destroyed half of the pepper seedlings that I had just moved to pots.
You'd think they'd be safer indoors... |
| Posted on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 12:14 pm: |
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Argh! Aphids! I've been so busy building berms, planting, weeding, and trimming that I didn't pay much attention to what was eating my hellebores. There were only a few holes here and there. Today, though, I decided to weed the shade garden and got a good look: two of my four hellebores are INFESTED. Huge colonies of the bugs packed in under the leaves. A third plant has a few, but not as awful. Strangely, one hellebore has no aphids at all, the 'black mardi gras' that I bought in February.
So I locked up my feline helpers, Neemed (is that a word?), and cut away some dead leaves. Neem seems to damage ajuga, and some of my other ground covers. Naturally these are near the plants that need pest or fungus control the most. I need to remember to bring a cardboard shield for the ajuga each time.
Will it work? I hope and spray... |
| Posted on Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - 09:03 am: |
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Leigh is here! I am so excited to hear her opinions of our work over the last 6 months or so. Dad is here too. The very first day, he built an adjustable tension wire trellis for the pyracantha espalier. It is so easy for him to just design and build anything.
I have peppers, broccoli, spinach, and swiss chard filling up the spaces between the permanent plantings this year. Most are near the new rain barrel, which I LOVE. Dylan has started a rose garden on the other side and placed a 1370 lb. rock upright this weekend BY HIMSELF. The roses and rock form a barrier between our property and the drop-off at the edge of the rock wall. Perfect for protecting our future children from falling off the edge.
We cleared three truckloads of concrete from the former patio, and will plan something to go there soon. Nice to have the huge pile of broken chunks gone. |
| Posted on Wednesday, May 25, 2005 - 08:25 am: |
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Sometimes after a few hours of working in the garden, I realize that I am moving slower and slower, not really accomplishing anything. I feel like that right now at work. Even Sam Jackson photos can't motivate me tonight. The channels are clipped, and our editor wants them lightened. An easy fix. Still, I'm not my usual fast-paced self tonight.
I want to go home. The garden is an escape, and a solace. I think for Dylan too. We are both tired and frustrated with not being able to conceive. Gardening is the only thing that lowers my anxiety even a little.
I feel like we're in limbo. But so many good things are happening in the garden at least. My two full-sized pieris finally came to life after last week's rainstorms. There is new growth on them both. And I added a golden hakone grass in front of the purple leucothoe that makes me smile every time I see it. There's the calla lily that must have been planted by the previous owners showing itself for the first time. Also scotch moss filling in, roses about to bloom, and junipers getting rave reviews at last weekend's party.
I know, junipers, right? But they did. And to think last year I wanted them all gone. |
| Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 03:56 am: |
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Today in the garden: Chihuly and Just Joey are blooming! They both have a sweet scent too. I'm going to love our rose garden. I've been taking it easy since the big push to make the garden look good for our party a couple of weeks ago. We only watered, deadheaded rhodys, pulled a few weeds, and moved the new plants to the shade this week. I needed to sit out the heat wave and had bad pains in my right hand anyway-doctor says due to overuse.
It was way too hot to move or plant anything last week. I took the official tour of Kubota, toured the Bellevue Botanical Garden, and signed up to take a Chinese flower arranging class that I will start this week. There was a show of their work at the BBG and I fell in love with the art. It felt like the style I have been looking for forever. They say it is different from Ikebana, but to my untrained eye, there are some strong similarities.
Dylan got another couple of bamboos. He likes the spare structure of the larger ones, whereas if I like bamboo at all, it is the leafy dwarf ones. He built a beautiful planter for it, and I think he will plant it tomorrow. His black bamboo has its first new shoot-shiny black. |
| Posted on Friday, June 03, 2005 - 09:16 am: |
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Dad says that Chimney Crow was actually a raven. I was sleeping when they got him out, so don't know for sure. He says ravens travel alone, that's how you can tell the difference. In that case, a raven faced off on the fence with Sugar the other day. Only about a meter apart. He was bigger than the cat, so I scared them both off. I have no idea why Sugar wasn't afraid.
I begged a rare plant nursery in NC to propagate running cedar. They said it wasn't commercially possible.
May have a line on some mature plants as a trade. Will know for sure in a couple of days. Stay tuned. |
| Posted on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 03:09 pm: |
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It has been a while. Hana is sleeping with one hand above her head. Her eyelids look silvery in the right light, and her long lashes continue to amaze me. She has her father's beautiful straight-down eyelashes.
Anyway, since she is asleep at the moment, I have some time to write.
This is our last week of full-time motherhood. Twelve weeks have just flown by. Until this week, gardening for me consisted of short trips with Hana outside to look around. We've had such strong sun, and she's still too young for sunscreen, so I use her car seat with its canopy for protection. Still, I am limited to weeding and light work while we are together. I long to haul dirt and prune big branches. Last night, Dylan watched Hana so I could do just that. It felt terrific.
I read the Jewel Box Garden last fall and it has changed my mind about what I want for our space. It made me plant bulbs and some more flowering plants. I'm glad-the little species tulips and frittelaria are blooming now. Plus being on Gardenbuddies, I can't help but notice that mixed gardens and flower gardens give such lovely instant gratification, while shrub gardens like ours take FOREVER to look like anything. As the shrubs mature, I suppose I'll whittle down the other plants.
Behind our house, the tiny apple orchard has finally been pruned. I had been hoping for new neighbors who would tend to the trees; it looks as if my wish was granted. I haven't met them, but I like them already.
A four-day March frost has killed Euonymous and Rhododendron Keiskei 'Yaku Fairy', and damaged Loropetalum. I haven't pruned L. back yet-it looks awful. Other areas in need of attention are the shade garden-currently imprisoned in ugly chicken wire thanks to Sugar, Mac, and the evil squirrels, and my winter garden. The red twig dogwoods do look better away from the fence, but the design is still lacking something. In the front yard, scotch moss has somewhat given way to actual moss. I think I will let that happen naturally. I am considering planting daffodil bulbs beneath the scotch moss in the sunny part of the yard. Maybe the mini ones.
A note about slugs: they don't seem to like the beer I chose for them. Naturally I went for the cheap brand. Do I have slug snobs? Why aren't they drinking/drowning? What brand would they prefer? |
