Blooming Hosta, who knew?

My Hosta ‘Golden Tiara’ bloomed! Totally unexpected. It is a really pretty flower and I am surprised it bloomed. Looking at the condition of the plant (especially compared with what it once looked like when I first got it just eight weeks ago). I didn’t think it was healthy enough to send up a flower.



The leaves look really bad. This is why I am so surprised that it flowered. It looks like it wants to die but the new leaves in the center are looking healthy.

I don't know if it is not enough water, too much water, too much sun. It gets direct sunlight from 4 PM to about 7:30 PM. That shouldn't be too much.

Nature always surprises me.

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Unfinished projects, part one

Here’s an area that really needs work. I choose this area first because this is going to be the most labor intensive to get under control.

This picture, dated September 2006, was taken two years after we moved in. I did not have a clear plan for the space, other than knowing I did not want this tree and all of its suckers.

When we first moved in this plum tree was a ‘huge’ shrub and I had no idea what it was. I asked the neighbors but they didn't know either. The suckers had grown so tall and thick that the trunk wasn’t visible. For size reference, the fence posts are set ten feet apart and this thing covered the fence from one post to the other.

Within a month of moving in I cut everything down except the main tree, the trunks you see here. After clearing it back a bit I began finding tell-tale ‘fruit’ on the ground that looked like plums. They were a 'dusty' purple and not very well developed (see next photo). I attributed the smallish size of the fruit to the tree not being well-cared for. Perhaps this variety just produces fruit smaller than the standard plum.




I began tossing lawn clippings on the area thinking the decomposition of it would help loosen up the heavy clay soil.

Here is what it looked like in April of this year, before the suckers and bindweed have come up.



I’m still putting grass clippings on it, along with composted steer manure and digging it in. I had come up with a plan to replace the tree with a couple of tall and wide Viburnum. I ordered the Viburnum, one 'Aurora' (white) and a 'Red Wing' thinking they would be tall enough and wide enough to cover this section of fence by next Spring. At that time I would cut down the plum tree and all of its suckers.

Viburnum 'Aurora' before...









and after...









and what it would have looked like if it had survived my ineptitude.








Viburnum 'Red Wing' before...










and after...









and what it would have looked like. Ah well, they would have been beautiful.









I think the lesson here is that just because they are considered 'hardy' shrubs for my area, doesn't mean they don't need to be protected from the hot sun. I did expose them to the sun gradually, following the typical transplanting routine, i.e., a few hours of sun the first day and increasing sun exposure each day for a week before putting them into their permanent place. And I did water them a lot, although on reflection, maybe not often enough.

Another lesson is to pay a little extra to buy larger shrubs that would probably have had a better chance of getting established.

I will buy two more viburnum, the same ones again, and this time they will make it and my plan will have to be adjusted. Such is a gardeners lot.

In the mean time, there are two Lilac's maturing here until they get big enough to move somewhere a little more permanent.



And two squash 'Hybrid Gentry' crook-necked.





And one more plant, Spirea 'Little Princess'.



The open space in the above photo is as of today. I still need to figure out what will look good in front of two large Viburnum. This is the most difficult yet most fun part of gardening, is trying to decide what to plant.

Good garden design says I need to repeat what I already have planted, but there is so much more out there to plant that I just can't bring myself to be limited by what I already have. And I have to consider bloom times so I can have color during every season.

Maybe some Chrysanthemums, Geraniums, Bee Balm, Lilac....

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Reflecting on past spaces

I was sitting on the back deck yesterday afternoon looking out over the beds I have planted. They really have come a long way from when we first moved here.

I went to the computer and began looking at some pictures I had taken before the projects were started and it felt good to compare how the yard has changed.

Here are a couple of pictures of the backyard in April of 2005:

This one shows the new raised beds I had just built and filled with soil and compost.

The back fence needs some sort of vine and shrubs to 'pretty it up' a bit. That's an apple tree in front of the beds.


This one shows a concrete pad that had a dog house on it and the area to the right is the future site of a perennial flower bed.

A plum tree is against the fence to the right of the apple tree.


These next two pictures show the backyard in May of 2006:

That's a cherry tree to the left and a box elder hanging over my shed from the yard behind us. This tree is the home to hundreds of box elder bugs. Nasty flying red things that are just bothersome. They say these bugs don't eat anything in the garden and so far I guess that has been shown, but they are messy.


Nothing much has changed here. I did dig up the future perennial bed on the right next to the fence and am getting rid of the weeds and will add compost etc before planting it in Spring 2007.

I have decided to pile compost material on the concrete pad hoping to get some compost. I know it isn't an ideal location, being on concrete, but at least it's a start.


These final two pictures show the backyard in July of 2007:

The 'Heritage' raspberry bushes behind the cherry tree finally produced and they were plump and juicy.The plants are five years old this year and I was told they don't produce before this age.



Here the perennial bed has finally been planted and almost everything is surviving, much to my surprise. I do have a record of killing off plants. I'm thinking that just maybe I am beginning to get the hang of this gardening thing. I did just feed everything a couple of days ago, so that's a positive thing.

Looking at the grass I can see it is beginning to return to a semi-healthy state. In 2005 I attempted to feed it on what I thought was a regular schedule but by 2006 I could tell that I did not yet understand how or when to do it. So, I hired a lawn service in 2006 before I did irreparable damage. Now I understand that I am supposed to sprinkle the lawn with some sort of compost/top soil mixture and aerate it every year.

I did have it aerated last year and again this year. When they aerated it this year their machine would barely dig into the ground which led me to ask questions about why. It seems that I may not be watering it well enough and I suspect there are other problems that I have not yet been 'made aware of'. It seems there always is something additional that needs to be done or I need to add a little 'finesse' in doing it the way I am.

As far as watering goes, I keep hearing and reading that you should water about 20 minutes several times a week with an occasional 'deep watering' but that is if you have an installed irrigation system, which I don't. You can see the garden hose laid out across the lawn and this is my irrigation system. I followed the 'experts' advice attempting to get enough water on the backyard and my wife took care of the front yard. I noticed she watered a lot longer than I did but I didn't say anything until towards the end of the year. The result was that the front yard greened up a lot better than the backyard. So, I am convinced that I need to water a lot more.

Boy, this learning process is long and arduous. If only I had an expert that can look at it and tell me (complete with a proper schedule) what to do then I would have the confidence to do it myself. I guess learning is a reward in and of itself so I have to keep learning in order to keep being rewarded.

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New garden center

There is a new garden center that opened up recently just three miles away from me! I can see it now, the convenient location is going to get me into trouble. It’s called The Garden Lodge. The grand opening was a month ago and I dutifully went to check the place out.



The interior is set up like a house, albeit a very large house, broken down into rooms complete with furniture, decorations, wall art, candles, and lots of floral arrangements. Lots and lots of great ideas and inspiration.

There is a horticultural library where you can sit in these big comfy sofas and over-stuffed wing backed chairs and browse to your hearts content. They also offer design services and community education classes.

Attached to the back of the building is a very large greenhouse (10,000+ square feet) that they promise they will carry anything you could possibly want for your yard and garden. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of anything there except for a few annuals and trees.



Walk out of the greenhouse and you step into what looks like several planned gardens. This area is as yet unfinished also and in fact they only have a few of the hardscape features in place.





It seems a bit odd that they would have a ‘grand opening’ without having everything ready for it. I haven’t heard any of the usual rumors about what the hold up is and the people who work there could only tell me that they are a bit behind schedule. Perhaps labor problems? I don’t know, but the place has a lot of potential and I hope they can pull it off.

Before they put their sign up and opened their doors there was a lot of speculation about what the place was going to be. There was no advertising until the day they opened and that was an ad in the city local newspaper. It all seemed a bit hush hush. Very strange way to do things for a retailer.

The only thing that hinted at it being something to do with gardening was the large greenhouse attached to the back of the building but all that was there was the glass structure and lots of construction debris.

Even now a month later it seems they are dragging their feet. I can’t wait to walk through their gardens. I like the idea of seeing combinations of plants actually planted much like a Home and Garden show instead of just rows of potted plants.

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Rain, Yeah!

We are getting rain for the first time in almost 30 days!
Sweet, glorious, life-sustaining, drought-busting, plant nourishing rain. We also have thunder and lightning.
It is a joyous day indeed.





It's pretty sad when I get exited about rain, but it lowered the temperature 8 degrees and that is really worth it.

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