What goes – #5

I suppose I should plant some Asian lilies in the garden up north. Maybe some peach ones, a few Elodie ones that shot up stems and leaves this year but no flowers, some random ones that look like they might prefer mulch to rock.

Worth a try.

What goes – #4

We have 3 Just Plum Happy daylilies. 1 is doing fabulously, and is a main anchor in one area of the townhouse gardens.

2 are struggling- crowded out by a large hosta that will stay.

The two struggling daylilies go up north where they can spread their leaves and scapes and shine.

Fun story

I had a sunflower seed germinate in my pot of daylily seedlings this year. Whether or not it was from birdseed I cannot say.

It grew to be a full sunflower plant with 4 mature flowers, and it looked like a 5th on the way. The birds were digging it. I was digging it. Then the squirrels dug it. Actually they probably swung on it. It started to bend. Then the next morning it was broken.

Since I had put zero effort into it except watering the pot, I was not too sad. I cut the stalk and brought the pot of of daylily seedlings up north to plant. The next time I saw the sunflower (now just the stalk) it was under the pine tree. The next morning it was totally gone.

Nothing from that sunflower went to waste. A cooperative effort between the birds, the squirrels, and the bunnies I suspect.

That’s not a weed

It might be time to move some more things if your association landscape maintenance company repeatedly blows the daylilies so hard the petals come off,

and even sometimes the flowers break off the stem,

and you watch one of the workers try to pull a mature daylily up as if it’s a weed.

This is what it looked like before – mature enough to bloom.

This is what it looks like now

This is what the coneflower looks like now – stems broken, petals sheared off.

No question about what happened. I watched from inside as it happened.

I had planned to leave a bunch of the plants I have bought and raised from seed here, as they have thrived here and many people have enjoyed them, but they are just getting destroyed.

It is very sad. I may need a bigger garden up north.

Catch Up Time

It was a season of daylily abundance here. Day after day there were 30+ daylilies blooming everywhere I looked. An incredible treat coming out of a now mature daylily garden.

Up north at the little reno house, success! It doesn’t look like much in pictures, the front porch needs love, and the old shed needs paint, but the deer are now staying away from the new plantings. What worked? It could be that our dog likes to “leave his calling card” right outside the “entrance” to the two areas, or it could be the mulch. Time will tell.

So after so much trial and error with up north gardens in the past 3 years, how did I settle on what to do? It was actually a “happy accident”.

The association board at the townhouse (from which I am now retired), decided to have all rock gardens between the garages pulled out and replaced with asphalt. In the rock garden between our garage and the neighbor’s garage there was some history I decided to preserve. There were rocks from a previous neighbor’s parents’ farm that we had used to keep the landscape rock somewhat contained, and there was an alpine current bush that my father had given me 15 years ago that had thrived there, providing many a happy day for our neighborhood birds. The rocks went up north in two batches in big bins (which are now quite beat up from the weight but oh well, it’s for the new garden!).

For the foundation, because the soil at that little house is rocky and needs some gardening love, I chose to do a modified lasagne garden, putting a layer of heavy cardboard down on the very old lawn, adding soil where needed, securing the cardboard in place with the rocks, and putting a good 6″ of mulch on top of that. I worked the cardboard around the plantings. Then I trimmed the areas with the smaller rocks.

Because I was tentative on how well things would work, and because the results of my previous up north gardens were less than optimal, I built in sections. I brought up plants from things that needed dividing or saving from the townhouse gardens. The Rainforest Sunrise hosta needed to come out of one of the areas in the townhouse garden because it was getting crowded. The shrub start was from rootings off the alpine currant that was removed. The sedum were cuttings and divisions. The daylilies were from last year’s purchases and plantings, and the daylily seedlings were from last year’s Purple D’Oro seed harvest.

The plants I put in before I decided on the modified lasagne method took a bit of a hit from the deer, but since I put the mulch in the deer have left everything alone. Fingers crossed.

There is so much more that needs to go up in the next 8 weeks. Two trellises went up because we had to replace the ac at the townhouse. The new ac unit was bigger, necessitating the removal of the trellises. I cut back that clematis, and it will be moved next. Beyond that, the Blue Mouse Ears desperately need dividing, a Patriot Hosta has really burned this year in the landscape rock and drought and needs moving, and I should move some crowded hostas out of the area across the path from the weigelia. That will probably fill the current garden up at the little house, and then I will finish putting the rest of the mulch in. After that, sleep new little garden. Rest up for next year.

The shamrocks

The shamrocks are full and blooming again!

The clematis are starting to bloom

The first clematis bloom opened Tuesday. Always a wonderful sight. Hopefully many more blooms to come.

I am reminded of the years where we kept a very tall trellis in that spot. Funny thing about clematis. They are kind of like work. They expand to fit the time (or space) allotted. We let that one get so big a bird built a nest in it, and we could see inside the nest from inside the window. We called them the “trillers” because they would trill each time Mama approached. Eventually we watched them get big and strong and leave the nest. It doesn’t take long, but it was fun to watch.

This year, I hear something that sounds like a bird in the gutter. I wish I had a drone. I could fly it high and zoom in. I don’t want to climb up on a ladder and try to see. We’ll just wait. Time will tell. It doesn’t seem like an ideal place to nest, but we’ll see.

A Tale of Three Gardens

There is something about an early morning walk in the garden that stirs the soul, makes the mind relax, evokes thankfulness. Wait, define garden.

Sunday morning, after having been up to the land that is now designated “camping”, I thought, “Why do I enjoy an early morning walk there, but not through our extended neighborhood in town?” I used to. So off I went, sans dog who declined the opportunity.

Once I got going, I decided to take an old route. That route is a tad bittersweet. It is past an area that used to be a beautiful long garden on an edge of one of the park areas. The original homeowner who was adjacent to the park area had petitioned the city to plant a beautiful garden there and invested quite a bit of time and energy. It was a delight to many, and I was one. When the original owner of that beautiful garden moved, the new homeowner did not have the same love for gardening. It began to return to a wilder look. For a while I spent time on the weekends trying to maintain it. In the end, although my mind wanted to save it, my body could not. Working away from the home during the weekdays, and having other weekend responsibilities, it was just too big of a project. I took time to heal my body after pushing it way too hard, nature marched on, and eventually I altered my walking path to avoid that garden. I remembered its prior beauty and had a hard time watching it return to wild. That was quite a few years ago.

This morning I decided to walk by that area. It has returned to it’s natural state. It is a different look. Not bad, just different. Whatever thrives, dominates. And the weeds and lilac bushes won.

Enter garden one – on our “camping” land. It is many years past my experience with the park garden. My perception has changed because my personal gardening experiences have broadened. Evidenced by tens of thousands of ferns that thrive and dominate the “camping” land, there is not much chance of keeping a cultivated garden without daily care. Goodness knows I tried! But I have made peace with that. We cut the living area back in May – September so I don’t (hopefully) get a tick born illness (again) and we enjoy the natural state. We bought it in a natural state, I tried to tame a small portion to exercise my hobby, and I lost. That trial.

Enter garden two – Back to the townhouse neighborhood. “Goodness!”, I thought on my Sunday morning walk, “Our lawns, our trees are looking mature this year.” Two weeks ago many of the trees were still budding. The cherry trees were blooming and a delightful treat. Now they are wrapping up and the maples and lindens are starting to shine. I cannot claim working on those. They are the work of hired professionals on behalf of the association. But I enjoy them immensely. A different kind of enjoyment than the “camping” land.

The gardens at our townhouse are also thriving. The hostas, daylilies and sedum are my daily effort, and are continuously cultivated. The large amount of rain we had this week, along with warm temperatures for a few days in a row made the garden flourish. Literally things tripled in a matter of a week. Including the carpet of maple seedlings, which I will also “cultivate” – right into compost.

It’s all good.

I would like to move more of the townhouse garden to garden three but … we have deer … bedding in the back yard … at the tiny little house we plan to retire to … some time … to be determined. Maybe it’s good that they don’t seem to like a little area where I hid a Rainforest Sunrise hosta? It is 9′ x 7′ there. Is that nature’s way of reining in my gardening endeavors for the future? Out front of that little house I lovingly planted sedum this spring. Morning one after planting, I looked outside to see if the deer had feasted overnight. “Success!” I tentatively claimed. Morning two? Yah. Not “Success!” And the same with the five daylilies we planted there. They will all have to move to the 9′ x 7′ area.

So that is the tale of my three “gardens”. I’m learning with each new experience. One could say I’m actually down to two gardens now. Except for the iris and daffodils that are naturalizing at the “camping” land, the rest remains wild.

I wonder sometimes – when we move to the little house, will the daily maintained gardens at the townhouse remain in a tended state? I hope they will. Time will tell. Time a little ways out yet. We just welcomed our first grandbaby. Gotta hang around the townhouse neighborhood for a little while yet.

Check!

The To Do list is getting check offs this weekend, with continued attention to decluttering.

Yesterday I wrapped up the final garden cut back – remaining hostas, and the sedum that were a casualty of the lawn maintenance leaf blowing. Every year I keep the sedum that is still standing. The bunnies and birds enjoy them throughout the winter.

Today my To Do list is focused on the nice fall weather sprint wrapping up, and snow in the forecast for this coming Tuesday.

The winter lanterns went out today,

and all the spring and summer decorations I brought in last weekend went into the storage bin. To keep everything all in one place, I also put all the seeds I harvested into that storage as well. Come January when the seeds need to go into the refrigerator (for stratifying), they will all be easily accessible and organized.

Since I only allow myself one bin for garden decorations, keeping clutter out is important. Today I tossed all garden plant information for things that are no longer in our garden, as well as information on spring bulbs that didn’t bloom in 2020. Tulips and crocus both seldom bloom here for more than a year or two. This fall, with so much going on, I didn’t plant any new tulips. Hopefully some will return next spring from my 2019 plantings.

Inside, I did my weekly “gardening” for the plants we overwinter – cleaning up the hibiscus, shamrocks and lavender plants from the die back that inevitably happens as they lose sunlight hours.

For the afternoon, I’m planning on getting all the batteries in the window candles. That is always quite a job. Once that is done, l’ll start putting them in the windows. With the days getting shorter, the window candles bring a cozy feeling.

I hope you have a good week ahead as we move more indoors and start dreaming and planning for next year’s garden!

Hanging on to summer

Last week it felt like fall, but it was still summer. This week it feels like summer, but it is now fall. And so it will go, as the days get shorter and cooler and the gardens here slowly begin their rest. For now, though, the pollinators are still happy – our sedum are in full bloom.

And at the little house up north, five daylilies have been added to a yard absolutely devoid of any plantings. A completely blank slate front, back, and sides. Only an old lawn and a couple trees. Mind is going, but for this year, while other projects are prioritized, this humble fall planting will have to do. A little sunny corner to make a start. Next spring I’ll pull the grass, the first bit of lawn to be replaced by the start of the gardens.