A Good Start

Despite trouble posting pictures, which as extinguished my interest in blogging temporarily, I've gotten a lot done in the garden.

Finally took out the Japanese honeysuckle, ready for a rose and a clematis
Refreshed the front of the side front garden, pulling out lots of day lilies and Goldsturm rudbeckia, adding soil conditioner and transplanting the Tomato Soup echinacea
Finally rooted out the last of the barberry
Moved the trellis from the side of the house to the mailbox, and planted morning glories and scarlet runner beans along one side; waiting to see if the cardinal climber vine from last summer starts to pop up in its former location
Best of all, and hardest of all, laid out the new sunny garden in front down from where the dogwood used to be and the butterfly bush is now

Here's a look before the plants went in:


It was incredibly hard to do this the hard way, which is what I chose. I edged the whole thing (8' x 8' plus the existing bed for the butterfly bush), then sliced it into sections and lifted up the sod with a straight-edged spade. When Adrian Higgins refers to "skimming off the sod," he is deluding you. It was backbreaking. Nevertheless...

This new bed is meant to be sunny, high, and wild, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds, and mostly made up of native plants. The color scheme is blue, pink and yellow with just a touch of white. Planted to date are:
Boltonia asteroides 'Snowbank'
Salvia gregii 'ultra violet'
Lavandula media 'grosso'
Helianthis 'Lemon Queen'
Aster laevis 'Blue Bird'
Agastache 'Blue Fortune'
Schizachyrium scoparium 'The blues'
Pennisetum alopecuroides (fountain grass)
Eupatorium purpureum subsp. Maculatum 'Gateway'
tulipa 'General de Wet'
Muscari

(The latter two, by the way, did indeed make a pretty pair, the orange softened by the blue and they bloomed at the same time by some miracle.)

Becky kindly picked up a lot of these at Colesville for me. I was worried about the Joe Pye weed, which was nothing but a dead stick, so I sank the pot into the ground in case I had to return it. But patience is rewarded - it's now got about an inch of new growth. Hard to believe it will grow to six feet, but stranger things have happened.

Three projects

Having all this time to garden means doing more than the routine maintenance. No, new peaks must be scaled! Hence three projects, at least two of which will test my abilities.


The first is the expansion of the back corner, which was looking awfully bare after the forsythia was grubbed out a year or so ago. The current plan is to plant three oakleaf hydrangeas 'Alice' that should provide height and mass (plus three-season interest). (My sources claim they grow 10-15' in height and width, though their label claims only 8' - we'll see.) Then I'll underplant with hostas, spring bulbs, etc. Here is the project so far. And here are the plants waiting to be planted.






Second is a raised bed beside the cutting garden which will be a home to sun-loving annuals and vegetables. The very nice man at Home Depot assured me I could do this. Yes, but... Here is the lumber, and below is a picture of the raised bed frame, a bit cattywompus because I had to use screws and a drill instead of my sewing machine.



 

The third is putting up the trellis, which I did today with a little help from Alison as to moving and placing everything. At its feet are the cardinal climber vines, eager to clamber up the trellis. (Or is it an arbor?)

And the fourth of the three projects is to get rid of the grass underneath the viburnums. Newspaper and mulch on their way!

Latest wacko garden plan

So I've been thinking about the beautiful Zephirine Drouhin climbing rose that Martha grows and am considering the following. How about a rose arbor framing the cutting garden on the side of the house? Yes, the entrance might be much grander than what follows, but so be it. Once I take out the ailing dogwood it could work. Then, this article in Garden Rant makes me think that I might as well try growing asparagus along the side farthest from the fence, which, like most of my garden, reads as partial shade. Seize the day and go forth!

Darwin and gardens

On a mad, impulsive whim, I've signed up for a week-long course at Oxford (yes, THAT Oxford) on Charles Darwin at the end of July. Not only that, but the instructor also writes a garden column for the Independent and leads tours of Kew. Not only that, but she's the daughter of Pete Townshend of The Who. Curiouser and curiouser.

In my quest to find out who Emma Townshend is and what kind of gardener (she's studied the history of science and researched Darwin's correspondence with gardeners), I found this most amazing gardening article on hidden underground gardens somewhere in Wales.

Oh, and I'm adding her gardening blog to my blogroll.