Plants in the ground

That was the goal for this weekend, and I did pretty well. Had three great mornings of gardening and accomplished the following:

*planted the fothergilla and the hydrangea 'Annabelle' in the shrub border by the house

 

*grubbed out the ivy by the fence (a simple phrase that covers an hour of heavy, sweaty digging to get all of the roots out), then dug up the white azalea and moved it there. It looks much better against the fence, airy and Japanese-y.

 

*planted the containers front and back with colocasia, white caladiums, white impatiens, begonias, and coleus

 

*found a spot for each of the beautiful plants - and their equally beautiful soil - left on my doorstep by Martha, who's clearing out her wonderful garden in anticipation of her move. Wild ginger (the lovely mottled form), hellebores, epimedium sulphureum, mazus reptans, ferns, Oenothera Biennis (evening primrose), black and blue salvia - what wonderful presents! I will think of her when I weed, mulch and (inevitably) move them.

 

 

 

I also planted the last of the WFF tomatoes, along with some parsley and basil. And all in time for the rain this afternoon - which didn't amount to much, but one lives in hope.

Peonies

'Sarah Bernhardt' is in full bloom right now, and looks beautiful in a vase with the Love-in-a-mist (nigella) and white campanula from Margaret, who snuck them into the vase on my desk while I was at lunch. What a nice surprise!

 

The Susan Hepler peony turned out to be a semi-double creamy white with yellow stamens. Not sure of its name, but it seems to be a Japanese type. Isn't it beautiful? Two blooms this year. The other Hepler peony is modestly holding out till next year.

Now I'm longing for one of the dark reds. Perhaps the side cutting garden is the place for a few peonies. Nelda was telling me that she's had good luck with Gilbert Wild's grab bag of unnamed peonies for a good price. 'Raspberry' Sundae,' 'Sword Dance,' and 'Red Charm' look pretty swell.

Margaret Roach reports on her peonies this year, including more details about Molly the Witch. Apparently the species peonies are a bit touchy to get going, and may even bloom in different colors, but they like shady conditions. I feel sure one would be happy under the oak tree.

The Warts and All Garden Tour

Very bravely, I invited Becky and Martha to come see the oak tree garden at its peak, knowing full well that they would insist on seeing the whole garden, bare spots and all. Even when warned off from the side cutting garden, they forged ahead and now know all my dirty gardening secrets.

They were, of course, kind and generous in their comments and gave me lots of good ideas. Among them:

*Instead of ripping out the honeysuckle and the akebia (which is actually at its most charming now, with tiny scented bell-shaped flowers and new citrus green leaves everywhere),

 

how about companions? Maybe a rose in front and some clematis in back?

*The transition from the aucuba along the walkway garden would be made beautiful by some black elephant ears, a wonderful contrast to the gold.

*When I take out the oddly failing white azaleas in the white garden, how about a hydrangea?

*Since the dogwood out front is soon going to its reward, all the more reason to rip out the forsythia along the fence and plant a pagoda dogwood (which I happen to know Colesville has in stock, but maybe I'll wait till fall).

Inspired by these ideas, I've also decided it's time to take out the less attractive of the pink azaleas I inherited by the front steps, which will allow me to come up with a better transition to the walkway garden on that side.

It was delightful to have them here, and I'm so grateful for their advice!