planting, yoga, gazebo, shopping, planting

Today I wanted to go to yoga at 10:45 AM, but that doesn't put me back home until 12:30 pM, getting close to the hottest part of the day. And, I really wanted to get the other yew planted. So, I headed out to plant it around 9 AM. Amazingly, there were no tree roots in the planting hole, just some rocks, so it was a lot faster and I had the yew in the ground before 10 AM.

Mom was going to go out and get some more terra cotta pots and do a few other errands and wasn't home yet when I got home from yoga. I decided that I wanted to eat lunch in the gazebo and set about putting it together. It was that hard to put together, just a bit tricky getting the right angle some times and definately not a one person job. Iwas glad mom got back when she did to help me out. Unfortunately, just as we were fininshing securing the canvas top, the step ladder mom was standing on collapsed and she took a really bad fall. It was in the 80s today and at this point I was pretty well overheated. So, we took a break and went to get ice cream and look at plants.

I had some coleus that I had bought at the farmer's market yesterday and I wanted to find something else to plant with them, plus I wanted to get a few more herbs to put in terra cotta pots that I am going to use to protect the area where I have the salvias planted. I ended up not totally doing what I had planned. I did get a thyme to put in one of the pots, also an impatien with rose shaped flowers, a begonia, a pretty purple and white petunia hybrid and a variegated sedge for the shade garden. Of course, this basically gives me some half filled pots. I wanted but did not get cross-wire vine, tri-color sage and tri-color sweet potato vine. I will get these later. Also stopped by Lowes and Home Depot but didn't find anything at either store.

When I got home, it was back to planting. I got all the coral bells planted around the water heater side yew. That area is looking pretty good. Then I got the sedge planted in the shade garden. After that it was container time. I planted the mint I got yesterday in its own pot. Then, I had the problem with the thyme, which really takes only part of a pot right now. I will get it some friends when I get back from NC. I was then going to pot up some more plants, but I ran out of potting soil! I was able to get the 6-pack of coleus and one of the 4" pots planted together in one of my blue ceramic pots I added one of the little coleus to my green pot with the sedge, pansies and coral bells for later, when the pansies have to go. I also removed the vinca that wasn't looking great and replaced with some more English Daisies that I had purchased yesterday. Currently the petunia, begonia and impatiens are all waiting for more potting soil. One coleus is waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. Plus, I have the other 6 coral bells for the other side of the perennial bed. All of these are in little pots, but mom should be watering them daily while I am out of town and the day I get back I will have some major planting to do. The weather is supposed to cool off over the next week, so that should help things out some. My yard is starting to come together. I will still need to sometime get that camellia planted and finally decide what to do with my flying dragon.

My Rose of Sharon has taken a beating from the dogs and I wasn't sure if it was still with us, but today I noticed little leaf buds on it. Also saw little leaf buds on the small beautyberry. The big beautyberry does not appear to have any little buds at all, so I am back to worrying that it just didn't make it. Time will tell.

big planting day

Today I got A LOT planted!

I started out by watering everything and doing a little weeding. I also rearranged the porch plants slightly, putting the two pots that STILL have paperwhite foilage with pansies peeking through down in the foundation bed on the ajuga side. Then I switched to doing some more weeding in the camellia bed. I am ready to add more mulch, but I want to put down a layer of newspaper first and I don't have enough newspaper. I'm planning on buying the Sunday paper tomorrow!

At that point, I decided it was finally time to tackle the yews. I spent quite a while with mom helping me measure out where exactly I wanted them to be on the corner of the bed. It took quite a while to get the hole for the yew dug, due in part to A LOT of tree roots. Of course, the whole perennial bed thing only came about because of how disturbed the soil was from me cutting down the two little trees and trying to pull all their roots out. After all the work planting the yew, I was quite hot (it was 82 today) and tired and it was definately lunch time. I did take the 6 coral bells I had and set them around the yew. The original plan was that I would use three on each side, but to really get the look I wanted, 6 is what is really took to go the distance. While mom was making lunch, I went ahead and potted up the marigolds in one of my blue pots I bought on sale last fall. I also finally planted the clematis, planting it deep in a hole near the fence. We shall see if it even comes up. I did have some leftover dirt from that and thought maybe I could find a few plants to plant right up along the fence.

After lunch, we decided it was too hot to work in the yard for a while and took a break and went shopping. I got some terra cotta pots for very cheap at Old Tyme Pottery. Then we went to Underwoods to see what they had and ask about a fatsia japonica. They were out of fatsias, but did say that they grew well (and we finally saw one in person as they have one growing along their fenceline). They didn't have very many spring things in yet, so we left without buying anything.

After that it was off to the farmer's market. I was very excited as they had a 6 back of colues! I also found two other large pots of coleus that I had to buy as well. I found some coral bells that I really liked, which were $3 or 12 for 30. Since I needed 6 at that point I decided that I just had to get 12 perennials. I had quite a hard time deciding what else to buy. I ended up getting a mallow to go in the little piece of the border that is right up against the water heater (hope there is enough sun when everything leafs out), 2 salvia to plant by the clematis and 3 balloon flowers to plant somewhere!

When I got back home, I got straight back to work. First up I planted the 2 salvia by the clematis, then I decided to finally plant the large Dale's Strain coral bell I had gotten a while ago. I planted it in the shade border, kind of in front and between two hostas. Finally I planted the mallow, but not before digging out A LOT of tree roots, including a big knot of a tree stump about the size of a baseball that I had figured I'd never get dug out. After planting the mallow, I realized the next step would be to plant the coral bells around the area, as that was all that was left to be done in that area. But, the area where some of the coral bells are to go was basically I wild onion field. So, I spent the rest of the daylight digging out wild onions and more tree roots. I got the area done just as the light was fading and then tossed some mushroom compost on top and mixed it in, then covered the whole lot with pine needles. I still need to do a little plant removal on the other side of the yew and then I can plant the coral bells and be done with that corner!

Today I planted:

1 Yew
clematis
Dale's Strain coral bells
2 Salvia (in the corner)
mallow

seedlings!

Yesterday I went to check on the Chinese lantern seeds I had started, convinced it would be a total failure and instead was in for quite a surprise when I saw that I have little seedings. So far, 9 of the 12 little pot things has at least one seedling in it. I know I need to let them grow a little more and then thin to one seedling per little pod. And to think I just too the "Success with Seeds" book back to the library because I was feeling that I most definately was not having success with seeds! At least this has made me somewhat hopeful that I will be able to get my seed-based herb garden up and running in about a month (we are just less than a month from our frost free date).

My irises are already beginning to fade, but a couple of the late bloomers are still blooming. The crocuses are still going, though I probably only got less than 50% of the bulbs I planted coming up. The garbage men also put the garbage can down on some of the crocuses this morning...

My ornamental pear or whatever tree is also currently blooming.

My yoga teachers want to have a house-warming satsang at my house, which would be great if the carpet wasn't a mess, between my dogs and all the stuff that came up later. I will have to have the carpets cleaned the AM of the satsang!!

I am switching what I am planning to do in the front foundation bed. Instead of edging with mondo grass, which I am afraid will grow into the lawn, I'm going to edge with lirope. Bobbie has some lirope I can dig up.

new brick borders

I still need to plant the 2 yews, but just didn't feel up to it today, hopefully this weekend. I am rapidly heading into a time when I will need to mow my yard though, so I decided to try to do something about the mulch that is getting everywhere.

So, today I worked on reworking the border to the woodland garden (I was having to step over part of the border to get to my tool shed) and making brick borders around my camellia beds. That went pretty well, and I used some more of the bricks from beside the shack. I did unearth a few yucky bugs while doing that. After I raked the mulch back into the general area and added the bricks, I realized I definately have a little weeding to do.

Despite my best efforts at seeding, I can't get grass to grow where it is not currently growing. The grass does seem to grow very well back in the area where the camellia beds are. So, I tried to eliminate some of that grass and dig out any wild onions. I got part of the one bed weeded out, the other one (with the three Toms) isn't a weedy. I also chopped out some more of the junk privet. I will put down newspaper along the fence line and then extend the mulch all the way back there. I think I'm going to go to Wal-Mart and pick up a few more bags of mulch for that whole area.

burr.... and weeding

After spring weather all week (in the 70s) we had a sudden cold snap just in time for the weekend, with lows in the low 30s and highs only in the 50s. Today it was also pretty windy. So, last night I went out and covered all the other hostas with fresh pine needles, and brought in the little potted Elegens hosta, the hanging basket of million bells, the fern and the pot with the licorice plant (since it was finally starting to look better after being crumped by the snow back in January).

It was pretty windy and felt pretty cold today, but I did spend about 4 hours this afternoon weeding my foundation beds. Especially the side with the ajuga REALLY needed some help as I was getting tons of clover. I also went around and cut down all the wild onions I could find growing in my lawn. My lawn doesn't quite need to be mowed yet and since I don't have a lawnmower or a gate into my backyard... I figured this would neater it up a little bit and put off any need to mow for at least a while longer. Plus, it helps the irises and crocuses show up better. I have more crocuses blooming now, including more purples and even a white now.

When I was weeding the foundation bed, I found foilage that I think must be the chinadoxa that I planted starting to come up. So, I may have some more blooms in that bed sometime. I am wondering if the mystery tulip in that bed will bloom.

I am hoping to possibly get the yews planted tomorrow. We will see...

More blooms!

Today as I was leaving for the vet, my mom pointed out that I had purple things by the mailbox. My irises, which have been coming up for a bit are now blooming. I kind of expected that their stalks would be longer, but who knows, maybe I planted the bulbs too deep or maybe that is just how they look. I also have a few more crocus up as well.

The panies are just going to town right now. I can't believe how many are opening. And, I might have tulips soon. I have two tulip buds in one pot and I think they will probably open soon. The apparent tulip in the foundation bed is still growing, as are the mystery bulbs in the foundation bed and yard. I also have one muscari that is just starting to open in another pot (that must be where the black tulips are). I also think I have some hyacinths coming up in another pot. Hopefully I have more spring bulbs to come!

I finally got some pictures of my yard this morning. Due to the vet visit, I didn't get any work done. Three of the Julie Mross hostas I planted and the one Elegens I planted in a pot have all started to green up. One of the Elegens in the ground also has a little green on it. Unfortunately, one Elegens that did have a little green on it now has totally wilted down and all the others look like there are no signs of life. I will just have to wait and see, but I am starting to think I will not get a great result from the bare root hostas. Don't know what the problem was, if they were planted too high up, had already started to grow too much in the package, got planted too early and were damaged by the cold. Don't know.

A quick tour of the yard before I left for work revealed some additional plants now in bloom. My small Pieris (Valley Rose) is just starting to bloom. It is also blooming white, though I had thought it would bloom pink. Oh well, it still is pretty and different from my other Pieris, as it has a more weeping shape. The scilla I planted by the side of the house in mostly shade have also begun to bloom. And, a big surprise is that one of the ajuga in the foundation bed has just started to bloom and the others appear to have buds. The one plant that it seems SHOULD be blooming that isn't is my hellabore and I didn't even see anything that looks like buds on it. On a bad note, the chickweed is also bloom, as are dandelions and a few other weeds.

in bloom

I was in for a real surprise when I went and looked at my big Pieris today... it is blooming!! Currently I have 4 shrubs that are blooming: the Margaret Davis camellia, the middle Tom Knudsen camellia, the forsythia and now the Mountain Fire Pieris.

I spent most of my yard work time today working on weeding the rest of the shade border, this time the part that is on the front yard side of the fence. It went fairly quickly and Jordan came over a helped me a little bit. I also planted 2 Elegens hostas in there. One didn't look too great, but the other one looked good. I now only have 1 Elegens left. I'm planning on planting it in a pot for later use in one of the shade beds.

I also found a hosta nursery in Spartanburg by following a link on the Clemson extension site. It looks like they have a lot of nice hostas and good prices. So, I will need to check the lily lady, JFS and now this place in Spartanburg if I need any more hostas. I still want to get the Penny Mac hydrangea to put in the shade border and then I would like to add a few ferns and astillbes.

I am planning on waiting on the fern front until the Native Plant sale (which I might miss due to being a collie nationals, but I can send my mom). I do want a cinnamon fern and at least one Japanese painted fern. I saw some pictures of lady ferns that made them look pretty nice too, so we will see. I did buy a big Boston Fern for the porch the other night. I think it looks good and I will place two pots by it with coleus or something once it gets warmer.

The other day I did finish up planting hostas, including the 3 Julie Mross on the back yard part of the shade border. I also planted the last few lillies of the valley, I really am not sure any of these are going to take. Then I went to plant the bleeding hearts. Two in the package looked moldy, so I tossed those. The other 3 looked okay, but I couldn't figure out which side was the root. I finally planted the big woody part into the ground, figuring that was the root as I've ready bleeding hearts basically disappear during the summer. The package was NO HELP as far as which side was up, and I tried to call Clemson Extension, but they were closed for the day. We shall see if I guessed right. I am kind of doubtful that these will come up...

Overall, I'm not sure how well I did with the bare root perennials. They are definately a lot cheaper than buying already growing plants in a pot, but I just don't know really if ANY of them will actually take. Now, only time will tell. I will just have to be patient and keep watering everything.

spending more money on the yard

Yesterday we decided that the only way we would be able to get some of the things we needed for the yard was to rent a U-Haul van to transport them home.

Today was the day to go get our things. We fell in love with the gazebo at Garden Ridge and for what it is, it is a great price. We do think we will use it and after spending the money, we had better use it!!

Yesterday I had spent most of the day agonizing about whether to get the long handled tool shed, the wheelbarrow and the drive gate now or wait until later. I finally decided that I really needed the tool shed and the only way I'd be able to get one home would be to rent a truck or pay for delivery, so there is no need to do that twice. I also decided to get the wheel barrow while I had the van and it would be easy to transport it, rather than wrestling it into my car (or not being able to) later on. I did decide to get the smaller 4 gallon wheelbarrow, with the idea that it would be easier to use. I did finally decide to hold off on getting the gate for now because I think I might be able to get it into my car and if not I can always rent a truck at Home Depot or maybe even get Bobbie to help me with her van.

We also swung by Underwoods and finally claimed our Flying Dragon, which is actually now taller than I remembered. I still don't know where I'm going to put it, but as it has survived this long in the pot I figure it can make it a few more weeks. I also ended up buying 2 Yews that will go at the back corners of my house flanking the perennial bed. So, now I have 4 shrubs to plant...

Luckily when we got home George was in his driveway and came over to help me move the big boxes the gazebo and shed were in over into my yard. We were able to get the boxes over the fence without damaging it by placing the boxes on the garbage can. The gazebo is still in its box and leaning up against the side of the house in the back yard. I loaded the shed in its box onto the wheelbarrow and wheeled it down behind the shack, which is where it will live for now. Mom and I were able to get the shed assembled (it just snapped togehter) and it is now ready for the tools as soon as I get them down there (maybe even after work tonight).

We are expecting rain this weekend, so the gazebo will stay in the box for now and the furniture will stay in storage. I am pretty much done spending money on the yard now (I hope) other than 3 remaining big ticket items: 1) fence gate, 2) lawn mower and 3) having the shack torn down.

I also noticed as we were leaving this morning that someone has taken away some of the old wire fencing that has been in my front yard. Now if only they will come back and get the rest and take away that drum as well, I'd be estatic. I also now have 3 crocuses that are up, 2 yellow and one purple. I will try to get pictures this weekend.

Weeding

The plan for this weekend had been to finish weeding all the chickweed out of my shade border area and to actually but in all the ammendments for my perennial bed.

Pulling all the chickweed by hand is quite time consuming, but I did make pretty good progress over the weekend. Unfortunately, on Saturday it was VERY windy which made it cold and hard to work outside, so I only worked in the AM and in the afternoon we went out to look at nurseries. I got a germander plant and two million bells at Garden Treasury, which is a nursery I haven't visited before, but I did like it a lot. I was also looking at and pricing hydrangeas. I want to get a big oak leaf hydrangea to plant in the far back right hand corner of the yard. They had a pink flowered for at Garden Treasury that definately tempted me. Don't know what I'm doing there.

I did cut down a lot of the little weed tree saplings, which has opened up the shade border more. I did discover that I now have a space that looks big enough to put in a hydrangea in the shade border, which would be great. I am considering a Penny Mac, as I saw some that were pretty large but not too expensive.

I also did not work the full day in the yard on Sunday, as it was only in the low 50s and I was pretty much frozen by lunch time. In the afternoon, we went out to do some errands and found a great garden furniture set at Big Lots and they were also have a 20% off sale. The furniture set is two chairs that rock a little bit and swivel and a little coffee table. They also had some little dining tables that were only $35, so we got one of those two as the chairs were the right height and that will allow us to eat outside if we want.

Earlier in the week, we had gone to Garden Ridge and found a great gazebo there for only $150. The main problem is that the box is 10 feet long and will not fit in my car. I finally realized that what I should do is rent a Uhaul van and get the gazebo at Garden Ridge and finally pick up my flying dragon at Underwoods (if they even still have it...). The plan right now is to do that on Friday.

I feel like I am falling behind on all I need to do as I still need to prepare the perennial bed, finish weeding the shade bed and planting hostas, lillies of the valley and bleeding hearts. Plus, I still haven't planted the Margaret Davis camellia (was going to wait until she was done blooming but now I'm worried about giving her enough time to get settled before it gets hot).

Plus, I really still need to paint the trim on the laundry room and finish painting the trim in MY room, plus redoing the crown molding in my mom's room...

And, I am hoping to have enough money and find someone to tear down the shack before it gets hot. I am worried about it harboring mosquitos and Jordan (neighbor kid) said there used to be bees in the shack. I am trying to get in touch with the scrap metal people to get them to take away the old fencing and will see if they are still interested in tearing down the shed and what they will charge. Otherwise, I will have to get a price quote for 1-800 Got Junk, but I think they will be more expensive.