Our gardening started with a flurry of activity in May this year. Most of our work was concentrated on our new Firepit Garden. With great delight I realized parts of this garden were bathed in full sunlight for most of the day while some areas enjoyed partial sun and some areas were in bright shade. Oh, my! I hit the gardener’s jackpot. Let’s start by checking out the pots around this new garden area. We planted a Red Twig Dogwood at the end of last year to test it and we were quickly persuaded to add two more this year. These shrub type plants were delightful last winter as we observed the bright red winter stems from the living room and kitchen windows. Butterfly bushes are a favorite of mine. I love the bloom and the way hummingbirds and butterflies flock to it. But the bushes can get big and spindly and I wasn’t willing to give up the prime sunny spots around the firepit for them. Then I happened to see dwarf butterfly bushes at a garden store. These beauties have regular sized blooms on a smaller bush—-reaching a mature size of 2’ high and wide. Score! I added three to the firepit garden. I also added three Stokes Aster which I hope will appreciate the sun enough to give us purple blooms for most of the summer. And of course we needed some lower growing plants at the top of the wall with all the bigger plants behind them. I added lamium and perennial geraniums which give continuous purple blooms. Three Brilliance Autumn Ferns went in this sunnier area. I wasn’t sure if I’d have to move them into a shadier spot, but they seem happy where they are. These aren’t our only ferns in this garden. I also added Ghost Ferns in a slightly shadier spot. It still gets enough sun to support our new hardy hibiscus which you can see in the picture below. We love native azaleas so we added three flame azaleas... ...and Weston’s Innocence, a white blooming variety... ...and Weston’s Ribbon Candy... White is a welcomed color in the shady areas of our fire pit garden and the woodland path that winds around the backside of it. We selected white blooming hybrid rhodies to wrap around the back of this garden. I added three of these Bridal Veil astilbe but I am already hoping to add more. On each side of the Astilbe I placed a grouping of these Night Before Christmas Hosta because no shade garden is complete without hosta! In the back of the firepit garden which is more visible from the woodland path, I planted woodland phlox and three of these Ruby Slippers Hydrangeas which are a dwarf oak leaf hydrangea. This ligularia was recommended by a gardening friend as a “must-have” so I added two. We placed three of these Fern Leaf Bleeding Hearts around some trees. And now we’re moving into a partly sunny area where I planted a Bloomerrang Lilac Bush... ...Rainforest Sunrise Hosta with Cardinal flower behind it... ...Lenten roses and perennial geraniums. We added two of these Kaleidoscope Abelia at the steps leading to the woodland path. We planted four different types of blueberry bushes and are hoping the black bears don’t find them! Speaking of bears, we hired a chainsaw carver to create Big Mama. She’s six feet long and lounges on our bedroom balcony. We love her! Here’s how she looks from the road... ...and did you notice our new bed of hakone grass in front of the Garden Bell Garden? I love hakone grass and it shows! We added another bed at the top of the wall of our kitchen garden. Now I can see it anytime from my kitchen window. I may need to rename the Kitchen Garden to the Hosta Walk Garden. We completed planting along the stone walking path there with these Golden Tiara Hosta. That pretty much catches you up with our 2019 gardening work. The incessant rain has kept us inside for over a week now. We’re anxious to get back out there soon! Happy gardening, everyone!
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Phil & SharonMarried 40 years and hoping to enjoy many more! Archives
December 2019
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