Shooting Around the Garden

Yes deer season is in full swing, but that's not what I'm shooting!  The other day I ventured around the garden just to see what was growing (and what wasn't), what was blooming (and what wasn't), and what I needed to get done (or put off/procrastinate). In the latter category there is a mountain of things I could do but weather conditions and time will no doubt force me to put off today what can be done tomorrow. You've never had that happen to you have you? ;)

Still there were some things to look at and some things to file away in anticipation of spring.


First let's start off with something blooming like this 'Winter Snowman' Camellia.  Two of these are book ending the front foundation garden.  It is only in its second year in the garden and is blooming nicely!

We'll hop around the corner to the corner shade garden.  It is on the list of things to do, mostly because of the weed situation.  I didn't mulch it this past year and it shows.  Mulch can keep many of those annual weeds at bay that self sow.  My strategy now is to remove the chickweed and henbit before they go to seed. The oak leaf hydrangea looked really nice this fall.  The hostas have all faded into the soil leaving the heucheras and hellebores to show off their foliage for the winter.

Here's a closer look around some ajuga in the corner shade garden.  Even the ajuga is having issues with holding off the chickweed.  At least chickweed is easy to remove!  (And its edible, or so I've been told)

If we turn around we end up in the self-sowing garden.  There is lots of green here too only it's a mix of self-sowing plants and weeds.  The poppies have germinated already for a big display next May.  There may be a few other germinated seeds hidden in and around the chickweed.  I need a good day of weeding!   

The arrowwood viburnums are all still retaining their leaves.  I don't remember them holding on this long last year but the yellow colors are welcome when everything else is bare!

This viburnum is in the middle of an open space turning it into several pathways.  I need to transplant the ornamental grasses at its base.  That grass is Nassella tenuissima, Stipa tenuissima, pony tail grass, or Mexican feather grass whatever you want to call it.  I've been told it's invasive but the only spreading it has done in my garden is through division by this gardener's hands.  There is also a purple coneflower nearby that needs relocated.
 

An about face brings us face to face with my favorite shrub for fall color.  OK I can't really pick favorites but red twig dogwoods are one of the best fall color shrubs around.  I highly recommend mixing red twig dogwoods with a backdrop of evergreens and not a backdrop of air conditioners...

...oh and red twig dogwoods propagate VERY easily from cuttings!

We'll end today's post with a view of this little collection of self-sown lunaria seedlings.  Also known as Money Plant, lunaria blooms in the spring with flowers that resemble garden phlox.  As the seeds develop a disc shaped seed pod is formed that is between the size of a quarter and a half dollar.  I gathered seeds from a couple plants near my parent's house and brought them to my garden. 

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my garden in later November.  Don't forget to leave a comment!

A Trip Through the Sideyard Garden

One of the lesser shown areas of my yard this year has been the sideyard and corner shade garden. In the past I've featured it quite a bit but to be honest I've been disappointed with it this year. After I removed a cedar tree in the spring the morning sun began to cook the hostas in the garden. They weren't too happy. When you add up the flooding rains in May and the extremely dry and hot summer you can understand why the garden might look considerably less than perfection. I replaced the cedar tree with a dogwood which in time will look great but until its foliage fills out the shade garden will just have to tolerate a little extra sun.

Recently I expanded both sides of the sideyard gardens. I didn't do much more than move the border stones but it had an immediate effect. The pathway was improved by making it more narrow (down to about 8 feet from 11-12) and the gardens could house more plants. In the spring I will be forced to move several hostas otherwise they will get covered by the oak leaf hydrangea in the corner. It's a good problem to have since inevitably I'll end up dividing the hostas which means - MORE FREE PLANTS!

Let's take a quick tour of the pathway.

Here's a picture from underneath the arbor. On the right is the corner shade garden and to the left is the self-sowing garden. Straight ahead is the dogwood ('Constellation').

Here we are a few steps down the pathway. You will notice the black plastic hardware cloth I have around the trees. That is there to protect the young trees from the deer which have been a constant source of frustration this year. The tree on the left is a 'Forest Pansy' redbud. 'Forest Pansy' redbuds have beautiful purple foliage early in the spring that turns a more normal green through the summer. Straight ahead is a shrub line of caryopteris.

A look over at the corner shade garden shows the hostas are on their way out for the season. the foliage is all wilted due to the frosts this week. 

Further down the pathway you can see the stone border and the caryopteris plants behind it. 

And here is the destination the pathway eventually takes you to. On the right is Russian sage and snowball viburnum while on the left is a redbud, birch tree, ornamental grasses and a few other plantings. If you follow the sight line of the pathway you can see a red maple tree which has dropped it's foliage and the garden shed way in the back.

There's the brief tour of November in the sideyard garden!

Two Shade Garden Plant Combinations I Like

Here is a post I meant to publish over a month ago and it just got lost in the abundance of things to talk about this growing season! I have added a couple updated pictures.

In our corner shade garden we have hostas, heucheras, an oak leaf hydrangea, coleus, and astilbe. It's fun to play around and see what plants look good together. I don't have much shade to play with and so this garden gets filled to the brim which can create some neat variations on the shade theme.

The first combination here is the white flowering astilbe in front of a 'Mocha' Heuchera. 'Mocha' has some really dark foliage which would also look great next to some lime green heucherellas or hostas.

The other combination I'm pleased with in the shade garden uses only heucheras. Earlier in the spring I wrote about wanting to add 'Silver Scrolls' heuchera to the corner shade garden. Here in the picture you can see why.

The silver tinted leaves with greenish-burgundy variegation are simply really cool. Now when you mix it together with a solid color heuchera, like 'Palace Purple' it helps to accentuate the variegation even more. In the two pictures below the one on the left is from June while the one on the right is from July. You can see how fast 'Silver Scrolls' grows to fill in the area. This fall I'll be dividing the 'Palace Purple' to keep the competition between the two perennials down and to make a few more plants! (Seems like I'm always doing that!)

Corner Shade Garden Then (2008) and Now (2011)

Three years ago I redid a corner spot along our house and turned it into a shade garden. Two plants were present when I started to install the shade garden: a privet (ligustrum) and a cedar tree. I removed the privet mostly because I didn't like it and removed the cedar due to a bagworm infestation I had early last spring. I replaced the privet with an oak leaf hydrangea and plants a 'Constellation' dogwood tree near where the cedar tree was. The dogwood isn't an evergreen tree and isn't as selectable to bagworms. Let's take a look back.

In 2008:

Here is what the Corner Shade Garden looked like three years ago. The hostas and heucheras were very young, coleus was planted in a few locations (a great annual to add a little color to a shady area), and the oak leaf hydrangea was small, very small.  I tend to plant smaller plants because of the value and because the smaller root system can better adapt as it grows to the conditions of the area.  I've always liked hostas but because I knew rabbits and deer lived nearby I planted the heucheras interspersed with the hostas.  Deer and rabbits don't ever touch our heucheras and mixing things up a little seems to have helped the hostas. The only deer damage our hostas have seen appeared after the tall flowering stalks appeared. The flowers were nibbled off that first year but have been fine ever since.

In 2011:

Here is the shade garden now in late May. The oak leaf hydrangea is in full bloom and actually needs trimming to allow access to the gas meter. Some of the heucheras and hostas have been divided not just to spread them out but also because they were getting large. There's even a stone border now that wasn't present in the 2008 Corner Shade Garden. It's amazing how things change over time! See below for a list of plants that currently reside in the Corner Shade Garden.

Here are a few past posts about the Corner Shade Garden:

April 2008, April 2009, May 2010, April 2011

List of Shade Plants in the Corner Shade Garden:

Oak Leaf Hydrangea 'Lady in Red' Hydrangea Heuchera 'Katherine' Heuchera 'Southern Comfort' Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' Heuchera 'Palace Purple' Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' Heuchera 'Mocha' Heucherella 'Stoplight'

Hosta 'Ginkgo Craig' Hosta 'Patriot' A few unnamed Hostas Japanese Painted Fern Astilbe Variegated Solomon's Seal Ajuga

The Corner Shade Garden Through Time

The evolution of a garden is an interesting thing to look back at from time to time. For this month's Gardening Gone Wild Garden Design Workshop: Made in the Shade I thought I would take a look back at where my corner shade garden was and where it is now.

Here it is last year before most of the work was done to it.

 

I removed the large ugly frost damaged bush from the back corner which left the corner bare.

  

Then I spent some time weeding the strawberry plants throughout the year. Those things are still coming back. In the garden went heucheras and hostas.  Eventually I added an oak leaf hydrangea.

The plants gradually grew, as plants are known to do, and I added a natural stone pathway through the garden for the gas meter reader person. I thought that for the meter reader's convenience and the safety of my plants this was necessary! Coleus that was rescued from the discount racks was planted and new plants like Soloman's Seal were added from a plant swap.

This year I've added a few things to the area like the dry creek bed I put together to guide rainwater away from the house. Just to the right of the dry creek bed is a Japanese maple that was another rescued discount plant I bought at the end of last season.  The stone border was a new addition I added around the garden this year. It's made from gathered limestone which is common in every area in Middle Tennessee except for my yard. I'm not sure I have a single rock here that I haven't imported!

Here's a look at the foliage in the shade garden all filled out. The edges of each plant touch and slightly overlap which helps to reduce moisture loss from underneath.  Not that that has been a problem this spring! We've had an over abundance of downpours this year. In fact we've probably forgotten what the word "drought" means but we should always keep it in mind as it could strike at any time. 

Here is the shade garden from the other side of the Arbor. I'm pleased with its progress but it will gradually change over time as the oak leaf hydrangea gets larger. I'll probably end up having to move heucheras further out but that's not a problem since that will give me an opportunity to divide them and you probably know that I like more plants, especially when free!

The Corner Shade Garden

One of my favorite little garden spots is the shade garden. It's nestled into a little corner created by the layout of our house. When I began gardening here I knew I wanted a shade garden somewhere but our options were extremely limited. Most of the yard was full sun back then, but that's changing. It's a slow process, adding trees and waiting for them to grow, so until I could cultivate some really good shade spots the corner shade garden was the best option. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade which is just right for most shade loving plants.

Plants in the Corner Shade Garden

Oak Leaf Hydrangea

Hosta 'Ginkgo Craig' 

Hosta 'Patriot' 

Hosta 'Unkown' - I have at least 3 varieties of Hosta 'Unkown'! 

Heuchera 'Silver Scrolls' 

Heuchera 'Palace Purple' 

Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' 

Heuchera 'Fireworks' 

Heuchera 'Mocha' 

Heucherella 'Stoplight' 

Hydrangea 'Lady in Red' 

Astilbe 

Japanese Painted Fern

The central focal point of this garden is the oak leaf hydrangea. It ranks up there as a joint number one and two with lacecap hydrangeas on my favorite hydrangea list. OK the list is purely figurative - I really don't have a list but if I did you can bet oak leaf hydrangeas would be at the top. It gets bigger each year which means I'll need to transplant the heucheras and hostas gradually to new locations as the hydrangea grows. It really is an unintentionally perfect plan. As more shade develops in the rest of the yard I can move the displaced corner shade garden residents to new homes. It also gives me a great opportunity to split and divide them for more plants - you know, I think I like that!

The air conditioner is a necessary visual abomination in the south. Around here if you don't have AC in the summer...well...let's just say you'll be sipping a lot of ice cold drinks. When I was young in PA AC wasn't a big deal, my grandparents didn't even have it installed in their home and I can't remember if we did either. I have an idea to disguise the AC that is a little different but requires some collecting of old materials. I'll update you when I finally put together my plan.

It's a little rough around the edges right now. It needs more weeding, edging, and mowing. The great garden to-do list is always growing and ever present.

Where Does My Arbor Go?

Since I've talked so much about the arbor itself I thought for this post I would highlight the garden that the arbor takes you too. If you look past the arbor you will find a quasi-Japanese shade garden nook. I say quasi because it's a hybrid of Japanese and American plants.  The Japanese elements are the Japanese maple, a side order of hostas, and two clumps of Japanese forest grass that were just added. There are native elements as well which a purest would say don't have their place in a Japanese garden but really look very cool together. Take the hosta and heuchera combination for instance. Although the origins are continents apart these two plants seem destined to be together. Hostas originate from Asia while the heucheras are native to parts of North America.

Here is the view from the self-seeding garden. The only thing I'm not thrilled with is the gas meter. It's one of those necessary evils that I just can't do much about. The corner shade garden has quite a few elements going for it now, mature shade tolerant plants (like the aforementioned hostas and heuchera as well as the astilbe, oak leaf hydrangea, and a couple annual coleus plants), a dry creek bed for downspout drainage, and natural limestone borders.

The arbor really helps to enhance the area and entice the eyes down the pathway. I hope when the self-seeding garden gets going that it will be something unique and special to bookend The Arbor Project in between. Don't forget to head over to Better Homes & Gardens to vote for the Arbor in the 48 Hour Blog Challenge.  I may be down in the voting but I won't give up until the end.

The Scene Around the Arbor

A couple years ago I was fortunate to participate in the Better Homes and Gardens 48 Hour Blog Challenge. Three other blogs and myself competed with projects subject to online voting to see who would win. The winner took home $5000, unfortunately it wasn't me but the whole project was fun anyway - and it paid for the arbor! My project was the front garden arbor and I've really enjoyed how it helps to anchor the gardens nearby. Three gardens come together at this point (Self Sowing Garden, Corner Shade Garden, and Front Porch Garden) and the arbor ties them together.

On the left side of the arbor is the self sowing garden. The gas line is underneath it somewhere and I wanted a planting area that if for some reason the gas line needed to be dug up I wouldn't worry too much about.
Poppies will be blooming in a couple weeks along with many other self sowing plants.

On the right side of the arbor is the Front Porch Garden. No nifty name for this garden, just the plain old front porch garden! Near the arbor is a crape myrtle which provides summer color and several irises which should begin blooming very soon. At the base of the crape myrtle is golden ragwort a spring blooming native. 

From the other side of the arbor you can see the native honeysuckle blooming along the front porch. The arbor had a third diamond shape that fell off and needs some repair work. The Japanese maple is filling out very nicely after two years. It's no wonder so many people enjoy Japanese maples in their garden! The foliage is just very cool. I bought a new coleus the other day and planted it by the base of the arbor. I still need to plant my caladiums, the last several days have been too wet to do much of anything in the garden.

Here's Maggie, one of the neighbor's cats. If you look close you can see she's caught something - a lizard. I cheer her on when she gets the mice but I like the lizards hanging around to eat the bad bugs!

Here's the arbor and front porch area. My Fiskar's rain barrel is overflowing with rainwater, I really could use another one! The corner shade garden is on the left but hostas still have found places on the other side of the dry creek bed.

What structures hold your garden together?

Around Our Garden Landscape

This weekend after all the garden related chores were done for the day, and just before sunset came, I took a few photographs of how our gardens look this April.  I still have mulching, pruning, weeding, and many other things to do but I thought it would be a good time to share some of our garden with you.  These pictures are mostly of the backyard but there is one of our sideyard garden where the arbor is. 

The first picture is a wide shot of the backyard.  The lawn in the middle is framed by the vegetable garden to the right and the birdbath garden to the left. One of these days I'll repair the birdbath and get it back out there!  This year has been extremely busy and I've put off some projects in favor of others.  The birdbath is one of the "do later" chores.  You can see in the vegetable garden the two wooden trellises I made last year for cucumbers and melons.  They worked great!

We'll shift slightly to the left and see more of the birdbath garden.  Irises are blooming right now but soon other perennials will be showing off.  The two shrubs on the far side toward the back of the garden are a ninebark and a witchhazel.  I need to move one of them but I'm afraid it may be too late this year.  Perhaps this fall I'll attempt it. 

 Another slight shift to the left shows a viburnum on the corner.

Inside the garden is a statue placed in a patch of catmint.  Catmint is one of my most favorite perennials simply because it is so easy to grow!  It's easy to propagate too and you can turn one into many very quickly.  It attracts pollinators and is said to repel certain undesirable insects (like termites, cockroaches, and mosquitoes)!

This pink phlox has made a nice home underneath a crape myrtle.  Unfortunately the crape myrtles in our yard are severely frost bitten. They will recover but if they bloom will most likely bloom much later than normal.  We can blame this on the early warm weather and the frost combo.

And last I'll leave you with this photo of our side garden arbor and the corner shade garden.  Hostas, heucheras, oak leaf hydrangea, ajuga, hellebores, Japanse ferns, and astilbe all are in the corner shade garden.  The Japanse maple is a little frost bit but mostly came through the frost OK.

I hope you enjoyed that quick tour!  There's more to come soon!

Corner Shade Garden: I've Got Things To Do

It's been a while since I posted about the corner shade garden.  Last year it really wasn't anything to write about, it was a mess.  I neglected it due to other issues and now comes the time when I need to get it back into shape.  A year of neglect in the garden can mean a lot of work later for repairing the damage.  Weeds grow, produce seed, spread the seed, and grow three times faster when you're not looking!  So in today's post I'm going to make a list of things I need to do to get this garden back into shape.  With Easter weekend coming up I doubt I'll have time to get it all done just yet but perhaps next week I can get this garden ready for showing off.

Here's the corner shade garden in its current state.  Weeds are all over.  Some grass type weeds, some chickweed, some dandelions and all sorts of other weeds.  Part of this problem could have been prevented with mulching last year. You'll also notice the the siding needs a good cleaning.  The front porch is also in need of pressure treating.  I'm still hoping to come up with some sort of screen for the AC unit.  I have ideas but haven't had the time yet.

Not all is bad in the garden though. The tried and true perennials are doing fine, like this heuchera. 

Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' is one of my favorites.  The foliage is very cool with spots of pink on dark purple leaves.

The ajuga is in bloom along the pathway.  It probably should be divided after blooming to improve it's coverage.  It will spread well enough on its own so that is a very low priority!  It does need weeded though.  I'm sure you can see the chickweed weaving its way through the ajuga. 

My native honeysuckle (Coral honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens) needs a little bit of pruning.  It's flowering beautifully this year along the porch.  I love the way it nestles the rain barrel into the area.

Here's the list of things to do to get my corner shade garden ready:
Weed Mulch Prune the honeysuckle Prune the oak leaf hydrangea Repair the drycreek bed. Pressure wash the house siding  Divide heucheras that need it Divide hostas that need it Make a screen for the AC unit Divide ajuga - when I get around to it!

I'll use the pruning leftovers to make cuttings of the oak leaf hydrangea and the honeysuckle. The honeysuckle propagates easily but the oak leaf hydrangea is tricky. It took the honeysuckle about 3 years to get to this stage but it's one plant well worth planting!