Last time I wrote, I was pondering a mini-remodel of the front garden. I'd decided to swap out some grasses and replace the orange-ish geums with another color. It took a while to marshall my forces, but I've done it. Where craft is concerned, I make no idle threats--if I see something that doesn't work or doesn't fulfill my vision, I ruminate on it (in a frantic, obsessive, not altogether pleasant fashion) until I find a solution and then I get it done.
So, I decided to swap out the three Pennisetum "Hameln" for Melica uniflora f. albida. Far Reaches Farm sells Melica, but their website showed "Out of Stock." No problem! I sent an email asking if they had any plants that would soon be ready to ship and they rounded up enough plants to fill my entire order. I really like ordering from Far Reaches Farm! The people are always nice, the plants are always healthy, and the packaging is amazing. See for yourself:
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| Big box of plants arrives via overnight. |
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| Each individual plant is lovingly wrapped. |
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| Plant Number One |
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| Soon, there were twelve happy plants (and a GIANT pile of recyclable packaging materials). |
This is what the front garden looked like before I dug into it:
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| Front garden (photo taken a couple of weeks ago). |
And here (below) is the "After". I've removed one of the big sedums and three Pennisetum and replanted with the baby Melica. I also cut back the spent geraniums with the hope that they'd send up a fresh flush of leaves. It looks a little choppy now, but I think the change will prove to have been a good one. I love the airy spangles of the Melica seed heads and I think the Melica will make a nice continuity between the two Calamagrostis brachytricha that also share the space.
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| Garden after removing the Pennisetum and one Sedum "Autumn Joy" and replanting with Melica. |
On the other side of the entry path, I swapped out the Geum "Flames of Passion" for "Banana Daiquiri". "Flames of Passion" was a nice plant--eager and trouble-free-- but it wasn't quite the color that I'd wanted. I replaced it with "Banana Daiquiri". (I'd been looking for Gimlet, another yellow Geum in the "Cocktail series", but Gimlet is unavailable locally and I decided to compromise for the locally available plant.) "Banana Daiquiri" opens to a more sulphery yellow than I like, but it ages to a pleasant margarine yellow. The yellow is picked up in the back of the planting bed by a Kirengeshoma koreana which will bloom with bell-shaped yellow flowers. And the yellow is echoed across the path in the flowers of the Clematis chiisanensis "Lemon Bells". I also prefer the way in which the yellow Geum flowers interact with the spring-green and coral new growth of the Vine Maples planted adjacent.
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| Geum "Banana Daiquiri" |
Well, that's all I've got at the present. We are enjoying warm, dry weather, so I'm spending a lot of time hand watering the new transplants and water-thirsty specimens throughout the garden. I'm also working on a totally different, non-gardening project, Maybe (fingers crossed) I can share soon a finished product post on that project. :-) On to those tasks!
6 comments:
I think the area looks good both before and after! I've been trialing new grasses myself, looking for fillers that will mask the ugly phases of some of my perennials. Your Melica has personality but it appears that we're just to hot, sunny and dry to keep it happy. I have Pennisetum 'Hameln' on my list, although it's taller than I'd like for some purposes. Sesleria 'Greenlee's Hybrid' has worked well for me but I'm in danger of overusing it. Decisions, decisions! I love your new Geum and wish they did better here. Best wishes with your new project!
Hi Kris, Thanks! Remember when I suspected that my original "Hameln" were actually "little Bunny"? I think I wound up with some of both. From what I've observed, "Little Bunny" is quite a bit smaller than "Hameln" but also lacks some grace as the bloom stalks are short (almost within the main foliage) and the blooms are a bit ratty looking in comparison. Still a nice mounded grass, though. We also have "Burgundy Bunny" in the marketplace and it is pretty with it's burgundy flush. I think you are correct about the Melica. The ones that thrive are in the moister and shadier spots. The plants in full sun (and drier soil) didn't do much last year.
Did anyone warn you that the Melica will self-sow? Mine has, not prolifically, but in little patches around the main plants. When they're small they are easy to pull out. I need to get out after this heat wave ends and cut back my Geraniums too. They do send up nice new fresh leaves, but they look pretty crappy for a couple of weeks right after.
Hi Alison! Yes, I know that it self sows. I saw that with the plants I purchased last year. Seems I'm getting more and more self sowers ... hmmmm... Actually, the only ones that are a pain in the butt so far are the carex tumulicola, which didn't seed at all for about five years but are coming up EVERYWHERE now, two years after I relocated the parent plants, and Calamintha nepetoides.
Your well-thought-out design and tweaks yield an incredible result. My garden is a wild hodgepodge of impulse buys cramscaped together. I envy your beautiful design and great control. I love the way Melica uniflora f. albida dances with the breeze, especially when in bloom/seed.
Thanks, Peter! I keep trying and tweaking...
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