Garden: Small Changes

I've been making small changes in the garden.  Some big projects still await completion--I am trying hard to avert my eyes and my thoughts from those projects.  And I am trying (very hard) to wait and see how the garden fills in before making any big changes to the planting.  But I've been moving slowly along, working on small projects here and there.  And nature has been moving slowly along as well.  So this is a "bits-and-pieces" post about some of the small developments taking place in my garden.

In the back, I found a dish for the top of the gabion pillar.

Before:

Picture taken last August.  The plastic dish acted as a placeholder for whatever would come next.

After:

New dish on gabion pillar.  I think I'd like to add some sempervivums to fill in around the base.  And I can't wait until the sedums bulk up and obscure the top edge of the gabion.

Just across the path from the gabion pillar, I ripped out all the Columbine.  I liked them--in early spring, I was especially happy to see their cheerful blooms--but they also looked gaudy and that weighed on me increasingly.  So, recently, I ordered seed for A. viridiflora "Chocolate Soldier" and I determined that the existing plants needed to go sooner rather than later.  How am I going to differentiate between the new seedlings and the (probably) hundred thousand seeds from the existing plants?  Really...that's not a rhetorical question.

Newly (temporarily) columbine-free area.

On the other side of the patio, the bulky plants in the arbor bed are getting some size and are doing what I hoped they'd do--providing a feeling of enclosure.  I've been thinking about, maybe, adding some Primula japonica (the dark raspberry-colored ones) to the area around the front--it might look nice if they infiltrated the spaces between the cement strips.

The persicaria is a good 7 feet tall right now.  Yea!

Further 'round the back, in the "Swamp Bed", the siberian iris are getting ready to bloom.  I planted them last year and they didn't bloom, so this is my first chance to see if I like the combination of chartreuse iris with the chartreuse-y Alchemilla blooms.  I've also planted fennel (plain old Foeniculum vulgare and bronze fennel) which should bloom alongside the Alchemilla later in the year.  And, there's also some soft, margarine-y yellow in the area, contributed by some asiatic lilies and Weigela middendorffiana.  I do like the soothing effect of a monochromatic palette--even when it is built around a bright like chartreuse! 

But the chartreuse/soft yellow is only one color story.  There's also a sort-of raspberry thread going on which includes Rosa mutabilis, Monarda "Raspberry Wine", Astilbes, and the dusky foliage of the bronze fennel and the "Sweet Tea" honeysuckle.  At some point in the year, the greenish yellows and the raspberry tones are going to intermingle. I keep hoping that I've added enough foliage to balance it all.

In the front yard, I am enjoying some of the lighter, more ethereal plants that I added during the big reshuffle.  That many of these plants make an earlier presence in the garden is a welcome side effect. 

Wispy plants in the front garden bed.

And I added one new plant to the front garden--Variegated Peuce, Peucedanum ostruthium "Daphnis".  I am quite taken with this plant, which looks a lot like variegated Aegopodium but has none of goutweed's bad habits.  I planted it in the back near the "Quick Fire" hydrangea, but it has enough height to be visible from the front and the early-season umbels will make a nice continuum with the umbellifers that bloom later on.  

One last photo--Amsonia "Blue Ice".  I love the inky, blue-purple buds!

Amsonia "Blue Ice"

Garden: GBBD--May 2014

It seems like everyone has something to show for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day this month--and I do, too.  

The unseasonal heat of the past couple of days has caused everything to rush into bloom.  Here's a quick tour arranged geographically--not everything that's in bloom, just a few highlights.

From the sunny front yard come the iris.  The brown one is called "Gingersnap" and it smells subtly like root beer.  Today was warm and, with so many blooms open, I noticed the scent just hanging in the air.  The purple iris is called "Cantina" and it often reblooms in the fall.

Unknown bi-color iris intermixed with Heuchera.

This Clematis chiisanensis "Lemon Bells" is newly planted on the back of the front yard fence.  I thought it would be lighter and more meadowy looking than the espaliered camellia that used to live here.  I found a great new spot for the camellia behind my garbage can enclosure.  It's a better placement--I swear!--even the camellia thinks so.

Around back, Alyssum forms nice mounds along the bottom of the planter wall.  Alyssum is a blue-collar plant, but it's really earned its place in the garden.  Alyssum is available early in the year, bulks-up quickly, flowers non-stop well into fall, isn't damaged by the occasional footstep, and it smells nice.  Winner!

Further along the wall, Sisyrinchium "Lucerne" has burst into bloom.  It won my respect last year for being tough as nails and continuing to bloom without cessation right until fall.

And here is Rosa mutabilis.  This is its first spring in my garden and I can't believe how many blooms it pumped out!

In the shady back yard, the Brunnera blossoms are fading just as those of Alchemilla are coming on.

And that's what I've got blooming.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted each month on the 15th by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.  Head on over there to see what is blooming, today, in gardens around the world.

Garden: I Gave in to Temptation

I gave in to temptation and bought plants for my front garden bed.  I chose an annual Pennisetum setaceum rubrum to fill-in for the Miscanthus that I'd planned to add.  And I sprinkled some annual Salvia, "Snow Nymph", throughout. 

Front Bed corner grouping.

See--I AM Veruca, after all!

Garden: Just Call Me Veruca

I think this must be the time of year when it is MOST frustrating for me to be a gardener.  On one hand, I love looking for new seedlings...seeing the burst of fresh, new growth...appreciating the plants that have returned or increased...seeking out first blooms, like these on the columbine.  

Columbines with sword fern and alpine strawberries.

On the other hand, my patience is used up already.  No longer is the approach of fall or dead of winter an excuse for visual shortcomings of the garden as a whole.  Things have been growing for a while now.  I begin to fret about the overall effect.  I don't want to see bare earth or big gaps where lazy giants (like Joe Pye) still sleep.  Nope. I want to see a complete, balanced composition like the one I have been nurturing in my imagination since last summer.  

If I were feeling rational about it, I guess I would come to terms with the fact that this is the time of year when the garden has growing pains--teenage gawkiness.  Knobby knees.  Cracking voice.  But I am NOT feeling rational about it--I have a tremendous urge to salve my (visual) discomfort by buying a lot of plants to fill it up NOW.  I did last year. By this time last year, I'd probably made frantic phone calls to a dozen small vendors who advertised plants that I wanted.  I'd driven to every promising nursery within 100 miles.  I'd placed numerous online plant orders.  And I'd loaded up on annual fillers.  Inevitably, plants played musical chairs for a while as growth happened and many of the extras that I'd bought were eventually relocated to the green waste bin.  

I'm trying to do better this year.  I haven't really changed the garden since the big shake-up last Spring.  I know the number of annual salvias and "Diamond Frost" Euphorbias it took to soften the edges and to fill in the gaps. I'm trying to do the mature thing by waiting until the time is right to buy (with restraint) from this list.  It's hard, though.  Frustrating! Just call me Veruca.

But anyway, do you want to see what is going on at present?

Generally speaking, the back garden is looking fuller than the front.  Woodland-y plants dominate in the shady and moist-to-swampy back garden.  I call this the Arbor Bed and it features Astilbes, Hakonechloa, Darmera peltata, Persicaria polymorpha, Alchemilla, and Eupatorium cannabinum.  Around the back of this planting are some Brunnera macrophylla--I've been appreciating their blooms for a while, now.  Although I'm awaiting a lot of growth, I feel OK about this bed because the major players are all present and the ground is mostly covered up.  

"Arbor Bed"

Even further 'round back, the Enkianthus is blooming.  I haven't seen any hummingbirds visiting it, but a lone bee did crawl inside one of the bells while I was taking photos.

Enkianthus

A couple of Jack-in-the-Pulpits are planted around the base of the enkianthus.  I think they are sited oddly--what was I thinking?--but maybe they will look more integrated once the shrubby things have grown up around them.  Or maybe I should move them just down the way where they will be neighbors with the hostas and Asarum europaeum.

Arisaema

I just planted this deutzia in the backyard planter.  As it matures, I hope it will sprawl under the nearby shrubs and drape over the planter wall.  Such a beautiful and refined plant!  I just love the sprays of unopened flower buds--like strings of beads.

Deutzia gracilis "nikko"

Out front, the first iris is blooming.  This one must have been mislabeled or maybe it was a freebie, but I know I never ordered it on purpose.  Wouldn't you know--it's the most vigorous one. Soon, the blooms of this iris will be joined by those of "Cantina" (purple with a brown sheen) and the all-brown "Gingersnap".

Unknown iris

The iris share the same bed as the geum and the Ajuga genevensis--this has been an effective pairing and has been full-looking and blooming well for weeks.  Just behind them, though--gaps.  Bare soil.  I'm waiting for some baby grasses and myrrhis grow up and claim their real estate.

Ajuga and geum--starting to get a little tired, but still looking good following weeks of bloom.

And here's a photo in which I tried to capture both the first bud on the astrantia and the blooms of the Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata).  The Sweet Cicely is going to seed already.  I dead-headed a little bit.  I don't know if that will actually help to prolong the blooms on this plant.

Sweet Cicely and astrantia bud

But now...the real trouble spot--the front bed.  I held the camera at about waist height, so it a appears a bit fuller than it is.  In the foreground, the main players are: Amsonia "Blue Ice", Pennisetum "Hameln", and Sedum "Autumn Joy".  Sprinkled around are: Lobelia siphilitica, Centranthus ruber "alba", and seedlings of Ammi visnaga "Green Mist".  In the back are big gaps for the sleeping Joe Pye, the juvenile Hydrangea "Quick Fire", and a yet-to-be-acquired Miscanthus "Adagio".  I actually wrote the name of the miscanthus on a stone and placed it in the center of the spot where I will be planting it--trying to keep its virtues in mind and to prevent myself from giving away its spot to any of the other bright ideas I've had.

Disappointing front bed

Thinking about it rationally, I know that I will eventually find a M. Adagio to go in the empty spot that I am holding for it, and I know that the baby hydrangea will bulk up in the next season or two.  There's nothing to be done for the Joe Pye, though.  It doesn't make a presence until June, at least.  But I want the bed to look fuller and I want the ground to be covered up.  NOW.  

I'm taking suggestions for ground covers that might work here.  The successful candidate will be unfussy, short (<6"), will allow perennials to grow through, and won't smother the foliage on my Digitalis parviflora.  I've got Galium odorata in the same area and I'm thinking of adding more of that.  Or, maybe, some more of the Ajuga genevensis that I have on the other side of the entry walkway.  Alison, of Bonney Lassie, visited a while ago and she suggested using a saxifrage.  I'm not sure which species she had in mind, but Saxifraga stolonifera looks like a good option.

Image Source:  Wikimedia commons

Or, maybe it will be something early emerging and truly ephemeral that I can yank out at the first sign of die-back.  

Ideas?  

Garden: Small Joys of Spring

Hey, look--aren't they cute?  Well, I think they are cute.  These are Digitalis parviflora seedlings.  You can see how a couple of the seed pods broke open and spilled out dozens (if not hundreds) of individual seeds. 

The pods themselves are small, only about 3/16 of an inch in diameter, and the seeds they contain are practically dust-like.  The seedlings are correspondingly tiny.  And cute.  

Last fall, I wanted to encourage this plant to reseed so I did a variety of things: I squished open some seed pods and loosed the tiny seeds inside, I separated the pods from the flower stalk and scattered seed pods around the garden, and I chopped the stalk (seed pods attached) into one-inch lengths and chucked those pieces around the garden.  I think all the methods worked.  The method that worked best, I think, was scattering the seed pods that I'd separated from the stalk.  The resulting hillocks of new seedlings are easy to see and to identify--an important factor in my garden.  It looks like squishing open the pods and scattering the tiny seeds also worked well--there is a green haze of tiny little seedlings covering the entire area where I broadcasted the seed--but if I can't identify them before it is time to weed, these seedlings may not survive.  So, for good germination AND ease of identification, broadcasting seedpods is the winner.