Puttering

The problem with this cool, sunny fall weather is that it gives me endless hours to go out there and putter.

And that means I am constantly moving things around, tinkering with designs, changing spaces for various plants.  On and on.  The air is comfortable, but I do get hot and sweaty.

Yesterday I wasted an hour planting out the amsonia tabernaemontana seedlings that I had dug up last spring.  They were free --- just three pots of seedlings from under the current shrubs.

I dithered all summer on where to put them -- I love them, but do I need three more very large blowzy small-leaved plants?  Then I planted them carefully at the back edge of the Drive By garden, behind the witch hazels.

Nope. Uh uh. Dug them up, put two at the back of Meadow's Edge where I had previously transplanted the Karl Foerster grasses --- after I took the grasses out.  Entirely.  I just don't have a place for them.

And on it goes. I took the Beni Kaze Japanese Forest grasses out of their pots on the front porch and planted them out.

Two have no roots, I think they are dead.  Really.  But we'll see.  The pots had some white grubs in them.  I think the roots were eaten.

I moved the Silver Mist juniper from under the farthest birch tree and put it in an empty spot near the star magnolia by the gravel garden. That was a bear to move, and I had to cut all the big roots.  Maybe it survives, maybe not.

I moved daylilies into the spot under the birch.  And moved a Sheffield mum into the spot where the daylily was in Meadow's Edge.

And on and on.

Puttering.

I also planted a blue juniper at the back of the Drive By garden. I am not sure what kind it is, or even how big it will get. It is upright, pyramidal and quite small now.

It came in a mixed container planting from Lowe's and I had been keeping it in a pot along the front walk. Not sure what I have, but it makes a nice dense little point at the back now.

You can see it here in its pot. How big will it get?

Then I got the edger out and made the left side of the garden in front of Meadow's Edge a little more circular, planted up the Russian sages to balance the others on the right side of that garden, then plunked the metal tower in there.

I will move the Jackmanii clematis out of its pot on the patio and let it climb the tower here in the garden. It makes a nice end point to this strip.

I am forever moving clematis which sets it back.

Now I need to figure out what to do with that corner of the patio where the pot of clematis was.

In that same garden strip, I decided a few days ago to limb up the twiggy blackhaw viburnum. It has twisted, overlapping stems, and won;t even be a small single stemmed tree.

But I want a more elegant look there, not a big old shrub.

What do you think of my efforts?

The weather will continue to be cool and I still have things to move, prune, shift around, redesign, and replant.

Most of the garden edges need to be expanded a little, and that is sod removal hard work that is best done in this weather.

I'll keep puttering.