Real Chores

I got some real work done today, digging and planting!  It was near 70, breezy and so nice.  It feels like it will never be cold again, that we are on a straight line to spring.  Ha.

I moved the little 'Tide Hill' boxwoods into an angling line on a slant with the gravel garden.  One actually is in the gravel nestling up against the rocks.

For some reason, I really like this, just like I enjoy the line of four boxwoods to the east of the deck.  I like the way they bisect the edge of the gravel.  Hopefully moving them now, in March, didn't hurt anything.

I also moved some of the irises that needed to be removed from the front walk garden, and put them in the Birch Garden.  We'll see if they do ok there.  There are more to move.

And I took out the nandina that I didn't like.

I wore the chaps for the first time, and they work!  Really comfortable, just need some hitching up now and then, and a little quick adjustment as I kneel.

The key is to keep the straps loose.

And I moved the big pink urn to a more hidden spot under the guest room window, where the redbud was.  Away from the brick wall it is not so pink, and it looks nice tucked in between the grasses and the other plants.

I had planned to put a big leafy baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight' there to fill the empty spot, but maybe not.  The redbud stump is still there, which could make planting difficult, and I could use the baptisia out in a sunnier spot I think.

Another shot of the four Tide Hill boxwoods in their little angled line.   I like it.

And I like the way the big gray whale-rock looks now, with the smaller ones scattered off to its right.  I don't think I need any more.

Got It Done

Warmer today, in the high 50s, breezy but very nice.

I did it.  I got the willows cut back.  I really hope this was worth it and they will resprout and come in full and lush with all the variegation of prior years.

It was really awful work, no job for the loppers.  The larger branches were so thick I needed the pruning saw and it was difficult.  And I am still feeling so sick since getting back from Hawaii.  My cold and cough won't go away, and I had no energy.

I hope this coppicing will work.  They really were lovely colored arching shrubs last year.

Timing: Taxes and Seeds

Taxes got done today.  Not good.  A switch in the timing of our real estate taxes meant that a second installment of last year's tax was paid the first of January of this year, depriving us of fully half our deduction for 2011.  Timing.  It made a big difference.

Friday morning, March 9, after book group is here on Thursday, I am starting seeds under the new grow lights on the living room half wall.

It's time.  8 weeks till last frost in early May.

These can be sown outdoors in May: 

Nasturtiums (Double Gleam Mixed and Moonlight climber)

Sunflowers (inside the netted cage towers I made)

Zinnias, and dwarf sunflowers (under soda bottle cloches)

These need to start in flats under lights on Friday:

Salvia Lady in Red

Lobelia Crystal Palace

Petunia Baby Duck

Pansy Clear Crystal Black

Linaria Fairy Bouquet

Will there be enough room under the two small table top lights?

No, no, no. No.

Sunny and cold, in the 20s this morning and in the high 30s with the sun out this afternoon.

The big Umbrian pot that I dithered over and convinced myself could work in the front garden has faded to pink in the sun.  Icky artificial pink.  Already, after just a month in the weak winter sun. 

No, no, no

I did a post on my main blog about integrating this into the re-design of this strip, and noted that it all required "softening" --- that is, blending in with plants and holding an aged terra cotta look.  Not pink.  This is not going to work.  It already stood out because of its size (I wanted visual heft there), but it is now screaming pink.  No.

So I took it out.  It was an expensive resin faux terra cotta pot, and I now have a big pink expensive mistake.  It is under the guest room window for now.  I may try it in Meadow's Edge under the maple, with lots of perennial foliage around it.

We'll see.  It needs to go somewhere, and it might work deep in the larger garden, not out in the open against the brick wall.

Meanwhile I moved the old orange clay pot into the strip next to the strawberry jars.  Mmmph.  The little blue juniper in the red glazed pot is back in its spot on the right side.  It's not big enough, has no visual weight, looks wimpy.  But it's not pink.

Meanwhile pale lavender crocuses are up and blooming in the kinnikinnik.  But here's the thing . . . despite my careful record keeping, I don't remember planting them.  Seriously.  Did I?

I did put in fall crocus (Colchicum) but those were white and obviously bloom in the fall.

Did I pick up a bag of generic crocuses and put them in when I planted the snowdrops?

Unbelievably, I can't remember and I didn't document anything.

Nevertheless, they are cute peeking up through the green foliage of the kinnikinnik.

First Sunshine

We got back from Hawaii and LA late Monday night, and now, five days later, we are finally getting a glimpse of late day sunshine.  It snowed heavily for two days, it rained, and it was overcast and spitting all week since our return.

Bird of Paradise in L. A.

But it's okay.  We have both been so laid up with nasty colds, that it didn't matter.  We sleep, do laundry, and wait for the week to pass.  The sun came out late this afternoon.

March is here.  I expected to return from our travels tan and energized and ready to finish projects (the curved wooded bridge for the dry creekbed!) and start seeds and putter outside even if it's still to cold to garden.

But.

Icky weather, bad cold, no oomph.

I'll get there, just not yet.

(PS, Hawaii was wonderful and our weekend with Tom was a treat!!!)

Google +

Gray and overcast, in the low 40s, kind of damp and grim for the last few days.

I joined Google + and added my 2010 and 2011 Picasa web garden albums to the photo page there.  I love looking at a year in time, from winter to Christmas, through the seasons.

My Google+ Photos

New Stuff

Cold and sunny, quite breezy today.

I spent the day assembling new stuff for the garden.

The wooden footbridge for the dry creek bed came and I opened it up.  Solid cedar, mmm, the smell. . .   It just needs all the planks screwed onto the three pieces of the arched frame. 

Quite heavy.  Jim will help me, it takes two to line up the planks and hold it while the woodscrews are put in.

I assembled the taller of the two tuteurs today.  A bit of an awkward job, but I got it done. 

The key will be to get the bottom posts sunk deep enough in the soil to stand without wobbling.  I'll need some rebar posts for reinforcement I think.  The remaining one is the smaller five foot one, and I should be able to get that together easily.

Whaddya Think?

Very cold now, after such a mild winter.  In the 20s today, with a dip in temperatures coming.  Still no snow cover.

Whaddya think of the Umbrian pot from Pottery Barn?  It's bigger than I thought it would be, and lighter, and it does not look like what I ordered.

Ordered this

Got this

But I like it.  It gives some real heft to the front garden, and the lighter color tone on tone with the darker brick is nice.  From the street it is noticeable without being fussy or shiny. The strawberry pots on the left are lost in the long walk.

There will be a clear white flowered clematis in the middle of the windows, probably Henryi.

And the pink nandina will go.  Gauras will be moved, irises moved, the whole strip simplified.  The tiny blue juniper in the red pot will be potted up in a bigger container or put in the ground.  Three new chamaecyparis bun mounds are coming.

I think I will really like the structure and formality of this space better.  Less blowsy and unkempt along the front walk.  I like the Umbrian pot's size and mass (and color).

I may or may not put annuals in it, but I will need to fill it in with light bulky items, and then cover that with moss so you don't see the bare insides of the pot.

Winter in a Sunny Spot

Best spot in the house on a sunny winter day.

The chair rotates so it can face into the afternoon sun, and it is such a delightfully warm, comfy spot for a nap or just for watching the winter landscape.








Yesterday the guys from American Materials brought the boulder and smaller rocks that we bought for the gravel garden.  Yeah, we bought rocks.  It still doesn't look right.  I think I need more.

The rusty brown dirt will wash off.  The rocks scattered around are too isolated looking.

I could use more medium sized rocks strewn around the big one.  This isn't the look yet.

Seeds

A cold, clear winter day with sun, but I spent it indoors at the CT Hort Society symposium.  Tony Avent was interesting and had great photos and information on plants and design.

I bought some seed packets on impulse.  Here's what I got and what I might do with them:

Nasturtium 'Moonlight'

I got climbing nasturtiums that will go up a trellis  6 to 8 feet.  Soft yellow.  I'll put these on the half tuteurs in front of the meters instead of the thunbergia balck eyed susan vine.  I might like this softer look better.

And I am getting a 'Carolina Moonlight' baptisia with beautiful yellow spires that will go where the Oklahoma redbud was.  They won't bloom at the same time but I like the idea of different yellow moonlight plants to soften the west side of the house.

Black pansies - Viola witt. 'Clear Crystals Black'

These are a novelty.  We'll see.

I might plant them among the lettuces in the big bowl on the deck, as they are cool weather plants like the lettuce, and should be an interesting color contrast.  Maybe.

Lobelia 'Crystal Palace'

After the lettuces and black pansies go by, put this deep blue mounding lobelia in the center of the bowl.

Then add some of the hot colored nasturtiums around the edges.  An experiment, we'll see how that looks.

 

Linaria 'Fairy Bouquet'

Supposed to look like snapdragons, in multi colors.

I'll put these in the front middle of the Birch Garden.

'Junior' Sunflowers. 

These are compact, only to 2 feet tall.  I'll put some in pots and then pop them into spots in the back garden where color is needed.