Oh, Canadian Tire, how I ♥ you around this time of the season. $1.49 is about the most awesome price for perennials evar (well, aside from "here, I'm dividing this, have some!")
Spoils:
* Jacob's ladder, a variety with funky brown-purple leaves and purple flowers
* Monster digitalis - my evil scheme is to surround it with the shorter-but-more-colourful variety
* Turtlehead, which I keep hearing about in garden magazines
* Somewhat ratty-looking artemisias: one Powis Castle (the same variety as the ginormous one out front), and one Silver Mound (the size I was expecting Powis Castle to be when I bought the one out front)
* Tansy
* Sweet William
* Pink and blue salvia
Excepting the artemisias and salvia, lots of shady stuff in this list, so I will add it either to the corner bed or the shade bed. Naptime tomorrow is the plan!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Also, before I forget:
Ideas for not-too-tall plants to replace massive bee balm of doom and fill in other middle-to-front-of-bed space
* speedwell
* artemisias of various stripes
* sedum (something with nice fall colour, for preference, although that frosty morn stuff looks pretty good out front)
* perennial salvia
* lavender
* euphorbia
To get in the market one of these days
* massive foxgloves of doom (do they have a different kind than me or something? They're twice as tall as mine!!)
* penstemon (been eyeing it forever)
Ideas for not-too-tall plants to replace massive bee balm of doom and fill in other middle-to-front-of-bed space
* speedwell
* artemisias of various stripes
* sedum (something with nice fall colour, for preference, although that frosty morn stuff looks pretty good out front)
* perennial salvia
* lavender
* euphorbia
To get in the market one of these days
* massive foxgloves of doom (do they have a different kind than me or something? They're twice as tall as mine!!)
* penstemon (been eyeing it forever)
In June there bloomed a red rosebud - that is the flower for me
Front Yard
w00t, flowers! Cleome, mostly; either I accidentally picked a dwarf variety (again!) or they liked all the rain we got last year, because these are a lot shrimpier than the ones I had out back. Still, they're colourful.
This photo also features a swath of pink mallows that popped up in the - ahem - "lawn". They self-seed most perniciously, but they are pretty, and it's not like anything else is much inclined to grow in that patch of dirt. So let them do their thing and eventually I'll get around to building another bed around them.
Closer up: cleome, jupiter's beard, and mullein. Mini-mullein, really. I wasn't expecting it to bloom this year. They are supposed to get pretty massive - maybe this variety doesn't, or maybe it's just biding its time for next year, like the delphiniums did.
Super-awesome fiery red bee balm. This stuff gets taller than I thought, as I will exclaim about below re the backyard, but not before the baptisia blooms, so it can take over when the baptisia fades into the background. Or so the theory goes.
Siiiiiigh. Need to devote some attention to the foundation bed, because it looks like crap right now. A fringe of violets of doom around the edge, a random-looking tree that I strongly suspect is a weed, a ridiculous tree that is rapidly outgrowing its allotted space and never gets enough water so it's always browning and clearly stressed, a massive yew making a bid for total takeover, peony foliage completely overshadowing everything around it. Also hidden behind the money plant (which looks much nicer in the photo than it does in real life right now) is a ratty-looking juniper.
I don't even know where to start. A lot of the problem here is that it's so insanely dry and shady thanks to the overhanging second floor, because I could rip out what's there, but WTF else would I do with it? For example, the trick will be to replace the ratty stressed out tree with something that (a) can either withstand the drought or climb towards the house from a few feet out and (b) has some height to it. My neighbour has virginia creeper climbing up around the door, which looks great, and conveniently I have one of those creeping unwelcome around the backyard, so that's a possibility. Could also try a clematis or a honeysuckle, but those actually need to be tied to something, so I'd have to rig one of those sneaky string trellises from Lee Valley.
Maybe I should just transplant some of the damn hydrangeas and ferns from the backyard and let them do their wild and woolly thing here while I figure something out.
Somewhat nicer, but not without ugh and dismay. Again with the marauding yew. Google-fu tells me that you can prune the hell out of them, fortunately, so I'll have to give that a shot. And I have to remember to take soap and water to the mugho pine - goddamn sawflies - the larvae seem to have flown the coop, because it's not getting devoured any more, but the last thing I need is another set hatching out. Should fill up some of the empty dirt with some sort of low-growing ground cover stuff...relocate some of the dragon's blood stonecrop, maybe, since it got completely lost under the exploding artemisia. And that stupid freaking peashrub...ugh. I hate that thing, but every time I look at a picture I am forced to concede that its height and texture work well in that spot. Have to remember to prune all the stupid mildew-spotted suckers off the bottom.
Back Yard
If I do say so myself, this is starting to look not half bad. Slightly closer but still general shots (featuring awesomely filling-in patio thyme!):
Another view of the sun bed, showing the surprising results of chopping down the daisies, which were winding down. I wonder if the crocosmia is actually going to bloom this year - it's put up about 3x as many leaves, anyway. The intarwebs say mid to late July, so here's hoping. One thing I really need to do in the fall is to divide that massive chunk of bee balm that I foolishly put in the front and move it around to different places where it won't block my view of the roses. Haven't decided about the rose campion yet, that one's a little airier in habit, but may do the same with it too.
*happy sigh*
The only way I could be happier with this plant right now is if it had actually managed to, y'know, climb. But I prefer the flowers to height.
Right in front of the rose are irises of doom, which for some reason failed to bloom this year. They certainly look green and massive enough. I fear they may be overcrowded, but maybe they just need another year to get established. If they still don't produce anything next year I'll shuffle them around a bit.
Delphiniums. Taller than ME. And yet not flopping over. Squeeeee!
Rose campion and Teasing Georgia. Was totally not expecting the rose campion to survive over here, and it's not going as nuts as the stuff in the sun bed, but this is nothing to scoff at, I think.
And Operation Sudden Lily Beetle Death has paid off. OMFG.
I didn't think the show could possibly be worth picking nasty shit-bugs for, but...man. Look at that. I may keep them after all.
w00t, flowers! Cleome, mostly; either I accidentally picked a dwarf variety (again!) or they liked all the rain we got last year, because these are a lot shrimpier than the ones I had out back. Still, they're colourful.
This photo also features a swath of pink mallows that popped up in the - ahem - "lawn". They self-seed most perniciously, but they are pretty, and it's not like anything else is much inclined to grow in that patch of dirt. So let them do their thing and eventually I'll get around to building another bed around them.
Closer up: cleome, jupiter's beard, and mullein. Mini-mullein, really. I wasn't expecting it to bloom this year. They are supposed to get pretty massive - maybe this variety doesn't, or maybe it's just biding its time for next year, like the delphiniums did.
Super-awesome fiery red bee balm. This stuff gets taller than I thought, as I will exclaim about below re the backyard, but not before the baptisia blooms, so it can take over when the baptisia fades into the background. Or so the theory goes.
Siiiiiigh. Need to devote some attention to the foundation bed, because it looks like crap right now. A fringe of violets of doom around the edge, a random-looking tree that I strongly suspect is a weed, a ridiculous tree that is rapidly outgrowing its allotted space and never gets enough water so it's always browning and clearly stressed, a massive yew making a bid for total takeover, peony foliage completely overshadowing everything around it. Also hidden behind the money plant (which looks much nicer in the photo than it does in real life right now) is a ratty-looking juniper.
I don't even know where to start. A lot of the problem here is that it's so insanely dry and shady thanks to the overhanging second floor, because I could rip out what's there, but WTF else would I do with it? For example, the trick will be to replace the ratty stressed out tree with something that (a) can either withstand the drought or climb towards the house from a few feet out and (b) has some height to it. My neighbour has virginia creeper climbing up around the door, which looks great, and conveniently I have one of those creeping unwelcome around the backyard, so that's a possibility. Could also try a clematis or a honeysuckle, but those actually need to be tied to something, so I'd have to rig one of those sneaky string trellises from Lee Valley.
Maybe I should just transplant some of the damn hydrangeas and ferns from the backyard and let them do their wild and woolly thing here while I figure something out.
Somewhat nicer, but not without ugh and dismay. Again with the marauding yew. Google-fu tells me that you can prune the hell out of them, fortunately, so I'll have to give that a shot. And I have to remember to take soap and water to the mugho pine - goddamn sawflies - the larvae seem to have flown the coop, because it's not getting devoured any more, but the last thing I need is another set hatching out. Should fill up some of the empty dirt with some sort of low-growing ground cover stuff...relocate some of the dragon's blood stonecrop, maybe, since it got completely lost under the exploding artemisia. And that stupid freaking peashrub...ugh. I hate that thing, but every time I look at a picture I am forced to concede that its height and texture work well in that spot. Have to remember to prune all the stupid mildew-spotted suckers off the bottom.
Back Yard
If I do say so myself, this is starting to look not half bad. Slightly closer but still general shots (featuring awesomely filling-in patio thyme!):
Another view of the sun bed, showing the surprising results of chopping down the daisies, which were winding down. I wonder if the crocosmia is actually going to bloom this year - it's put up about 3x as many leaves, anyway. The intarwebs say mid to late July, so here's hoping. One thing I really need to do in the fall is to divide that massive chunk of bee balm that I foolishly put in the front and move it around to different places where it won't block my view of the roses. Haven't decided about the rose campion yet, that one's a little airier in habit, but may do the same with it too.
*happy sigh*
The only way I could be happier with this plant right now is if it had actually managed to, y'know, climb. But I prefer the flowers to height.
Right in front of the rose are irises of doom, which for some reason failed to bloom this year. They certainly look green and massive enough. I fear they may be overcrowded, but maybe they just need another year to get established. If they still don't produce anything next year I'll shuffle them around a bit.
Delphiniums. Taller than ME. And yet not flopping over. Squeeeee!
Rose campion and Teasing Georgia. Was totally not expecting the rose campion to survive over here, and it's not going as nuts as the stuff in the sun bed, but this is nothing to scoff at, I think.
And Operation Sudden Lily Beetle Death has paid off. OMFG.
I didn't think the show could possibly be worth picking nasty shit-bugs for, but...man. Look at that. I may keep them after all.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time for a picture post!
Been awhile since I posted pictures of the front yard, so:
Mulch, how I ♥ you.
The flowering things are all cosmos. Dwarf cosmos, apparently - note to self: the variety that grows 6' tall is Sensation, not Sonata. I've also put in some cleome, so hopefully that will achieve some height in the back this year. Since the hollyhock seeds failed to take *grumble* I gave in and bought some in pots at Loblaws. The poppy seeds, however, sprang up just when I'd about given up on them. Considering they've usually bloomed by now, I hope they manage it before frost (or, alternatively, that the seeds that came up are the perennials).
The little purple-leafed geranium I bought at the beginning of the year is blooming! And the cilantro is close. Man is it ever nice to be able to go out and pick a few stems off when a recipe calls for 2 tbsp of the stuff.
Bright Lights swiss chard is as colourful as advertised. For some reason it particularly likes this location; it came up elsewhere, but is about 4x as big here so far.
In the back, meanwhile:
Check out the INSANE civilization of the east bed!! Need to wrest the corkscrew hazel back from the ferns/creeping jenny of doom, yet...but still!
Two plants blooming for the first time: astrantia, aka masterwort (pink) and trollius, aka globeflower (yellow). The globeflower is surprisingly impressive, actually, for a random impulse purchase; it's been blooming for weeks now and still going strong.
Newly purchased veronica. It makes a really beautiful combination with the foxgloves, columbines, and evening primroses in the corner next to the tree, but I'm at a loss to explain why they go so well. The blue spikes go nicely with the pink and yellow, but maybe there's some sort of subtle height and texture interplay going on too, the kind of thing they're always on about in garden magazines. Damned if I can articulate it. Must try to get a good picture. I begin to appreciate how garden photography is an interesting challenge.
I actually went so far as to pick a bunch of larvae off of these a while ago, swearing a blue streak the entire time. Lily beetle larvae are really, REALLY fucking revolting. I think I will stick to picking off the adults from now on. If they manage to eat the flowers despite all my disgusting labour, I am giving up.
I had forgotten that these even bloomed.
Prairie joy rose - the first of several flowers. Awesome. It seems much happier in its new sunny home, unsurprisingly, but is still quite spindly from its shady exile. Not sure how to fix this. Do I pinch off the tips to make it bush out?
The Blaze rose is also in bloom...
...in fact, about to explode into bloom!! I think I may be reaping the rewards of planting it over the former site of the compost bin.
To my surprise, it looks like the Fairy rose is also going to bloom this year, with several buds at the end of every stem. I was worried about this one because a few stems had gotten quite yellow and straggly a couple weeks after transplant. Despite being a condescending wanker, the guy I spoke to at the nursery was apparently right on, because a dose of fertilizer (which I have never bothered with before) seems to have spruced it right up.
Been awhile since I posted pictures of the front yard, so:
Mulch, how I ♥ you.
The flowering things are all cosmos. Dwarf cosmos, apparently - note to self: the variety that grows 6' tall is Sensation, not Sonata. I've also put in some cleome, so hopefully that will achieve some height in the back this year. Since the hollyhock seeds failed to take *grumble* I gave in and bought some in pots at Loblaws. The poppy seeds, however, sprang up just when I'd about given up on them. Considering they've usually bloomed by now, I hope they manage it before frost (or, alternatively, that the seeds that came up are the perennials).
The little purple-leafed geranium I bought at the beginning of the year is blooming! And the cilantro is close. Man is it ever nice to be able to go out and pick a few stems off when a recipe calls for 2 tbsp of the stuff.
Bright Lights swiss chard is as colourful as advertised. For some reason it particularly likes this location; it came up elsewhere, but is about 4x as big here so far.
In the back, meanwhile:
Check out the INSANE civilization of the east bed!! Need to wrest the corkscrew hazel back from the ferns/creeping jenny of doom, yet...but still!
Two plants blooming for the first time: astrantia, aka masterwort (pink) and trollius, aka globeflower (yellow). The globeflower is surprisingly impressive, actually, for a random impulse purchase; it's been blooming for weeks now and still going strong.
Newly purchased veronica. It makes a really beautiful combination with the foxgloves, columbines, and evening primroses in the corner next to the tree, but I'm at a loss to explain why they go so well. The blue spikes go nicely with the pink and yellow, but maybe there's some sort of subtle height and texture interplay going on too, the kind of thing they're always on about in garden magazines. Damned if I can articulate it. Must try to get a good picture. I begin to appreciate how garden photography is an interesting challenge.
I actually went so far as to pick a bunch of larvae off of these a while ago, swearing a blue streak the entire time. Lily beetle larvae are really, REALLY fucking revolting. I think I will stick to picking off the adults from now on. If they manage to eat the flowers despite all my disgusting labour, I am giving up.
I had forgotten that these even bloomed.
Prairie joy rose - the first of several flowers. Awesome. It seems much happier in its new sunny home, unsurprisingly, but is still quite spindly from its shady exile. Not sure how to fix this. Do I pinch off the tips to make it bush out?
The Blaze rose is also in bloom...
...in fact, about to explode into bloom!! I think I may be reaping the rewards of planting it over the former site of the compost bin.
To my surprise, it looks like the Fairy rose is also going to bloom this year, with several buds at the end of every stem. I was worried about this one because a few stems had gotten quite yellow and straggly a couple weeks after transplant. Despite being a condescending wanker, the guy I spoke to at the nursery was apparently right on, because a dose of fertilizer (which I have never bothered with before) seems to have spruced it right up.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Well, I achieved most of what I set out to do during my Glorious Vacation. Weeding, civilizing, and mulching were mostly accomplished - it's just the wild and woolly part of the east bed (past the rhubarb) and the foundation bed out front that have yet to be conquered. Planted all the plants I meant to plant (although I now have some veronica and some hollyhocks waiting to get into the ground, and didn't get around to a pile of seeds).
To my irritation, some disgusting insect - probably sawfly larvae - is devouring the needles off the mugho pine in the front bed. Must remember to wield some soap-and-water at them, although I'm not sure that will be effective; worth a shot I suppose. The intarwebs assure me that one year's infestation doesn't generally kill the plant. And if it does, well, I will be sadly lacking a nice structural evergreen, but on the plus side I will have space to plant something new.
Something dug up the sunflower seedlings Rose brought home from daycare for mother's day. Not that Rose is old enough to really understand making or giving a gift, but still: GRRR. The Empress of Dirt has to protect her sprouting sunflowers from birds, apparently, so maybe that's what got mine. She has a picture illustrating a nice little cage that seems to be made from an old hanging basket. Maybe I will try that next year. Meanwhile, I still have the pot that she painted to put them in, so there's something anyway.
In other pest news, I am somewhat surprised to find that the alliums seem to be - knock on wood! - deterring the groundhog, since its depradations have been limited to the one bed that doesn't contain any. Hmmmm! I need to get some more of the pinks ones (allium roseum) anyway, and I like them in general, so those are totally on my fall bulb shopping list. (Also some Black Hero tulips, so pretty!)
I would also really like to plant some asparagus. Not to eat - the soil here is sandy and poor (I submit for evidence our pathetic excuse for a lawn), which conditions apparently result in tough and woody stalks - but for ornamental purposes; if you let asparagus stalks mature, they turn into gigantically tall feathery foliage. Check this out:
Wouldn't that be a cool accent! I am pretty much out of space for tall full sun plants in the back - there's some space in the middle, but I think something so tall in that spot would just end up hiding everything at the back - but it could go in a corner of the new bed out front. As a bonus, I believe I spied some at Artistic Landscape Design for the eminently affordable price of $6.99.
Fall bulb schemes so far, then:
Gardenimport.com
Eremurus x 3
Black Hero tulips x 20
Breck's
Scarlet majesty tulips x 8
White cloud allium x 3
Vesey's
Blue drumstick alliums x 24
Peach melba tulips x 15
Angelique tulips x 18
Allium roseum x 20
Now if I was smart, I would make my tulip investment in some nice single flowering varieties that would come back reliably for a few years...but I can't help myself, the double ones just cry out to me. Siiiigh. Mail order plant purveyors, you had better love me.
To my irritation, some disgusting insect - probably sawfly larvae - is devouring the needles off the mugho pine in the front bed. Must remember to wield some soap-and-water at them, although I'm not sure that will be effective; worth a shot I suppose. The intarwebs assure me that one year's infestation doesn't generally kill the plant. And if it does, well, I will be sadly lacking a nice structural evergreen, but on the plus side I will have space to plant something new.
Something dug up the sunflower seedlings Rose brought home from daycare for mother's day. Not that Rose is old enough to really understand making or giving a gift, but still: GRRR. The Empress of Dirt has to protect her sprouting sunflowers from birds, apparently, so maybe that's what got mine. She has a picture illustrating a nice little cage that seems to be made from an old hanging basket. Maybe I will try that next year. Meanwhile, I still have the pot that she painted to put them in, so there's something anyway.
In other pest news, I am somewhat surprised to find that the alliums seem to be - knock on wood! - deterring the groundhog, since its depradations have been limited to the one bed that doesn't contain any. Hmmmm! I need to get some more of the pinks ones (allium roseum) anyway, and I like them in general, so those are totally on my fall bulb shopping list. (Also some Black Hero tulips, so pretty!)
I would also really like to plant some asparagus. Not to eat - the soil here is sandy and poor (I submit for evidence our pathetic excuse for a lawn), which conditions apparently result in tough and woody stalks - but for ornamental purposes; if you let asparagus stalks mature, they turn into gigantically tall feathery foliage. Check this out:
Wouldn't that be a cool accent! I am pretty much out of space for tall full sun plants in the back - there's some space in the middle, but I think something so tall in that spot would just end up hiding everything at the back - but it could go in a corner of the new bed out front. As a bonus, I believe I spied some at Artistic Landscape Design for the eminently affordable price of $6.99.
Fall bulb schemes so far, then:
Gardenimport.com
Eremurus x 3
Black Hero tulips x 20
Breck's
Scarlet majesty tulips x 8
White cloud allium x 3
Vesey's
Blue drumstick alliums x 24
Peach melba tulips x 15
Angelique tulips x 18
Allium roseum x 20
Now if I was smart, I would make my tulip investment in some nice single flowering varieties that would come back reliably for a few years...but I can't help myself, the double ones just cry out to me. Siiiigh. Mail order plant purveyors, you had better love me.
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