Roses and Iris and Peonies, Oh My!

Roses, and iris, and peonies, are blooming away. It's a particularly good year for them - somehow the combination of rain and temperature has hit a sweet spot. Most of my efforts for the past month have been focused on vegetables and annual flowers, but this year I also get to reap the bounty from past years' investment in perennials.

I keep meaning to write a post about all my vegetable efforts, but I'm too busy actually doing the gardening. There is "the law of the farm" which is that certain things have to happen at certain times, or else they will never happen at all. For example, seed starting at the right time, or watering something about to die from thirst. I miss some windows, but I'm trying to keep up.

So instead of a detailed account, here are pretty pictures. 

About 3 years ago, an acquaintance offered several irises from his thinning.
I made a little bed along the walk from the side of my house.

I have a penchant for red roses.
This is actually a rose bush and a peony,
almost the exact same color.
Just outside my kitchen door.

Another red rose, this one along the front wall of my house.

Another passalong iris, in the bed by the side walk.

This spot is too shady, and so it always falls over.
Along my street.

Yet another red rose, climbing this time.
At the front street corner

Siberian iris, from my mother's garden in Bellport.

I'm not sure this dark purple iris has bloomed before.
It's along the back of the house, about two years old.

 

This is the dreaded invasive multiflora rose.
It needs to come out, but it is on the steep slope
along the street and so will require bullet-proof clothing
and a balancing act to remove.

 

Spring is Springing

This is my favorite time of year, before the leaves are fully out. I love the way colors creep out slowly until the whole world turns green and shady. For now, my back yard is still in the sun. Within just a few days, it'll be all shade, and darker than in winter.

Mild Winter

 On February 1, these over achieving daffodils are blooming. They were first to bloom last year, some aberration occurring naturally. I will probably pick them and bring them in, because we’ll have a couple of very cold days. 

Also, nearby, the winter jasmine is putting on its annual show in an effort to keep me from rooting out its invasive agressive suckering presence. 

‘‘Twas The Day Before Christmas

 And we woke up to temperatures just barely above zero. We knew the storm was coming, and I got all the outdoor lights taken care of a couple of weeks ago. So last minute prep included making sure I had plenty of dry firewood (in case the power goes off-so far so good!) and doing a last plant check. My chard had survived so far, but I didn’t expect it would make it through this prolonged bout of extreme cold, so I harvested what there was. A nice supplement to tonight’s meat-heavy dinner- just a quick sauté and a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar, I think. But it’s never as beautiful cooked as when it’s fresh from the garden!

I did a fairly minimal light show this year. The red lights along the roof have been up for about five or more years. I added the white lights at the entrance for practicality, and the colored lights along the bushes in front also illuminate the side path.

Big Dreams for the Garden

Plans

While huddling up inside in the warm, I have big dreams for my garden this coming year. I've only got one trip planned for the summer, not until the end of June, so I should be around to actually do things. And, I've decided that I have enough energy and strength to do many of these things myself (see: last year's rain gardens and rototilling for new grass). Right now, my effort consists of browsing the web and catalogues and exercising my credit card, giving me a sense of doing something without actually moving from the couch.

My long-term objective is to transform the yard into lower maintenance. Key to this goal are the strategies of (1) more container gardening, to focus my physical efforts into concentrated, manageable spaces; and (2) more shrubs and fewer perennials in the ground. Overlaid on this is the realization that many parts of my yard are not visible from inside the house. I should focus a lot of my intensive gardening on the views and the patio because constantly looking at something nudges me into action. And now, I have a much better understanding of sun patterns in my yard, and I think I'll be more realistic about what will do well where. Less wistful thinking about how there used to be sun in a spot where a decade ago I planted a tree which has grown considerably since then.

My exuberant sunny exotic plant zoo, from 2012
This is close to what I imagine
But sun/shade parts of yard are now reversed!

There is a meme that keeps showing up in gardening social media: a crowd of people shouting at the cheer leader: "what do we want?" "ALL THE PLANTS" "where will we put them?" "WE HAVE NO IDEA!" I have often fallen prey to this problem - from catalogs or at the nursery, buying things without a plan. So far, I've ordered plants and containers with a clear plan. I've also ordered many seed packets with a less clear plan, but I rationalize that as "seeds are cheap" and "they keep for years". (Both rationalizations are not necessarily true.)

I just ordered (very small) plants to go along the side street - "the court". (They won't ship until the nursery decides it's planting season.) Once upon a time the edge visible from my bedroom window was filled with four huge Norway spruces and anchored at the driveway end by a white pine that was dwarfed by the spruces. The spruces died a dozen or more years ago so I took them out, and for a while this was the sunny spot where I could grow tomatoes. On the short but steep bank to the street I planted a mix of native grasses and sedges, some of which survive to this day. I planted three small (3' high) native trees between some new raised beds for vegetables and the street. One, the hackberry, grew quickly into a nasty tangled and thorny mess so I took it out. (It has high wildlife value, so the suckers that still appear are tolerated and cut back every year.) One, a redbud, is huge and lovely every spring, but casts a big shadow. The last, a dogwood, is feeble and limping from the shade cast by the incumbent white pine (which leapt for the sky after the spruces had gone), and is on probation. The three raised beds I had put in are no longer sunny enough for tomatoes, and I haven't decided what to do with them instead. They are prime deer grazing venues, and variously but largely shady, so it's tricky. The things I've tried in past years haven't worked great.

I ordered some woody evergreens to go along here -  on the bank along the street - prostrate, low-growing pines and columnar hollies. They are supposed to tolerate some shade. We'll see if they make a decent finished-looking edge to the street. The plants I ordered will be about six inches tall, so it'll take a couple of years to find out what they actually look like.

I also ordered a couple of dwarf rhododendrons to go under the pin oak along the court side of my corner. This is very shady (though before I planted the pin oak, and for a few years after, it was sunny and had roses). So if these (6") plants survive, they will be broad-leafed evergreens, but may not bloom profusely. I do not really see this corner from inside the house (I can crane my neck from the bedroom) but having a screen along the street makes sense to me. 

For reference, existing garden spaces

I ordered two large metal raised beds which haven't come yet. (I had planned on one, but the New Year's sale catapulted me into two.) My plan for these are for the sunniest part of the yard - in the front where the big spruce fell over in the Big Wind almost four years ago. This is sloping, outside the fence, and taken over by tall prairie plants, mostly volunteers from around the 'hood. It is largely invisible from inside the house, which has let to some neglect. I have attempted to tame it each spring, and by July it is beyond me. So the current plan is for the raised beds to be installed and leveled, and to keep them civilized. I think regular rounds outside them with the weed whacker will allow them to flourish. This area is, however, on the deer highway up from the creek, so exactly what to plant in them is yet to be determined. Annuals this year, for sure, maybe big elephant ears and cannas and bananas. I may also net them to keep off the deer, though I don't like the look around ornamentals (versus vegetables). 

Outside my bedroom window on the side are azaleas and weeds. For years I have fantasized about having a lilac blooming outside my bedroom window so that I can smell it in bed (during the two weeks a year it blooms, the rest of the time it will be fairly ugly green foliage). I even bought a lilac a couple of years ago, and it died in the pot before I was ready to plant. I will have to dig up azaleas in order to make room, (may re-plant some to street-side) and the azaleas are also surrounded by weeds. It's a pretty big job, though one that could be started any time the ground isn't frozen or wet, so it doesn't need to wait until planting season. At any rate, I don't plan to buy any lilacs until I've done the work.

Rain Garden

 Much of my gardening is driven by changing light conditions - trees grow, trees fall, buildings are built, and the light changes. When the giant spruce fell in my yard in March 2018, conditions changed substantially and the ripple effect continues. 

Peculiar blossoms and fruits

I had a Carolina sweetshrub bush, bought and planted in the waning days of the last century, in front of my house. It was one of several bushes planted in a little thicket beside the walk to my front door, deliberately to create privacy and block views from the street into my house and yard. I only put in shade-adapted natives: the sweetshrub, several blueberries, shadbush, dogwood, oakleaf hydrangea, arrowwood viburnum and cranberry viburnum. For almost two decades the Norway spruce overtopped them and provided shade from deep to dappled, and so they all poked along, establishing roots, growing slowly, intertwining as they way. When the spruce fell, the brakes came off! Now, it is a thriving deep dense thicket, ripe with berries and caterpillars and thus a prime bird habitat.

The sweetshrub, planted at the end of the thicket, was a real winner in the light-and-water sweepstakes. It turns out, this bush can spread by sending out underground suckers, creating a thicket all its own encroaching both on the other bushes and the lawn in the other direction. I realized by the year after the tree fell that it was dominating the space and might have to go. As I thought about it, I grew enamored of the idea of making prime full-sun space available for a rain garden. But it would be a considerable project. 

I dove into the thicket periodically to methodically dig out suckers, beginning with the ones farthest from the main bush. A few of the suckers I transplanted to the opposite end of my yard where there is currently deep shade. Last year, I got the size of the bush down to maybe three feet in diameter, and cut it all off to about four feet high. I kept eying the standing corpse and dreading the task of digging it out.

It's ripe for the plucking!

Houseguests to the rescue! Last October my boat partner and her husband vacationed in my basement for a week (almost as nice as their aborted trip to the Azores, no?)  And one lovely day while they were staying, my sailing partner and I indulged ourselves with weekday sailing, leaving her prone-to-seasickness husband to stay behind and work on his book. But, he asked for anything that needed doing outside. I suspect he wanted to mow the grass, but I pointed out the bush and where the tools were kept, kind of as a joke. But we came home to find the bush gone, all of its sticks bundled for removal and the roots out of the ground, a tidy hole in the ground left behind.

Waiting for next steps

All spring I worried over what to do next. I had spoken to a local contractor about doing a rain garden project, but he never pursued me and I'm past begging for folks to come do work I could do myself. I knew I had to dig out the space, connect to a buried drain from the roof gutters, modify the soil, buy lots of plants. It seemed a big and daunting project, and I did nothing about it. Every time I walked past the scar left behind it gnawed at me.

But, the kedge (planning a big difficult trip to make myself get in better shape) worked! In fact, not only am I in better physical shape, but mentally I'm more ready to tackle difficult things. And, once I got into it, making the rain garden was very manageable.

So, I dug out the space.

I modified the soil.

 

I bought some plants and put them in. It needs more plants, but July is not a great time to acquire plants - spring ones are gone, fall ones are not in. Some things I wanted are not available, and I may end up shopping my yard to move some things from elsewhere. Fall is a great time to do this.

I mulched the heck out of it.

Finally, we had some rain and I was able to watch as rain from the roof drained through the pipe and into the garden, where it filled up and then drained slowly over the course of some hours just as planned!

The one sad thing is this is still the deer highway where they come from the creek into my yard (to eat all my apples). So far, that hasn't been an issue with what I've put in. I'll continue to look for less appetizing plants.

EDIT: As it turns out, last night (evening of the day I wrote this) we got 1.5” of rain in 25 minutes! Towards the end of the downpour (when I thought it was safe) I went out to look. There were a good 6” of water in the rain garden throughout the bowl, with active draining from the roof. When I went out about three hours later, it had all drained away. Exactly the way it’s supposed to work! 

My Front Yard

 Playing with my toy drone, “aerial” photos of my front yard (taken from below the roof line of my house). The pix show off my wonderful fence to good advantage.

How my Corner has Evolved

If you are not looking at this on a phone, you may have noticed I finally updated the cover photo. Here is how my corner has evolved over the years:

2004: Before I had the stone wall built.

2007: Wall is new and I'm gaga for tropicals in pots

2010: This is what I was using as the blog top photo

2014: The tree behind the "no outlet" sign is small

2020: The shade from the tree, and losing the spruce, has totally transformed the corner

Seasonal Change of Wardrobe

My pin oak on the corner does not enjoy being naked. Its leaves cling until the last moment, when the new leaves are ready to come out. I had figured out last year it was happening around the first week of April, but this year I was in a position to document the change more closely.

Left to right, top to bottom: March 29; April 8, after a big wind storm; just three days later on April 11, almost naked; it took eleven days for the new leaves to start to really show April 22.

Top to bottom, left to right again: May 2, those beautiful early days of lacy sun and shade; May 8, beginning to fill out; May 14, nearly there; and yesterday, May 17, full shade.

So about six weeks for the complete change over.

Getting Things Done

After the pruning and cleanup.

We’ve had a great stretch of good weather, and I’m making the best of it. On Sunday, I had a date with my neighbor, a chain saw, and a ladder. We finally trimmed the bottom tier of branches on four big trees, which will make a real difference in both light and air beneath them. We got to the redbud and the red oak along the front, and to the pin oak and the redbud on the other street. Not done (we got tired - my neighbor is even older than me!) are the trees in the back.

After a rest,  I spent the first daylight savings evening doing some light weeding while enjoying the late light. I noticed that at least two of the three chrysanthemums I planted last fall are sprouting now. I wasn’t sure they would come back. There are garden mums for landscaping and florist mums for decorating pots in fall, and the three I bought from a big box store were not labeled as perennial. Perhaps it’s just the mild winter, but I’ll consider it a win.

Monday, I finished cleaning up the smaller trim from the branches. I took a pass along the corner, both down by the street and up behind the wall. There were standing stems throughout, and a few weeds to root out. Now the sprouting foliage is all visible along it.

Still working...

I also have been doing a fair amount of planning and on-line shopping. I have a much more clear vision of where I’m going overall. I’m making sure I know what I’m going to do with everything I buy. I’m thinking a separate post for plans and purchases.

Today I did a pass through Home Depot, where things were buzzing from the sudden burst of warm weather. I was there for light bulbs, but I picked up some plants and supplies, again with a clear plan in my mind of where they are to go.

Tomorrow, I’m busy elsewhere much of the day, but I’ve got bite-sized chunks of work to squeeze into the afternoon.

I LOVE this time of year, and it is such a luxury to have the time to do things. I’m not as strong, and I don’t have the stamina I would wish, but I’m getting things done and I assume also building fitness along the way.

February Blooms

It’s been a really mild winter, so far. There is activity in the garden, and those reliable things I’ve planted for winter color are coming through. Witch hazel, hellebores, jasmine, all providing a bit of relief from the browns and grays.

Witch hazel odd wispy blooms

Hellebores - a “faded” kind of color, even when fresh.
They are nice, seen close up.

Hellebores keep their heads down

The jasmine spills over the wall

My corner. The pin oak tree’s leaves will cling until April, when they will fall the same week the new leaves start opening.

First Hard Frost

 It was 25 degrees when I got up this morning. But sunny! It didn't get much above 40 degrees. Records set everywhere (for cold). Leaves are coming down fast. But the colors this year are fantastic.

Garden Art

I've had a couple of old bikes in my shed for years. They were so old and in such bad shape five years ago that Bikes for the World (an awesome organization that sends fixable bikes to the third world) refused to let me donate them. In fact, one bike is the very first bike-with-gears I ever bought, back in 1984! Ever since my trip a few years ago to Italy, I decided they needed to become garden art. So, I finally got around to doing it! My girl helped, and it was good to have a second opinion on colors, as well as the second finger on the spray can nozzles. We had an awesome low humidity day, where hanging out in the shady backyard was perfectly pleasant. I think the dogs did not get any paint, though it was a close thing.

They are not yet permanently installed, though I want them visible on the corner as folks come up the street. I'm thinking some rebar stakes pounded into the ground more than a foot deep will work.

Pulling out the Calycanthus

I spent a couple of hours today digging up and disposing of suckers from the Carolina Sweetshrub, Calycanthus.  It is something I planted a long, long, time ago, I think from Behnkes, and it has suckered prolifically. With the extra sunshine and lack of competition after the spruce fell last year, it has really taken over. As it's been raining a lot the past few days, the ground is wet and muddy. It was a bit too wet to be ideal for digging, but roots came out relatively easily. I should have space for new and sunny plants going forward. I think, with repeated sessions, I'm going to get it down to almost nothing there. I was thinking more indigo there, in the pure sun but exposed to the deer.

It was really good to spend a couple of hours outdoors. It really restores my soul to breathe the air and feel I'm making a difference. The plan had been to clean up the corner - and I did a bit of that - but I was taken with the bug for the more difficult digging task and I felt so good I was up to it. It didn't seem to bother the knee to drive the fork in (though the ground was so soft hard to tell). I need more time in the garden! Hard freeze is coming on again mid-week.

I planted the remaining crocuses. I had taken them off the porch a while back and tossed them in the fridge vegetable compartment. They all went together into a big bowl, which I am hoping Rocky will not be too interested in. I really need to put it elsewhere, but on the table in his room is the best spot.

On impulse, I bought a suet package at the hardware store and put it out in the feeder. I didn't check too often to see if it was being accessed. I recall reading that this time of year, this is very helpful to breeding birds. They need fat.

I ordered a cage for the 4x8 bed, and a kneeling bench. I did have a hard time getting down to the soil on the corner, where going down on one knee would have been good.

New Fence and Steps

Very nearly done is my big outdoor project of the summer. Jumpstarted by losing The Big Spruce, I decided there was little point in planting things that were going to get eaten by deer. So a project I had mulled for a few years got moved forward to do this year. I had tall, but open, fencing added to the front and side, so now slightly less than half my yard is fenced. It is deer resistant, but I can't guarantee deer proof.  But I did see a large deer walk along the outside of the fence, look sadly through it at me inside, then go over to my neighbor's house instead. Works for me!

At the same time, I had my front steps and walks improved, and my retaining wall on the corner repaired (snow plows are very unkind to my corner wall). The walks had deteriorated significantly - primarily from roots of the spruce, so this is an opportune time to make them better. Still to be finished is the railing for the front steps.

The spring when most of the fence work was done was very wet, and the trampling and dirt and debris was worse than I thought it would be. So now, I have a sheltered but traumatized area that needs significant gardening. I have plans, but now isn't the right time to do this. Planting happens in the fall. I'm trying to decide whether I'll hire much of this - that depends on energy and money left, after the more costly basement reno.

Here are pictures, roughly in chronological order.

Of course, I can't find a purely "before" pic!

Side posts in place

Because of the weather, there was lots of time with lumber and other stuff just lying around.

Side posts

This is where the spruce was rooted - I bought a "pre-planned deer resistant native-plant garden" and put it here.

Wildflowers
3 Lavender Hyssop 
5 Nodding Pink Onion 
5 Prairie Onion 
2 Columbine 
2 Butterflyweed for Clay
2 Cream False Indigo 
4 Prairie Blazingstar 
2 Smooth Penstemon
3 Ohio Goldenrod

Grasses
4 Prairie Dropseed

Area: 50 sq ft (10' x 5')

Soil: Well drained sandy-loam, loam, clay-loam

Light: Full sun

Can hardly see "No Outlet". The top layer of the wall is now mortared.

Finished fence and gate, looking towards street.

Looking towards street

I also had the side path re-done, higher and firmer. Re-used all the stones.

Gate by the kitchen entrance

This is the utility part that was fenced (with chain link) before

Lots of raw dirt that needs organic matter

New walk to existing porch

Steps and railing from street. Old steps were overgrown, and the railing right on the steps took up additional space. So the same width as I started with, but looks much bigger.