Saturday, February 18, 2012

Gravel down

Remodeling has its stages if not quite its finales.  No, mine’s not done – yet, but it will be.  I have hopes for April arriving here, too, but more than anything I’ll just be glad when February is gone.  Quite surprisingly (at least to me) the two nights in the 20’s that we had a week ago did hardly any damage – except to brand new canes. They’re toast, but all the early-spring foliage is fine. That’s a relief.  In fact, looking in the rearview mirror, it was almost much ado about nothing, but then panic and worry is part of the human condition, isn’t it?

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The gravel isn’t two colors.  It’s just dry and wet.  I hosed it down to settle the granite dust and compact the gravel, locking the cut stones together and making it less squishy under foot.  ‘Louis Philippe’ at the top left finally got his trimming today. He had gotten wide, and with so many side-shoots coming off thin canes he was hanging so low that you couldn’t see the daylily on his right.  He was also invading the path.  So I trimmed off bottom canes where they came off the older cane, lightening the load and allowing the canes to return to vertical.  Trimming continued, taking off dead stuff and whatever would run head on into the fence.  I did not shorten or thin him, my reasoning being that everywhere you cut Louie three or four new sprouts happen, clogging up his structure bigtime.  So right or wrong I kept the cuts to a minimum.  We’ll see how he does.
  
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White Pet’ (center bottom)  is leafless still, never having acted like he thought it was spring.  Very smart of him, eh?  To his left is ‘Borderer’, fully leaved out and oblivious to those mid-20’s temperatures.

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Leonie Lamesch’ at the bottom center is now leafing out, and I’m waiting to see if any basal breaks utilize the camouflage offered by the snapdragons and dianthus planted at her feet which, of course, have to start growing real quick.  The ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ on the left in the island isn’t as well leafed-out as her sisters in the front garden, but she’s pretty large at six feet across (but oblong).  My new shady sitting area by the tree swing came about as a result of dumping rejected crappy soil from the new ‘Mary Rose’ bed and the ‘Mme Abel Chatenay’ renovation.

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Here’s the view from the swing area.

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And here’s the swing area waiting for another half yard of gravel to complete it.  This is at the top of sloping ground and piling the dirt raised the area, requiring a bulkhead of sorts and a wavy one at that.  I’m really happy with it since it neatens up the garden nicely.  Going to have to invest in a string trimmer though.  That St. Augustine will be a bear to mow up to the edging.

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I have visions of a bistro table and chairs over to the left… someday.  The poor, beautiful white camellia was relegated to the pot for lack of suitable camellia-soil in my garden.  It hasn’t grown a millimeter, but at least it’s alive.

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The medallion of broken paver blocks is buried. I was going to remove them because the area puddles and then raise the level of the crossroad with extra gravel, but after seeing how un-far a ton of gravel goes, I decided to leave the blocks where they were as filler.  Can you foresee the bed on the left ever being widened?  I sure hope not!

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That’s Louie on the left.  The daylilies had become so green and strong in the false spring. Now they’re all  pale and limp like frozen lettuce. I was thinking tomorrow might be the day they all get cut back.

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I like this view.  One might get the impression that I live on a huge country estate instead of the postage-stamp sized lot hemmed in with fences.  I’ll have to somehow incorporate this view into the garden more.  I wonder how.  Did you notice that the tree previously designated for removal (extreme right) is still there?  I’m saving my pennies.

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This is ‘Arcadia Louisiana Tea’.  She hasn’t really done much since being moved to this spot more than two years ago.  Believe it or not, her first year there leaf-cutter bees deleted so much leaf area that she started to decline, and I thought I would lose her.  Since she was the only one attacked, I attributed the attraction to the wax begonias I had planted all around her.  I have no proof, but I haven’t used them in the garden since and there have not been anymore leaf-cutter bee attacks.  Maybe this year she’ll impress me.  To her right on the arbor is ‘Jaune Desprez’, supposedly a huge Noisette climber but a snail-paced grower.  It’s all of five feet tall after two and a half years.  Again, maybe this year it will begin to do something… and maybe not.

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On the inside of the left leg of that arbor is the pink hollyhock that came in a bag from Walmart.  I hope you are duly impressed.  I’m hoping it’s baby pink.

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Here’s Louie again in all his slenderness.  I was amazed at the thinness of his canes since he’s been there since February, 2007 – one of my first five roses.  He’s more than six feet tall.

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Daylily Point planted with ‘Inherited Wealth’ and ‘Marietta Dancer’.  Across the path is a baby ‘Mary Rose’, a David Austin rose that I am incredibly excited about.  Interestingly, a neighbor gave me a couple of old magazines recently because they had roses in them.  Imagine my glee when there before me was a cluster of luscious blooms of ‘Mary Rose’.  Oh, my goodness!  I can’t wait.

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Of course, that’s exactly what I’ll have to do since here is all twelve inches of ‘Mary Rose’.


A postscript:  Recently moved 'Mystic Beauty' is looking really bad - like almost dead. I can't understand what the problem could have been.  'Baronne Prevost' on the other hand is a definite dead.  At the time I moved her into the big pot she had five canes.  Almost immediately they started dying.  Today she had one and a half good canes.  It took almost no strength to pull her from the pot, and she went to the pile of Louie's trimmings.  And now I'm wondering which roses will go into their places.  I've been dreaming of 'Maggie', but she's a big rose bush. (Groan) ... more digging and rose-moving in my future, I guess.

21 comments:

  1. Gosh you have be busy. The remodelling looks great. I like the swing area under the tree, and the seating area under the arbour. What a haven it will be in Spring when there are blooms all around.

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    1. Bernie, February is always the busiest month. I still have DL's to plant, horse manure compost and mulch to spread and, oh yeah, weeds to kill in the gravel. Blooms and leaves will transform it, definitely.

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  2. Readying the garden for Spring is hard work,isn't it?It takes the place of a gym membership.I love your pathways.Where do you get your granite?I want to do something like that in my garden,for pathways.

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    1. Chris, funny that you mention a gym membership. Boy, am I feeling my abs this morning after pulling that gravel out of the truck with the rake. I also used a shovel.

      Getting my granite is a breeze. The "Dirt Pile" happens to be about four minutes from my house. On Saturday in 20 minutes I had gravel ready to unload. Check out your yellow pages for places that carry mulch, topsoil, river rock, etc. The gravel I got is 3/8" granite, cracked or cut rather than rounded. When it settles, it is not squishy, but you also can't walk barefoot on it. That first step is torture.

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  3. That looks great. I know it's a lot of hard work but it sure looks nice. Love the swing as part of the whole setup also.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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    1. I agree, Cher, extending the gravel to the swing area will add to the garden substantially. I think it will be worth the effort and the money.

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  4. How great it is all looking. You've been very busy and it shows. I really like your gravel paths. Your post has inspired me to get out in my gardens, hopefully some today, we'll see.

    FlowerLady

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    1. Thanks, FlowerLady. It's windy here and looking like rain, but I'd like to get out there and plant a bunch of daylilies. I hope you get to be out in your garden today, too.

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  5. Beautiful ! I can't wait to see spring pictures !

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    1. Thank you so much, Dani. I'm excited about spring, too, and seeing how/if the changes work well with the plants.

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  6. You have been working so hard! It looks great from here. (Remember one of the major points in landscape design ... borrowing the view ... and your view is lovely.)

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    1. Good reminder, Connie. I think I've been working hard to accomplish an "enclosed" garden. Now I'd like to open it up a bit. Keeping the trees limbed up will do that, I think, and maybe adding color out in the shade bed to draw attention in that direction. I'm giving it some thought to. Thanks for pointing me that way.

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  7. Sherry, I love this post. It is great to see how your garden is moving along into spring. I know in a few more weeks you will have some lovely roses blooming in your garden. I am so looking forward to what you will have on your blog next! Thank you for the tour!

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    1. Lucy, your enjoyment of the "tour" really pleased me. I guess we're both waiting with bated breath for the glory of spring.

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  8. Hi Sherry, I have to say I am very impressed what a huge garden make over you have taken on, again! You seem to be Supergirl with endless energy! Sorry that the frost got your day lily leaves and some of the new growth of the roses, but I am sure that everything will bounce right back. I am looking forward to seeing your back yard in bloom this spring. It will be awesome!
    Christina

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    1. Well, Christina (and thanks for calling me a girl - I like that - feels right), the makeover was really only cutting a path through that big bed. It didn't seem like a big deal, but anything involving moving earth does have a tendency to get out of hand. Today I'm doing that skinny bed between the front sidewalk and the garage wall. It's always something. Thanks so much for your great expectations!!

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  9. I'm so impressed! I must work slowly, because all that remodeling would have taken me all year! I can imagine walking around your garden in the summer, smelling the wonderful fragrance of roses, and being surrounded by gorgeous blooms. You've done a great job, Sherry.

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    1. HolleyGarden, thank you, thank you! I WISH I had lots of smelly roses, but alas, I do not. Hopefully, there will be fragrance though -- from the daylilies. I made my selections for fragrance as much as I could, but there aren't a whole ton of fragrant, evergreen, inexpensive DL's. I'm looking forward to the roses, too, naturally, but I REALLY can't wait for the daylilies!!

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  10. Hi Sherry. I am glad the cold spell did not last long or get as bad as was predicted. I love the pathways you are defining around in your garden. It really makes your flowerbeds stand out too. Nice job. Have a wonderful week.

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    1. Thanks, Lona, I was thinking that about the beds, too, the other day. It's hard to tell now because the roses are mere shadows of how they'll look in a little while. Plus you almost can't even see the daylilies that are edging the beds, so you're right. The beds should stand out well. I really can't wait.

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  11. Sherry: Looks like you already have most of big labor finished for your big garden remodeling. Love the design! I think it will not be long, your garden will be full of rose and daylily blooming again. This year is my first year to try daylilies, and four of them have bloomed. If they can perform well this year, I will get more daylilies next year. I have also been busy working on some garden project, will post one soon. This has been a wonderful winter, hasn't it?

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