Front Entry Pots

We moved the tall containers, that I got as a Mother's Day gift years ago, with us from Illinois.  They were heavy and bulky and I was so worried they would break in the move, but I love them and it was worth the risk to me.  They fit well in the front entryway to the house and the colors even work with the new house.  Not perfectly, but close enough.

My goal for this planting was to combine some lovely Heuchera and Coleus for the foliage and then mix in a few more plants for interest.  Even though the front door faces south this spot is full shade because of the porch roof.  The plant on the east side does get a tiny bit more reflected light in the late afternoon so occasionally we just switch the liner pots inside the taller containers to keep the growth more even. 

I started with 'Obsidian' Heuchera because I am a sucker for the dark foliage.  Then I added in 'Neon Lights" Tiarella because I loved the cut leaf foliage and also the dark veining which played nicely with the Heuchera.  I wanted a Coleus with smaller leaves for contrast.  The Greenhouse didn't have a huge selection available yet since I was there so early in the season but Solenostemon hybrida 'Burgundy Wedding Train' seemed like a good choice.  The leaf shape spoke to the Tiarella and the colors worked well too.  I needed a taller plant for the back so I went with this lovely grass which had a nice airy feel to it.  (I've lost the plant tag, if it shows up, I'll edit accordingly).  Then I added a Bacopa, which is a nice no-fail trailing plant.  I chose Snowstorm because I knew the small white flowers would add a little sparkle in and around the dark leaves.  The last choice was something that flowered well in shade.  Easy choice to go with a Begonia.  I don't use them a lot because they tend to be a bit delicate, especially when it is time to transplant them but they like the shade and the flowers are pretty.  I hemmed and hawed a little bit about which color I wanted but finally decided on a nice soft yellow.  'Solenia' seems to be very happy in this spot and brings a nice soft touch of light to the pot and to the front door.  The nice surprise is that the petals are tinged with just a touch of rosy pink as they age which plays nicely with the other colors in the container. 

Beginning with Trees

I went to The Greenhouse this morning armed with some basic knowledge and research about what I was looking for.  I also brought a picture of the front of our house and some basic measurements.  I figured if I could show them where the tree was going to be planted and what I was trying to accomplish they would have a better idea of what to suggest.

I've only walked through there once before, rather quickly, but today I had a little time to stroll through.  It's much smaller than my former favorite, (my go to nursery, aka, The Growing Place), but the layout is interesting, the help seems very knowledgeable and friendly and the plants they had out were gorgeous.  This nursery will definitely stay high on my list.  I was also delighted by their prices!  The trees were the same price that I had seen at another garden center in town but they were twice as big.  WINNER!

Rob and I have decided our priorities for our yard are
A - Plant trees.
B - Extend the patio and add a fire pit.
C - Put in a sprinkler system.
D - Add shrubs and perennials.

Since we are having perfect weather for planting trees (and shrubs, but those are way down the list so I'm TRYING very hard to be patient) I wanted to get started.  I wanted to give them plenty of time to settle in and get comfy in their permanent spot so they could get a good start before the really hot weather hits.

My mission was to purchase at least one tree, possibly more.  My goal is to plant AT LEAST ten trees up here.  Probably more.  We want to create shade from the summer sun - on the south and the west facing sides of our house.  Shade for the dining patio so it's comfortable to eat out there, privacy from the street to the north and trees for fun (pretty to look at, fruits for the birds, maybe fruit for us).

For the first tree to go into our yard, I wanted a deciduous tree that would be tall enough and full enough to create shade for the large south-facing window in my room during the summer, but would lose its leaves so the room could warm up in the winter.  Because the tree was going to be planted on the lower level of the front yard it needed to be tall, but not so tall as to overwhelm the house.  I wanted something that would do well in our soil and that wouldn't need an excessive amount of water to stay healthy and grow.  I had done a lot of research online, but hadn't really narrowed down exactly what I was looking for.

I also wanted a smaller ornamental tree that flowered and had fruit for the birds.  I had decided that I'd either end up with a Crabapple or a Hawthorn (IF I could find a thornless one).

Then I was going to see what else was out there with the basic understanding of what I was looking for and our overall scheme of how we want to use our property.

Cindy found me wandering through the evergreens and asked if she could help.  She was so knowledgeable and helpful, without being condescending or making me feel rushed.  She listened to my questions and my ideas and responded appropriately.  I appreciated that she didn't just tell me what to buy and then rush off to do something else.  She remembered all the trees we talked about, showed me examples of what they had in stock, in all the various sizes and species, recommended a couple of trees that they didn't even carry (now that's impressive!) and helped me understand why I didn't want to plant a tree that had been recommended earlier.  (Gingko's are beautiful, but so slow growing that they should only be planted as a specimen tree, not as a shade tree.  As she so kindly put it, we will all be dead and our grandchildren will be our age before that tree will actually be big enough to act as a shade tree).

So, Tree #1 is .....a red maple.

Autumn Blaze Red Maple
Acer Freemanii
(picture from Monrovio)

We had a sugar maple in Aurora that struggled with verticillum wilt for many years.  We couldn't ever decide if we should cut it down or not, but we ended up just pruning out the diseased and dead branches, which is not the right or healthy way to prune a tree.  It finally seemed to outgrow that horrible disease or at least the tree was stronger than the disease was.  When  it was about ten years old I started to really love it.  Alaina claimed it was a perfect tree for climbing up into with a book.  She even sat out there during a couple of rain showers.  The canopy was thick enough that it protected her from getting wet.

I'm honestly a little surprised to have ended up with this tree.  I'm not sure if it's because I didn't have a spectacular experience with the maple in Aurora or maybe I thought I'd end up with something more dramatic, maybe a native or something not so, ummmm, common.

But.  It meets all our needs and wants.  It will handle the alkaline soil, it will be the right size (not too big, not too small), it will grow fast enough to actually create the wanted shade (but not so fast that it ends up being a messy tree), it will handle full sun like a champ, and it won't be a water hog.  And it will have gorgeous fall color. 

This tree should get about 45 feet tall and between 30 to 40 feet wide. 

Tree #2 is ..... a red flowering crabapple

Prairie Fire Crabapple
Malus sp. 'Prairiefire'
(picture from Grimm's Gardens)

I loved our crabapples in Aurora for two reasons.  They had the most beautiful flowers in the spring and it was fun watching the birds eat the fruit in winter.  I didn't like the fact that it suffered from scab, which meant the leaves would get horrible spots on them and then they would start falling off mid-summer.  We pruned judiciously hoping to improve airflow and sprayed every spring, but that only helped a little.  So, crab's had one strike against them and hawthorn's had one strike against them - THE THORNS!  Those are big and mean and unforgiving.  The Greenhouse had one Hawthorn tree species that was supposed to be thornless, but the flowers weren't as spectacular as the crabapple.  Cindy reassured me that scab wasn't as much of an issue here because of the lack of humidity, she also said there is a systemic that we can use once a year if we start to notice any problems.  I decided to go with the crabapple because of the color of the blooms.  This tree will be really stunning in a few years.  I also like that it has purplish foliage.  I love using foliage to add color to my landscape.

This tree should get between 15 and 20 feet tall and have about the same spread.

Tree #3 is....a columnar oak

Regal Prince Oak
Quercus 'Long'
(picture from Spring Grove Nursery)

Because our house is built into a slope, the southwest corner ends up being two stories tall from the ground.  I wanted to plant something there that would soften the corner, add a touch of green and ground the house a bit.

Cindy recommended putting in a Columnar Oak.  I wasn't familiar with this tree, although I'm sure I've seen plenty of them around.  She also said that Columnar Swedish Aspen would work well there too.  I happen to know that a certain big box store in the valley carries those.  I hope they stick around long enough for me to go back and get them after our patio has been installed.  If I leave the side yard unplanted they can get their equipment in and out of the backyard easily.

This tree is supposed to get about 30 feet high and 10-15 feet wide.  That's in optimal growing conditions so we shall see what it does here.

Early Spring Container #1

I know that going by the calendar mid-April is considered early spring, but I was used to things warming up, blooming and growing earlier in Illinois than it seems to here in North Logan.  I suppose I will eventually get used to it and be more patient, but this year I decided to totally push the season.  Working in the soil is good medicine for me (even if it is potting soil), and I needed to get my hands into the dirt.

Yesterday I picked up a trunk full of perennials and a couple of cold weather annuals and started planting.  I totally ran out of potting soil so I only got about half of the plants into their new containers.  It was getting too cold to keep working outside so I finished up this afternoon.  I actually got snowed on at one point yesterday.

Mother Nature didn't appreciate me thumbing my nose at her and got the last laugh by bringing a hard freeze to the valley last night.  There is another one expected tonight.  I covered my big pot with a large moving box last night and will cover it again tonight.  The small pots get moved into the garage.  Another day or two and they will be ready to stay out permanently.

I figure this is going to be a learning year for me with keeping my container gardens healthy and alive.  The altitude is different which means the sun is much more intense.  There is also a noticeable lack of humidity and summer rain showers.  We don't have sprinklers or drip irrigation set up yet so I won't be able to put my containers on a neat drip system like Laurie and Brian have done.  Hopefully that will come.  And hopefully, I will be able to figure out what to grow, where and how much water everything needs to stay healthy.

The containers nearest the front door won't get much, if any, direct sun, even though it is a southern exposure, because of the roof over the porch.  But the containers on the sidewalk will get a lot of hot southern sun.  I think they will bake pretty fast, so I may be moving them once things heat up.

The back deck and back patio will get some east or west sun depending on where they end up.  The north east exposure I'm not too worried about, but the hot west sun will be interesting to work around.

Container #1 - near the front corner of the house by the front walk.
Full on Southern and Western Exposure.
I tried to group plants that liked full sun and had lower water needs in this pot.  All of these plants are perennials.  IF they manage to live through the summer I can hopefully transplant them into the yard in the fall.

(the thriller)
Variegated Feather Reed Grass
Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Overdam'
I put this in because I knew, at least, I had a pretty good chance of keeping this grass alive through the summer.  It might outgrow the other plants in the container.  I'll have to keep an eye on it.

(the spiller)
Grace Ward Lithodora
Lithodora diffusa
Bloom Time:  Spring, Summer, Fall
Blooms:  Blue

(the fillers - since it was a large container, I used a combination of four plants, two purple, one red and one yellow)
Fragrant Star Wallflower
Erysimum 'Walfrastar'
Bloom Time:  Spring, Fall
Blooms: Yellow
I liked the variegated foliage on this plant, so even though it won't be in bloom all summer it will still add interest and color to the container.

Fire Star Dianthus
Dianthus 'Devon Xera'
Bloom Time:  Spring
Blooms:  Red
My plan is to pull this out once it has finished blooming and replace it with an annual).  I liked the red popping against the purple pincushion flower in the shopping cart.  We'll see how I like it as they grow and settle in.

Butterfly Blue Pincushion Flower
Scabiosa columbaria 
Bloom Time:  Summer through Fall
Blooms:  Lavender
This is a good, no nonsense plant that I've grown in the past.  It did well in my flower garden in Texas so I'm hoping it will do well here too.

Boysenberry Ruffles Lavender
Lavandula stoechas
Bloom Time:  Summer
Blooms:  Pink and Purple
This was totally a last minute addition.  I was going to use two Pincushion Flower plants and then I saw this and added it in.  I don't know if the colors will work with the other plants in the pot but I was so intrigued by the flower that I grabbed it anyway.

A New Home Means a New Garden

Since we closed in late October it was really too late to do anything or even really think about the yard.  We focused on moving in and then it snowed.  And the snow stayed all winter and covered up the unfinished landscape.

Now that it is warming up we've been talking and planning for what we want to do in our yard.  

We created a wish list and I worked up a basic overview for the property.  

Then I got stuck.  I was just completely and totally overwhelmed.  

Rob keeps saying I can pull this together because I had all that practice in Illinois, but I'm not even sure where to begin.  

What goes in first?  

We can't afford to do it all at once so how do we set priorities for our budget and time?

We saw that a local garden center offered design services so we set up an appointment. I met with the designer this afternoon and we walked the yard together and then reviewed a packet of ideas and inspiration pictures that I had gathered.  We had a lovely chat and she seems to have a good grasp on what we are looking for in a landscape.  She took some measurements and pictures and will get back with us in a couple of weeks with our design.  

Guess what I learned from her?  

This project is still going to be overwhelming and very challenging.  

The soil here is…

BAD!

It’s full of rocks and very alkaline.  

I thought we could amend a hole at a time.  You know, figure out where we were going to plant a tree or a shrub and work the soil really well there.  That was the recommended practice in Illinois.  Make a $100 hole for a $10 plant and it worked well.  My plants there thrived.

The designer I met with suggested that really the best (better?) alternative is to just dump a bunch of topsoil.

EVERYWHERE!

4 inches where we want grass.

6 to 8 inches everywhere else.

That’s a lot of topsoil.  

And a lot of money to pay for someone else’s dirt (yes I know, It's Soil, Not Dirt).  

Money I don’t want to spend on dirt (okay, okay, Soil).  

Money I’d rather spend on installing a patio or a sprinkler system or planting trees or grass.  

And if we get top soil delivered and don’t start planting in it and covering it with mulch it’s going to just wash away or blow away or weeds are going to grow in it or a combination of all of those.

Did you catch that "blow away" comment?  Guess what?  It's WINDY up here!  That’s apparently one of the biggest reasons I see so much gravel mulch around this subdivision.  The wind blows away the fine bark mulch so if we want to use bark mulch we are only supposed to only use the big fat nuggets. 

And all those rocks that seem to be growing in our yard.  They have to be picked up and moved.  Especially where we want lawn or turf or grass or whatever the appropriate term is.  Luckily we are going to incorporate a dry creek bed so I'll have somewhere to use all those rocks.  The designer said we will probably still have to buy more rocks to get it to look just right.  (Is that ironic or what?)

So, I guess I know what my new job is going to be.  

Rock gathering.  

Guess I'd better go buy a garden cart or wagon because the wheelbarrow is just too high and too tippy.

In the meantime I need to start getting quotes for extending our patio because the hardscape is the first item that needs to be finished.  At least I know where to begin.

A new shade garden for Marianne

Apparently, it was a rough spring for impatiens, which meant Marianne couldn't plant them in the shallow bed in front of the duplex. 

Grandma Hendricks and I spent a fun morning looking for shade loving perennials while Rob very kindly turned the soil and got the bed ready for planting.  The soil ended up being really nice so when we got back with our choices we went right to work.

We started out at Home Depot but were mightily disappointed in their selection of shade perennials and their Hosta's didn't look very healthy so we left and went to Anderson's Seed and Garden.  I haven't been there since Rob and I registered for wedding gifts over 30 years ago.  I was very impressed with their selections and their service.

We were initially thinking about doing just hosta and huechera but once we saw the options available we decided to go for a more of a real shade garden. 

Here are the plants we added.

Astilbe 'Vision in Red'

Height 15", Blooms midsummer with deep red buds that open into a lovely reddish pink.

Astilbe ' Rock & Roll'

(I'll add a picture when it is in bloom because right now it looks almost like the astilbe above)

Height 20", Blooms midsummer with clear white blossoms.

Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Height 8", Spread 12", blooms early summer with short spikes of lavender flowers. 

This is a great miniature Hosta.  It stays compact and the blue-green leaves really look like mouse ears.  It's adorable and is easy to tuck into any shade garden because it is so well behaved.

Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum'

Japanese Painted Fern

Height 12", Spread 12"-15"

This fern is always a nice addition to a shade garden because the lovely foliage adds a touch of interest and brightness.  The range of colors tie the foliage of the plants we chose together.  Besides that, it is just pretty to look at.

Hosta 'Big Daddy'

Height 24", Spread 36", lilac blooms in midsummer.
I'm excited to see this plant mature as the leaves will get really large, with a cupped, almost quilted look.  These Hosta are quite substatial in size but will not overpower the size of the bed.

Hosta 'Francee'

Height 18", Spread 24", Midsummer lavender blooms.

We chose this Hosta because it was the closest match to the one Marianne had planted already.  I was trying to create small groupings of Hosta with the perennials tucked in between for interest.  I do like the white edges as it gives a touch of brightness to a very dark, shady spot.

Cimicifuga 'Hillside Black Beauty'

Black Snakeroot

Height, 48", blooms pinkish-white, fragrant bottle-brush clusters in late summer

I love the foliage on this plant and just as the flowers on the other plants in the bed start winding down, this will start coming into it's full glory. 

Ligularia 'Britt-Marie Crawford'

and

Brunnera ...

Siberian Bugloss

We needed another small plant to fill in the middle of the bed and I decided to grab this Brunnera instead of putting in another 'Blue Mouse Ears' Hosta.  I lost the tag, so I'm not sure if this is 'Jack Frost' or another variety, but they all get to be about the same size , 18" tall) and have similar blue flowers in spring.

The Ligularia is a bit of an experiment.  I haven't grown one before and they do like quite a bit of water, but if it survives will be a nice touch of color in the bed.

Heuchera 'Ruby Bells'

Coral Bells

Height 16", Blooms late spring to midsummer

After starting with a plan to fill the bed with Hosta and Heuchera I think it's kind of funny that we only actually put in one variety.  We both loved the color of these blooms and I like the brightness of the foliage.

Here is the final result, the day after we planted. 

It actually looks good in person and will look great as the plants mature and grow. As always, the rule for perennials is, "First year they sleep, Second year they creep, Third year they leap". So, I'll have to come back next summer and the summer after that to see how Marianne's garden grows.

Yellow Jackets!

The Yellow Jackets have been so busy already this spring.  We've had several in the apartment, vacuumed up a lot from the shed area of the garage and have seen them flying everywhere.  Too close to the doors, too close to the cars, too many of them for comfort. 

I made a trap out of two-liter bottles but they weren't interested because there are too many blooms on the shrubs.  While we were at Lowe's on Saturday I saw a display that promised it would keep yellow jackets away.  I picked up a package and was loooking at it when another customer came by and picked up a package.  We got talking and she said she had come to the store specifically to purchase this item.  Apparently her parents have one hanging up and they haven't had any yellow jackets all spring.  That was good enough for me to be willing to try it out.  I grabbed two packages (for a total of 4).  They are supposed to be hung between 6-8 feet off the ground and about 20 feet apart.  We have two hanging in the front yard of the duplex - one by our entrance and one by Aunt Marianne's.  We also have two hanging in the back - one near our back door and one by the garage. 

They just look like big hornet nests.  And yellow jackets are afraid of hornets so they stay far away.  No chemicals, no sweet and sticky liquids with dead bugs floating in them to deal with.  HOORAY!  I also know I'm not attracting more yellow jackets to the trap (which I always worry about when I put out bait). 

The first day they were up we still saw several yellow jackets flying around, but when I was out today I didn't see one yellow jacket outside of the garage.  I don't quite know how to get rid of the ones that are trapped in the garage, but Rob and I figure they will probably die and then we will just vacuum them up.  Emily just came over and said she saw one yellow jacket, but compared to last week when she was afraid to get out of her car I think that's a positive result.

Two green thumbs up!  I'll have to revisit this over the summer, but so far, so good.

New Season of Life

Spring is here in North Logan.  It's a different type of spring than I have grown accustomed to.  It's a different altitude and a different zone (to say nothing of the difference in humdity levels).  It's crazy to think that I lived and gardened in Chicagoland for 20 years.  I don't feel that old and I don't feel that experienced.  But now it is time to adapt to gardening here. 

First change - we are several zones colder!  Since the winters in Chicago get so cold I thought that the gardening zones would be similar from place to place.  But apparently here in Cache Valley we are zone 3-4.  That means flowers are slower to come out and that my container gardens get started later in the spring.  I'm used to planting my annuals right around Mother's Day and now I have to wait clear until Memorial Day. 

However, it's been such a warm spring and our front porch is so protected that I decided to jump the gun a little bit and planted up some perennials over the weekend.  It feels so good to have a pretty pot to greet me at the door.

I went with my good old standby's, Hosta 'Brim Cup', Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' and Pennisetum 'Rubrum'.  I added in a pretty Dianthus 'Coconut Surprise' for blooms.  I don't know how long she will bloom, or if I will get much rebloom from her, so I may take her out and replace her with a long blooming annual once it really warms up and we get well into May.

Even if we get below 32 degrees at night I think these plants will hold up okay.  Especially considering that the porch is very sheltered.

Sorry about the image quality, the flash washed the colors out.  I obviously need to practice shooting without the flash. 

The colors actually play very nicely together in this combination.  I thought about using Hosta 'Patriot' to play off the white from the Dianthus but the green and yellow in 'Brim Cup' worked so much better with the other foliage colors. 

I still need to add a "spiller" to the pot, and will do that once we are past Mother's Day.

We should be closed on our house early enough next fall that I can go ahead and plant these in the ground once we move in.  I'm not sure if the deer will eat them or not.  Another thing for me to learn about and discover.

In other news.  We put together a quick and easy raised bed garden so Aunt Marianne could grow her tomatoes this summer.  It was much bigger than we expected so I decided to claim half of it for myself and planted lettuce and peas.  First time in years I haven't had to fight rabbits for a salad!

Front Garden Containers

I am trying to simplify my garden a little bit this summer so I am cutting back on the number of containers I'm planting in the front yard. 

Since I have purple Salvia and Clematis growing in the garden I thought I would pull that same color into the containers this year.

I really like the way the purple looks against the soft gray here.

Petunia

Calibrachoa

Alyssum

Nemesia 'Juicy Fruits Papaya'

Osteospermum 'Lemon Symphony'

Verbena

Alyssum

Calibrachoa

White Osteospermum and Nemesia with a pocket of purple Alyssum

Front Door Container

For my Mother's Day gift, R and I spent the morning at The Growing Place choosing flowers for the large containers at the front door. 

I love, Love, LOVE this establishment and could easily visit once a week (or more), just to see how their display gardens change through the seasons, or to find a little something that needs a home in a corner of my garden somewhere, or to find inspiration in one of their display areas, or to get a question answered. 

As we arrived they announced that they were beginning a Garden Tour in five minutes so we joined in.  During our walk through the display gardens we decided that we wanted to try using a Hosta as the focal plant of the container.  R mentioned that he likes the way the Sweet Potato Vine looks trailing down the container so we tried to choose a Hosta that would be tall, but not too wide that also had a touch of yellow in the leaves.  Once we had those two plants we both agreed that we love the way Heuchera looks in the container.  We like the wispy blooms and the substance of the plant itself so I pulled out three or four that I thought would work and put them in the wagon to get a feel for the size of the leaves and the color of the foliage. 

As I was planting the container Saturday afternoon, I realized that three plants just was not going to cut it in creating the full and lush look that I was going for so I grabbed the Begonia that had been purchased for the patio grouping and added that in.  I was getting closer to the look, but wasn't quite there so this morning I went back to the nursery to grab a couple of extra fillers. 

I chose a nice Pennisetum for the wispy height it will bring in.  It will carry the color up and through the entire planting without making it top heavy.  I also picked up a Calibrachoa for the touch of hot pink to draw the eye in.  I knew the Begonia had a pinky flower, but couldn't remember if it was more coral pink or bright pink (it's coral - hope it still looks good together).

I'm thrilled with the look on day one. 
Now I just have to remember to keep it watered and fertilized so it will grow lush and full and lovely.  These plants each have the potential to get good sized so it will be fun to watch them fight for dominance in the pot.   

Hosta 'Sagae'
Begonia 'Gryphon' (??)
Ipomoea 'Marguerite' (Sweet Potato Vine)
Calibrachoa 'Cabaret Hot Pink'
Heuchera 'Burnished Bronze'
Pennisetum 'Rubrum' (Purple Fountain Grass)

Pergola Patio Container

Ostrich Fern  Matteuccia pensulvanica
Light to full shade
36-60" high
moist soil
Begonia 'Gryphon'
Part shade to full shade
12-16" high
moist soil
Impatiens 'Butterfly Salmon w/Eye'
Shade to part shade
8-10" high
Polka-Dot Plant 'Red Splash Select'
Part shade to shade

10-18" high

moist soil

Planted May 9th

R & I bought a different Begonia on Saturday that had the perfect foliage colors to complement the fern.  I thought it was "Gryphon" so that is what I picked up when I went back to The Growing Place this morning.  (I can't find the plant labels in the garage and I suspect they may have been thrown away in an attempt to keep things tidy)  However, I like the touch of red on the underside of the Begonia leaves and think it plays nicely with the Polka-dot plant.  I'm hoping that after a week or two of nice warm temps the plants will settle in and mix and mingle like they are supposed to.  The lightest green of the Begonia plays well with the Impatiens which in turn speaks to the green of the fern.  Then the red from the Polka-dot plant is supposed to create just the right sparkle in the Impatiens.  We shall see.