Freecycle bounty

I spent my weekend planting clippings....lots and lots of clippings! There was a girl that posted on our local freecycle that she had some plants to get rid of so I emailed her and went to her house on Saturday. She had this great yard - a lot of which she landscaped with clippings - and took me around with her snips in hand and went crazy. I got a BUNCH of stuff including:
3 crape myrtles (dark pink)
1 banana tree
a bunch of elephant ears
2 oleander
about 4 or 5 angel trumpets
begonias
about 8 iris'
indigo, mexican heather, and I don't even know what else...
Right now they mostly look like wilted sticks in the ground, but I am hopeful that at least some will take. I used the elephant ears and banana in corners of the fence...the biggest angel trumpet in the front yard, a crape myrtle is on the side of my driveway and the others are either in the bed or scattered in the backyard...Anyway - keep your fingers crossed!

Fall is coming...

Hard to believe the summer is nearly over. But with CJ starting kindergarten, a new soccer season underway, and the sunflowers nearly all picked over from the birds.... I guess that's something I have to accept. The sunflowers *were* quite amazing... well over the fence line. Think I'll have to move their location next spring, though. I think the neighbors got the best show. I haven't had the heart to pull them up yet, though. There's been so many little birds making the seed heads nod everyday. But I guess it's about time.

With the cooler evenings, the angel trumpet is starting to put on some buds. I'm happy. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't see any this year. But the plant itself is getting quite big, all the way to the top of the fence. Maybe in a week or two I'll see the flowers.


I've been working on a new flowerbed. Haven't even finished adding all of the dirt and mulching... and I'm already thinking of my new projects. Guess that's the problem with buying a house from someone that wasn't a gardener. But, at least this way I'll eventually get everything the way I like it... not maintaining someone else's ideas.... Maybe, if I'm ambitious, I'll dig a couple more beds this fall... so they will be ready for some early springtime fun... or maybe I'll just take a 'fall break'.... ; )

mulching, mulching, mulching.....

So this weekend I cleaned up what Gustav left me with, planted some color, weed barriered, and mulched, and mulched and probably could have mulched some more if I didn't run out.

I am pretty pleased at how 'green' I'm trying to keep the bed. The edging is composite recycled materials, I used newspapers for weed barrier and Pine instead of Cypress mulch. Some cypress mulch is harvested from the Louisiana Coastline, which protects us from uh...hurricanes.... http://saveourcypress.org/index.php


Anyway, the crape myrtle looks a little twiggy, but I think it did ok with the storm - there are still buds on it so I'm waiting to see how it does. I went to Lowes today to pick up the mulch and see what they had for color - not many choices at all after the hurricane...I guess they all either died or something but I did find a few things to plant.
The new plants I added were:
2 yellow sunfire perennials
some periwinkle flowers
and some mini blue daisies




ps - it always seems like we need to cut our grass when I take these pics....I SWEAR we mow our grass AND weedeat regularly...I just have bad photographic timing. Next time I'll try and take the picture AFTER we mow... :)

new bed

Last weekend we got the bed builder dirt (1 yard and 1/2) and I reshaped it and here's what I did today....


After I visited the nursery, I realized that August is not the best time to start a bed....there are not a lot of plants to choose from, but I decided on some basics and when the spring rolls around I may move out some of the liriope and make room for some others. But for today, I planted:
1 crape myrtle
2 azaleas
a couple of agapanthus
a couple of iris's
a bunch of liriope

I know...I said a thousand times I didn't want a crepe myrtle - but again - not too many choices, so I picked a smaller breed that is different - it's white and has darker leaves so I think it's different enough. I still need to put down some mulch and weed barrier. I am going to use newspaper for that and thought it'd be easier to lay it all down after the plants were in the ground. We'll see.
I'm slightly concerned about the irises...I didn't have much luck with them at the other house, but the lady at the nursery assured me that they are native to Louisiana and should be harty and difficult to kill....hmmm. I think I'll fill in with some annuals....some kind of pretty flower just to add more color.

ps - mark mowed after I took these so the grass looks better :) And - if you look closely in the second pic you can see Sam keeping watch out the window.

Watching Grass Grow....

I noticed that it's been about a month since I posted that big mud hole that was our backyard and I am encouraged by the improvements. The most noticeable one is the fence (yea!). The dogs are really loving the freedom that they now have to run and I think it's been great exercise for them. They've never looked so fit and trim. Also - I'm happy about the grass that's coming in. When we noticed that it was good grass back there we decided against hydroseeding and just thought we'd take a chance. I'm excited to see it coming in so nicely. Last week we supplemented the grass with some seed and it loved all the rain that Eduard brought us.

Today I did this:Phew - in 100 degree heat I about had a heart attack tilling, and digging, and weeding, but I'm anxious to get it going. This is about 2/3 of the way through what I did today. I tilled and weeded a bit more before calling it quits. I like the edging stuff I found. It's Smart Edge composite edging and was pretty easy to work with. I like that it's made of recycled materials but be careful with this stuff - it breaks apart relatively easily. It comes all rolled up and you have to let it 'rest' open for at least an hour, and when you are unrolling it, you can bend and break it. I'm speaking from experience. I may rework the side. I can't decide if when it has plants in there, you won't notice that it's kind of straight or if it should be curvier.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to building it up and actually getting some basic plants in there. With it being August already I'm not really sure what I can plant yet but I'd like to put some Agapanthus for sure - I love those....and I'm not sure what else. Lots of perennials. I'm open to suggestions...

Looky what I found!!

So I was looking on the internet to find some sort of planning tool to help me lay out the backyard and lo and behold...Better Homes and Gardens has this really neat garden planner that's easy to use and is FREE! You have to register with their website, but they only ask you for your name, address and email so I signed up and found this handy tool.

Here's the site:
http://planagarden.bhg.com/planagarden/

(ok, I just tried to do a screen grab and couldn't paste it here, but trust me, it's fun and cute).

My only qualm with it is, I can't get it exactly to scale. It'll only fit 13' long on the screen so I have to downsize all the trees and stuff. Other than that, I think it is a good tool to just plan a layout design.


ALSO -
In my quest to find trees, I bumped into the Arbor Day Foundation's website and did you know that if you join they will send you 10 FREE trees? And they're nice too AND no charge for shipping!

For my area, I can get
4 White Flowering Dogwoods
3 American Redbuds
3 Goldenraintrees

Or I could pick:
10 Bald Cypresses
10 Redbuds
10 White Dogwoods
10 River Birches
10 Eastern Redcedars
5 Crape myrtles
http://www.nationaltreetrust.org/shopping/memberships/memberships.cfm

Now I'm sure they're small to start with, but for only a $10 tax deductible membership fee, you can't go wrong. I'm signing up today!

I've got my work cut out for me

Stephanie's last post was so beautiful I hate to post this big ugly patch of dirt right after it, but I thought you guys would be interested to see my humongous backyard project I've got on my hands (yes - it is really THAT long....about 150 feet to that back fence).

We moved in to the new house last weekend and have had rain ever since but the builder was able to come back on Thursday to do some more dirt work, so he's just about done with that. The fence guy is coming on Wednesday to go over everything and will hopefully start on that soon after. We're hydroseeding the grass as soon as the fence is done.


I went to a nursery and talked to the girl there for a long time about trees. I told her that while I love everything about crepe myrtles (colorful, long lasting blooms, resilient, withstands the heat...) I didn't want those exactly because EVERY yard in Lafayette has them. She was so helpful...she took down my email address and offered to do some research for me.

This is what she came up with...any opinions?
Swamp Maple (red/orange)

Saucer Magnolia (tulip tree. I had one of these at the other house - they really are pretty, but mine only bloomed for about a month in the very early spring.)

Purple leaf Plum

Texas Mountain Laurel. ( Looks very similar to wisteria...I love that about it - wonder how long it blooms?)

Southern Crab Apple

Sunflowers in July

Everything survived (and thrived!) while we were away. The sunflowers are all starting to bloom, as well as the swamp mallow. It's nice to smell the rosemary and lavender when CJ and I water everything. All the annuals seem happy and I think I may have one or two of the chinese lantern plants growing from the seeds I tossed in the spring. Or maybe I'm just babying some weeds. We'll see, I guess.

Not sure I'm real happy with the center white crape myrtle. But maybe I should just keep pruning it to try to improve its shape.... it's just so droopy... but I'm glad to see the angel trumpet on the right in the first picture is doing so well. Maybe it will bloom in the next few weeks.

I moved my tall rudbeckia out from behind the sunflowers. It really wasn't happy with me for doing that... but it seems to be settling in to its new location after a serious knee-jerk, "you really shouldn't have done that" reaction. I hope anyway.

I've got another new bed almost ready to plant.... it's mostly in the shade during the day so I'm hoping to plant a hydrangea. One side of the bed gets more sun, though, so I put a banana and a perennial hibiscus... guess I'll concentrate on finishing it after CJ's birthday.

So far, so good!

My flowerbed seems to be happy so far this summer. I still haven't mulched, though. (Must do that soon!!) But gave everything a nice soaking of Miracle Gro yesterday. The sunflowers are nearly as tall as the fence... but they're just trying to keep up with my swamp mallow. I think the angel trumpet was just taking it's time settling in... hopefully soon it will take off and start flowering.

I've been enjoying the little surprises from previous years....
like the balloon flowers and the calla lilies... I really need to add a few more of both of those somewhere around the house.

And I'm trying to take advantage of the "cool snap" (for June in the "midsouth") and dig another flower bed along the house. Hopefully I'll finish that one in the next few weeks.

The Memorial Garden vs the HEAT

Well my garden was growing beautifully....until it got hot and we had a dry spell. Now it looks terrible, despite my watering it faithfully every other day.

On a more positive note, the death in destruction in my garden will allow my to find the perfect spot for the memorial stone I ordered for my dog Bandit. It was much more than I wanted to spend, but its beautiful.

So, my next step is to figure out where to put it, clean out the carnage, and find some newer less expensive plants to fill in the blank spots.......I doubt at this rate I can match what Steph has done!

Just keep growing, growing, growing....

Here's the latest photos of my new backyard flowerbed. We're still getting lots of rain and pretty mild weather.... so it's been easy to just let the flowerbed "be".... The sunflowers and dahlias on the left side of the top photos are growing like "weeds"... and this week the first daisies and Stokes asters started to bloom.
(The yellow-orange flower in the left photo is a mouse ear coreopsis.) The lilies of the nile on the right in the top photo are happy right now.... Still haven't mulched everything yet. That will definitely be something I need to do in the next week or so... and feed everything with some Miracle Gro.... But I've been trying to concentrate on some of my other flowerbeds and projects..... my hanging baskets on the front porch... and a flowerbed I made when we moved into this house (going for a more tropical look-- lots of elephant ear and canna and lantana and turk's cap and lamb's ear... with a "splash" of black-eyed susans.... and trying to espalier a couple of apple trees up against the house... It's been an easy spring for everything, it seems! But the summer heat will arrive soon, no doubt....

Finally!

My easter lilys are finally blooming!! Here are 2 shots of my butterfly garden. I know it technically doesn't count here, but until I move, I'm in garden limbo....so this is all I've got.

One Week

After 5 days away from the house, I'm pleased to report everything seems to be settling into the new bed (but I'm sure it's been easy for them with all of the rain and mild weather we've been having).... with maybe the exception of one of the miniature daylilies. The sunflower seeds and the dahlias are already sprouting (yay!). I also threw in some "chinese lantern" seeds last week... Hope they do well. It seems like a really neat perennial... but no sign of them yet. All of the annuals Mom and I added last week seem happy... I just need to add some mulch, I think!

Big Day!

I can't believe it! After many long hours in the sun today..... and one "coffee break" while it rained...... the flower bed was completely transformed today! I spent most of the morning buying and delivering thousands (literally!) of pounds of "good soil": 30 (40 #) bags of top soil, 6 (50 #) bags of sand, 13 (40 #) bags of compost and "fertilizer", and 5 bags of pine bark mulch...... luckily my mom was here to help me mix and spread out everything.




Then we walked around the house scavenging plants.... I'm trying to stick with oranges and reds with little splashes of yellows and purples and white. We found some "heavenly bamboo" nandina, ginger, day lilies, african irises, rosemary, black eyed susans, and an angel trumpet..... The only "bought" plants (so far) are a swamp mallow, a shasta daisy, a "mouse ear" coreopsis, a miniature azalea, and some "bulb" caladium and dahlia. I also threw in two packets of sunflower seeds.... I'll probably buy a couple more shasta daisies...and a pineapple sage or two... and some annuals of some sort for the front of the bed.....

I still can't believe how much was accomplished today! Thanks Ma!

The ever expanding project

Well.... I've spent quite a few hours this week digging. And digging. And digging. I now lovingly refer to my new flower bed as "the lap pool". Unbelievably, I think I have another hour or two of digging to do! But I'm proud to report no "cable" casualties (knock on wood...) and only one "why in the world did you not put on any sunscreen?" from John. After the "big dig", I guess the next step is hauling in a BUNCH of "good dirt"..... But, after that, the fun begins.

Motivated by Lori's suggestion, I've decided to extend the flower bed a bit behind the pond. Not all the way around the pond this year, but it's a good start, I think. The length of my goliath project will be somewhere around 24 feet..... It's raining again today unfortunately... but maybe this weekend I'll wrap up the excavation phase. And besides, I was supposed to be preparing for a neighborhood garage sale that starts tomorrow at 7 am! Nothing like procrastination!

Oh No - or should I say SNAP!

Cold snap that is! I finally got all my baby plants into my bed, and it's supposed to FROST tonight! I covered them all up - lets hope for the best. They are right up against the kitchen windows, so hopefully their inefficiency will keep my babies warm!

Where's jill?

Wow....I'm feeling behind. You're gardens look great - and you've done so much work. This is what I had originally planned on doing:
Mark hates mowing around all those roots so I was going to do a big bed around that front gumball tree. I may still, if I happen to get a big envie to plant. Otherwise - hopefully I'll come in strong in the 2nd half of the contest - from my new house. :)

Our (blog) spin-off??

So.... if Jill's NHS 89 blog is "Happy Days"..... does that mean this one is "Laverne and Shirley"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mVKUpT4g5k

How to win bird friends and influence neighbors....

Yesterday I spent most of my "free" day sans CJ digging in the dirt.... Well, I think "dirt" may not be quite the right term-- more like "water-logged, back-breaking, how-in-the-world-it-sustains-any-life clay". The fun thing, though, was I got to make friends with a few of my bird neighbors. Funny how it may be easiest to make new friends through their stomachs.... A pair of robins kept me entertained by frequenting my new "fast food drive-thru" excavation, ridding it of any unearthed grubs and worms.....

I also found it humorous that I had a pair of "supervisors" all day in the form of my maple tree, "Mr. Barkley", and my dog, Chewy.

The unfortunate thing I've discovered, though, is there are a few TV cables that run straight through the bed..... something I realized after I had sliced through a bit of our own TV cable insulation with the shovel... Oh, well, I've found another use for "duct tape"! But I decided to be a little more careful the rest of the day... knowing how many placating dinners I'd have to cook for the neighbors if I sliced through THEIR cable line....

After hours earth-moving, I've also come to the conclusion my bed might be a little ambitious.... But I did make progress.... probably an area of 7 feet by 4 feet.... which is only about half of the size of the flower bed I intended to make..... I'll keep on (carefully) digging, though.... as soon as the latest weather front moves through.... and resaturates the clay for me!

Lori's Garden Update

Well I got a lot done on Monday. I wasn't supposed to be off, but we wound up taking our 14 1/2 yr old dog Bandit on the "big car ride" to the vet. So I have now decided this will be Bandit's memorial garden.

I put in some more plants - 2 calla lillies, an orange bird of paradise, and some smaller colorful plants. I also put in the garden stones. What do ya think????

Lori - Week 1

I started working on my garden today......attached is a photo of what I started with.

I began by purchasing the two hibiscus shrubs at $15 each - I decided they should flank each side of the bed. This weekend I dug out the bed area, and refilled it with 2 bags of soil. The area was
full of 2 things: clay, and construction debris (including nails and all of the broken glass from Katrina). A photo is attached.

I still have to plan the rest of the plantings - since we don't "finish" until July 4th - I am considering doing some things from seeds....what do you think??

Stephanie's garden area

The Plan:
To do a good sized bed around the 3 crepe myrtle trees... and maybe hide the ugly fence with some tall flowers and bushes......

Let the games begin

And awaaay we go!

This is Lori's before picture...