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Rocky Mountain Gardening

What a difference a year makes! (pics)

highalttransplant

15 years ago

Those of you that were around last year, probably remember a thread I started about some coreopsis and gaillardia that were wilted, and had some deformed blooms. Well, I never did figure out exactly what the cause was, but everything survived, and I learned a lot about jumping to conclusions, and about the fact that I'm not really in control of the garden. I can implement my vision, but what survives and what doesn't is not really up to me. Hard lessons for a control freak : )

Anyway, as I was out taking a few photos in the garden this morning, I noticed that the same plants that were struggling at this time last year, don't even have any blooms on them yet. Summer is definitely later this year. We had a couple of days in the 50's and 60's this week, and I don't know for sure, but I believe we had already reached the 90 degree mark by this time last year.

Not sure what the point of this thread is, other than to say that I can't believe how much I've learned in the past two years about gardening, and how much I appreciate all the advice I've received from you guys.

Here are a few pics of the garden:

This is the Coreopsis grandiflora 'Sunburst' that I had so much trouble with last year

... and the same Gaillardia 'Goblin' that had wilted blooms this time last year

Gaillardia 'Oranges & Lemons' first bloom of the season

{{gwi:232714}}

Sedum kamtschaticum 'Variegatum' in bloom

Heuchera 'Marmalade' starting to bloom

Peony 'Francis Ortegot' with Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Overdam' (Skybird this picture is for you)

Should the peony bloom this year? It was put in Sept. '06

Oh, and today we ate our first salad from the garden. It was delicious! Now if those peas would just hurry up and start blooming : )

Bonnie

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Comments (6)

michelle_co
15 years ago
Great closeup photos, Bonnie. :-) Your plants look terrific. Not a leaf out of place. I like the tidy coreopsis foliage.

However, I am horribly disappointed not see any blood curdling pictures of 'before'. My 'before' photos always look like a hillbilly bumpkin backyard, only missing the old cars from generations past (we did have - errrr - more than one towed out of the yard when we moved in. :-))))

Cheers,
Michelle
bpgreen
15 years ago
I remember last years' pictures. I'm glad everything recovered from whatever happened last year.
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Ken 3rd year back fairly normal. Mid April for things to stir here and by mid May transformation all but in. Deep moisture is good. In fact I am still transplanting since its so cool and for the most part cultivars are still dormant. Snow to move in about mid morning. Dax...The Sham obtusa, I called it, was replaced with Cedrus libani var.atlantica 'Horstmann'. I tried Sham twice and died both times. This conifer in B&B plus 6 ft. in height will not support itself ,that big, with 90% of its root base gone. !-2 ft. potted versions will survive.but I am not going back there. Dave
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Flora, I thought they might be G. ikariae, when I bought those first few bulbs back in the 60's they were in a bulk bin just labeled snowdrops. I thought I was just buying the common ones, when these shiny green leaves came up the following year I thought to myself these don't look like snowdrops, good job I didn't shovel prune them LOL. When they finally bloomed I went looking trying to identify them, I thought they looked very much like the ikariae in the book Shrubs by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix so if you think they might be too, they probably are. Glynis, this is the second H. foetidus I've had, the first one I had for 4 years and then it up and died. This one I've had for about 6 years, I haven't let it set seed maybe that's why I still have it. We'll see I want to collect seed this year, hope I don't lose it. I have another little odd ball a girlfriend grew from seed she collected, it has small green flowers and blooms a little later, could be a cross or... I moved it last year so don't think it will bloom this year. When it does I'll post a pic on the Hellebore forum, see if I can get an identification. I said I wasn't going to order any more Hellebore seed but I see Ashwood Nursery is now selling seed of their doubles, I'm weakening LOL. LOL Kathy, "Some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope" I'm going to remember that one. As far as winters go Vancouver is having the warmest winter in their recorded history so we on the island probably are too. Right now most years the ground would be frozen. Thanks all for taking a look, I usually don't have anything to show at this time of year and when I finally do it's just old hat, I'm so far behind everyone else when things bloom. Annette
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Beautiful setting. "This area is still a work in progress". Yes, we all struggle for just that perfect setting. You have done well and your determination to achieve that shows in your work. Great selection of cultivars. Weeping White Spruce = Picea glauca 'Pendula'. I am glad to see the ADT and gas meter fade from the scene. Dave
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Yes I learned this last year when I was visiting my mother and drove past this old lady house and saw her beds looking great while everybody's were looking bad. I asked her and she showed me jugs in between flowers that she got neighborhood kids to fill up once a year. I came back and tried last year but it was just too late but I promised myself I would do right this year and I did. Ken always says you can grow hostas anywhere it just depends on how much water u give them and I can tell you my hostas in my back yep arid gets around 5 hours of hot sun in humid conditions and they look great. I also think what is happening is what others have said and that is certain hostas can grow to be tolerant of the sun. I got an old green hostas that grows tall from my grandmother that was always in sun but another zone. My first year it did not do well but this year not a spot on it.
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Skybird - z5, Denver, Colorado
15 years ago
LookinÂ good, Bonnie! You have some really cool things.

I think if your peony was going to bloom this year, youÂd be seeing buds by now, so maybe not. Is it buried so the "eyes" are just an inch or two below the surface? If the root is buried too deeply you might have trouble getting it to bloom. If you got it in a pot and you buried it the same depth it was in the pot, that doesnÂt necessarily mean itÂs right since the people who plant those things donÂt really care if theyÂre planted "right" or not. So check the depth, and if it seems to be ok, just give it time to settle in and look for flowers next springÂand remember, itÂs going to take a couple years before itÂs a big, beautiful plant like you see in pictures.

IÂm sorry to say I donÂt think the ÂOverdamÂ is going to make it! But thank you for trying! I thought it would be ok, but I guess there just werenÂt enough roots on it. As you found out, the ornamental grasses are really hard to get a little viable piece off of. I still have it in the pot, but itÂs pretty much completely brown, and IÂll be very, very surprised if it starts growing.

I had my first couple baby spinach and lettuce leaf salads last week. Yum! Having a friend over for dinner on Wednesday, and IÂll be able to add some baby beet greens to the salad this time. Yum, yum! IÂve said it before, and IÂll say it again. It is SO cool to eat things youÂve grown yourself!

Thanks for the pics. Have a GREAT summer, HiAlt!

Skybird
digit
15 years ago
Well, the gaillardias look good enuf to eat themselves!

I find mine so frustrating . . . I'd like to go after them with the tiller! They are so short-lived in my garden and then they re-seed with a vengeance. I never know where they'll be or not be. An old one will up and die over the Winter then I'll discover that the weed seedlings in the path I've been walking on, or just hit with the Round-up, are gaillardia.

I like to see the wild ones blooming along the river. It's like finding one of my lost gaillardia thriving off on its own. They don't seem to have a very long season out in the wilds but if the blooms are removed in the garden, they'll go on, and on, and on . . . They put the flash-in-the-pan painted daisies and similar to shame.

digitS'
highalttransplant
Original Author
15 years ago
Michelle, since I live in a planned subdivision, and not in the country, I'm afraid I don't have very exciting before pictures, but here is what I found:

(The date stamp on these is really Sept. 2, not Feb. 9. I had the month and day switched accidentally)

... and I haven't taken any photos this year that show the entire beds (been too busy taking close-ups), but here is one from last summer:

Bonnie
michelle_co
15 years ago
Oh WOW, Bonnie! :-D How pretty. I like the plantings and the border - it is going to look even more amazing this year.

Your house has lots of cool architectural features, too.

Thanks for posting those. Before and after photos are my favs!

Cheers,
Michelle

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