Progress Report (on my overgrown flower bed)
I received so much encouragement and many good suggestions when I asked for help on what to do with a neglected, overgrown long, long flower bed, so I thought I'd give you a progress report.
When I first talked about it, I'd planned to salvage as many of the perennials as possible. But after spending some time studying the situation, I realized even if I had a place to replant them (I don't), I didn't have the energy to undertake all that. Plus they weren't in the best shape at this point.
The irises weren't in top form either, but I have a lot of sentimental attachment to them, having chosen them partly because their names related to my daughter Gillian and my late cousin Terry. Also, I felt they would thrive in another location. They're so beautiful, and iris was my husband's favorite flower.
So I decided to save only the irises and the Festiva Maxima peony that has been on this property longer than I've been alive. Making that decision was hard (plants are like old friends), but once it was made it strengthened my sense of purpose.
I dug up all the iris, divided the rhizomes (Rhizo, are you reading this? Did you name yourself after an iris root? :-) ), sent some to a cousin, gave some to a friend, and planted the rest on my dirt terrace.
Then I attacked the weedy bed with my lawnmower--an exceedingly slow job. Little by little, the bed is shrinking. When I cut down a clump of iron-like grass, I pour boiling water on it. That has been effective. I hope at some point I'll be able to dig up the brown clumps. I don't know what that grass is . . . it's skinny and tough. When I mow over once-loved plants, I"m tempted to close my eyes. But I feel good about every bit of visible progress.
Two paniculata hydrangeas (Limelight and LIttle Lamb) are in that bed. I will, of course, save them, and possibly add a few more. I'm not exactly skilled at garden design (can you tell? haha), but I think the paniculatas are beautiful--and they're one of the few things left that I have confidence I can grow.
Thank you again for your help with this!
Rather than post a picture of the very ratty looking work in progress, here are a few pictures I took today. Since I shot from a distance, through the glass of my kitchen window, the image quality is poor. But they turned out better than I thought they would.
Comments (19)
11 years ago
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Comments (29)everything growing nicely. two failure cases. impatiens and gazania. hardly any seedlings, may be seeds were bad, these were last year's bargain seeds. major damage that happened during vacation is to poppies. poppies are lying on ground and turned yellow. looks like lack of water, sun or may be a fox walked over them. i am trying to revive them. a bush which looked so thin while planting poppies, has grown so much in my absence and taken over the poppies area. person watering jugs in my absence removed all tags. i have no way to distinguish between different lobelias and marigolds! planted out - bachlers button - cornflower - calendula - california poppy - candytuft - Night Scented Stock - Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow - Stock: Dwarf Ten Week - Nicotiana Sensation - Mignonette - petunia - aster - livingston daisy - Swan River Daisy Bravo Mix - sweet peas (just three plants) - Rudbeckia - petunia - pot - multi - Convolvulus tricolor - phlox (annual one) - verbena - runner beans - lobelia - crystal-trailing with leaves- still in jugs - Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow - lobelia - blue - marrigold - african - marrigold - french - pansy - clear - pansy - mini - pansy - giant - petunia - rose - single - tomato - salvia - zinnia failure cases - Gazania - impatien double yet to sow - nasturtium - zinnia (remaining seeds) - marigold (remaining seeds) - morning glory autumn sown in bloom - pansy autumn sown showing growth now - sweet william - snapdragon non wintersown plants - dahlias tuber transplant successful and it got leaves - one of the dead geranium showed some sign of life! - rose have got buds. - jasmine blooming - lily of valley pips showing some leaves....See MoreProgress Report
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Thanks, everyone! I'm happy with the photos, but they have a lot of what's called "noise." It becomes all too obvious if I enlarge them even somewhat. I didn't put up hummingbird feeders because I was worried about the two outside cats. Before they arrived, I used to hang feeders on the porch, where I was entertained daily by the hummers. But this year I saw only the occasional one.
So when I happened to see this hummer in the zinnias outside my window yesterday, I stood there and watched. Normally, I would grab a camera quickly, but I figured she wouldn't hang around long. When I finally went to get one, I thought my chances of getting even one shot were just about nil, but she stayed . . . and stayed. I took over 20 pictures, and had 6 worth saving.
The zinnias aren't growing in optimum conditions, so they aren't as full as they should be. I've had some spectacular displays from Burpee's Big Tetra Zinnias as well as the cactus-flowered varieties. Maybe again next year.
Maire, I can recommend Liquid Fence, as well as a similar product, Repels-All. Because I've been good about spraying this on "deer candy," my hostas and paniculata hydrangeas remain untouched. I sprayed it on the unfenced pole beans until beans started to form, and as soon as I backed off the spraying, the deer went after them. Spraying on the ground around the beans probably would have helped.
Here's another one of the LImelights in a picture of my 4-year-old grandson's school bus arriving on the first day of school this week.
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7