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)
Lindsey_CA
8 years ago
gardener123
8 years agoRelated Discussions
eastpenna Renovation Progress Report
Comments (11)Great pics! I think you many not need to apply any more phosphorus. That Greenview mulch has some phosphorus (3% I think) and I'm sure your starter fertilizer does too. Figure out how many pounds of phosphorus you have already applied: if 3% of a 30lb. bag of the greenview mulch is phosphorus, then each 30 lb. bag contains .9 lbs. phosphorus. If you used one bag per 600 feet the Greenview by itself gave you a little less than 1 lb. per thousand feet. And I imagine your starter was relatively high phosphorus too and probably made up the difference, but definitely check it out before thinking about adding any more. If you have applied enough phosphorus, look for a zero phosphorus fertilizer to use for the rest of the season - you don't want to overdo it. Greenview sells them I think. Looking good! Paul...See Morewintersowing progress report of newbie
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 Morepainting progress and flower beds trashed!
Comments (14)Hi Mary lu, Your porch looks terrific. I am glad you chose not to go with the three colors on the porch railings, and posts. The bay window is exceptional the way it is, but I agree that three colors on the two smaller porches might be extra busy, excluding the floor and the porch ceiling. If there would be any thing I might change it would be the lower band of wood under the spindles. I would probably paint it all the rust color like at the top of the spindles, and have no yellow at all, except for the yellow and rust corner pieces. I like the X the way it is painted since it ties in with the corner pieces. Just a thought. I hate to give an opinion because I know nothing about how older houses were painted. It is lovely as is, but if there is something that might be a bit off when you look at it today, tomorrow it probably will not be noticed. Today I moved a wooden trellis that had been bothering my DH, and when he came back from his bike ride he never noticed that I had removed it. Don't wear yourself out, and enjoy your lovely house. Jane...See Moremy lasagna bed in progress
Comments (11)Hi Martie, Actually, it's kind of funny how this thing snowballed. I finally got up some nerve to ask the local donut shop for their grounds. I've been getting a bucket a day, which is okay, but not as much as I expected. I happened to tell the big boss at work (who is a fellow gardener) that I got up the nerve to ask, and she told me she and her husband own two convenience stores, and did I want coffee grounds from them? (They have more than they can handle for their own compost and garden.) The following week, my immediate supervisor heard this story, and offered to not only save her kitchen coffee grounds, but to bring me her vegetable scraps and eggshells if I wanted. A co-worker was standing nearby during this particular conversation, and piped in, "Oh, my brother-in-law owns a restaurant. He might save his grounds for you!" And so I am expecting any day now to walk into work and have to hire a pick-up truck to bring home coffee grounds, lol! I'm beginning to feel like a sneak though. I have bags and bags of old mail and paper that needs to be shredded, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Of course, I need the shredded paper down first to put the coffee grounds on, so the other night I came home with a big bag of shredded paper from work. I left it in my car. If I had dared to walk into my house with it, my DH would have flipped his lid. I can hear him now: "It's bad enough we save our own garbage - now you're collecting other people's too??!!" Don't get me wrong - my DH is very supportive of composting in general. It's just that things (i.e. paper and cardboard, not to mention milk cartons and other containers for winter sowing) tend to get backed up every now and then, and sit in our guest bedroom. I keep telling him not to worry. My mom is coming to visit in 3 weeks, so the room has GOT to be cleaned out by then! :) Dee...See More
party_music50
8 years ago
roxanna
8 years agojemdandy
8 years ago
maire_cate
8 years agoarcy_gw
8 years agoUser
8 years ago
gazania_gw
8 years agoAlisande
8 years agoThanks, 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.
Alisande
8 years agoparty_music50
8 years agosjerin
8 years agoAlisande
8 years ago
linda_6
8 years ago
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7