Flower & Garden | Gardening in My Rubber Boots

Feb 16

Alley Garden – Five Years Progress

I don’t think I’ve introduced you to our alley garden yet. It was a bit of a nightmare when I moved in five years ago this month! The “garden” was full of junk, grass, weeds and dead trees – and who could forget the chain link fence, shabby garage roof and bad paint job!

Every year we seem to improve the garden a little more – with the exception of the “setback” we had a couple years ago.

BEFORE: Back Alley Garden

BEFORE: Alley Parking Spot & Garage (back of house & future veggie garden is beyond)

A couple years ago the alley garden was filled with Dahlias and other blooming perennials until I got tired of people stealing, damaging and driving over the plants! Yes, they still drive over them – even with the large stones we added. Initially I was going to fill the bed with traps and sharp objects but decided against it. Instead, I punished EVERYONE and removed all blooming perennials except the Irises. They seem to hold their own against the vandals and bounce right back if driven over.

I added a Smoke Bush, Lavendar and a couple Elephant Ears to fill the void. They look nice but it just isn’t the same.

Since this is an East facing garden, it gets plenty of sunshine. This year I plan to move a couple plants into the front perennial garden and replace them with a couple huge Elephant Ears and an Agave I recently purchased. I want this garden to look showy again since I’m not super thrilled with how bare it looked last year (picture below).

AFTER: Alley Garden, Garage and Parking Spot

I’ll keep you updated on the progress and promise to share this garden more often. Around the corner and along the parking spot is also where I grow our raspberries and blueberries.

Feb 15

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What’s Blooming February 15

I actually have BLOOMS!! They were being shy but I managed to snap a couple photos.

Helleborus

Iberis Sempervirens (Candytuft)

Helleborus niger

Helleborus (supposed to be Blue Lady)

Helleborus x hybridus `WD Elegance White’

Helleborus

Galanthus (Snowdrops)

Euphorbia (Spurge)

New glass balls from Glass Gardens NW

Amaryllis Second Bloom

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day takes place on the 15th of every month and all started with May Dreams Gardens.

Feb 9

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Silence of the Bees – A Must Watch PBS Video!

Everyone (especially gardeners) should watch this PBS video on “Colony Collapse Disorder.” It was required viewing for our Master Gardener training. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not hand-pollinate flowers, crops and fruit trees because we’ve killed off all our honey bees.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/full-episode/251/

Collecting nectar & pollen from our chive blossoms

Jan 26

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Tropical Paradise in Zone 8a

Over the last couple years I’ve become a huge fan of tropical plants with big leaves (and succulents). It all started after seeing a HUGE Hosta during the Queen Ann garden tour a couple years ago and reading an article about a Seattle gardener who successfully grew hardy tropical plants in his garden (I read this article so long ago I can’t remember where I read it).

Since I primarily grow perennials and veggies, I’ve decided it’s time to branch out and get a couple more tropical looking plants for the garden. Last year I grew four Colocasia (Elephant Ears) and LOVED them. I also have a couple big leaf Hostas that I’ve acquired over the years that are perfect for the shadier parts of the garden.

So far this year, I’ve purchased three more Colocaia and two Agave plants. I ordered my new plants from Plant Delights in North Carolina. I’ve heard great things about this nursery so feel pretty good about the quality of plants I’ll receive.

I also plan to purchase a hardy Banana tree and a couple Yucca plants. This is really the extent of my sunny tropical purchases since this will fill most of the available sunny spots in my yard (after I move some plants). I’m especially excited about the Agave and Yucca plants since they look great all year long and will add the needed ‘winter interest’ that’s currently missing in my garden.

I figure what I don’t have room for in the garden, I’ll put in pots for our new patio area. Tropical plants always look amazing in pots.

Jan 23

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Our 2010 Garden Plan

This year we decided it was time to remodel the front and back yard. The design below is my rough sketch of the changes we’ve got planned. I’m not sure we’ll get everything done. Even though it looks like I’ll have the summer off (my job moved out of state) and I’ll have plenty of time to make changes, we may not have enough money to get all the hardscaping done.

I’ll simply need to be creative when purchasing patio pavers, stone and plants.

As you can see, our house and yard are pretty small. I’ve already got a list of plants prepared for the new beds, click here to see some of the recommendations I got. Pretty much everything except buildings, the lawn, patio and pathways will be a garden area.