Gardening in My Rubber Boots

Feb 24

Front Shade Garden Project

Sunday was such a beautiful day we spent it working on our new shade garden. We really started the project in the Fall by setting newspaper and leaf mulch on the grass to kill it – and it worked perfectly. All I had left to do was till the soil (with a shovel) and remove any roots. It already had plenty of worms and organic matter from the leaves and newspaper.

Added slate under the Apple Arbor & tilled the soil under the Saucer Magnolia

I started the planting by moving shade tolerant plants from other spots in the garden. I added a Camellia, Azalea, 4 Hydrangeas and a Juniper bush (yes I kept it). Then I divided plants in other parts of the garden and added them here, including five variegated evergreen Irises, over 30 Heuchera and a couple Red Twig Dogwood cuttings (I’m experimenting).

To fill in the blanks, I purchased a couple plants too. They’re still hiding so don’t expect to see anything yet. I planted 4 Hosta ‘Avocado’, 4 Hosta ‘Revolution’, 4 Hosta ‘Frozen Margarita’, 4 Hosta ‘Summer Music’, a Hosta ‘Big Daddy’, a Hosta ‘Wolverine’, a Hosta ‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’, a Heuchera ‘Pino Gris’, 5 Heuchera ‘Purple Palace’, Bleeding Heart ‘Alba’, Darmera peltata, and Astilboides tabularis. Those last two will get really big.

We still need to finish the slate sitting area but at least we have the stones all set out. I’ll post another picture this summer when the garden is showing off.

Feb 24

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Little Visitors – Wordless Wednesday

A solo purple Crocus

Innocent white Crocus

Sweet little purple & white Crocus

Feb 17

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Apple Arbor Perch – Wordless Wednesday

Feb 16

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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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