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We have been busy over the past month with all sorts of things! I have managed to carve out some time here and there to do the usual garden clean up that needs to be done this time of year. Our final moments of fall have passed:
And we are well into winter. We saw a couple of dear the other morning out by the creek which was so magical and my little girl was so excited to get to meet Rudolph :)
See them back there?
Most of the garden clean up is done now except for a few odds and ends and we have moved on to decorating for Christmas:
I always do a bit of a garden theme with my christmas decorating: using a lot of greens from the garden along with fresh herbs and grapevine. Here is a nice closeup of an area of the tree with a small grape vine wreath. I have these spaced all over the tree this year:
I love the look of the rustic grapevine against the shimmer of the lights and the ornaments :)
I did a bit more clean out in the garden this afternoon. Shook some dead leaves off the hardy clematis, cut back some mint blooms, and cut down some spent cannas. Once the holidays are over, I will set out to get pinestraw over all the beds and start all my spring planning. Unfortunatley I didn't get the compost in the veggie beds soon enough to get out a fall crop :( so, I will have to enjoy planning for the spring.
Time for some holiday baking...
I had another great weekend in the garden. Got LOTS done as I am taking advantage of the warm daytime temps we have been having lately. I spent so much time on the front yard this past growing season, that now I am excited to get more work done in the back. I have been doing things such as defining the beds and putting in paths. I ordered another load of the free woodchips from the city and got busy spreading it:
I laid down a path in between the beds leading to the back. The bed to the left contains hydrangeas and hostas. I just transplanted all the hydrangeas to a better layout and added 2 variegated hydrangeas on either side of the sweet gum tree - I am looking forward to seeing how it looks come spring.
Here is the same path, from the back view:
My husband cut down the remainder of the trunk of the tree we took out last weekend. He was excited, because this meant he got to buy an electric chain saw. He always loves getting new toys...as you can see it definately did the trick:
I also transplanted the nandinas that were in the front of this tree over to another space so that now I have room to put in a nice conifer garden :) I also finished spreading all the pine straw (this helped to define the beds and create some new planting areas in the back yard. Here is a good shot of the back yard as of today:
The creek area even got some attention this weekend. Once I finish dragging the brush to the curb, it will be all cleared and ready to plant up with ground covers and ferns. I also plan to put an arbor at the gate with a nice vine on it and an outdoor hammock so that the area can be fully enjoyed!
I am interested to see what survived out of my bargain fern purchases that I planted back here in late summer. Once the drought hit, they began to suffer...so we will see. The creeping euonymous is doing well, however :)
On the list for this week: finish spreading wood chip pile and dragging creek brush to curb!
We had our first hard freeze the other night, so I spent the next afternoon clearing out the tender annuals that turned to wilted lettuce after the cold. It was a bit disappointing because the trumpet tree had a ton of buds on it just ready to burst, but the freeze took care of it. On the other hand, it was nice to clean things up a bit.
Here is what things looked like before the clean out:
Pretty sad, really...but much better after cleaning it all out!
That sweet potato vine gave me a real run for my money, too! Quite a root system! And, lots of mammoth "potatoes"!
All of my other fall projects are pretty much on hold due to the total outdoor water ban. So, I have been working hard on the inside of the house. Lots of painting and decorating and still finishing up the kitchen project.
I did notice that our local garden center has all their bulbs at 25% off, so I may check those out this week. I would like to add some alliums to the back yard.
Unfortunately I have had to totally give up any hopes of a fall veggie garden...due to the drought. No water = no plants :(
Maybe next year.
Over the past couple of days, I have gotten a great deal done on my fall project list! I spent most of this afternoon dividing and conquering (so to speak). I transplanted and divided some autumn ferns for my front porch bed. I went from 5 to 11 total in this bed and I think they will fill in nicely:
I also divided some daylilies and the green eyed susans and put some in the big front bed by the street. Not much to see now, but hopefully will add some great color in the spring!
This is what the front yard looks like from the street as of today:
I'll be so sad when the first frost gets all that sweet potato vine...it will look so naked!
I also did a lot of clean up and filled up a few landscape trash bags as well as overflow in my wheelbarrow:
I am so enjoying this time of year! There is not as much to be done in the garden it seems and what is to be done is very enjoyable. Also, the trumpet tree is just FABULOUS!!!!!!!!
Also looking forward to my camelia sasanqua blooming this winter. It has SO many buds:
My next task at hand will be to pull out whats left of the tomato and pepper plants and plant the 2nd veggie bed for fall. :)
Well, I'm at the beach this week :) Kure Beach, NC! Having a blast and since I can't work in the garden, I am having fun showing off my blog and dreaming of fall projects.
Of course, being at the beach is always an inspiration, especially in color. Makes me want to paint everything bright and fun. I am going to pick up some fall gardening magazines for the 8 hour drive home for even more inspiration. Then, when I get home, its back to it! I have got to get some more creek brush to the curb...that is first on my list. Then to clean up and plant fall veggies :) I think our heat wave has finally broken, YEAH!!!!!! Which means I can start on more projects!
Till then.....
Happy Labor Day
FishinBC asked for some recent picts of the creek and how its going. so here its is...i am slowly chipping away at this a little every day and have big dreams for what it can become!
Here is how it started:
That picture was taken after i pulled all the vines off the fence.
Here is the same angle taken today:
You can see progress has been made, but I still have a ways to go! I have uncovered the creek...here are more shots:
I know for sure that in the fall , I am going to divide some of my ornamental grasses and plant them in front of the chain link to cover that a bit. Then I will put in some weeping willows on the creek banks to help with erosion. I will also put in some hardware so that a hammock can be hung. This is such a big project, but little by little, its coming along :)
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