soaphouse's Blog
soaphouse's posts about: Maple
Mar 23, 2008 | 5:22 PM PST
Tags: easter , egg , maple , azalea , lilac , frost , freeze , raised bed , veggie bed , single knock out rose , knockout , creeping phlox
We have had a wonderful Easter weekend in the garden! Yesterday, i was able to sneak away to my favorite local nursery to check out their spring inventory. It was SO exciting! Everything looked so wonderful it was very hard to control myself :) But, I was a good girl and only picked up 2 small single knock outs- hot pink variety and 5 small sized creeping phlox (2 lavender and 3 hot pink).
The knockouts have been on my list for a while. I have been wanting to plant them at the base of the new "sculpture" at the front window seat bed. Not only will they add nice color all season, but they will give some interest to that bed during the winter when all the perennials are dormant:
See them on either side there? I know...they are small now, but luckily those guys are fairly fast growing!
The Creeping Phlox went in the berm in the front yard along side the driveway. I just love the little punches of color and I know they will fill in nicely and provide great weed supression:
That was all done yesterday. Today, after Easter service, we had a wonderful little egg hunt for my daughter in her grandmother's back yard:
She has such a wonderful yard for that and my little girl had so much fun!
When hubby and I got home, he finished up the veggie bed fences - now they are all ready to plant up come April 15th (our last frost date)
Speaking of frost, it is supposed to get down to about 32-34 degrees tonight...not too cold, but enough to make me worry a bit, so I attempted to cover the budding azaleas, my newly planted tree peony, the lilac, and the 3 Japanese maples. I do hope this helps....I guess its worth a try, not sure if I needed to bother but it makes me feel somewhat proactive.
Hope everyone had as nice of an Easter as we were blessed with!
Mar 19, 2008 | 1:05 PM PST
Tags: rain , persicaria , lorapedulum , mulch , poppy , poppie , maple , saucer magnolia
We have had quite a few rainy days here lately (great for the drought) and today was no exception. I just love the way the garden looks after a good rain! I was planning on plant shopping this afternoon, but it was raining so hard...my girl and I sang songs and watched the rain from the front porch. So lovely! In between rain showers, I was able to get some nice picts of the garden as of late:
View from the front porch:
Various views of the front of the house as seen from the street:
Looks like the redbud will be in its full glory in no time :)
The lorapedulums are doing great and I love the contrast of the Junipers. The one shrub has a piece of it that grows with the white blooms. I have long debated as to cut it out each season, or leave it be. Sometimes I think it is fun and unexpected, other times I think it looks like a mistake...I can't decide.
Saucer Magnolia survived one of the late freezes and is in its glory! I just love it...when the petals start to fall, it looks a bit like a summer snow.
All the front perennials are starting to come up and I look forward to adding even more this season!
These seedlings were easy to spot in the wet mulch...I think they might be poppies. I threw out a bunch of poppy seeds in this bed (not expecting much)...if they aren't poppies, then they might be a weed, I am not sure:
The Japanese Maples are budding out nicely. They were severely affected by the late freeze last year. Looks like this year will be better:
The creek is doing its thing...and all the moisture should be wonderful for the newly planted Great Gunnera Bulb
Nice view of the back yard today (hubby has promised to have all the veggie bed fences done and installed by april 1st for planting time :)
The persicaria is coming back :)
And finally...a view of the back, from the back ( I enjoyed comparing this picture with the same shot from last summer....its nice to see the progress)
I am so enjoying watching spring unfold! Maybe I will get to my plant shopping in the next couple of days. I have so many things on my list to add to the garden...and our home depot landscape supply just stocked up, so I can't wait to check it out!!!!!!!
Jan 6, 2008 | 4:48 PM PST
Tags: tree , maple , cypress , blue evergreen , canna , iris , sculpture , compost , pine straw , allium , bulb
We had quite the weekend in the garden! Very productive! I got a lot of things checked off of my to do list :) I divided some Iris, transplanted some cannas to pots, spread pine straw in the back yard, moved a pile of compost to the veggie bed, planted 70 allium bulbs and started the sculpture for the front window seat bed. But, most noteworthy is the 30 foot tree my husband took out for me! I felt kinda bad as it is a nice tree, however...it had been planted way too close to the tree next to it and during the growing season, it was growing crooked trying to reach the sun. Not a huge problem now, but would be in the future and then would be too costly to fix, so my hubby took it out.
Before:
During:
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After:
Its funny, it looked much larger once it was on the ground LOL! Now it will be another chore getting rid of all the brush! Whats going in its place? 3 Threaded False Cypress and possibly a blue evergreen of some sort. The vines are doing fun things right now too. The winter jasmine is just starting to bloom :) I look forward to watching them in the spring as they cover the chain link fence.
This week I will finish spreading the pine straw in the back and will finish up the sculpture in the front. But I tell ya, I sure am worn out! I don't have quite to energy now that I am 6 mo pregnant. I guess I better get as much done as I can before I am 9 mo!
Jul 22, 2007 | 2:56 PM PST
Tags: weekend , bed , compost , maple , red , creek , eggplant , kale , tomato , borer , squash , sunflower , veggie bed , back yard
I had a fairly productive weekend in the garden. Got more work done on my many ongoing projects. My hubby went to get me more compost for the new bed:
As you can see, Milo likes it :)
Just one more truckload and this bed will be ready to plant! I have a small red maple that will be the center. A pass along from my inlaws...
We also got some more work done on the creek clean out project. My husband cut down some of the BIG branches and trees. But, we had to stop when his saws all blade broke. But, it gave me plenty of stuff to work on getting to the curb for pickup!
Its amazing what we are uncovering back there...it makes all the work fun!
I really spent most of the weekend in the backyard and mostly did routine work in the front. I finally got around to weedeating with my new blade attachment and it is the best thing since sliced bread! no more string nonsense! Here are some picts I took along the way of the backyard and its progress:
Sunflowers
blooming among the veggies:
Inside the world of a tomatillo husk:
The first signs of a ripening tomato:
Baby eggplant! YEAH!!!
Kale seedlings coming up:
My attempt at a squash vine borer remedy... I slit the vine and covered the wound with compost...I do not have high hopes for this:
The veggie beds as of today:
The backyard as of today:
Hope you all had a great gardening weekend!
