soaphouse's Blog

Wonderful week in the garden...
May 23, 2010 | 11:37 AM PST
Tags: eleagnus , loropetalum , swiss chard , basil , elephant ear , liriope , hydrangea , garden art , datura , grecian pattern plant , petasites , may apple , columbine

I have had a wonderful week in the garden. I am so completely addicted – of course, I already knew that! I can’t stop going to nurseries – most of the time I don’t even by anything – I just like to look and see all the beautiful things. I did end up buying a few treats this week…

Eleagnus ("Glenn St. Mary") – 3 of them – for the back corners. I put one in each corner and then the third made its way onto creek’s edge where I just need something to fill the space. Then, not too long after I bought and planted them, my wonderful Mother In Law called to tell me that she had 3 from her yard potted up for me! But, no problemo – I will put the extra 3 at the creek. I think they will provide great weed suppression with how large they can get.

 

I also purchased another small "Purple Diamond" loropetalum that found its way to the mixed sun border. It will grow up nice and hide more of the chain link fence, I hope.

Then – On a completely different trip, I was seduced by a “southern comfort” heuchara. The nursery that I purchased it from had one growing In a pot as a display that had leaves up to 5 inches across. Needless to say, I have high hopes for mine!

 

That same trip also afforded me a little purple hyacinth bean vine and a moonflower vine. I used to have these and they would reseed freely, but over the years they have gotten fewer and fewer and after this harsh winter – well, I didn’t see any come out this spring.

I stuck them by the front porch column and will collect seeds this year to put out next spring.

I have had the luxury of the past couple of day to do nothing but garden! My parents took the kids to the beach and hubby and I took vacation time at work – we will join them at the beach mid-week, but until then – we are enjoying having the house to ourselves to work on our projects.

I have made good use of the time and really enjoyed just puttering in the garden. I have done a couple of “garden art” projects with things I had laying around.

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Hubby decided to move a bunch of wood he had by his wood shop and I decided he should move it into my garden!

See it there - behind the hostas - 

This one is my favorite:

I am loving the hydrangea bed right now:

I am so excited that one of my clearance caladium bulbs is peeking out:

I also did some weeding in the vegetable gardens – and pulled some spent items. The brussel sprouts couldn’t take the heat and humidity and got the yuck – so they had to come out.- too bad, their foliage was pretty with its slight blue tint.

 

Also pulled out the parsley that was starting to go to seed. This swiss chard needs to come out, but it is still just to pretty – so I am leaving it for now.

With the new space, I put out the fennel seeds that I didn’t have room for before. I am pleased to see that the “black prince” tomatoes are already fruiting. AND- the basils have germinated! I decided that the nursery charges way too much for basil plants – and I want a lot! SO, I decided to grow from seed this year, which I have never done – and I am very happy that its working!

I decided that this strawberry pot full of volunteer daturas would look better in a more visible place – so it is now in front of the knock outs in the front yard. I like the spot of blue.- and once the daturas get big and do their things, it will be like they are floating above the mint.

 

In terms of progress and updates of my new plants from the mail: all looks pretty good. However, the rice paper plant is showing no signs of life, the may apple keeps sending up new shoots, then they die back and then another one comes up – not sure what that means, the columbines are growing, still no signs of life from my petasites – which makes me very sad But, some good news – the Grecian pattern plant on the creek is coming back!!! I thought it was dead.

I also spent some time moving clumps of things around – dotting things here and there; creeping jenny, white false asters, lams ears, liriope, var. ivy, elija blue fescue....most notable is a clump of elephants ear by the creek – we had such a harsh winter with lots of rain, that only 1 out of the 3 that I put back there last spring made it.

Whew – perhaps I should blog more than once a week – didn’t realize how much I had to say! Perhaps my weed eater is done charging now – BACK TO IT!

 

-soapHOUSE

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Goodies in the mail!
May 10, 2010 | 4:38 PM PST
Tags: petasites , white hosta , butterfly bush , may apple , seakale , chardonnay pearls
Well, I just hit the plant lottery over the weekend! My order from the dutch bulb company came in ( They were running a special for $25 off a $50 order, plus I had a $25 credit – so I only had to pay for shipping!), Garden98011 sent me the most AMAZING shipment of divisions from her garden in the Pacific NW!!!! – and a plant I ordered from Ebay arrived – AND – my in-laws came to visit this weekend and brought plants too! Needless to say, I was busy in the garden getting everything planted. What a great way to spend Mother’s Day! Here is a list of what I got and where I put it:

 

From VanBourgendien:

• Buddleia “Butterfly Bush” Bi-Color – supposed to only get 2-3 feet tall, so it went in the sun bed, in front of some sedums in the back yard.
• Hosta “White Feather” – Went in the hosta bed in front of the azaleas. Supposed to look like this one day:
  
• Hardy Geranium “Johnson’s Blue” – went to the left of the irises in the same bed as the sedums
• Wild Columbine Mix – Went in the shade bed nook with the ostrich fern and Japanese forest grass.

-       I also ordered a Poppy, “patty’s plum” – it will ship in the fall.

From Garden98011:

• Crambe Cordifolia “Giant Seakale” – went in the back by the arbor
• Podophyllum Peltatum “May Apple” – went along the bottle path in a shady area
• Acorus – put under a crepe myrtle where we have a bit of a drainage problem and can’t get anything else to grow.
• Impatien Someiana “Hardy Impatien” – went in the Hydrangea shade bed.
• Persecaria – this always does well in my garden and I set these under another crepe myrtle in a bare spot.
• Arum – a couple feet to the left of the new may apple
• Tetrapanex Papyrifera “Rice Paper Plant” – set out by the creek.
• Euphorbia - went on the other side of crepe myrtle next to miscanthus. 
• Stone Crop Sedum - by the lambs ears in corner of sun bed.
  

 Now, she is in the pacific NW, which is the DREAM gardening climate. We are zoned the same as them, but I have learned that things that thrive there, don't always thrive here. It will be interesting to see how they do. They are off to a great start as she packaged them beautifully and they were in the most wonderfully rich soil!

From my In-laws:

• Kalimeris “blue star” false aster – set out on the other side of arbor as you enter the veggie garden

 

• Deutzia “chardonnay pearls” – went in sunny spot next to purple cone flower
• .

 

 

From Ebay:

• Petasites japonicus giganteus “sweet coltsfoot” – a piddly little thing that cost me just a few bucks and came in an envelope, so I set it with the hydrangeas where I can really baby it. Then, I hope to set it out by the creek if it starts to do its thing. The research I did on this said it is a great alternative for those who are in too much humidity for the great gunnera. It is supposed to be “invasive,” when it is happy – so I will plant it on the opposite creek bank and see what happens. This is what it is said to look like when happy:

 

I can’t tell you how much fun I had opening all my packages and googling the names to look up pictures and growing requirements. It just made my weekend!

 

Freebies and Fun Finds
Apr 25, 2010 | 7:04 PM PST
Tags: japanese forest grass , fern , green giant , trillium , hellebore , may apple , red dragon

Its been an exciting week in the garden! It began with some freebies from my mother’s garden. I brought home a clump of Hakonechola “Japanese forest grass.” I have always wanted some of this, but cost has prevented it. Mom had 3 clumps that she was transplanting and was generous enough to share one with me!

 

I also came away with a couple of small pieces of salojonil (sp?). This is a beautiful ferny moss that has a bluish tint to it.

 

And, last – but not least is a nice hunk of hellebore!

 

All of the above were nestled in a woodland nook of my shade garden. I will baby them this year in hopes to give them a good start for many years to come.

 

I stayed busy in the garden each day doing bits of weeding, mowing, trimming and strolling – then the spring fever got the better of me and I headed to the nursery. I wanted one of everything, but managed to settle on a small “Red Dragon” Japanese maple. Hubby and I had talked about putting one of these on the high creek bank to weep over the edge. I know its tiny now – but we are young and plan to stay in this house forever. So, I am hopeful that we will see it in all its glory one day!

 

The green giant arborvitaes are filling in and have loads of new growth on them. The should provide a nice screen one day on this side of the creek.

 

Further to the left of this on the same bank of the creek, but in the shade – some wonderful native ferns are sprouting up all over. I got back there, after this picture was taken to remove some of the weeds around these ferns. I hope to encourage their growth and spread.

 

On the opposite bank, the mahonias that I discovered during the creek clean-out 2 years ago and transplanted, look very happy!

The following day, mom and I headed to a native plant sale and I brought home two plants that have been on my list for some time now. First, a trillium (“sweet betsy”):

 

Second, a may apple:

 

These also went in the woodland portion of the shade garden, along side the path headed to the arbor.

We had a wonderful rain the day that I planted the above. I was able to get them in the ground between showers. As you can see from this pict, all of the beds got a nice drink:

 

Of course, one plant stop was not enough for us, so we headed to the nursery, where I bought a VARIEGATED ANGELS TRUMPET, “Snowbank,” Brugmansia x cubensis. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it! Tag says that the blooms will be peach. This found a home in the nook between the stairs on the deck.

 

I also grabbed 3 “blackie” sweet potato vines to stick around the back of this sun bed to hopefully spread and act as a living mulch.

 

Another cool thing that happened this week involves my much anticipated tree peonie. Its bloom finally opened up and as I suspected – it is pink!

 

So, since I ordered purple, paid a small fortune and waited 2 years to see a bloom – I called the company that I ordered it from. They were wonderful! – said they must have sent the wrong one 2 years ago and that they would gladly send me the correct one, free of charge! Two for the price of one….gotta love it! In 2 more years, perhaps I will see a purple bloom :)

 Today, I took a few clumps of some of my favorite "steppables" that I have in the front porch bed and moved them to the other side of the walk. These should fill in nicely and provide a feeling that the path is "cutting through" a garden bed.

See that patch of "grass" above - my grass guy promises me that it will fill in over the season with bermuda....heres hoping!

 

The alliums are in all their glory:

 I see peaches in my future - or the bird's!

My sweet girl had fun taking pictures with mommy:

 Sorry about the long picture post - but, I had a lot to report!

Have a great gardening week :)