Happy New Year and Welcome 2009!
Awhile back I said I would only write if I had something to report, and as my yard has been buried in snow, there hasn’t been much going on in the garden lately except for feeding the birds. Today, the garden is finally thawed out enough to see, but it is much to soggy to venture out to examine it closer. I would be afraid of sinking in the grass or just about anywhere else I might step. The good news is that the remaining perennials that had been hanging on before the extreme cold and subsequent snow are now dormant and can be moved. So, as soon as it is dry enough I can…
- Cut back the remaining perennials
- Move the remaining perennials that needed to be moved
- Plant the fritillaria bulbs and peony tubers that I have yet to go in the ground
In the meanwhile, I’ll just continue feeding the birds, still mostly juncos, some morning doves and the occasional flock of finches or starlings.
More garden clean-up and perennial, tree and shrub rearranging. I spent 3 hours on Saturday and two on Sunday and accomplished a lot!
- All dahlias except for one have been dug up for winter storage
- Divided a Japanese iris clump into two and replanted
- Cut down almost all spent perennials. One more day in the garden and all should be cut.
Relocated the following:
- Weeping Alaska Cedar
- Wine and Roses Weigela
- Peony
- Small clumps of allium
- Delphinium
- Rudbeckia
- One ornamental grass
- Tall spiky flower whose name I can’t remember right now
- Pulsatilla
- Surub whose name I can’t remember
Planted:
- Purple and white allium bulbs (13)
- Narcissus bulbs (25)
In 2 hours on Sunday I tackled my right-side rear planting bed. I…
- dug up two large dahlias for winter storage
- relocated a large purple alpine pulsatilla
- relocated a grouping of Liatris and stored the rest for slope planting
- cut down another spent peony, native iris and delphinium
- weeded, weeded and weeded- even around the slope berry bushes
On the left side I just have two shrubs and one small tree to relocate and then I can plant bulbs and call that side of the yard done- just in time to tackle the left side.
In the front yard I…
- raked the leaves
- relocated 2 heuchera
Whew! Until next week…
Removed:
- 1 Large Mock Orange (very heavy!)
- Spent Cornflowers, Daylillies and Zinnia
- Random Weeds
- Raked some maple leaves from the front yard
Relocated:
- Lilac
- 3 Peonies
- Cedrus Deodora
Planted:
- Daphne
- Kalmia
- Penstemon- Purple
After almost non-stop rain for the past week, the ground was very saturated, but easy to work with. The temp was 60 and overcast, making for the perfect gardening day! Now I just have some residual knee pain from walking up and down the slope so many times in the course of the 3 hours I spent working in the yard. I’m hoping that the weather cooperates just as well next week because there is still a lot to do. Plants to move and dahlia’s to dig up for the winter.
Just some more autumn clean-up this weekend. I cut the peonies down along with liatris and pulled the few stray weeds. I emptied and stored the copper hanging pots with the spent annuals going in the compost and the potting soil into my soil recycle pile. I pretty much use the recycled soil when dividing and moving perennials in the garden. (I feel like I must sound a bit Martha Stewart). Then I winterized and covered up the fountain with a tarp and collected all the garden ornaments and stored those as well. Finally, I took cuttings of all my scented geraniums togrow over the winter in the house for planting out again next year. The herbs will be fine, but the geraniums will not and I’d hate to loose them as they aren’talways easily found.
Finally, I planted:
- Fritillaria Imperialis bulb (a gift from myparents from Amsterdam)
- California Poppies relocated from elsewhere in the garden
- Liatris relocated from elsewhere in the garden
- Ornamental Grass
