First Snowfall

Thursday, November 5

I guess it's official: winter is here!

Back Flowerbed Renovations

Our long fall has helped me get some gardening chores done that ordinarily would have been put off until spring. Case in point: the renovation of this back flowerbed.

 

Clear back in August, I bemoaned the lack of attention this bed had gotten.

It was in dire need of help.

So, I first tackled the obvious stuff:

cut back or cleared out the dead plants

and

weeded it all thoroughly--twice

 

Then I turned my attention to the aesthetics of the bed.

 

It was seriously lacking in fall color, so I purchased these 2 mums to fill in on either side of the mockorange. In order for the mums to fit, I had to move some other plants:

namely, the 'Bubbles' dwarf iris and the hardy geraniums on the left and geum 'Prairie Smoke' on the right. Oh yes, there was another plant on the right, at the base of the mockorange, but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called right now. Anyway, that one got moved as well.

'Bubbles' was transplanted amongst the irises out front.

The hardy geranium was likewise moved to the front beds.

 

The 'Prairie Smoke' geum got transplanted down further, next to the A/C unit: the feathery green in front here. I dug up the iris that had landed in front of the rose somehow, and after dividing, had enough rhizomes to put some on each side of this bed and the new flowerbed by the shed, as well.

 

The yellow rose got cut way back. With half of its stems completely dead, I didn't really have a choice. I'm not sure it's going to survive. Only time will tell on that one. 

 

So this is on the other end of the bed, now.

This little spot was getting very overcrowded.

The flowering almond had put on some growth this year, and the rest were doing very well also. So I chopped the geum in half, and moved it further down from the poppy and flowering almond. I also divided the daylily. I wanted more symmetry in this bed, anyway, so I was able to put the other half of the daylily down at the other end of the bed, which put my mind at ease.

The poppy did so well this year that I didn't want to touch it.

From what I've read they can be quite finicky about being moved.

As mentioned, I added a couple of irises along the back wall as well, for height and a pop of purple in the spring. 

 

This corner needed some serious weeding, which I did.

 

I also moved the penstemon with more purple flowers--on the right-- (shown here in June of this year) up to the front flowerbed, leaving the one that was more peachy pink.

 

What else did I do?

Oh yeah.

I spread out the 'Autumn Joy' sedums that were the only thing giving color to this bed this late in the season. There was a big clump right behind the flowering almond. As I mentioned, that shrub has started to fill in, so it was time for those sedums to move.

I planted several in the bare space behind the mockorange.

They'll have to compete with the tulips in the spring, but about July on, they'll have it all to themselves back there.

 

Several bulbs were excavated in the process of all this shuffling around, so I ended up dividing several daffodils and a few tulips and replanting them, as well.

 

I'm happy with how it turned out.

I think I'll be even more happy next year.

 

There's always something to work on in gardening.

I think that's one thing that keeps me coming back to it: playing with the arrangement, the colors and forms, then standing back and watching what happens. Then tinkering with it some more.