Free Plants!

This email just showed up in my inbox, from a friend of a friend:

    "We bought a mobile home, and the previous owner loved gardening. We, however, do not. I kill everything. I try a little each year, but fail every time. So the gardens are going to be tilled and have grass planted. I hate to see all the flower bulbs wasted though, so COME DIG THEM UP! They are free! There are daffodils, Tulips, purple puffball ones, (that's what's in bloom now) and lots more that will be blooming over the summer. She had it so there were different flowers throughout the season every year. I don't know what they all are, so it will be like a treasure hunt. Especially since they aren't all in bloom..."

Be still my heart! 

I am already thinking about containers to put things in, and which shovel to bring. Would it be entirely too greedy to drive the truck over?

 

She said (later on in the email) "come anytime, even if we're not home." 

Maybe she did not realize that a flower addict would be on the receiving end of this particular email.

Um...how early do you suppose would be too early to show up in the morning?

Front Landscaping Renovations: Overview

We have really been working hard on our front flowerbeds the past few weeks.

 

Thanks so much to VaLynn from VW Garden! She's another East-side gardener like me, and offered to share some plants with me.

Well, I was like a kid in a candy shop!

It was such fun to talk plants and gardens with another like-minded person for most of an afternoon! And I could hardly believe the bounty she loaded me up with!

It was the most fun I've had in ages. :)

 

I can't believe I didn't get one single picture with her, or of the plants.

[sigh] And I call myself a garden blogger!

Next time. For sure.

 

My husband, meanwhile, got the low wall closest to the road finished, as well as filling it and the new top bed with dirt and rototilling everything.

I also bought several shrubs to fill in the space with, as well.

Cue the planting marathon!

 

Top Bed, Before:

 

 

Top Bed, After:

I'll do a separate post detailing the shrubs and what plants went where.

 

Lower Terrace, Driveway Side

Before:

 

 

Lower Terrace, After:

 



Again, the details of what I planted will be the next post!

 

Front Landscaping

Terraces Filled in!

 

Left-side corner

The plank terraces, trees, and corn you see in the background all belong to our awesome next-door neighbors.

Middle

Right-side

Thoughts and Plans:

 

My idea here overall was to have most of the color and blooming perennials in the middle terrace, with the top and bottom being more evergreen, non-competing, background-type plants.

 

The top is all shrubs: taller-growing varieties that will help bridge the gap between the flat ground and our very tall house, and also give us some privacy in the basement.

(The window in these pictures is our basement window. I should include a shot of the whole house sometime, so you can see what I mean by the height difference. It's significant.)

I may add a few crocuses to this bed, or I may just leave it as is.

 

The bottom is a mix of shrubs and perennials. I chose varieties that should get almost to the top of the wall behind them, but not cover it completely. I used a lot of repetition in this terrace, to avoid competing with the busyness up above, so I've got a couple of sections of shrubs, with similar plantings between them.

 

We keep waffling between putting in a sidewalk in the very front vs. planting grass.

My husband made sure the wall left room for either.

Now I just have to keep everything alive through this heat wave!

Nearly everything I planted should do fine without much water, once established.

Here's hoping our water bill isn't sky-high! 



Kind Neighbor

Our next door neighbor is selling their house. She knows all about plants and planting. Guess what she's giving me?!

Already, several sedum starts (hooray), and some lavender starts. Also, bachelor button starts, with pretty purple blooms and those fancy-looking buds. And a purple coneflower from one of her planters (I think it will go in the front flowerbed, next to the one on the far right that's all alone currently), and a fern if I want it. And some mint and marjoram. Oh yeah, and a hellebore. Possibly some campanula (bellflower) and wild geranium (?) I think.  I am loving it! She is so gracious about it, too. She compliments my flowerbed, and says I can just come dig up what I want of these things she has shown me.

And she knows the names of lots of the weeds/plants I've been trying to identify lately.

Awesome!