Casualties

The first 2 big casualties of the year:

 

'What a Peach' rose: dry and brittle

 

This rose was supposed to be the anchor down on the corner of the back flowerbed.

It put out 1 bright green shoot earlier in the spring that caught my leg every time I walked by.

So I snipped it off.

As it turns out, that was the only live part of the bush. Oops.

It's outta there!

Disappointing show, though, I must say. I just put it in last fall!

I won't be trying that variety again.

Now I have to figure out what to put in its place.

I'm still leaning toward a rose bush, because my mind likes the symmetry of one on each end.

The one I got for the other end is extra vigorous and taking over more than its allotted space.

This one has a few neighbors close by, so I need something a bit more restrained, but ALIVE, if you please. I'm even considering possibly a clematis or climbing rose...

Lavender bush: seen better days

 

This big old lavender bush is also getting the boot.

It has not sent out any new shoots this year.

 

I guess maybe that will force me to clean up this area between the steps and the house, since there won't be a bushy wall shielding the view.

 

I probably won't put anything else here, for now.

These steps need to be replaced and the chance of a new shrub taking a beating in that scenario is pretty high. Best limit my casualties as much as I can from the beginning.

Going Bushy

From eight years old on, I grew up in Alaska.

We first moved to Akiachak, a tiny Yupik Eskimo village along the Kuskokwim River.

The heart of the Alaskan Bush District.

 

Like many places, I suppose, Alaska has its share of local terms.

For example: "Outside," meaning "anywhere out of state," as in "We're going Outside for vacation this year." Yes.

  Or "dividend check" meaning "Free money! WAHOO!"

 

Living in the 'Chak, as we called it, we became familiar with another unique Alaskan term:

"Going Bushy."

This did not refer to an abundance of facial hair, though it was the one and only time I ever remember my dad growing a beard.

Rather, it was used to describe a person who had gone completely crazy. It was understood as a given that living out in the Bush had in some way led to their unhinged mental state. 

 

This lavender has definitely gone Bushy.

 

In the 2 years we lived there, there were 2 such instances of the dreaded disease.

The principal of a neighboring village went Bushy, and proceeded to lock himself in the mailroom. He refused to come out, or let anyone in to get their mail. Finally (several days later!) he had to be forcibly removed by the State Troopers.

 

Then, just days after we had moved a young man from our village went Bushy. He hid in the fireweed right next to where we had lived and started taking shots at the people going by on the boardwalk.

State Troopers were once again called in to handle it. 

[Does this make anyone want to be an Alaska State Trooper someday?]

 

What I'm saying is: Going Bushy was not pretty.

It was not a desirable state.

It usually took several people to contain the situation.

 

Shasta daisies, though in a bush-like state, are too pretty to be Bushy.

 

So when I say that something in my garden has gone Bushy, I don't mean, "there's a few extra shoots here and there, tra la la, isn't everything grand?"

What I mean is, this plant has a crazed gleam in its eye and has started taking down the neighbors.

It's about time to call in some reinforcements.

Just so you know.

 

Exhibit A: the oregano crossed over into Bushy weeks ago.

The rosemary hasn't been seen since.

Pink & White Delight: Garden Appreciation Society

For some reason, I have to name my bouquets. :)

 

I snipped all of these flowers from my front flowerbed.

That's a first so far!

 

Shasta daisies, purple coneflowers, a few allium, phlox, rose salvia seedpods, and a few sprigs of lavender to fill it out.

 

Since this is all still blooming, there's a chance my bouquet next week will look exactly the same!

I'll guess I'll have to get creative to mix it up a little.



Irises, Roses, Tulips

Week 2 of Garden Appreciation Society, hosted by Erin at The Impatient Gardener :

 

Basically, it's an effort to actually cut some of those beautiful blooms and bring them into a new space to enjoy.

 

My irises are in full swing right now, so that was an obvious choice.

Plus, I thought they would look good with the leftover Mother's Day roses.

The pink tulips and lavender were to round it out.

 

Obviously, I'm an amateur!

This turned out nothing like I had envisioned it.

Also, I came to the realization that there's not a good place in my kitchen for photographing flower arrangements. At least I managed to crop the trash can out of this photo! :)

 

All that being said, I was excited to give it a try again this week.

And if I'm standing right next to the flowers, I can smell the irises and lavender.

It makes me smile.

So, mission accomplished!

 

Maybe as I practice each week I'll figure out a few things about flower arranging.

Either way, it should be fun.

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!

Transplanting candidates

These lovely roses bloomed while we were gone.

I couldn't remember from last summer what color they were.

The deep maroon/fuschia will be perfect in front of the wall, when we get that flowerbed prepared. Since last summer, these have been trampled on repeatedly and even run over by the tractor.

Perhaps that is their preferred treatment! I only remember getting a handful of blooms last year, and just look at them going now!

I'm hoping to transplant them this fall into their new location.

The lavender bush that ate Manhatten.

This thing is way huge and not very pretty in this location anymore.

At the very least I need to take about 2/3 of it out and transplant elsewhere.

I'm thinking slope, of course, as that is my fallback whenever transplanting comes up these days.

Plus, lavender does well in dry conditions, and full sun.

Perfect for the upper slope. And again, perhaps it will compete with all that grass!

This specimen just keeps getting taller and bushier.

It has an herb-like smell to it, but I'm not sure what it is.

No flowers to speak of, just these finely serrated leaves.

This one might actually be a good choice for the flowerbed alongside the shed, if we even get one put in there. Although I am thinking about making that area the children's garden.

So it will probably also end up on the slope. Higher up, where it can get as tall as it likes. 

I loved these tiny daisies last year, but never got them transplanted up to the slope as planned.

Won't they look sweet close to their larger cousins?

I'm pretty sure they are actually a weed, but that's okay. I'll move them up anyway.

Heck, they'll fit right in with all the weedy goodness going on up there.

See what I mean?

Tour of Front & Side Yards

While we have made some progress, we obviously still have a long way to go to make the front and sides of our house look good.  I hope our neighbors will continue to be patient!

First up: West Side Yard

So this view hasn't changed much since last fall, except the huge debris pile has been taken to the dump(all the cut-down trees, pulled out juniper/cottoneaster bushes, and wood pallets).

We really want to finish the siding, for one thing.

Also, I think we'll probably plant grass and have a long flowerbed close to the house, hopefully with some tall-growing shrubs/small trees to break that big blue expanse a little.

We still plan to level off the dirt pile with the neighbor's yard down below, then perhaps put in either retaining wall (or something) up higher where ours slopes up to meet the gate.

We've even considered putting 1-2 extra windows in the master bedroom and playroom to make it look better on this side of the house, but that would be awhile down the road.

These raspberry canes will all be moved to the backyard when we transplant the others.

I would occasionally remember to give them a little spray of water through the fence, but not very often. And the berries got pretty dusty right here. Plus, they just don't look very good right here all by themselves. And they would get in the way of the new bed/shrubs.

Front yard

 I realized I had never taken a picture of our new retaining wall, built last fall.

So here it is, from across the street.

This is where we've seen the most progress.

Also, between these two walls is the flower bed mentioned in my chore list, that needs to be filled-in with dirt, then planted. I want to put a couple of peonies in, some purple coneflowers, perhaps some daisies, and I haven't decided what else. Maybe the lavender from over by the front steps.

I also want to plant some that will trail over the sides of the bottom wall.

We are planning to put in a sidewalk in front of the walls, and widen the driveway.

Which means I'll need to move the bulbs I planted around the mailbox, unless we leave a little planter box square around it, or something.

The ground that is left after sidewalk/driveway go in will also be for shrubs/flowers.

I'm thinking of doing something very shallowly-rooted, like irises from my back flowerbed, since all the power/utility lines run underground right there.

I probably need to wait until the hardscaping is done, though, so my plants don't get trampled in the process.

 These rose bushes really need pruning back.

Maybe I'll get to them before baby?

Then I want to move them, as well. We will probably be changing this entryway at some point--tearing out the stairs and putting in rock steps up to a wider porch...or something. In any case, the rose bushes would have to be moved at that point, anyway. I've thought about putting them in front of our retaining walls, where they start to curve back toward the house.

Only problem is--the water meter is right there in the middle of everything.

These next pictures are from the flowerbed under the eaves in front.

I think all three of these scraggly little shrubs need to be torn out.

Looking back up top at the view from across the street, it looks really strange and unbalanced to have the big bushy evergreen next to the steps, then these three small shrubs, which barely come up to the window.

 I think for anything to really live and do well right here, the bed will need to be extended out by another 1-2 feet, so whatever I plant will not be hidden under the eaves.

Right now I'm thinking either evergreen shrub needs to come out, or I need to put one bigger shrub in on the other side of the window (or small tree, perhaps) that will balance it out. It would need to be roughly the same size and visual heft, which could be hard to do.

If we pulled out the evergreen shrub, or transplanted it elsewhere (maybe a good candidate for the west-side yard?I would still probably put one larger something to the left of the windows.

At the moment I'm thinking of maybe a Japanese maple, or smaller tree like that.

East yard

I didn't take a picture of the main part of this side. It's a bit depressing.

Our current thoughts are one retaining wall running back to the fence.

Grassy slope from house down to wall, with 2-3 half-circle planting beds filled with shrubs/small perennials. Grass or gravel for the flat part as alternative parking pad.

Until all or any of that gets going, here's what's growing right up next to the house:

About the same assortment as last year: irises, tulips, with some wild daisies thrown in.

These will all be transplanted--probably to one of the new planter beds, once those get put in.

With our garden beds done, we're hoping to make some good progress on the rest this year.

Some decent curb appeal would be nice, as would a finished look.

The Flower Tour

 Starting right off by the front steps: suprise! dianthus

 Lavender growing big and bushy

 A few roses, plus wild clover [plus weeds]

 A huge patch of clover, down in front by the driveway and brush pile.

 Back flowerbed.

I just can't get over how bright and sunny these little bloomers are.

I will definitely start some again next year.

Back slope update:  

 I've started watering the apple tree since we got home from vacation, and these little violas have perked up and started blooming again, although you can see from all the brown foliage they were about done for.

 I think this was another type of dianthus that I purchased at the WSU horticultural sale.

I planted these on the slope, in front of the salvias.

 One cosmo plant hanging on.

 These poor hydrangeas did not get watered while we were gone.

But they may revive yet--see the new growth at the tips?

I still need to remove dead leaves from this one, as you can see.

 The other hydrangea. Stems look healthy, if it can put out enough new leaves it may survive.

Speaking of survival....

This oakleaf hydrangea isn't going to make it after all.

None of the new leaves ever opened up fully.

I'm leaving it in right now as a weed deterrent until end of next month, when I will replace it with something else. Darn! I was hoping this would do well here.