the left side of the rear bed with tall coreopsis (not enough sun), swamp milkweed (not enough moisture), indian plantain, prairie dock, aster, little bluestem, prairie smoke, rosin weed and rattlesnake master (only some of which bloomed). on the right side, purple coneflower, rudbeckia nitida, spiderwort, foxglove beardtongue, blue-eyed grass, sedge and mexican hat (all of which bloomed).
august 2002 |
perspective on how the beds, the lilac and the plow all fit together in the corner. we are planning a bunch more part sun tall plants for under the plow for next spring but haven't yet gotten our shopping list solidified.
august 2002 |
the plow bed with some newly planted items that can't be seen yet (heliopsis helathoides), and (just to the right edge of the photo) our new butterfly puddler which consists of a pot turned upside down and a shallow ceramic dish filled with sand, rocks and water.
august 2002 |
under the lilac, which gets late afternoon sun, the lady ferns and columbine are pretty happy. one of the columbines bloomed this month; they must be out of whack from being transplanted after their bloom time in may/june.
august 2002 |
a farther perspective on the plow bed. now you can see the butterfly puddler. also dill, which we planted hoping for swallowtails, and newly planted yarrow (not native but attractive to butterflies).
august 2002 |
switchgrass, liatris and some very unhappy butterfly weed. we need more plants here, we are thinking of joe-pye weed (the strain that can stand some shade) and culver's root. this is a moist spot, especially after it rains. the butterfly weed will move out in favor of the two swamp milkweeds from the rear bed.
august 2002 |
the liatris looks pretty happy but they are all hunched over. we bought them that way and got a good discount since they were quite misshapen. they will look great next season. we have both the cultivar 'kobold' and the native blazing star.
august 2002 |
these daylillies are pretty effectively preventing our japanese knotweed from emerging in this area. we consider this a good test to see if the plant is simply opportunistic; maybe if we plant some native invasives, it will outcompete the knotweed. we can dream. this is a good purpose for daylillies and lilyturf.
august 2002 |
the sunflowers were planted by the squirrels; we thought they were weeds until the huge blooms started to open. good thing we did not pull them. the monarda fistulosa overcame its powery mildew with a single spray application of milk mixed with water (9 parts water to 1 part milk) and one of the two purple coneflowers is ecstatically growing about two inches a day !! (no idea why). the rudbeckia nitida were some throwaway plants that I didn't have anywhere else to plant; they need more sun but are doing ok. the switchgrass could probably use more sun, too.
august 2002 |
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we kept telling ourselves we had done enough this summer by just getting the back yard going and building the walkway along the side of the house. we kept telling ourselves not to start digging around in the beds next to the house. then laura picked up two hydrangeas at the local nursery (annabelle, a cultivar of the native hydrangea arborescens), which she had to have because her grandmother in vermont always had them. of course the east-facing wall of the raised bed next to the house would be the perfect place for them! below is the result of an entire week of digging every night after work, pulling out the "wall behind the wall" flagstones from the bed and heavily amending the sandy soil therein. there was also a lovely and generous layer of landscape plastic that had to be pulled out. horrid! |
this is the raised bed next to the house where we will plant the hydrangeas once fall sets in. someone had covered the area with plastic and two inches of sand years ago; we had to add eight bags of mushroom compost. hopefully, this amount will be enough. |
hardy ageratum just planted (hiding behind tree). it is extremely invasive from what we hear but we needed something to take over this bed and cover it as fast as possible. it didn't seem right to put ground covers here. we have also heard that the flower is unbelievably beautiful. we figured we'll take our chances.
august 2002 |
porch bed just before planting ferns and hostas. the hostas aren't native but everyone has to have a few, don't they?
august 2002 |
after planting ferns and hostas. we also planted wild strawberry and violets which we have heard are invasive groundcovers. we are hoping that they live up to their reputation; we need the coverage.
august 2002 |
may apple, native violets and wild strawberries - a trio of invasives. hopefully they will take off an cover the soil by next year.
august 2002 |
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baby kane at breakfast. here's a cutie who loves the new family garden.
august 2002 |
my partner in crime.
august 2002 |
