Maybe?

Am I at a point where I can blog on a regular basis? I'm not really sure, but I couldn't resist sharing this picture I took in the backyard yesterday...

Pruning Azaleas

Another busy weekend!  

On Saturday, as soon as I got home from gymnastics with my daughter, I handed her off to my husband and got out in the front yard.  A few things were really irritating me:

1. The re-blooming azaleas were getting really straggly.

2. The bag worms were still on the evergreen shrub.

3. There were quite a few volunteer trees poking up through the mugo pine.

I started by pruning the azaleas.  I did this by holding the long branch and then looking down into the bush to see where the last branching place was, and cutting there.  This takes a little more time than using a pruning chainsaw, but the effect is more natural.  Overall, there are less cuts as well, so it makes for a healthier shrub.

Before

After

One day I will learn to take "Before" and "After" pictures from the same perspective, I promise.

I'm really pleased with the results.  I still can't believe these azaleas are still blooming.  Between the wonderful weather, the blooms, and the bees, it felt like spring.

Garden Parts: The Mailbox



This is another bed that needs some work.  It is out in front of the house and is one of the first things anyone who pulls into the driveway sees.  Although it looks good right now, it is mostly azalea and will be pretty boring once they're done blooming. 



The top photo is this week, the bottom is from a couple of weeks ago...the flowers make a big difference.

There are two other shrubs in this bed - one unidentified deciduous and one shrub rose (possibly a knockout).  As far as perennials go, there is a clump of bearded iris, a couple of salvias, and a possible astilbe.  Earlier in the spring, a couple of clumps of daffodils came up along with a scattering of grape hyacinth.

   

The current plan

I really need to find a better way to draw garden plans...this is totally not to scale.  The grey part is a concrete slab that extends behind the mailbox -- I'm not sure what that's for or whether we can get rid of it.  The green plants are labelled, everything else is an azalea.

What I'd like to do:

• Incorporate some evergreen shrubs into this bed.  Even with the "evergreen" azaleas, over the winter this bed looks like a bunch of dead bushes.  If we can remove part of the concrete slab, I'd like to move the two boxwoods from the island bed to either side of the mailbox.  Then, I'd put three tallish nandinas (Gulf Stream?  maybe even taller) behind the mailbox in a loose triangle formation.
• Incorporate some perennials that will flower in the summer and fall.  The salvias are a good start, but not enough.  Between the azaleas and the mailbox, I'd put some taller things: more bearded iris, monarda, perovskia, shasta daisies, and possibly some lillies.
• Round out the bed a little.  I'd like to make it a little bigger and less boxy.  At the same time, I'd like to fill in the outside of the azaleas so there's a transition between the shrubs and the lawn.  I'd prefer to use shorter evergreen-ish perennials to do this, things like arabis, aremeria, dianthis, iberis, lavender, phlox (xreeping), rosemary, sedum (creeping varieties), sempervivum, and thyme.
• Plant a couple of clematis vines (or something else) that can be trained over the mailbox.

This is one of the only spots in the garden with a lot of sun, so it is really the only area for me to enjoy my favorite sun perennials.  My biggest concern is whether I be able to keep up with weeding, deadheading, and dividing.  In my old yard, my perennial beds got quite shabby at times, but it didn't matter since they were hidden in the back.  In this yard, it will be out for everyone to see.

I have lots of time to think about it.  Unlike the island bed, I do not plan on doing much more in the mailbox bed this year than weeding, replacing the mulch, and planting some annuals.
Do you have a mailbox bed?  What works and what doesn't work for you?

Look what I found: Rhododendron ???

Sometimes I think I'm the most contrary person on earth.

When we first moved into the old house, I planted three azaleas in an empty bed out front.  The poor little bushes limped along but they just didn't do well.  After a couple of years, I admitted defeat and pulled them out.

In our small, sunny backyard, I wanted to make a "woodland corner".  In the shadiest corner of the yard, under a wild cherry tree, I had planned it all out: a dogwood tree, a rhododendron, a mountain laurel and three azaleas.

I dreamed of those azaleas.  I looked at different varieties, their bloom color, their bloom time, their habit, whether they were deciduous or evergreen.  I. wanted. those. azaleas.

The new house has a lot of azaleas.  Dozens.  I haven't been able to count the total number of bushes yet, so I tried to count the varieties, and then I just settled for counting the colors (there are eight distinct colors of azaleas in the new yard).

I should be thrilled, and I am...mostly.  It is very nice to have such a burst of spring color.

But now that I have more azaleas than I can count, here are the things I'm not so thrilled about:

• Some of the varieties are a little gaudy.
• Most of the azaleas we have are evergreen, but they look pretty shabby over the winter.
• Once they're done blooming, they're just going to sit there.  They don't have great shape, great foliage, or great summer/fall interest.
• There is at least one azalea in every single cultivated bed in the front and back yard.

So - do I adjust my attitude or adjust my garden?

For now, I'm going to adjust my attitude.

This one is my favorite. - possibly R. 'Madame Butterfly'
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