Garden Parts: Along the Fence

Here are four of the five types of buddleia my Aunt gave us.  They've all been planted along the fence and mulched.  I'm considering adding some perennials as well, if I can find them at the right price, but I'm not sure about planting perennials in the late summer/fall.  I know it's recommended for shrubs, so maybe I'll give it a try.

The arbor at the end of this bed needs to be replaced.

It fell over during the hurricane and no matter what we do to try and stand it back up, it always ends up on the ground again.  It looks like termites have been munching on it for a while.  The bottom rung and stakes look like they're still sturdy, but they're essentially hollowed out.  The hard part will be moving the climbing hydrangea from the old arbor to a new one...I'll have to think about how to accomplish that.

Actual Gardening!

I did some actual gardening yesterday.  I really wanted to stay in bed, but my husband dragged me out so we could plant the butterfly bushes my Aunt gave to us.  I ended up really enjoying myself.  It was good to be outside, in the sun, and to become familiar with the garden again.

I wish I had some photos of the new bed.  I found the camera, but I'm still working on the cord...plus my memory card is full.  I'm a mess.

Another awful MS Paint garden plan...

In the "plan" above, the four large multi-colored circles are the newly planted butterfly bushes.  We had a fifth white bush, but we ended up using it in a different bed.  The three small olive green circles are clumps of Siberian iris we received from my parents as pass-along-plants (possibly Caesar's Brother).  We had stuck them along the fence back in May without delineating the bed, so they were hidden in ridiculously tall grass.  The dark green blob at the bottom and oval at the top are probably skimmia.  I'm still investigating, but they're a low growing evergreen shrub with red berries that does not appear to be a holly.  And finally, the small green circle at the top is a mountain laurel.


I actually have an old picture of the mountain laurel!

We used "mulch" from where our trees were removed and the stumps were ground out to cover the bed.  This isn't usually recommended since fresh wood chips can rob the soil of nitrogen when they decompose.  We let the wood chips age for over two months, so it shouldn't be too bad.  I'm also planning to apply a combination nitrogen/phosphate fertilizer when I plant bulbs in this bed later in the fall.

Did you do any gardening this weekend?

Garden Parts: Along the Fence

I'm still going through my old photos.  I'm not exactly sure where my camera is right now and I haven't had a chance to take any new photos.  This one shows the arbor leading into the woodland path, circa May.  The plant growing on it is a climbing hydrangea.  To the front/right of the arbor are about five sections of split rail fence between our yard and our neighbor's backyard.

Back in June, we had two trees removed from this general area and our neighbor had a couple of trees removed.  The end result is, this part of the yard is sunnier than any other part.  For a little while, I thought about maybe putting in raised vegetable beds.  My experiments with pots and planters on the deck have not been especially successful.  However, I've decided to put in a deep border along the fence as a butterfly garden.

Most of my plants/shrubs bloom in the spring, so the focus of this bed would be summer and fall interest.  Also, my wonderful Aunt got me five(!) butterfly bushes as a thank you for letting her stay with us for a couple of weeks.  Completely unnecessary, but it helped me figure out what I want to do with this bed.  Butterflies and summer interest, but also a sort of tribute to my Mom. 

My very English mother grew up in Plymouth just after World War II.  Her gardening style has always had a touch of southern England to it and her gardens have always had buddleia in them.  I remember reading about butterfly bushes as a symbol of rebirth after the war, when they were seen growing out of bombed houses.  When I visited England back around 2000, I was surprised at the number of buddleia I saw growing in public settings...it's just not a shrub you see much in the United States.  So - the five butterfly bushes my Aunt has given me will be the backbone to the garden.

In between will be some of my Mom's favorite plants.  Herbs, because she had a huge herb garden and volunteered as a docent for the herb garden at the National Arboretum.  Annuals that self-seed in her garden every year, like cleome, balsam, and four o'clocks.  Daffodils, because they were her favorite flower and bloomed in front of the courthouse on her wedding day.  And primroses, because I used to get her one every year on her birthday.  I'm sure other plants will fill in as well, as the years go by.

This weekend, I'll be busy cleaning up, finding my camera, and planting bushes.  I hope to have some new photos next week.