My Project 2025

I managed to (mostly) achieve all three of my resolutions for this past year. Zinnias perked up the front yard, the milkweed forest is on its way to being re-established, and two of the container plants are in the ground. I tacked on another goal - have a whole house generator installed - and even that got done. Not bad.

One problem with growing natives in the yard is most of them spread, rampantly. Fortunately, my kids are interested in digging up starts for their yards. (Just spreading the disease.) Another problem with my natives is that some of them are not getting enough light, so they flop. Hence, there will be some movement within my yard.

And then there is the urge to grow some food.

Thus, I have a more lengthy list of goals for 2025. A few of these involve little or no work on my part, thankfully, but I will be a bit surprised if the bulk of them are instituted.

1. Plant (short?) coneflower in front bed
2. Plant (short?) rudbeckia in bed around serviceberry
3. Move 2.5 aromatic asters (move a small offshoot to area by south gate, next to arborvitae; give the other two away to kids)
4. Let remaining aromatic aster fill in its bed
5. Transplant pentstemon and nodding onion from front of house to backyard
6. Plant colorful heuchera where the above plants have been removed
7. Hopefully the Hopi amaranth will reseed itself - don't accidently pull it out
8. Add a butterfly bush (or two or three) to backyard
9. Add swamp milkweed to rain garden
10. Move penstemon in "meadow" so it is not blocking the view
11. Move Goldstrum rudbeckia in "meadow" so it can be seen
12. Transplant clematis from container to ground
13. Plant strawberries, garlic, and green beans

A couple of hardscape possibilities are a burn pit (not so much for fires, but for pit firing pottery) and a raised bed for the strawberries and garlic. Yes, I know I used to have a lot of raised beds, all of which have been dismantled. I'm thinking of something more upscale this time, and just ONE bed. Honestly!

The seed catalogs are arriving in earnest, so there is a lot of garden candy to drool over.

Goals for 2024

It's a little embarrassing to sift through old blog postings and see how many "resolutions" I failed to stick to. At least, my plans for 2022 panned out - redoing the landscaping - and I have stuck to eliminating invasives in the yard (although they keep trying to stage a comeback). Some goals have been abandoned because, frankly, they are too much work. There are a few things I would like to accomplish this year, though.

One disappointment in planting natives (or at least, the natives I now have) is they are not very showy. I think the simplest thing to do is to fix that with annuals, specifically zinnias, at least in the front yard.

Once upon a time, the "meadow" was a milkweed forest. I whacked that, thinking I would transplant perennials from other parts of the yard there. Now I am inclined to revert that area to milkweed. Hopefully, I will see more monarchs then.

I've attempted to grow shrubs and vines in containers, with minimal success. Two small butterfly bushes and a Clematis Paniculata are all that I have left, and next summer I plan to transplant them into the ground. I think they will be much happier, which will make me happier.

Three is a charming number, so I think I will stop there.

1. Plant zinnias in the beds in the front yard
2. Recreate the milkweed forest
3. Transplant container perennials into the ground

There has not been a lot of bird activity in the backyard, but yesterday this hawk was pecking at something in the driveway. Worms?

And on today's dog walk, a heron made an appearance near the neighborhood pond. I couldn't get closer because, well, the dog.

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year. May all your gardening dreams come true!