IMHO

Now that I've been watering (and watering and watering) post-installation, I'm discovering that the donut-shaped watering bags are not the time-savers I imagined them to be. While filling, they need babysitting to keep the water in the bag and not running out of the hole. Also, they block rain. So I am going to remove them from the shrubs.

The zippered watering pouches around the trees, however, are easier to manage. I can insert the hose and walk away, to deadhead flowering plants or fill birdfeeders. They don't work for shrubby plants, though, and are too tall for the hickory tree.


The plants are not only settling in but thriving (except for a few ragworts that get disturbed by Finn who thinks all that mulch is just a giant outdoor litter box). Some are even blooming, like the nodding onion and columbine.


And the ragwort is spreading, just like it should.

Last weekend, my daughter, granddaughter, and I went to Indianapolis to shop. Our first stop was Brickyard Ceramics, which has a field of wildflowers for a front yard. This photo doesn't do it justice.

I sowed more grass seed on bare areas in the lawn. After one round of Roundup, I've discovered that it doesn't work well on vines, just as the herbicide I have for vines doesn't work on other weeds. There is still some trumpet vine that needs to be erradicated, as well as some grape vine and poison ivy. The yucca and false indigo are popping up, unfortunately. And nutsedge is the bane of my lawn and nearby beds.

I updated the plant list for your viewing pleasure.

Today is HOT, HOT, HOT, but the next week or so promises to be milder, plus maybe rain. I'm ready for a break from watering.

Yardening is fun again

The nightmare is over. The yard is under control (mostly), or at least, less overwhelming. I can enjoy yardwork once again.

I tried to find a yardstick to place next to this hickory - I know I have three of them *somewhere* - but take my word that this tree is on the short side. That is because hickory trees have a tap root, so can be grown only so much in a pot. What it lacks in height it makes up for in health.

The hickory and the beardtongue penstemon went into the ground on Friday (yesterday), marking the end of the installation. The swamp oak and the cumulus serviceberry trees have tall zippered watering bags; the other serviceberry plants and the witchhazel have donut shaped watering bags. Everything else gets their water straight from the hose, the hose I'm wrangling around the yard for an hour-and-a-half each evening.

That is one of my very few complaints about the landscaping - I had no idea I would be spending that much time watering, and had almost scheduled a getaway, which would have been disasterous for the plants. My other complaint is the glyphosate spraying of unwanted weeds and plants was not thorough enough, lots of things poking through the three inches of mulch. I've resigned myself to a weekly chore of spot treating the yard. Otherwise, I am happy, happy, happy with the results.

I finished trimming the redbuds in back so they don't obstruct my view of that gorgeous yard and so they don't rub against the house. Some of the barespots in the lawn have been seeded as well; there are more to do, but I ran out of straw. This weekend is rainy - over an inch so far - so I get at least one day's reprieve from watering.

Before and after

Here is a rundown of the new plantings in my yard. It took the crew nine straight days of labor to tear out the old and bring in the new, then cover it all with 3" of mulch (for which they did resort to a "Dingo" to move it from the driveway to the backyard). The underground utility people were late, and one crew member tested positive for Covid. The others worked late and even over the weekend. I gave them a bonus, then embarrassed myself by bursting into tears of joy and gratitude. Now the yard feels much more manageable.

Before: Left side of front of house

After: Common Bluestar, Roundleaf Ragwort groundcover

Before: Center of front of house

After: Plantain-leaved Sedge, Prairie Alumroot, Butterfly Milkweed, Wild Columbine, Wild Geranium, Aromatic Aster, Nodding Onion, Hairy Beardtongue (coming soon)

Before: Right side of front of house (boxwood hiding behind the goldmop)

After: Cumulus Serviceberry, Prairie Alumroot, Roundleaf Ragwort

Before: right side of back of house

After: Winterberry Holly

Before: left side of back of house

After: Low Scape Hedger Chokeberry

Before: facing north

After: Serviceberry (and Honeysuckle Vine is revealed!)

Before: facing northwest

After: My play area, plus Shagbark Hickory (coming soon)

Before: facing west

After: Spicebush, Canadian Hemlock, Winterberry Holly, Swamp Oak

Before: facing south

After: one Witchhazel joined by four more

There are a couple of more plantings to go. The south and north sides of the house are untouched, more areas for me to play in. I've rehung (most of) the birdfeeders, moved some containers off the deck, etc. It didn't rain the whole time, but now we are having a lovely drizzle, lessening my watering load. Now I can carry on with my usual chores of trimming back trees and shrubs, trimming, mowing, etc. I'll post a complete plant list separately.

Wacky weather

Yesterday was cold and breezy, with intermittant sunshine and snow flurries, sometimes both at the same time. Today is an "in like a lion" day - more wind but slightly warmer temps and plenty of sun. Various spring flowers started to emerge, but now they seem stalled.

This past week, my SO and I fenced off the corner of the yard where a variety of wildflowers will go. The fencing is nothing fancy, bits of this and that laying around. The point is to keep the dogs out. We also relocated a few bird feeders.

As you can see in the above photo, we are also getting rid of the cinder block raised bed in that area. Once the ground is firm enough for the mower, we'll transfer the blocks to the far end of the driveway where they will be free for the taking.

Now I can sit in my recliner in the den and keep an eye on all the bird feeders and the bird bath. The funniest avian thing I've seen this week is several robins who park themselves under the bark butter feeder and the mealworm feeder, scavenging for crumbs. They will even chase away the starlings even though it is the starlings who drop bits of bark butter and mealworms on the ground.

In preparation for having some work done on the front of the house, I've been digging out the planter on the front porch, filling up large plastic pots into which some rhubarb plants will be transferred. From what I've read, you can grow rhubarb in containers as long as you slide them into the garage over the winter. So that is what I plan to do since the rhubarb bed will become history with the new landscape design.

Wipe on, wipe off

Over the past twenty years or so, my SO has helped me do things in the yard, redo things in the yard, undo things in the yard. He has dug holes, pruned shrubs, and pulled weeds. He does most of the heavy lifting and most of the tasks that involve power tools. Last fall, after my shoulder surgery, he even mowed. Most recently, he pried apart the raised bed frames we (mostly he) constructed way back when.

Before

After

And he does all this without complaining! The closest he has ever gotten to a whine was a couple of years ago, when we were buying bags of mulch, and he asked how much longer we were going to do this. He's a keeper!

More newbies for the backyard are Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata 'FarrowBPop' and 'FarrowMrP'). Also known as Eastern hemlock, the Canadian hemlock attracts birds and butterflies, but also can get infested with the hemlock wooly adelgid, Adelges tsugae, which so far has not reached Indiana. Fingers crossed on that issue. Winterberry holly provides cover for wildlife, nesting spots, nectar for insects, and fruit for birds (especially bluebirds). It serves as a host to Henry's Elfin butterfly (Callophrys henrici). 'FarrowBPop' (Berry Poppins) is the female of the species, 'FarrowMrP' (Mr. Poppins) the male.

Birrrrrds

Despite the hawthorn tree being loaded with haws, the robins have yet to strip it bare. Instead, one lonely robin stands guard, chasing away any sparrows who dare to venture too close. This morning I saw several robins pecking at the droppings under the mealworm feeder. I guess they are more interested in protein than fruit right now.

Then there is this pair of mourning doves, keeping their feet warm on the heated bird bath. Some house finches have shown up as well and are working on the safflower seeds.

After the garden center picked up my mower for servicing, my SO and I rearranged the garage a bit, building shelves from cinder blocks and scrap lumber. Once the pots that are wintering over can go outside, there will be LOTS of room in there.

Back to the landscaping: In the backyard, there will be a couple of new trees, a white oak (Quercus alba) and a shagbark hickory (Carya ovata). The oak tree will obviously produce acorns someday; it may also host the larva of the Edward's hairstreak (Satyrium edwardsii). The hickory will also produce nuts. The squirrels and birds will have a heyday.

Snow joke

I hope you are not tired of snowy photos from the Midwest, as I have a few to share. It wasn't the same as the blizzard of '78, but we received a significant amount of snowfall, about a foot in my backyard. And we don't have to worry about a repeat of the flood of '82 because the city has since done a LOT to mitigate contributing factors to that flood. The kids don't even miss school now; my granddaughter spent a day here with me, diligently tackling her e-learning assignments. The assignments are available at 10:00 AM, so she could still sleep in, and she spent her "recess" outside, building a snowperson, so don't bemoan the lack of snow days.

Sean from Sanctuary Native Landscapes and I met via Zoom, to discuss final plans for the installation. My attitude now is, This is costing me so much, this is *exactly* what I want. While most of the yard will be stripped clean, a few things will remain, at least for now. I'm carving out a few areas for my own uses because I do like puttering around out in the yard. But for the most part, it will be a complete redo.

I haven't seen anything exotic in my backyard birdwise, but there are some surprises: a nuthatch at the mealworm feeder, a junco under the mealworm feeder, a lone male cardinal, a robin at the bird bath. This morning I saw quite a few robins feeding on the fruit on the trees by the library branch near me, so they are starting to come out of the woods for their winter feast; I expect my hawthorn to be stripped bare soon.

Sticker shock

I received the estimates for the landscape installation. GULP! I knew it would be expensive, but not THAT expensive. After years of DIY landscaping, I'm used to the expense of plants, shrubs, and trees; it's the labor costs I'm choking on. But I know I am no longer interested in doing all that work myself. I expect to be in my house at least another ten years (or more!) and would like to enjoy a yard full of natives (and the wildlife that will bring) during my time here. And I'm too old to put all this off.

My dad set an example for me to follow. The first household chore he outsourced was snow removal (he lived in Massachusetts). I am fortunate to have a neighbor with a snow blower and a generous spirit, although I did shovel the recent four inches of fluff that fell. The second task he turned over to professionals was the yardwork. My brother helped for a while, my stepmother added a lot of plants, but eventually it was time for outside help because they wanted everything to look neat and tidy. Lastly, they hired someone to come in and clean every two weeks. (They obviously didn't have any pets by that point). The two of them were able to live in their home until my dad was in his 90's, an excellent example of how to age in place. It helps to be able to afford the help.

It's cold but sunny today, with little wind, so the dogs and the indoor/outdoor cat are enjoying the deck, something they haven't been able to do recently because of the sub-zero temperatures we've been having. Rumor has it a bit storm is heading this way midweek. We'll see.

I'm sold

Sean from Santuary Native Landscapes came by yesterday to discuss the "final" design for my yard. I put *final* in quotes because there are still a few tweaks. After listening to his explanation about plant selection, I'm (almost) all in. One of the tweaks is setting aside a corner for wildflowers, ironically the area previously designated as a meadow. A hickory tree will be planted there; they are tiny to start with because they grow from a tap root. In the area south of that, there will be Canadian hemlock to provide a windbreak and background for the winterberry plants and to keep the white oak tree company. I'm extremely excited about this plan. I probably won't be as excited about the cost of installation, but I'm rather dedicated to spending my children's inheritance.

One sad aspect to all these changes is saying "thank you" and "good-bye" to many of the existing plants and shrubs. Some will be sorely missed (gold mop, cotoneaster, smokebushes), others not so much (boxwood, yucca, mugo). Almost everything has become problematic in one way or another, and ugly to boot. I feel like I have slaved away in the yard for thirty years and there is little to show for it. Part of me is reluctant to let someone else redo it all, but I'm on the cusp of old age and would like to do less yardwork but still have the kind of yard I want.

I was hoping to attend a cross country ski workshop today but we have no snow at all. The storms all seem to pass us by. Also, it is cold and breezy, okay if one is in the woods, not so much out in the open.

I purchased several self-warming pet beds from Chewy, in three sizes. Watson, the medium-sized dog, seems to prefer the smallest one even though he barely fits.

Stay warm!

A gardener's wish comes true

Last week I complained about how dry it has been here. The rain gods must have been listening because we received 1.5" one day, then about another 0.5" on another. Everything is well watered now. The temps dropped, to the point I had to turn on the furnace last night. The plants may like it warmer but I don't.

Every year, after I have scheduled AC maintenance, I hustle to clean up the area on the west side of the house. This past Monday I moved the daylilies and Asiatic lilies that were next to the AC unit to the bed by the front sidewalk. Then came a layer of newspaper and bag after bag of pebbles to complete this rather sterile but practical landscape. The problem has been chipmunks and dogs digging for chipmunks. Now there is no place for those wascally wodents to hide. More containers will be added.

I've whined before about how the junipers under the windows of the den were too big. I've tried pruning them which seemed to only simulate them to greater heights. So a few days ago, my SO helped me whack them down. (The jury is out regarding that Alberta spruce in the middle.)

I'd like to replace the junipers with something evergreen but more controlable. Perhaps Ilex glabra 'Compacta'? Also known as inkberry, it likes it damp and there are two downspouts and the outflow of the sump pump in that area. However, inkberry prefers acidic soil, so that would need to be addressed. Perhaps two females here and a male to fertilize them around the corner?

Canada thistle is a constant thorn in my side (a little gardening humor there), but once in a while, something unusual like this sow thistle shows up. Of course, it is not welcome, either, but it's nice to see something different for a change.

My order from Bluestone Perennials arrived in good shape; I plan to install the plants tomorrow, when the blasted wind dies down. They are: Clematis Paniculata, Buddleia ' Purple Haze', Buddleia 'Pink Micro Chip', Agastache 'Kudos Ambrosia'. These are all going into containers. The only one I am concerned about is the clematis, as I won't be able to move it into the garage come cold weather. I hope I can protect the roots well enough for it to winter over.

I think the hummingbirds we saw last week were outliers, although another one appeared yesterday. In my experience, they usually don't show up until June. I'm giving up on the oriole feeder, at least for now, unless someone convinces me otherwise. Both wren houses appear to be populated.