One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Slowly, but surely, I'm making some progress on the garden plan that I envisioned for our back garden in my January post, So Here's the Plan. 

One of the features I wanted to add was a rainbarrel, to help with a drainage problem we have and also to give me some good water with which to water the patio plants and any other plants in times of drought.

Rainbarrel - check.

You might notice that the rainbarrel is not centered on the little pad we built for it and also that it overhangs the edge of the house wall.

For some reason, it seems like everything we try and do in this garden is a challenge. Every project seems to involve a lot of problem solving before it can go into effect. The rain barrel was no different.

In this case, we couldn't line the barrel up with the corner on the wall because the downspout is right on the corner and, as you can see, in order for it to drain into the barrel, we had to move it further right that we would have liked to.  And we couldn't center the rainbarrel on it's pad because there's a sprinkler head just to the left of the pad so we had to move the pad over to the right even more.

On a more cheerful note, remember those utility boxes in the corner that I wanted to hide?  (Ignore the really lousy grass, that will have to be the subject of a separate post, when I have the heart for it)

Anyway, back to the subject, I had originally planned to put an arbor and bench there to hide the boxes.  But we started thinking about it and came to the decision that  because the area is in full sun, we realized we wouldn't actually sit there, so I started thinking about alternatives.

Last weekend, we were in Lowe's and I happened to catch sight of something I thought would be ideal for hiding the utility boxes.  I had actually wanted something like it before but didn't know such a thing existed. I was really excited when I saw it and, since it was reasonably priced, I grabbed it right there and put it in our cart.

It's a little vinyl lattice fence, four feet wide and three feet tall. It has stakes on the bottom, so I was able to stake it directly into the ground in front of the boxes. It hides the utility boxes from most angles. There's a holly bush on either side and a couple of plants in front of it, but I'm going plant behind it also and add some containers in front, including a vine, and create a butterfly garden. I moved the stones out a little bit to make room.

Continuing the good news -- the Mars grape vine my husband chose is doing very well and appears to be covered in bunches of grapes! 

And now for the project that is giving me sleepless nights -- the shady area on the north side of the house, by the patio.

 As you can see, it gets deep shade most of the day (but not all of the day, it does get sun in the late afternoon.) In addition, a lot of the grass died from root rot at the end of last year.  So now it's basically a mass of weeds - very depressing to look out at.

So next on my list of projects is to do something with this area.  On my original plan,  I drew a curved border along the back of the house, but left the details "to be determined."  

I thought vaguely about a mulched area with "low growing plants."  They would have to be low-growing because of one of those challenges I mentioned earlier -- there's a row of sprinkler heads across the back and I don't want to block them by planting shrubs right in front of them. And then there's the choice of plant -- the area is in deep shade most of the day, but in summer, with the sun more or less directly overhead, part of the area would be in blazing sunlight, and it would also get direct sun in the afternoon.

I've been reading up on possibles but really am clueless at this point.  I had considered dwarf lily turf as a ground cover, also known as mondo grass, because I saw an area at Mercer Arboretum like that and thought it looked really nice.  But then I learned that real gardeners frown on mondo grass. 

We may just go ahead and create the mulched border (so I don't have to look at the weeds) and wait for a while before putting anything in it. Or heck, maybe we should haul in some river rock in and dump it there.  

To be honest, the damaged lawn and this shady area have me pretty depressed, even overshadowing the pleasant weekend I had, planting some flowers in the front flowerbed.


If we had money to burn, I'd have a professional come in and give us some ideas, but we don't so we have to figure it out ourselves. 

Or should I say, I have to figure it out myself (with a little help from my friends - that's you!), since my husband is willing to provide the muscle, but admits he doesn't know anything about landscaping or gardening.


Okay, so now it's late and I'm bummed out, let me try and cheer myself up by showing you some bluebonnets we saw last weekend.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Planning for Color in the Garden

Well it's not really all my fault, but then again, it is.  Other than the pansies and allysum I planted a couple of months ago, we have absolutely no flowers blooming in our garden right now. Tons of things leafing out all over the place, but a total absence of blooms (other than the aforementioned pansies and allysum, which have been blooming, bless their little hearts, all through the winter.)

And seeing other garden bloggers posting photos of the beautiful blooms in their gardens is a little disheartening, but serves only to make me more determined to plan ahead for next year.

My focus with the garden so far has been getting the backbone of the garden planted, planning for winter interest with evergreen shrubs, planting for the birds etc.  Other than a few daylilies and lilium, I haven't even got started with flowers yet.

Still, the garden is new, and we're planning on living here a long time, so if I can just find a smidgeon of patience, in a few years we should hopefully have the garden that I dream of.

I started thinking about blooming seasons and how some plants bloom early, but fade as our summer approaches.  Others are late starters but can take the heat of a Houston summer.  I'm sure that experienced gardeners can roll off the facts:  this plant blooms from early March through May, that one blooms from July through September, etc.  I, on the other hand, don't have that experience and knowledge. I'd have to look everything up and then try and remember it when planning my flower borders.

So I thought about making a chart that would show the information in a graphic format that would make it easy for me to see a) what I currently have and b) where there would be "holes" - times when nothing was blooming. 

Here's the sort of thing I came up with. Just an excel spreadsheet that I can print and keep in my garden journal.

What I'll do is to start with the flowers/flowering shrubs that I have already, and mark their bloom times on the chart. Then I'll easily be able to see, what seasons I need to plan for so I can get planting!

I could do one for the front border, and another for the back border, or the corner garden etc.  I could color it to match the plants so I could get an idea, especially in the planning stages, of what would look good and what would clash.

I can't wait to get started :-)

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Back Yard Project Part One, or Back on the Chain Gang

Back in January, I wrote a post called So Here's the Plan which outlined my plans for our, as yet, blank canvas of a back yard.


Naturally, almost as soon as we put the back border in last year, I was dissatisfied with it and wanted to enlarge it.  However, we knew there was an easement there and weren't sure where the utilities actually lay.  A call to 811 quickly resolved that issue and we came home one day to find bright little red and yellow flags across the lawn, marking the phone and gas lines.


The other thing that needed to be done was that Eric had to replace the backflow valve (I think that's what it's called) on  the sprinkler system, which froze over the winter.  So he replaced the valve last weekend (and now we just have to pray we don't get another hard freeze) and we were able to run the sprinklers to see where the spray heads are.

At last! I had a clear idea of the amount of room we had to work with.

Now to move the rocks! 

 My poor husband had visions of moving 25 tons of rock with his bare hands, and we giggled together when I found this amusing cartoon by British cartoonist, Norman Thelwell.  

I'm not sure if Eric found it so amusing when I dug up an mp3 of The Pretenders' Back on the Chain Gang to play for him, lol.

 

But as you can see, we're really only expanding it a foot and a half at the most and it really wasn't much of a chore to move them.  

Even though we didn't expand it much, I think that will give us the room we need to create a pleasant border, with some taller shrubs against the wall and shorter plants in the front.  Who know, I may be able to hide that ugly wall eventually.

When I first started on the border, I realized very quickly that trying to remove all the sod would be a huge chore.  So I decided to take the easy route.  What I did was to plant some base shrubs where I wanted them and then lay down a layer of Weed Block around them, and then finish with a thick layer of mulch on top of that. After several months, all the sod underneath had died off and I've been digging it back in to the soil a bit at a time.

Much easier than trying to remove all that sod at one go. 

So when we were expanding the border, I decided to use the same approach.  Basically just covered all the sod with a layer of weed block and covered it with mulch.  When I'm ready to plant in it, I can work the soil a bit at a time and in the meantime, with mulch over the whole thing, it sort of looks done.

You can see, in the center of the photo, one of the flags marking the AT&T cable. We laid the rocks just to the inside of that line, so we can dig in the bed without worrying about cutting the phone line.

I love it when things come together right :-)

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Working on the Weekend

Remember this image from a  couple of weeks ago?  I was laying the stepping stones in the foundation border at the front of the house and was lamenting the sad performance of the holly bushes up against the house.

 

I had been torn between seeing if they fared better if I tried improving the soil around them or just ripping them out and starting over.

Well -- I decided with the latter course of action and this morning headed out to pick up some dwarf Burford hollies to replace the unknown variety that were there, as well as organic compost and top soil to mix in with the existing soil.

As soon as I got the first holly out of the ground, I could see what had caused their demise...
 

  

 As soon as I pulled it out, I could see water sitting in the bottom of the hole and the bush had hardly spread any roots in the 18 months it has been in the ground.

  

And so, I spent a pleasant few hours, digging out the existing shrubs, enlarging the holes (hauling off a lot of clay in the process) and playing in the dirt, mixing and planting, making sure that the new bushes would have a better chance than the last ones did. I won't be up to doing this kind of heavy work in the heat of a Houston summer because the heat really gets to me, so I was really glad to get the chance to do it today.

 

 

As I worked, I was serenaded by a chorus of mockingbirds in the trees. It made me smile almost as much as when one was on the roof near the chimney, singing his heart out, and we could hear him clearly indoors because the flue was still open from the previous night's fire.
 

 

Et voila! All six planted and mulched in a few hours.

For lovers of color, fear not, I have plans for some more perennials to go in between the shrubs, along with the daylilies that are already there and coming up.

Today was a good day -- I'm tired, but I have a great sense of achievement.  And to top it off, my non-gardening husband took me out to dinner. It doesn't get much better :-)


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

So Here's the Plan...

Over the last few weeks, I've spent a lot of time dreaming about how I want our garden to look. I started scratching around sketching things out on paper, but then, being me, I decided to digitize it in Photoshop :-)

Here's what we have right now. I'm concentrating on the back yard here, so I haven't filled in any detail in the front yard yet.

Figure 1 - What we have now

Our problems include drainage issues and utility boxes that need to be hidden. In addition, I decided, right after my husband laid the stones, that the border that we put in last year is just too shallow to accomodate the plants I want in there.

Another problem is shade. The patio faces north and so only gets sun in the late afternoon. That makes it a wonderful and shady place to sit most of the day, even in the heat of summer, but the lawn along the back of the house has really been struggling.

I think that shade, combined with a downspout that dumps gallons of water in the area every time it rains, are probably the cause of the poor lawn performance.

Figure 2 - The plan for expanding the border

The first thing on the agenda (much to my husband's chagrin) is to expand the border. There's a utility easement containing the telephone and cable lines (electricity comes in overhead)  We have a pretty good idea where the cables are because there is a trench across the yard where the soil has sunk and it lines up neatly with the telephone utility box. However, a reader who read my blog on HoustonGrows.com suggested I call 811 and have the utilities come out a mark their lines, so I did that at the weekend and they should be out this week.

Since we're also dealing with fence-to-fence sod, courtesy of our builder, I discovered the easiest way to create beds and borders was to outline them with whatever material we're using (stone left over from the builder in this case), dig planting holes if we have anything to go in the ground when we're at this stage and then lay down landscape fabric (or sheets of newspaper) and a hefty layer of mulch over the whole thing.

Over time, this kills off the sod underneath and next year we'll be able to dig, add soil amendments and add plantings.

To solve the problem of the area that doesn't get much sun, we're going to put in another border on the back of the house. Again, we'll edge it and cover the sod with landscape fabric and mulch to kill off the grass. Eventually the area can be planted with some low-growing plants and groundcovers that can handle a combination of shade for most of the day with late afternoon sunlight - hostas perhaps. We also want to put a rainbarrel under the downspout that dumps into this area, with an overflow pipe to run any excess water to the shallow swale that is supposed to drain water off the property. we'll be able to get fresh rain water from the barrel to water the plants on the patio.

Figure 3 - Placement of the Rainbarrel and Arbor/Bench

I've added the rainbarrel in the above image, as well as my solution for the utility box eyesore. The builder put in some bushes to hide the boxes, but they're just not doing a great job. I thought we could add a bench and arbor on a small paved area. The bench will hide the boxes from view when we're sitting on the back patio, and when we're sitting on the bench, we'll be facing the other way - problem solved!

This is the sort of thing I have in mind -- photo courtesy of SimplyArbors.com.

The expanded border there will allow us to surround the area with flowers - perennials, annuals, maybe a flowering shrub or two. I can just imagine sittng there watching the butterflies!

Figure 4 - The Final Plan for the Back Garden

So here's the final plan. Please excuse my very vague representations of the actual plants! I'm holding off on making any plant purchases until we have the border ready for them.

I'm hoping that this plan will give us the Green and Serene retreat that we have been looking for. My husband freely admits to being a "Non-Gardener" and has given me full rein to go ahead with the planning process. Although I've noticed recently he's started to roll his eyes when I suddenly jump up from my computer and say "You know what else we could do?"

Hmmm......

Planning for Year Round Interest in the Garden

As I strolled around my garden last week, I realized that, while I do have some bright spots in the garden, there is so much more I can do to create some winter interest in the garden.  And I have a feeling that whatever I do to improve the garden in winter will also benefit the garden in summer.

There's not much I can do right now, of course, about the St. Augustine grass going dormant and creating a yellow blanket on the ground, but in the borders and (future) beds, there's a lot I can do to create some winter interest in the garden.

For example, right now, we have a vast expanse of (dormant) lawn, with a backdrop of beige wall, flanked on either side by bland fence.

Last year, we started work on the garden by creating a border along the back wall with stone left over by our home builder, but shortly after my husband moved what he swears was 27,000 tons of stone into position, I realized it wasn't deep enough to accomodate a multi-level shrubbery as I would like. All I had room for was a single row of (dwarf) bushes -- not exactly the effect I was looking for.

I hesitated to mention this to my husband... but after a few pointed comments he got the hint ;-) 

So at some point this spring, we're going to move the stone further out from the wall which will give me more room to have taller bushes in the back, and shorter plants in the front.

I've already got a few things planted. Among them:

• Vitex - Vitex agnus-castus
• Althea - hibiscus syriacus
• Savannah holly - Ilex x attenuata 'Savannah'
• Purple Fountain Grass - Pennisetum setaceum) 'Rubrum' 
• Hummingbird Bush - Anisacanthus wrightii

Now I'm starting to think about what else can go in there. What I want are plants that will be as pleasant to look at in the winter as they are in the summer.  I especially love evergreens, but as I've been researching tonight, I've come across some that change color in the winter.  Others have berries etc., which of course the birds will enjoy eating as much as I enjoy looking at them.

Anyway, I'm not sure yet, but here are some possibilities for larger evergreen shrubs for the back of the border:

• Yaupon holly - Ilex vomitoria
• Indian Hawthorn - Raphiolepis indica
• Agarita - Mahonia trifofoliata
• Burford Holly - Ilex cornuta burfordii
• Glossy Abelia - Abelia x grandiflora

For the front of the border, I could choose:

• Dwarf burford holly - Ilex cornuta rotunda burfordii (I already have a couple of these, I love them, they are very versatile)
• Dwarf pittosporum - Pittosporum tobira wheeleri
• Barberry - Berberis thunbergii atropurpurea
• Juniper - Juniperus sp.

And then, of course, I want to include flowers (annuals and perennials) to attract butterflies etc.

• Daylily - Hemerocallis spp.
• Purple Coneflower - Echinacea purpurea
• Turk's Cap - Malvaviscus drummondii
• Verbena - Verbena X hybrida
• Zinnia - Zinnia elegans
• Pentas - Pentas lanceolata

So now, as I enter these items on the Wishlist in my Garden Journal I can start some serious planning to get some interest in the garden that will last all the way from spring to winter!

Further information:
Texas A & M - Outstanding Shrubs for Texas
Texas A & M - Top Ten Landscape Perennials