stinkin' babies

Year before last, when our big maples on the second sideyard were cut down, I moved a bunch of plants in a panic. Including the stinking hellebores, which didn't survive. Well, now I have a few new ones! Got from another gardener who was taking spring divisions.

I put two near the ostrich ferns (the smaller ones are coming up! but my photo was blurry)

and two on the other side of a tree from the solomon's seal

Hope for lots of babies in a year or two so I can spread 'em around! So far the deer have not munched my hostas yet- coming up strong now! - since I scattered the irish spring again. This is one of the blues (ignore the bird drip and the chewed on leaf, and it's perfectly lovely)

I peeked into the makeshift cages around saplings- I still have a few redbuds, just barely leafing out now, and the two spicebush also, and the one pawpaw (which I'm not as thrilled about since I discovered I don't actually like the taste of pawpaw- but one of my kids does so at least someone would appreciate the fruit).

Here's a photo of the mayapples- and the few I dug up and moved over under the edge of rhododendrons, did just fine too!

I'm also pleased to find a few seedlings of joe pye 'chocolate' around the backyard- happy to let them grow where they are, right now. Anxiously watching to see when the taller, regular joe pye comes up- those I moved in a hurry late fall because I thought our fence was going to get built.

But sadly, it looks like two shrubs I was hoping would do well on this damp, lower slope, are finally dying. The inkberry and the northern bayberry. I can't believe how lush they looked, back when I first bought them. Just last year the inkberry was like this- hard to notice at all- and now it's all bare stems. Either the deer are eating it down to nothing, or it's sick. Both of them. I'm kind of giving up on them now.

Another casulty of winter- it seems my rosemary is dead in its pot.

Today all I did outside was plant the four stinkin' hellebores, dig up a few dandelions from the front lawn (their numbers are definitely fewer, takes me far less time to get them cleared out now), and pull some weeds in the back. 

I broke all the dry monarda stems into short pieces for composting, but found they make very brittle, sharp fragments- got a few nasty little splinters- so I scattered them across the empty garden beds. For mulch, and maybe a deterrent to the squirrels and my cat. Seems to help, so far. It's been a few days and nothing has disturbed the layer. Trimming grass around the garden beds and pulling weeds in them, which I toss right back on top for more mulch layer. To at least keep the soil covered and a tad fed, while the garden rests. And to keep things tidy. A lot of the bricks are leaning, I need to straighten them out with rock or shims wedged under, but really what I should have done is dig a small trench, set them on a bed of gravel. Probably I should still do that, reset them all properly, but I just haven't got the energy for that kind of work yet.

outside plants

My rhubarb is flourishing since its move. Hope it continues to do well.

One that's not so well is the inkberry. I cut out all the dead branches and it is very reduced. I recently moved all the remnants of my old wild cherry tree- short trunk sections that have been sitting on-end here and there convenient for me to place things on- away from the under-deck area and across the yard for shrubs. They're starting to decay (which is probably why I've see the wren so often flitting about below the deck and through the garden- I bet it's feeding on insects in the old wood). I put most of the wood pieces on the downhill side of shrubs. Idea is that as they continue to decay will feed my bushes, and being on the downhill side, when rain sweeps down the hill maybe it won't push as much mulch down against the fence, but some will get caught and stay in place under the shrubbery. Well, the inkberry got a full circle because it needs the most help.

I do like foliage so I hope it makes it

The bayberry nearby is doing much better.

Pannacle hydrangeas each got a log piece too

and the rhodies

Also the little hollies.

My arum is springing up again in the cooler weather- among zinnia 

Center of that yellowed hellebore definitely looks more normal green, so I hope this one recovers

Joe pye weed had big poufy blooms and I didn't want it reseeding all over the yard, so cut them off. It's so grown through the pokeweed now, hard to distinguish between the them. Soon will cut that back, too.

shrubs checkup

Inkberry looks great

Bayberry doesn't. Waiting to see if new growth is healthier.

Of those young euonymus I transplanted, some keep getting bitten down- deer or rabbits.

The larger two I loosely confined in some fencing. No more injuries on this one.

Rose of sharon is supposed to be late to leaf out in spring; mine's already growing!

different rose of sharons and . . .

Um, I should not have been so delighted to get all those rose of sharon seedlings. I did a bit more reading to make sure I had them spaced far enough apart- and learned pretty quick why that lady had so many to give away. It seeds into the wind prolifically, and is considered an invasive plant in my state. I promptly went outside and pulled all those little seedlings, feeling frustrated.

There are several cultivars developed specifically to either be sterile, or set very few seed. I noted a few names- 'Minerva' and 'Aphrodite'. I was talking about all this with my husband and we decided on a plant budget for fall- it was rather generous because I think last year I only put two shrubs in the ground- one rhodie and the camellia- and I spontaneously went out to do some shopping (the only kind I love- in a greenhouse)! Visited another local nursery I hadn't been to before. On the highway between us and the next town.

I couldn't find those two varieties, but got one sterile 'Pink Chiffon'

and a 'Purple Satin'. The fence length I want to shield has room for four or five, but I left space in case I can find the other two cultivars later on.

Here's the pink one planted:

and the purple:

I was a bit dismayed to see the purple one is twisted at base- like it was root bound. I bought it anyway against my better judgement, because it was the only purple one left. All the others at the nursery where white column shaped plants, which I don't want.

It does have a healthier-looking sucker growing up- I suppose I could always encourage that and trim other parts of the plant out?

It has healthy enough feeder roots all through, and no signs of japanese beetle grubs (which I once found in a rhodie pot). But about a third of the leaves look sickly- dried, pale, mottled.

I asked about this at the counter and was told "well, they're dropping leaves for winter" but it looks slightly ill as my lilac has before. I would feel worse about this except that rose of sharon are such vigorous plants I feel I can pull it through. I gave it a soap spray a few hours before rain (it did rain last night!) and then trimmed off all the sick-looking foliage and cut it back slightly.

I also got an Inkberry (Ilex glabra 'densa')! Native shrub, grows in understory, does well in poor or damp areas. I am not sure yet where to plant this one- I think on the slope in front of the rhodies. It might spread gradually by suckers and make a small thicket back there, which I wouldn't mind at all. I need some erosion control. Also can sport dark berries in winter that feed the birds- except I'm not sure if I need a male and female plant for it to produce, or which gender I have.

And I bought a Northern Bayberry (Myrica pennsylvanica). This one also does well in tough spots, likes the damp (so I am going to put it at the bottom slope of the yard) and can spread nine to twelve feet! I've kind of got it situated in front of the summersweet- which looks great every spring but then falters by late summer. I'm planning to move that one anyway- maybe in spring..

Next was a small mountain laurel- Kalmia latifolia 'Little Linda' which stays small and blooms pink.

Only caveat is it needs acidic soil. Maybe I will split the loads of coffee grounds from our kitchen between this and the camellia. Planted:

It's mature size is supposed to be four feet across- just up against the space the lovage needs:

Situated alongside the steps my husband built to go from the sunny sideyard up to driveway. My plans for this sideyard are slowly filling in! On the left there is the patch of gladiolas- in spring I'm going to plant in front of the glads a few rudbeckia or a row of the osteospermum. Other side against the house wall is the milkweed spot. Going to sow more seed there, see what takes. Fill in with another line of osteospermum. Leaving hopefully, just a walking path down the center.

I also bought- another nandina. This one is supposed to flower very little, and have a nice blue-green summer leaf color. Yeah I know not a native but I've already got a row of them hopefully to create a good screen between us and the neighbor's yard, and I do like the foliage color and texture a lot. This one- 'Gulfstream' is small and compact- I thought it might work okay to have a short one in front of the row. Supposed to get max three feet.

Planted:

So that's six new young shrubs- and all were on sale!