Wednesday, April 12, 2017 Succulents, Roses, Groundcover

Although I don't like physical work, it is hard to pass up such a beautiful Spring day as today. Back in August 2014, as our project began, I dug up about 60 iris rhizomes that were growing along our back parking area. Our September 1, 2014 posting showed them drying out along the footing of our removed back porch. I did a little research and found there might be a way to preserve these and replant them. After drying them for a day or so, I dusted each with sulfur and wrapped them individually. We stored them underneath the stairway in the main house.

I've remember these occassionally but never have done anything with them until today. I got out four of them, rinsed them off and planted them in a pot. We'll see if anything happens.

This morning I took my weekly walk through the Mobot. Lots of color and new growth. Afterwards I went over to the Bowood Nursery. This was one of T's favorite nurseries. It also has a small restaurant which uses their own herbs. I noticed they are also putting in a vegetable garden to supply the restaurant and to sell produce.

I found the rose I've been looking for to fill out T's rose garden. It is a Knock Out 'White Out'. This is the fifth rose bush in her garden. From right to left, the colors are pink (the one T planted last year), lavender, yellow, red and white. Four of the five are Knock Outs. While the KO's I got last week from Lowe's were $19 each, this one was $44. I have no doubt it will be twice as good as the others. If not, at least it is the "right" color.

I also got some more ground covers. Last year, we bought four Irish moss and five Scottish moss. These were all small (2") plants. All but one of these were planted along the south side of the chess board, between it and the pond. None of those survived. The last one was planted between the stepping stones along the west side of the pond. That is the only one of that initial batch that is still alive.

The yellow mass is the Scottish moss, the two green masses are two varieties of creeping thyme

I assumed the problem with the mosses we planted was associated with the soil. While these mosses are supposed to be none too particular, the soil between the chess board and the pond is really nasty with lots of gravel. I decided to try it again this year, but was determined to improve the soil to see if I could get them to take hold. I excavated and used a mixture of soil left over from my plantings of the Hellebores and equal amounts of potting soil. Cannot be any worse than what was there originally. I planted four 4" plants, two Irish and two Scottish. I put them in the corner beside the skimmer. If they take hold, I'll retry along the south side of the chess board.

I also got another Brass Buttons (Leptinella squalida 'Platt's Black'). This is a ground cover we planted between the stepping stones, one down from the Scottish moss and one up from the creeping thyme. The original plant is still alive, and may regain its previous glory, but I decided to add another just beside it. This is really an interesting plant.

Lastly, I bought a couple more succulent for the succulent bed.  A sedum (Gold moss Stonecrop) and a Sempervivum (Hens and Chicks). These should both be hardy in our climate so I rearrange a couple of the other plants so that they will have room to grow.  I also decided to take a cutting off our prickly pear and put it into the succulent garden.

The history of our prickly pear is some what sorted. It is a native to Missouri and came from our neighbors yard at the end of the alley. A single pedal followed me home one night several years ago, nestled in my coat pocket. It took me a LONG time to get all the barnacles out of that pocket and the cotton gloves I was wearing at the time. Once home, I stuck the pedal into a pot of potting soil and it survived and propagated. Today, that one pedal is now seven pedals and there is a lot of new growth.

Our prickly pear

I returned the remainder of the plant to the perimeter of the pond. If it looks like it will survive my pruning, I will try to remove it from its pot and make it a permanent home among the pond boulders.

My experience with handling prickly pears is that you should use a pair of leather gloves you are willing to throw away. You will not want to ever wear them again. You should also have a magnifying glass and pair of tweezers available for removing the microscopic barnacles (even though you use the gloves).

Update on poinsettia...there is new growth!! Looks encouraging!! 

Tuesday, April 11, 2017 Hellebore and Bleeding Heart

Went to Costco and Lowe's today. At both places I looked at their Knockout Roses, searching for one that would coordinate with the ones I already have. Neither place had a color I wanted.

This afternoon I planted the two Hellebores and the Bleeding Heart. I put the bleeding heart behind the rabbit. The soil was not as bad as I had expected, but the ground is full of electrical conduit, irrigation piping and drainage lines. I hope it does OK.

The soil up by the east porch, where I put the "Champion" Hellebore, contains quite a bit of clay, but not too bad.

The soil between the Hornbeams was very nice. The worms seem to think so as well. My first shovel must have had a half dozen huge earthworms.

I will keep looking for the proper rose. The Knockouts are nice in that they don't grow too tall and are very easy to care for. So far, I have a Pink KO, a Double KO (red), a Sunny KO (white/yellow) and a Lavender Veranda Rose. All four of these are supposed to only grow 2'-3' tall, which is important so that they do not impede the casement window operation.

Monday, April 10, 2017 New Plants

Thunderstorms intermittently today. It has been two weeks since I last checked for okra plants at our favorite nursery. They told me at that time that the okra would be delivered in two weeks. My goals today include the okra, hellebore (to replace the coleus and mayapple between our hornbeams) and another rose for T's rose bed. With respect to the rose, I would like to find another Knockout, specifically the Coral Knock Out Rose.

My first stop however was at the local Harbor Freight to try to find replacement wheels/tires for my ancient Montgomery Ward Garden Mark wheelbarrow. My neighbor borrowed it last week and one of the tires broke. I don't know how old the wheelbarrow is, but I remember using it in my childhood back in Kansas. Therefore, I was not upset and actually surprised it has lasted so long. The wheel/tires are 9" diameter with a 1/2" shaft. At Harbor Freight, I found a 10" which looked like it should work. It did although I will have to forgo the original hub caps. The two new wheels/tires cost me $16 and should give me another 40 years of service.

Then off to the nursery. When I got there and did not find the okra, I asked and was told the okra would arrive in two weeks. I reminded this guy I was told the same thing two weeks ago. He just smiled and said the "two week" response is their standard response. I did find a couple of nice hellebores and also a really nice bleeding heart, which T loved. I was so happy about finding these that I forgot about the rose. It was not actually on my list, but I knew I would remember it.

When I got home, and took the hellebores to their new home, I was amazed to find that the mayapple, which I gave up for dead last year, had sprouted.

Mayapple

I will put of the hellebore (the "Shooting Star") between the hornbeams where we had a coleus planted last year.

Helleborus: "Shooting Star"

The other will go over by the east porch in a fairly open corner.

Helleborus:"Champion"

Now, where to put the bleeding heart? The tag says it prefers well drained soil and morning sun or partial shade. I would like to have it prominent and identified two potential locations. One is by T's rabbit on the southeast corner of the chess board. This location would help obscure the electrical outlets behind the rabbit and it is a very prominent location.

The other location is between the beech and the holly on the north side of the chess board. This location would offer the morning sun and afternoon shade. It probably is better draining soil that behind the rabbit.

I may sleep on this weighty matter, but I am leaning toward the rabbit location. I may change my mind if I dig a hole behind the rabbit and discover the soil is so poor (which I am afraid it may be) that I don't want to risk it.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Yesterday I energized the irrigation system and tested all 13 zones. Everything seemed OK. There are a few spray heads that are partially plugged. There are also several spray heads that I need to change the orientation, field of coverage and/or the height of the nozzle. These were apparent to us last Spring and I brought it to John's (Landscaper) attention. At the time, it was obvious that John really did not want to be troubled with it. It really was Wally's (irrigation guy) area and John said he was having problems getting Wally's attention. I knew I could address the issues myself later so I let it slide. Well, it is now "later". I will do some research on these Rainbird spray heads. It won't be too complicated and the parts are readily available almost anywhere.

We have received a lot of rain over the past week or so. The only areas that look like they need water are the raised beds (Zone 13). Today I set the irrigation system to only run Zone 13 for one hour starting at 0530 hours every day. The Zone 13 uses drip hoses. While I see absolutely no signs of the 15 pepper plants I set out two weeks ago or any of the chard or kale, I am still hopeful they will come up.

Today is a another beautiful Spring day, albeit a bit gusty (the chess pieces are falling right and left). I took T's ‘Trailing Red’ livingstone daisy out to be planted in the same spot as last year. This is beautiful green and white waxy-leafed plant with tiny red flowers. It seemed to like the location T selected for it last year and spread greatly. I knew it was not going to survive the winter so last fall I took two cuttings and brought them inside. One I put in a bottle water and the other I planted in a pot. Both did very well over the winter. The one in the water rooted and I sent it to Houston with Laura for their garden. The one I potted is now back in its original home.

I also performed some surgery around the Canadian Red Cherry. We noticed last year that there were sprouts coming out of the root ball of this tree. I cut them back a couple of time last year and it appears I will need to do so again this year.

Before culling the root ball sprouts

After culling

I also pruned of the dead branches of the ‘Silvery Blue’ Russian Sage up by the Arborvitae. This sage is just now starting to show some tiny leaves. It seems to leaf out and blossom later than the ‘Denim n Lace’ Russian Sage down by the Zelkova. 

The remainder of the morning I spent weeding spearmint from the east raised bed. This stuff is very invasive and I will never plant it again unless in a container.

This afternoon, I notice the copious number of blue flowers on the lungwort along the east side of the chess board. They seem to like that sorry soil!

Friday, April 7, 2017: Succulents in Bed

Today I went out to get more pea gravel and to look at succulents I might want to start in my new garden. I went to a different store (Home Depot instead of Lowe's). They did not have pea gravel but they did have pea pebbles. Probably the same, right? Nope, the pea pebbles are a little courser than the pea gravel. I really liked the particle size of the gravel I put in yesterday, but I mixed it a bit and it will be fine. In the future, I want to stick to the pea gravel as my top layer. I added one additional cubic foot of the pea pebbles to the garden. So to recap, I have two cubic feet of River Rock and three cubic feet of smaller (two pea gravel and one pea pebbles). This final cubic foot allowed me to mound a little.

The succulents at Home Depot were not extremely inspiring, but I did get four. I don't think they are hardy in this area, so I will need to bring them in next fall if I want to keep them at all. As an inexpensive starter, they will be fine.

The Desert Gems cacti are small indoor plants perfect for decorating desks and tabletops. They do recommend growing them in a "bright" spot and say that over watering is the easiest way to "do them in". They suggest watering every 10-14 days.

The Kosmik Kaktus is a Haworthia species from South Africa. It is not hardy here either and I see they recommend not putting it in direct sunlight. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

The Golden Sedum (Sedum aldolphii) is hardy in USDA Zones 8-11. It is a spreader and supposedly will have star shaped flowers.

The Snow Pole Cactus is native to mountainous Peru at elevations of 4000 to 7000 feet. In time, will form a branched, tree-like columnar to 6' in height. Not sure how fast it grows. It says it has a minimum temperature of 32 F. Must not get very cold in mountainous Peru. I decided to put it at the center of the bed.

As I was leaving the Depot, I remembered that the Mobot also has a collection of cacti and succulents at their gift shop. Being just down the street, I decided to stop by and have a look. I ended up getting two plants. I was very disappointed they were not labeled any better than they were.

A cactus. No other information.

A sedum. No other information. Several of the pedals fell off while I was planting. I may see if they will propagate.

Thursday, April 6, 2017: Blue Sky and Succulent Bed

In contrast to the last couple of days, today is beautiful. Temperature in the upper 50's and a clear blue sky. I took the opportunity to work on the succulent bed.

I decided to start with a smaller bed than the one I originally envisioned. I had cleared the mulch off a three foot wide strip about 12 feet long. To begin with, I decided to try a five foot strip. If it goes well, I can add more later.

The soil in this area is mostly clay. Not conducive to succulents. Therefore I started by digging out four to five inches of this clay. Most of it I either gave to my neighbor (Morgan) or deposited around the azaleas in the front yard. That wet clay is HEAVY!!

Using the stone work left over from the sunroom chimney breast, I started outlining the bed.

Next I mixed equal parts of the excavated clay with the two cubic feet of top soil I bought earlier. The mixture was enough to put a two to three inches in the bed.

Next I added the two cubic feet of river rock.

 Finally, two cubic feet of pea gravel.

I would like to observe how this area drains during a hard rain. Drainage is critical for the success of this bed. The weather forecast is showing the next rain to be early next week. In the mean time, I will start locating the succulents I will be putting into the bed. I may get another cubic foot of the pea gravel.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017: Ants, Rain and Roses

A couple of weeks ago I noticed very small ants on the deck around the hot tub. I called our pest control people (the ones I am paying $50/month to keep the insects out). They came out and sprayed. Yesterday, in anticipation for the visit of my sister-in-law, I pulled back the hot tub cover only to find a swarm of ants were occupying the hot tub rim of the hot tub...en mass.

The pest control guy showed up about an hour later and sprayed for effect.

Today, it rained off and on all day. I went out and bought three more roses for T's rose garden. Two were Knock Out's and one was another source.

 I got them planted between showers.

I may put one more rose in if I can find the "correct" color.

I also bought two cubic feet of river rock, two cubic feet of pea gravel and 1.5 cubic feet of top soil. This is what I intend to use to establish the succulent garden. Maybe tomorrow when it is supposed to be drier.

Saturday, April 1, 2017 (no fooling!)

It is a beautiful Spring day with the high around 60F and a completely clear sky. The bright sun makes it seem much warmer.

Today I installed the back flow preventer on the irrigation system and charged the system up to that point. I am confident we have had our last freeze for the season.

On several occasions, we have discussed the potential of installing a succulent garden. The "pincushion" garden at the Mobot was our inspiration. From the Mobot web site:

The Pincushion Garden, one of the largest of its kind in the world, resurrects a "lost art" of garden design once common in traditional Victorian displays. During the early 1900’s the Garden only had 2 circular beds on either side of the entrance to Spink Pavillion.  Each year they had a different display within the beds.  Some years it was a mix of the Garden’s cacti collection bedded out at random and other years it was an intricate carpet bedding design of succulents.  Today’s designs mimic the intricate patterns from those 2 beds.

20 circular beds host approximately 25,000 succulent plants arranged in geometric designs. Innovative drainage and irrigation techniques have been incorporated into the design of the new garden, and horticulturists work with plant cuttings to replant each year rather than purchase new succulents.This meticulous and intricate design work takes nearly two weeks to install by a team of ten horticulturists and volunteers.

While not as ambitious as the Mobot, I have been thinking about how to do something in our new backyard. I have always enjoyed succulents and there are many that are hardy in our zone. Outside of the raised bed, our soil is mostly clay, which is not good for cacti or succulents, which like fast draining soil. I will have to provide the appropriate soil mixture. I concluded the best spot would be between the pond and the east raised bed.

I've spent a considerable amount of time trying to decide what border I should use. The least appealing is the nasty black plastic stuff you see everywhere. The most appealing has been the 3" diameter wooden posts.  I figured I might need a much as 30 feet of bordering. Going with the wood would cost several hundred dollars.

Today it struck me that I already have the bordering material. In fact, I have been trying to find someone to haul it away for the past year. It is the white stone that we used on the interior chimney breast. Why we ended up with so much excess, and much of it is corners, I will never understand. The corners will make a nice border around the bed.

First I cleared the mulch and redistributed to areas that needed more.

I will dig down 3" to 4" into the clay and then build up my succulent conducive soil. But, for today, I was content to place the stone border around the area to see if I had enough (plenty left over) and to see how it looked.

Right now they look like little grave stones. When I am finished, they will protrude a couple of inches above the surrounding ground.