Rose garden, May 2018

The rose garden is my favorite in late May, the roses are all in bloom for the first time and the perennials help them show off. This was the first area of the yard that I started to work on in 2016 and looking back at the changes makes me happy, feels good to see the progression.

West fence, looking north

North fence, looking east

In the corner of the fences

Looking down the slope is the biggest change because the railroad tie retaining wall is gone and the whole shape of the slope is new. That's a major work in progress for this year.

North fence, looking east down the slope

In the main rose garden, I've only added a few more plants - a clematis in the corner, phlox to replace the fern leaf lavender that didn't survive the first winter, and three more bearded irises.

Clematis and rose in the mailbox corner

The irises have been amazing this year, now they're mostly done and time to deadhead because some are re-bloomers.

New bearded irises, earlier in May

Bearded iris, earlier in May

Bearded iris, earlier in May

Last bearded iris still blooming

All three of the peonies that I planted in the fall of 2016 finally bloomed this year, now I want more!

Peonies

Peony

Peony and catmint

We cut the roses way back in March, this year and last year, and that does seem to keep them healthier. We did take one out along the north fence, now trying to decide what to do with the gap. 

I mulched with wood chips in the fall and that keeps the weeds fairly well under control, but still have some grass and bindweed to pull out. I also put in a new drip line this week, the old one sprung a big leak last year, so the rose garden is all ready for summer! 

Rose and catmint

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May, 2018

Bearded irises

I'm sure I've been working outside every day this month, hauling topsoil and wood chips, planting, weeding, watering. But even the harder physical labor feels like a respite from the stress of the job that pays the bills. Spring is such a lovely time to be outdoors, something new is blooming everywhere I turn!

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting the monthly roundup of blooms.

My red collection of bearded irises, planted last summer

The hardiest bearded irises ever

This bearded iris was a freebie

My oldest bearded iris, rescued from a shady bed

Non-bearded irises

Aquilegia

Camassia and California poppies

Riverbank lupine is taking over my meadow

Limnanthes douglasii

Chives

Dogwood, cornus kousa 'Rosy Teacups', still a baby

Roses are just starting

Jupiter's beard, centranthus ruber, planted from seed last year

Foxglove, planted from seed last year

Rhododendron 'Lee's Dark Purple'

Big blooms on a baby Rhododendron 'Polarnacht' 

Unknown rhododendron in the front yard

What's next? Peonies! All three that I planted in the fall of 2016 have buds this year.

New rock retaining wall

Back in April, we had contractors take out two rotting railroad tie walls, one in the front yard and the other across the back slope. In the front yard, we had them regrade the slope, and the shape of the new front hillside is so much nicer without a wall.

In the back, a retaining wall is necessary so we had the railroad ties replaced with a rock wall, leaving in place a lower concrete wall. Here's what we started with:

Looking north

Steps, looking south

Looking south from above

In less than a day (and pouring rain at the end), we had a new rock wall!

Looking north

Looking south, where the steps were

I really love the rock wall, but we had two problems to deal with. There used to be steps on the north side, and I wanted that replaced with a ramp, but I wasn't paying enough attention to where they placed the rocks (working from home and supervising contractors doesn't always mix well). The ramp ended up going down the slope, which is way too steep, instead of across.

We thought it would be pretty easy to move that middle rock. Well, it took pry bars and a car jack, but we did it with no serious injuries!

The rock in the middle needed to go

Finally got the rock moved from the middle to the left side

The second difficulty was that the rock wall is taller than the railroad ties so needed more material to fill in behind it. I had them scrape fill from the hillside above it, but that left too much of a drop off in the slope.

Drop off along the edge of the grass

We decided to dig up the remaining grass in the middle so there wouldn't be a difference on the slope, but did leave some grass on the sides. Then, we hauled in about 4 yards of topsoil to fill it all in evenly. The grass on the sides is mowed very short and covered with a thin layer of topsoil, we're basically overseeding it.
Now I'm ready to plant a mix of grass, clover and yarrow, just waiting for the weather to cool down!

Looking north

Looking south from above

The area below the retaining walls is also ready to re-seed, with an eco turf mix that also contains flowers. We didn't do as much prep work, just hauled in about a yard of topsoil to fill in the biggest ruts. This was heavily compacted by the excavator because all of the wall work was done from below. It may take some time to recover, but it's not a priority right now, we'll see how well re-seeding works. 

Looking south

You may notice the plants lined up along the top of the wall too, I'm planning a drought tolerant border there. More to follow once I actually plant!