The year of (fill in the blank)

2018 was the year of the wood chip mulch, with a giant pile arriving in late February and an even larger pile in late September. The neighbors probably think we're nuts, especially since most of it disappeared to the back yard. The last pile was over 100 wheelbarrow loads.

2018 was the year of watering, with an unusually dry May and June leading into our typically dry July and August. It seemed like everything needed extra water: the native bushes and trees at the bottom of the yard, planted in 2016, bushes and trees all around the upper yard (woodland border, north fence and winter garden) planted in 2017, and the brand new plants on the front slope.

2018 was the year of structural changes, with the lower railroad tie retaining wall replaced by rock and the upper wall replaced by a new front slope. We had to haul in more dirt to go above the rock wall, and of course wood chip mulch in both areas. More than a few plants were added too.

New front slope, late January

What will 2019 be the year of?

Erratic weather is a good guess since we now have 4 inches of snow on the ground and temperatures well below normal, after all of January felt more like March.

Ceramic fish don't mind the snow

Less watering, I hope. I think the bushes and trees planted in 2016 are doing well enough that I can water them a lot less. The wood chip mulch helps too. But of course I'm already planning to plant more...

Better screening along the north fence line. This is where a lot of the last batch of wood chips went. I'm putting in Pacific wax myrtle (myrica californica), tall Oregon grape (mahonia aquifolium), smooth sumac (rhus glabra), garrya elliptica if I can find it, oak leaf hydrangea, and thinking about smaller plants to mix in. I have some of the plants already, sitting in half dug holes with the pots covered by mulch, just waiting until we're past this cold spell to finish planting.

Not my favorite view, yet

More solid pathways all around the yard. Some areas need some stepping stones to keep the grass from turning to mud, other areas may just need more defined paths through the mulch. And I definitely need to make more stained glass stepping stones. Playing with concrete and glass is fun.

This path to the woodland border is turning to mud

And of course the weeding, pruning, and pest control that's needed to keep everything growing the way I want it to. The wood chip mulch helps enormously with the weeding, but the slugs and small pests (rabbits or squirrels?) are out already. More yard work keeps coming, but of course you realize by now that it's never supposed to end, and it gets me out of the house every day!

Wintersweet, chimonanthus praecox

New front hillside update

Echinacea, pennisetum and volunteer fireweed

Remember my new front hillside, created by removing a railroad tie retaining wall? I've been spending a lot of time here, planting, watering, weeding and thinking.

This is the view from the bottom, comparison from early March to late August:

A lot of the plants visible in the newest photo are rescued from before the excavation and probably temporary, but they're good at filling in space for now:

• Geranium, probably Rozanne - a bunch of small pieces are multiplying quickly
• English daisy - I thought only one piece survived but now there are two and they will spread fast too
• Hollyhocks - planted from seed last year, some were just below the excavation and I transplanted some along the wall
• Fireweed - a lovely native volunteer
• Gladiolus - I planted a bag of bulbs along the wall

Looking back from the house, here's a clearer view of this sunny section along the neighbor's wall:




I have added a lot of sun loving perennials, many bought on super sale from the big box hardware stores:

• Echinacea purpurea 'PowWow White'
• Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'
• Acaena inermis 'Purpurea' - a lovely purple groundcover
• Coreposis 'Mercury Rising' - rescued from the big box dead plant section
• Amsonia hubrichtii - same
• Spiraea, have to look up which one, maybe 'Goldflame' - same
• Hemerocalis 'Pink Flirt' - same
• Hemerocalis 'Wine Delight' - same
• Ajuga reptans 'Burgendy Glow' - a less aggressive bugleweed
• Fuchsia 'Delta's Sara' - as close to a blue fuchsia as I can find, crossing my fingers that it can handle this much afternoon sun
• Asters - a few small varieties that I seem to have lost the tags for are planted in front

There is a definite purple and gold theme to the perennials, and also to the larger bushes that I've planted in the back:

• Smoke bush, cotinus 'Grace'
• Variegated red twig dogwood, I think it is cornus alba 'Gouschaltii'
• Ninebark, physocarpus 'Morning Star'
• Native flowering currant, grown from a cutting

The bushes will eventually shade out some of the perennials, but this area has a lot of room for both - and this is only the bottom section of the new front slope! The rest will have to wait for part 2 of this post.

Here's a couple more views of this section, I like how it merges into my north shade border down the hill: