In bloom this week: Feb. 28, 2017

Amaryllis

Hello, spring - wait, have some more snow! I still love the snow but also waiting eagerly for spring in my garden. I guess that's a good thing, I'll be happy no matter what the weather is.

Indoors, one of my amaryllises put on a nice show, with three flowers. This is one of two that I've had for years, plus a bunch of baby bulbs that I hope will someday bloom. Two of my African violets are blooming, and a third has buds. A spider plant has been blooming all winter and shows no signs of stopping. And I've been buying tulips for the kitchen window, which one of our cats loves to chew on. 

Cat nibbled tulips

Outdoors, we are definitely lagging behind last year with nothing new in bloom in the last two weeks, except a gorgeous witchhazel 'Diane' that I just planted this weekend. The hellebores, rosemary and pieris japonica are still lovely too. 

Witchhazel 'Diane'

A little snow doesn't bother witchhazel

Hellebores stay cozy and warm

Pieris japonica

Pieris japonica doesn't mind snow either

Rosemary wishes it had a snow picture too

What's next? Crocuses, hyacinth and a daffodils are coming up, but I wouldn't bet on blooms within the next week. The forsythia is close though.

Forsythia

Building a woodland garden

The picture above gives away the fact that I've been slow to post updates, but I'm already hard at work on the first major project for this year.

This has been a sunny garden area next to the south side of the house. It's outside the kitchen window, which sounds convenient, but it can't be accessed without going downstairs. I've been using it as a vegetable garden, with flowers encroaching in recent years, but the soil is full of clay, it's soggy far into the spring and hard as a brick in the summer. Our yard is full of sunny areas, and really what I want is more shade. A tree here will provide shade to the kitchen in the heat of the summer and a nice cooler area just off of the back "deck" (large concrete slab area). Plus, more privacy from the neighbors on this side.

Starting point

There are railroad ties under those bricks too

The start of the plan was to remove the railroad ties, fill in the slope to its more natural shape, and plant a shade tree. Our yard has three separate retaining walls built with railroad ties that are now rotting. This is the smallest and the only one that we'll be able to tackle on our own. And.... this part is close to done!

We pulled out the railroad ties, which was actually not as hard as I expected except for a couple that were really buried. Still have to get someone to come haul them away, but they are out and without serious injury to the laborers. My husband had some scraped fingers and my back didn't feel so good after the last two!

I've been hauling organic matter from around the yard to fill in the slope: a couple of miscellaneous weed piles, rotting wood, grass that was dug up in the process of unburying railroad ties, and wood chip mulch. It'll be settling for a long time, but I don't need to plant anything right on the edge.

First day progress

Railroad ties around the edge are out

Then, planted a maple tree. This is an acer rubrum 'Franksred', which should have lovely fall color and grow fairly quickly to 30-40 feet. It's not really visible in photos, but it's planted raised up about 6 inches, the whole area will be heavily mulched to try to help with the clay.

I got it from a big block hardware store and ended up having to do surgery to clean up circling roots, but I think it will be ok. I took a chance when I saw it because it's exactly the tree I wanted and a large size. Well actually I thought about it for two weeks, because I rarely do anything hastily, and but then went ahead and took a chance!

Status today

I had to move my strawberries to pots to get them out of the way, which was a good opportunity to divide them. If anyone local wants strawberry plants, we have plenty! I still need to figure out where to plant a few vegetables, that'll probably be a raised bed, which will solve the clay soil issue. The flowers will need to move too, a few will be going nearby just outside of the old retaining wall boundary, but most don't need to be moved yet.

Next, I need to haul more material to fill in the slope and then look at what else to plant. There is room for one or maybe two rhododendrons further up the slope, and salal and sword ferns near the maple - just to start with. The area under the kitchen deck, visible in the top right of the photo above, will be planted similarly for a nice partly native woodland theme.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - February 2017

Lilac branches and amaryllis

February is living up to it's dark and stormy reputation today, so I have no new outdoor pictures and even my indoor pictures are dark. But the hellebores, wintersweet and pieris japonica continue to bloom cheerfully, see pictures from earlier in the month. They look just the same now!

Which is a little surprising because in the meantime, we had a snowstorm last week, 8 inches of wet heavy snow. Luckily we didn't lose any branches but one large tree in the neighborhood came down and there were a lot of broken branches in yards and parks.

Chimonanthus, wintersweet

Helleborus 'Cinnamon Snow'

Last year was much warmer, with crocuses blooming already and one very early flowering currant bloom. I planted a lot more bulbs in the fall and they're coming up, but nowhere near ready to bloom yet.

Various bulbs and aquilegia this week

Indoors is more cheerful, with one amaryllis about to open and a vase of lilac branches looking like they will bloom. The lilacs are leftover from much needed pruning last week (just before the snow), and I wasn't sure if they would bloom indoors but now I'm hopeful.

Lilac branches and amaryllis

My forced hyacinths are all doing well except the one on the right may not bloom - it's not growing roots. Notice the wintersweet out the window, and tulips from the grocery store!

Thanks as always to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting the monthly Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

In bloom this week: Feb. 4, 2017

Hyacinth in kitchen window

Now that I've crossed over a year of blogging, it's very interesting to compare with what was blooming last year. This year has been much cooler and overall drier (certainly not dry today!), but so far there isn't a lot of difference in what's blooming. I'm enjoying camellias and hellebores now because I planted them last year, and observing what else is in bloom around the neighborhood that I could plant this year. Perhaps snow drops and witch hazel!

Chimonanthus, wintersweet

Oregon grape - has weeks to go before real blooms

Pieris japonica - not new but I kept forgetting to take pictures last year

Rosemary

Camellia 'Yuletide'

Helleborus 'Pink Frost'

Helleborus 'Cinnamon Snow'

Indoors, my one African violet expanded to four somewhere over the course of the year, and two are in bloom now.

African violets

I've been experimenting with forcing bulbs this winter, and most of these hyacinths are coming along nicely. The two on the right were the worst looking bulbs, but I also put them in the vases later. They all cooled in the fridge and then the garage for the same time though.

Hyacinth indoors, wintersweet out the window

What's next? Lots of bulbs coming up, and I do expect to start to see that those are later than last year. I also planted many new bulbs in the spring... now to see if I remember what's where!

Daffodils

Focus for 2017

Everybody needs a cute squirrel picture

Happy blog anniversary! I wasn't sure that I'd even want to keep posting for a year, but I find that it helps me focus, keep track of what I'm doing, and remember what each season looks like in my garden. That was the point, so I'm happy that it's working for me - I hope my readers are getting some enjoyment too!

I looked back on my ground rules for 2016 and they still seem very relevant. I need to not start too many big projects, think about a full community of plants for each area, observe what is already growing, and use native plants where it makes sense. Now I have confirmed that mostly what is already growing is grass and invasives that I don't want, but I'm leaving that in because I think observing is really important. Like stop and smell the roses, but in this case, it's more stop and see where the blackberry is growing, then think about what to plant instead.

I'm again setting a few large garden project for this year.

Re-do south front yard
Planting yucca along the strip south of the driveway probably sounded like a good idea to someone who didn't realize that yucca isn't really removable. I've considered trying to dig it out, but don't think it's worth the effort. There is also a small pine tree in this area, a struggling rhododendron, and a few roses in front along the sidewalk. The rest is grass and weeds. I plan to at least trim the yucca, cover the grass and weeds with mulch and then plant perennials and perhaps a few more bushes.

South front yard withovergrown yucca

Remove small retaining wall bed and plant shade tree
This is a short retaining wall that was originally built to set a garden space into the hillside next to the southeast side of the house. The wall was built with railroad ties, which are now rotting. We have two other larger retaining walls with the same issue, but this one is small enough that we can tackle it ourselves. We plan to remove the railroad ties and fill in the slope to it's more natural shape - I say "we" because my husband will definitely be helping with this one! Then, plant a shade tree, probably some variety of maple.

Short retaining wall in the back

Replace grape and kiwi trellis
We put in a large trellis across a flat area toward the bottom of our hill about 12 years ago. The north section was intended to support two grapevines and a row of raspberries. The smaller south section was for three hardy kiwi. After a few years, the plants all did great - in fact, too great. The grapes shaded out the raspberries and I finally re-planted raspberries further down the slope last year. The trellis now needs to be moved and partially replaced, which will involve the dreaded fence hole digger.

The grape side of the trellis, hardy kiwi on the far end

Maintenance!
All of last year's projects are going to need careful attention in the spring, so I can't be too focused on new projects. I need to see what didn't survive the winter and make sure my plants can compete against the inevitable weeds. The meadow and back corner are going to need particular attention, I expect that it will be difficult to keep weeds and grass out. And I'll be fighting bits of knotweed for years.

A brief look back at 2016

January 20, 2017 - sunrise from my deck

When I started this blog last January and began to look at how to reshape my yard, my first rule was "don't take on more than I can finish and maintain". With that in mind, I narrowed my focus to three areas for the year: the rose garden, the back corner, and a section of sunny hillside.

Those links will show each area in reverse, so start from the oldest to see the full stories. I'm not big on recaps (ask me how much I hate annual performance reviews at work) but I just looked through each of those progress posts and I'm feeling pretty happy with what I started last year. Started, finished, and maintained - all are important. I started everything in my original plan and finished some, but of course already have ideas for changes, and maintaining goes on forever. I put a lot of work into my yard last year, I like where it's going, and that makes me happy.

January is a good time for gardeners to plan, and I've been thinking about what I want to focus on for 2017. I have a few new areas in mind, more about that soon!

Here are a few comparisons from last January/February to now. A garden never looks it's best in winter, but I like seeing all of the mulch instead of grass and weeds and knowing that my plants are there waiting to pop out in the spring!

Rose garden, early 2016 and 2017

Bottom section of rose garden, early 2016 and 2017

Back corner, early 2016 and 2017

Sunny hillside, early 2016 and 2017

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January 2017

Forsythia in the kitchen window

The ground has been frozen solid for most of 2017, winter holds tight finally after warm temperatures the previous two winters. The winter blooming plants have been showing off for weeks anyway, they don't mind the cold.

Helleborus 'Cinnamon Snow'

Helleborus 'Pink Frost'

Last frosty blooms on the Camellia 'Yuletide'

Pieris japonica, only a few blooms open

A few plants are teasing with buds, but will be weeks before any real blooms.

Forsythia

Oregon grape

Probably a daffodil

Indoors, my collection of African violets is multiplying, paperwhites continue to bloom, and the forsythia branch that I accidentally broke and brought in to force in a vase is cheering up my kitchen window.

African violets

Giant paperwhite

Forsythia

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Garden for hosting the monthly roundup of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. It's nice to check out flowers from around the world in the dark of winter!