🌱 Final Review 2020
- I underestimated how very dry it was. 6 inches of rain total, monsoons never really came. The common area looked like a total wasteland all year. Sunflowers barely hung on, looked scraggly.
- Plants just did not do anything -- some successes with irrigation, but many just held on. The Spanish broom by the front portal just never grew at all, in prior years it sized up and flowered beautifully. Irises never bloomed at all. Jackmanii clematis was a no show... lots of other no shows.
- Shrubblers system was a godsend, but too dinky for much use over many years. I need an irrigation system installed.
- The rabbit did real and noticeable damage, lopping to the ground my sedums, hollyhocks, the little deutzia shrub, sunflowers. Blonde Ambition grass never grew at all, eaten to the ground. With so many missing plants in front, nothing looked like anything!
December 14
Aaack. Another rabbit
Of course there are more, the trapped one was not the only rabbit on Walking Rain.
So the larger Havahart trap I just ordered has come out, and I need to relocate this rabbit before it establishes in my garden.
It continues to be cold day after day, even with the sun out it's not above freezing and night after night it's in the teens.
Nothing much for rabbits to eat now, so I hope the carrots attract him.
December 13
Snow
We've had several snowstorms this fall -- not even winter yet. One big one, and several smaller ones over quite a few weeks. Good moisture as it melts. Very cold now, in the teens at night, barely above freezing even on a sunny day. Chill breeze.
The redtwig dogwood, which I'm loving in its blue pot + red chairs, is even more perfect with snow on the deck.
November 24
Morning Sunlight
I do love looking out the bedroom slider and seeing how the sun lights up the redtwig dogwood and the juniper in the mornings.
I have to say putting the Arctic Fire redtwig in the blue pot was a very inspired. Love the combination, love the look.
November 18
Giving Up
There is simply nothing to see in the mulch, the leaves have crisped.
What am I doing wrong with these plants? They want dry, gritty, lean soil, but need water to start. I tried not to over water, but they shriveled at first without good soakings. Maybe garden soil is too much and they really need to be in grit or sand?
The flowers are so cute and bright, the seedheads last along time, the size is low and tidy, the foliage is glossy and nice, but . . . I think I am finally going to have to give up.
November 15
On These Cold Mornings
I really like the view from the bedroom slider, even on a cold wintry-feeling morning. I like how the red stems of the redtwig dogwood match the chairs and how the narrow blue juniper lights up.
When I make coffee in the morning, I look out the window over the coffeemaker and I love the look of the deck with the dark green boxwoods lit up behind the white aspen trunks. The white prayer flags on the fence, the blue clock, the sun just touching it all -- so nice.
The boxwoods really enclose that corner. I love the way that came out. Somehow I can't capture it in a photo. It's not just the look and composition, it's the feel of completeness, the sense of emerging light, and the flow drawing the eye to corners. It just pleases me when I see it through the window on cold mornings.
November 8
Overnight Rain
About a quarter inch of rain overnight, that came down quite strong but didn't last long.
But a quarter inch is good, much needed going into winter.
The rain was hard enough and there was some wind, and now, the sunny morning after, all the leaves have been knocked off the aspens and the little crabapple (not the red fruits, though.)
The redgtwig dogwood in its blue container has lost its leaves now and the red stems show up nicely.
November 5
Moved the Peony
Oof. I thought it would be easy to dig up the Bartzella peony but it was so entangled with big hard roots from the Virginia creeper, I couldn't budge it. Had to pull dirt away almost to the point where it was bareroot and then snag roots and cut roots and figure out which were peony and which were the vine.I did get it out, but manhandled it. It's now in the corner of the potting bench curve by the white rock -- still near the creeper vine, but only to the side and maybe the root strangulation won't be as bad. I do like it better next to the clematis and in the garden rather than stranded below the fence.
I probably set it back years. Or killed it. And it had come in so nicely this year, blooming and turning nice fall colors, despite being strangled by the vine.
If the clematis comes in and if the peony survives and the Jupiter's beard fills out, this end of the garden will be nice in late May and June with clear yellow peony balls, an upright deep purple vine, and a bushy rosy red Jupiter's beard:
We'll see.
November 4
Havahart trap
The rabbit was in the back yard! How he got in I do not know. Jim chased him out. The rabbit has now eaten branches of the aronia under the dining room window, and decapitated my little deutzia and ate hollyhock foliage and all the spreading sedums, not to mention the sunflowers by the garage and the new globe mallows I put out there. I despair.
I have ordered a Havahart trap. It will be here in a week. The rabbit has to go.
November 2
What to do about the cottonwood
It has slime flux. There has always been a knobby wound where the mistletoe has gotten in, but the tree was so green and leafy, providing wonderful shade on the house. The dining room sparkled in dappled shadows from the tree in the mornings.
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| The cottonwood was gorgeous and green and the shade was wonderful. But it does dominate so close, and hide the house in a way a smaller tree would not. |
But this summer there was evidence of wetwood oozing.
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| Slime flux got bad this summer |
John Coates was here today from Coates Tree Service and he diagnosed it. Common, usually found in the soil, it affects cottonwoods often, either through branch pruning or limb injury, or from the roots if they are cut. The bacteria is in the soil and the tree takes it up into the bole.
I did a lot of root chopping and hacking as I added to the planting area under the dining room windows this year. I cut out a lot of cottonwood roots, and think now I may have created the problem. Sheesh.
There is no cure or treatment. Usually the tree survives and carries on, sealing off the area. But it can weaken the tree.
This summer it looked awful and stressed.
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| It looked awful all summer |
Now, looking so sparse all summer, especially on the one side, it didn't provide much shade either.
Coates recommends starting a new tree under it as its replacement and waiting about 3 years for the tree to take -- then after 3 years, cut down the cottonwood.
Should we do that?
October 31
Clean up
I am used to allocating days and days for fall clean up in my old gardens back east. So much to do. I went out today after the snow melted and the freeze had blackened everything, thinking to get a start on cutting back foliage and taking out annuals, and . .
. . . I was done in 20 minutes. So much easier here, so much less to do. I had cleaned a few things up before the storm so that helped, but really, this is a small and easily manageable garden (except for watering tasks).
October 27
It's not even winter yet!
There are still 55 days till the start of winter on Dec. 21 -- almost two months to go.
Saturday we were sitting on the patio with Greg having wine. It was pleasant. He was headed back to Denver after his Grand Canyon adventure with Tom.
Now, Tuesday morning we are buried. No sitting on the patio now! The morning temp was 17 degrees. Bitter.
Gardening is done for the year, completely over. All this snowy moisture melting into the parched dry earth below will be good, though. That's the silver lining to this too-early winter event in fall.
October 25
Snow and Freeze Coming
It was the calm before the storm today: very, very oddly still and heavily overcast. Warm. Snow and rain and deep freeze temps are coming tonight and in the next two days. It doesn't really warm up too much afterward in the week.
The Cape plumbago looks great right now, and catches afternoon sunlight at that corner beautifully. But I didn't want to bring the big pot indoors when snow comes. And it needed re-potting anyway. I took it out and will buy a new one next year.
The Virginia creeper is now brown and ugly. Sigh. Winter comes.
Seiryu Japanese maple simply refuses to have any fall color. Brownish. Doing well in its pot, but no color.
I cut all the deep purple After Midnight lavender flowers to put in a vase.
The plant looked great, but with the snow coming, I chopped them off.
The sumac by the back fence is bright red, but the others by the garage wall are golden, slowly changing to coppery orange but overall not really red.
The redbud's leaves, so thick and glossy this year with all my watering, are turning lemony yellow. Raydon's Favorite aster blooms away, deep blue.
October 20
Damn rabbit . . .
. . . ate the tiny little deutzia twig that was coming along so nicely in the front garden outside the front sliders. Ate it to the ground. Will the roots survive to next spring? There is literally nothing left.
October 19
Autumn Colors
Sumacs are coloring up golden yellow, except for the one by the honeysuckle, that gets redder:
October 17
Some Observations
The new crabapple is noticeably greener now after a week in the ground, really perked up.
The Weihenstephaner sedums in the front triangle are gone now. Totally gone. I couldn't figure it out. Healthy plants, lots of compost, good watering and they got smaller and smaller until gone. I think it was the rabbit. Sedums are NOT plants that rabbits prefer, but here in a dry climate their fleshy leaves might be attractive, and I did see the rabbit in that part of the garden a lot. (Also ate the Blonde Ambition grass in front completely to the ground.)
Things that seemed so stunted this spring have put on nice growth at the end of the season:
> First Choice caryopteris, the little sprig of Nikko deutzia, the dwarf Lacey Blue Russian sage, even the Robustissima fall anemone has put out lots of leaves and blooms. Still small, but growing finally.
Things that look good but are supposed to be big and full and aren't:
> fragrant aster, Raydon's Favorite, was a huge billowy thing for me in CT, but here it is a tidy little plant with vey nice blooming, just not very big. Honeycomb butterfly bush is healthy and bloomed well but is an 8 inch tall ground cover.
October 13
Fall is Here
Some lovely sights. The Virginia creeper finally has red color this year -- not scarlet, but a mottled, complex color that is nice. The Cape plumbago is reblooming in its brown pot shielding the waterworks around the corner.
And the Blue Ice amsonias along the base of the fence are turning a great yellow -- still small, but nice. The ones in the guest room window corner are not coloring at all, but have been bigger all season. A sunlight issue?
Swallowtail columbine foliage has been lush and green all summer, spreading out and encroaching on the other things in this garden. Spectacular, so green and so luxuriant.
Fall is here for sure. Weather has been delightful -- dry (too dry) and sunny with deep blue skies. Cold nights, warm sun, nice air.
October 12
Light Grabber
The newly planted crabapple is an absolute light grabber. When the gray gravel and red rocks behind it and big round shrubs are all still in the morning shadow of the garage, the crabapple stands up and just nabs all the light.
The leaves and the berries and the upright shape are exactly the contrast and foil I wanted by the shrubs.
Newman's planted it -- I think too deep, but I have to go with their expertise. He also cut just a tiny round out of the landscape fabric, the size of the pot, and said the roots will grow out into the soil beneath the fabric. Really? But that seems to be the way it's done.
I love seeing this crabapple from all angles. It adds so much to an empty space.
October 7
Perfect!
They come next week. I couldn't be happier with finding it, the size (#10 container), and the price - $184 including planting.
Already, standing tilted in its pot, it adds so much to that empty gravel space between the table and the garage door. I need to figure out exactly where I want it placed -- it has to be seen from the kitchen window, it must balance the two shrubs, it needs to enclose the patio table, and not crowd the sidewalk.
Precise siting has to manage all that!
I dithered for so long over even putting anything in this spot, and what it should be and how it would crowd the shrubs.
But there's already a sense of fullness and composition to the back yard now, even with this small, gangly little tree not even yet planted.
I can't get over how transformative this simple addition to the scene is.
Love.
October 6
Planted tulips
I went out to plant the bag of 10 tulip bulbs and immediately wandered off instead and created a little rock garden grouping out by the Mojave sage by the front corner of the driveway.
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| Photographing tiny gray leaved plants in gravel is impossible! Can't see anything. |
The one surviving sage had been stranded out there by itself, off to the side. With no particular plan, I moved three brown rocks out next to it, stuck the 4th silver edged horehound among them and then took the dwarf lavender Thumbelina Leigh out of the terra cotta vase (it wasn't working there) and plopped it down next to the rocks. It makes a vignette of dry loving sun plants and anchors the sage.
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| Doesn't look like much yet. Doesn't look like anything at all, actually . . . |
If I haven't killed the Mojave sage (I might now be over watering it?) and if the horehound marrubium grows and spills over the rocks, and the dwarf lavender hangs on . . . this could anchor the empty corner as you turn into the driveway.
Then I did go back and plant the Tequila Sunrise tulips -- in pinks, yellows, and peach -- to add to and lighten up the tulips already there along the garage wall.
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| Tequila Sunrise colors on the left, my existing mix on the right |
My last project of the day was to take all the potato sized (and larger) rocks away from the base of the aspens where they had at one time formed an irrigation ring to hold water. I like the bare look much better, it's more natural and less visually cluttered with the garden behind.
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| It looks more natural now. Those are all the rocks I removed. |
October 2
Plants Arrived
Kitchen Courtyard:
- Planted the Professor Kippenburg aster near the front. It's a dark, rich purple not lavender. I like that.
- Moved one of the Icicle veronicas from the dining room window garden to kitchen courtyard. It looks surprisingly big and healthy and was even re-blooming -- will it be in too much sun now?
- Planted two silver edged horehound ground covers at the very front edge along the walk. They're tiny. I didn't give them much room, so we'll see how they survive, if they do.
Front Triangle:
- Took out the tiny monardella macranthas (these were Marian Sampson) and put them in my new mini crevice garden under the patio table. When I dug them they had dry roots, despite every other day soakings. Why were they so dry?
- Put one of the new silver edged horehound plants in the spot. It may like the dry soil better.
Potting Bench Curve:
- Planted the two red flowering Texas betony plants (lambsear) at the back.
- Took out the rosy Agastache neomexicana -- a nice enough plant but too rose colored and smallish. It's gone.
Dining Room Window garden:
- Planted 5 more plumbagos on the right side, including on the other side of the rock creek. I had to add a ton of bagged garden soil for that.
Out in the Common Area:
- Put down compost around the Maximilian sunflowers -- so sandy and dry out there -- and around the other plants I'm tending there.
- Planted the two globemallow plants I got at Plants of the Southwest -- they were too big and rangy for my gardens, but should be nice (if they survive) in front of the sunflowers along the garage wall.
Still to plant:
- Where to put the purple flowered Marcus salvia? It is supposed to be like a dwarf May Night. Hmm?
- There is one more silver edged horehound sprig -- where to put it?
September 27
Much Better
I've been over watering the Kintzley's Ghost honeysuckle and that may have caused bud blast and no flowers this spring. It wants pretty dry soil but had seemed to be struggling at first and needing a lot of water. But I really need to cut back, and I knew I needed to improve the soil around it.
So I spent this morning adding bagged garden soil around the honeysuckle's roots and all the way to the left where I will (next spring) plant the George Davidson crocosmias.
Both sides of the honeysuckle were low spots where potato sized rocks had been and where there really was no soil. I used a full bag and another half just to fill the areas and raise the level up to the rock swale edge. This is much better, although the vine's stem is now sitting in a bit of a depression.
There will be nice soft soil to the side to put the crocosmia corms in next spring. Just adding soil to the left and right of the honeysuckle was enough to visually make it look much better. The slight elevation defines the rock creek bed better. It no longer slopes from the sidewalk back toward the fence.
More plants are needed, and I have an aster, silver-edged horehound groundcovers, and the crocosmias coming. I also want a Vanilla Orange kniphofia near the front, and will tuck in one of the white Icicle veronicas somewhere. Need more Mexican Hats off to the right too.
Most of all the low nepeta in front and the buckwheat behind it need to bulk up.
September 25
Vision v. Reality
This is what I want - exuberant, relaxed, colorful plants all mingled together naturally in an open space.
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| Annual red sage, chamisas, asters and sunflowers at the entrance to Plants of the Southwest |
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| My garden needs help |
- I dislike the lank open look of tall salvias by themselves as specimen plants, but if they are mingled with other big plants they look great.
- I don't have the space and so I am always after dwarf plants and when they don't fill the area I plant more dwarf plants. I get clumps. My little areas are more suitable to rock garden styles.
- I keep wanting structure and form in my gardens (boxwoods, vines on structures, rocks to define areas), but then I am frustrated that there is little color or movement or relaxed wildness. How to resolve that?
September 24
UH, no
I love the pretty Munroe orange globe mallow that is now in the driveway strip. It may get big and want to spread but I think I can tend it and keep it tidy and if it sprawls forward I can tie it to the fence.
So I bought two more globe mallows from Plants of the Southwest yesterday when I stopped in to look. I got them for the kitchen courtyard to fill spaces that are driving me crazy in this empty - not filling out garden. They are Sphaeralcea ambigua and . . . uh, no.
This is Desert globe mallow, and it can bloom red, orange, white or pink. And . . . it gets very big and openly sprawly. Two of these are NOT going to fit in tight spaces between plants in my small curve of a garden.
It looks kind of like a sage, but with more interesting foliage and pretty cup-like flowers. It belongs out in the open in a dry spot, not stuffed in with other plants.
Where to put these? They can't go in the kitchen courtyard.
September 23
Random Thoughts
Getting 4 marrubiums from HCG.
Put two at front edge of the kitchen courtyard to spill over rock swale and walk edge* Put one next to the off center Mojave sage to spread out near it?Put one in the driveway strip center near the edging to fall over it like the veronicas (getting two more veronicas too).
Driveway strip
Add some tall sunflowers to the driveway strip.
Kitchen Courtyard
Move 3 of the geums to shadier potting bench curve in more shade, keep three. Add more.
September 22
Perennial Moving Day
One move leads to another. And another.
- I moved two Pow Wow white coneflowers to sit in front of the middle boxwood. White flowers against dark green will be nice.
- They seem to like a lot of shade.
- I moved the red Kudos agastache to the kitchen courtyard in front of the Kintzley's Ghost vine.
- A pop of late season red off to the side complements the reblooming Red Cascade rose.
- I moved two of the Totally Tangerine geums to a spot just a bit further back, opening up the very front edge by the walk for the silver edged horehounds (Marrubium) I just ordered.
- The geums are green and healthy and get a lot of water, but all season they have gotten smaller and smaller, just tiny foliage balls now. I think I need to move them again to more shade.
- I put the fourth Owl's Claws clump in the dining room window garden, behind the grasses
- It's pretty tightly planted in with Leilani coneflowers and the larkspurs & geraniums, maybe too crowded? Very shaded there.
- I took out the dwarf Thumbelina Leigh lavender that was in the kitchen courtyard and put it in the vase shaped terra cotta pot, where 'Wee One' had been, but that's gone -- it was too dusty gray and I lost it.
- This one is darker purple. This time I put a plastic pot inside the terra cotta vase to keep it from needing so much water.
I have two orders from High Country Gardens coming, so more planting, but I think I opened up spaces for that and I don't think I need to move anything else. Maybe. Maybe the geums.
September 21
Moving Rocks, Moving Dirt
This was a project I wanted to get done for a while. The kinnikinniks were planted in what amounted to holes in pockets of gravel under the Spanish broom and Chinese privet. I wanted to scrape away the top gravel and get more dirt in there for them to do their thing -- a slender branch touches the ground and roots itself, spreading out. They needed more dirt around them.
So I moved a lot of rocks, mostly putting the excess in back behind the urn to cover the 1/2 inch Shrubbler hose that snakes along the fence. It's hidden by more gravel now.
The little plants are doing well, looking healthy and they had done a little rooting in the gravel already.
Later I re-spread the gravel in a very thin layer over the dark soil, to keep it from drying out too much, but hopefully still allowing the stems to find soil and take root.
September 19
Solving Problems with Pots
Problem 1
The blue urn needed a new home, its shape and size weren't really good for planting anything.
I moved it under the rain chain and I like the repetition of turquoise with the chair pads nearby.
Problem 2
The gap between the Spanish broom and Chinese privet bothered me, especially since it was all I saw from the kitchen window when standing at the sink. A dark, shady spot that needed something to fill it. The owl family in the stones just drew the eye down into the dark recess between the two shrubs, making the gap even more noticeable.
Even from the side looking down the walkway the space seemed too dark and empty.
Instead of planting the whole urn, I put rocks in to fill it, then laid the plastic shallow pot on the rocks inside the urn. I planted the oregano in that, so it is easily watered, and easily removed if I have to bring it in for winter.
I thought about planting this gap area with something big and flowery and eye catching -- a white flowered Honorine Jobert fall anemone perhaps -- but I couldn't deal with creating another planting area and another garden to tend and water.
I also thought about moving the big deteriorating urn from the front portal here, it would have so much more presence and fill more of the area. But I could barely move it and I didn't like the alternatives for something in front.
As it is, the little kinnikinniks are at the feet of the pot, I hope they spread. They're doing well.
It's all brown and soft pink colors which kind of recedes but at least it fills the area a little bit. It doesn't draw the eye down and toward the shady empty spot so much.
Problem 3
The big urn in front looked blah with the soft colors of the oregano. Too monochrome, especially as the oregano turned pinkish.
I moved the oregano to the brown plastic urn that's now in back between the broom and privet shrubs. The oregano looks better against the brown, not so monochrome rose colored. Now, what to put in the urn in front?
I planted the Monardella macrantha that I had been keeping a pot all summer, waiting for a home. It looks tiny now, but should fill out and the bright red should pop. Best seen close up, so putting it in this pot at the front door works. It gets shade here, which the monardella wants.
Also, it may repeat the monardellas in the triangle garden by the front walk if they ever fill in and become noticeable.
Will it drape over the sides? Maybe a little, but the pops of bright red should be eye catching.
I planted it in a plastic pot set into the neck of the urn for easy removal. The pot doesn't look too obvious.