Just a girl with a hammer

Tag: garden

  • Garden bloggers’ bloom day April 2013

    Garden bloggers’ bloom day April 2013

    I didn’t think I had that much blooming but then I started walking through the yard . . . we have a TON blooming right now. My dogwood is a beautiful shocking pink right now.

    Cornus florida

    Camassia leichtlinii ‘Blue Danube’

    NOID Lewisia 

    Pieris japonica

    Hooker’s fairybells (Disporum hookeri var. oreganum)

    Ribes sanguineum

    ‘Oregon Sunshine’ blueberries

    Forget-me-not

    Fringeflower ‘Sizzling Pink’ (Loropetalum chinense)

    Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’

    Stream violet (Viola glabella)

    Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) and Tulipa ‘Rosalie’

    Tidytips (Layia platyglossa)
    Coastal strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis)

    Cerinthe retorta
    Trillium ovatum
    Oxalis oregana
    Happy bloom day! Be sure to head over to our host Carol’s site to see what else is blooming.
  • One of these things is not like the other

    One of these things is not like the other

    One of my tulips mutated or reverted and is now yellow. And it had the audacity to produce an offshoot bulb! Part of me doesn’t care, as I already have a mess of orange, pale pink, peach, black, and red bulbs. What’s the harm in adding yellow to the mix? (For the record, the pale pink in the very back offends me the most in this scheme.)

    In other strange surprises, I’ve found English ivy popping up in the backyard. One spot was in the rain garden, which made me emit this terrible gargling yodel-scream as I ripped it out. This is the part they don’t tell you about when creating a bird-friendly yard: sometimes they spread your neighbors’ invasive plants to your garden. It’s a good thing they’re so cute when they splash around in the birdbath.

  • Help

    Help

    I just need to admit something right up front: this is all my fault. I have badly abused a tree and whatever the equivalent of the DHS is for trees should be called on me.

    In the NE corner of my yard, the one I want to be the focal point of the garden, I planted a Cryptomeria japonica ‘Elegans.’ It was beautiful. 

    But then we took off its braces and lines and it started slouching. It got much worse than this.
    I finally yanked it in November and put it the only place I had room: the vegetable bed. And it immediately flopped over and I did nothing. I just left it like this all winter because I am a terrible person.
    I needed to plant up the vegetable garden but I didn’t have a big enough pot for the tree. I was hoping to pawn the tree off on Jane, who I was confident could teach it to stand up straight again.
    So I plopped it here, just to the right of where it used to be. I was hopeful that it standing up straight-ish. I thought, “Maybe if it’s a little more protected, with some shrubs to lean up on, it will be okay.”
    I even thought that maybe I could move it over to the left and plant the Korean fir to the left of that, and it would look something like this:
    But then I realized that the Cryptomeria will always be bigger than the Korean fir. And while I was in the shower I thought, maybe I’ll just plant a deciduous tree like a Japanese maple and be done with it. Yes, they’re ubiquitous (and not evergreen) but they are pretty.
    And then the Cryptomeria did this and I’m back to thinking it can’t be saved.
    Can this tree be rehabbed? And what would you plant in this corner? I feel like it needs to be anchored with something tall, preferably evergreen.
    The view in winter

    I currently have a bunch of grasses and Joe Pye weed planted in the back, so we’ll have winter interest next year. I still feel like it needs an exclamation point, though. Maybe I should just move the potted weeping blue spruce here and call it good? If you have ideas or opinions, my ears are open. 
  • Just FYI

    Just FYI

    If you give a castor bean plant water and fish emulsion every three weeks and plant it in a sunny place, it will look like this.

    And the root ball will be so thick and sturdy by the next spring that you’ll have to clip the roots and then hang your whole body weight on the trunk to get it out of the ground.

    I planted a Chionochloa rubra in its place, along with some annual tidytips (Layia platyglossa) to fill in.

    Greg was so insistent that this grass not poke into the driveway (the castor bean did) that I planted it too close to the Mahonia. Now the question is, can I plant another castor bean here for the summer while the grass gets up to size? Maybe I won’t give it quite so much fish emulsion this time.

  • We’re in technicolor

    We’re in technicolor

    My apologies to those of you still buried under snow. It was pretty glorious in Portland this weekend, with the weather hitting 75 degrees. Greg mowed the lawn, I got a little sunburned, I complained over and over about being hot. It’s officially spring.

    This is that time when the garden starts going nuts. Things are a little technicolor in the backyard right now. The spirea ‘Magic Carpet’ is in the neon phase.

    The old tulip color scheme was black and pale pink. Now that I have the orange tulips installed I need to relocate those peachy colored guys to another part of the yard.

    The Japanese golden sedum in the wheelbarrow is filling in nicely and it’s electrically chartreuse.

    The Dart’s Gold ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Dart’s Gold’) under the cedar screams from across the yard (in a good way).

    My next door neighbor has an impressive swath of muscari, which I’m liking with all the orange tulips I planted along here. I know orange isn’t everyone’s favorite but it’s my favorite. Especially with blue.

    Happy spring, y’all!

    Tulipa ‘Flair’

  • Trying again

    Trying again

    I swear this is the last time. If weather or animals take out this birdbath again, I’m giving up.

    This is the $5 birdbath that lost its top after a cat or a raccoon knocked it over and broke it. It had already been broken and glued together once before.

    I bought a saucer from Lowe’s and glued it to the base with Liquid Nails. I swear if it gets broken again, I’m going to break up with bird baths. Me and watching birds on Saturday mornings in bed, with the curtains open and coffee in hand . . . oh, who am I kidding? I’ll probably replace it again. Bird bathing is so adorable!

  • Bad lines, bad code, bad blogger.

    Bad lines, bad code, bad blogger.

    So the other weekend I decided to smother more lawn, resulting in this mess:

    After work one day I decided to smooth out my lines by removing some of the surrounding sod, this time with my edger and pick axe. I decided to free hand it, instead of using a hose to guide me to a straight line or a smooth parabola. And it started POURING, so I looked like this.

    And my jeans were soaked through and it was getting colder, so I didn’t even get everything done.

    Blind children could make better lines.
    So it still looks stupid. But! I got my little Cistus ‘Elma’ in the ground and it’s very well watered-in.
    I ordered some Linaria reticulata ‘Flamenco’ after seeing it on Kaveh’s blog. I love his blog so much.
    Photo source: Annie’s Annuals
    If I put the Linaria here, this is what it will look like with what’s already planted there. I need to check back in with Scott (who designed this whole scheme) so I don’t get too off-course.
    I’d love to incorporate (my new obsession) red tussock grass (Chionochloa rubra), blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracillis ‘Blonde Ambition’), and a yellow echinacea cultivar or some sort, which would result in something like this.
    I’m not great with color combinations, so I need to tread carefully. Is the Chionochloa going to be out of place? I think it might be out of place. If you’re feeling opinionated, would you weigh in in the comments? 
    And if you’re having trouble commenting, would you shoot me a message? (heather [at] justagirlwithahammer.com) Loree has brought to my attention that she’s getting blocked with Chrome and Internet Explorer but I can’t reproduce it on my computer. I think I monkeyed with the Disqus code and made everything worse. How surprising.
  • Garden bloggers’ bloom day March 2013

    Garden bloggers’ bloom day March 2013

    I’ve been ignoring the weather report lately, just assuming that it’s going to rain. Then when the rain stops it’s like a miracle. What’s going on out there? Why is so bright and warm looking? Oh my gosh, it’s the sun!

    Crocus vernus ‘Remembrance’ and C. chrysanthus ‘Romance’

    Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’

    Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’

    Pieris japonica

    The other day I was weeding my funny little wheelbarrow planter and, like an idiot, I pricked myself in the finger with one of the agaves, leaving a spike deeply embedded in my index finger. I was so preoccupied with my finger that I didn’t even notice that my Pieris was now gift-wrapped. Once I finally noticed that it was blooming I started laughing and laughing. How can you miss that?

    Be sure to head over to May Dreams Gardens to see the full show. Thanks, Carol!

  • The plants now control me and my weekends

    The plants now control me and my weekends

    It all started so innocently with a plan for a daphne purchase. I’d read on Growing Steady about Sean Hogan’s plant talk at the Yard, Garden and Patio show, where he mentioned a daphne that flowers for 12 months.

    Oh my god, I could smell daphne all year long! That’s my version of the American dream.

    So two weekends ago I headed out to Cistus where I picked up the most beautiful plant in the world and two Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata Alba’. The only problem is that the daphne Sean mentioned was Daphne x transatlantica ‘Everblooming Alba’. So I called up Cistus last week and asked if they had the everblooming version. They told me they were still quite tiny and not yet out on the tables but they would pull a couple for me to buy. So I headed back to Cistus this weekend and picked them up. While I was there I stumbled on a couple of groups of grasses that weren’t yet labeled and didn’t have prices on them. I knew they probably weren’t for general sale but I grabbed some anyway. When I got to the counter the guy was like, “Yeah, those are for a landscaping job and you can’t have them.”

    They were Chionochloa rubra (New Zealand tussock grass) and Carex dipsacea (Autumn sedge) and I want them so badly it hurts.

    Look how beautiful!

    New Zealand tussock grass. Image source.

    I also eyed a chartreuse bear’s breeches (Acanthus Mollis ‘Hollard’s Gold’) but decided to wait on buying it. But! I finally had the everblooming daphne in my hot little hands, and you know what? It doesn’t smell like daphne. It smells very good but it’s closer to honeysuckle. I’m glad I have it and I’m glad I have two standard daphnes to get my fix in the spring.

    I’d been planning to put the daphne to the left of the front door, in a planting bed I’d build sometime this spring. When I moved in there was a rhododendron here with a bunch of buried bricks marking a curve around it.

    The weather was really nice on Saturday so I thought I’d start clearing the sod and bricks from this area. The soil level was all over the place and graded toward the house, so I had to fix that.

    Then on Sunday I headed down to Oregon Decorative Rock and picked up some edging stones like I used in the agave berm and some quarter-ten crushed basalt. I started leveling everything and laying the stones down . . . and then I got tired and hungry and decided to go plant shopping instead.

    This is a tricky spot because very close to the house is almost always in the shade and it gets partial coverage from the eaves, so toward the house is drier. As you get to the outside of bed it gets sunnier and wetter, though it’s still in shade for the hottest part of the day.

    I ran down to Portland Nursery and picked up a Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ and three Carex dipsacea. Suck it, Cistus. I got my autumn sedges!

    BUT. I had decided that I needed some Acanthus mollis ‘Hollard’s Gold’ here. It tolerates drier conditions than the straight species and it would brighten this dark area up. Portland Nursery didn’t have any ‘Hollard’s Gold’ so I went back to Cistus (40 miles round trip). For the third time in two weeks. Global warming? MY FAULT. I’m so sorry.

    I planted three because I’m impatient. Anyone who grows Acanthus mollis is tsking right now because they get big and they tend to spread and three is so unnecessary. At some point during the planting of this bed I pulled a muscle in my back, so now I’m miserable and my bed will be buried alive by bear’s breeches.

    And the daphne? It’s so little you can barely see it. The mature size is 5×5 but it may get eaten alive by Acanthus mollis before then. I also tucked in the new hebe I bought at Joy Creek.

    I still need to get more rock and finish the base layer, add a second layer, then top everything off with gravel. I also want to reposition the bear’s breeches a bit. I was trying to keep them in the shade band, hence them all being squished together. I’ve since read in a few places that Hollard’s Gold can take quite a bit of sun, so I’m not as worried about them getting scorched now.

    Then I need to remove more sod because the area adjacent to this bed will be the new pathway to the backyard. But first I need to rest up my back a bit (it’s getting better!). Send Advil. And go ahead and chastise me for planting so many bear’s breeches. I can take it.

  • What was I thinking?

    What was I thinking?

    Before

    My front yard looks so DUMB right now.

    After

    I’m trying to slowly smother the lawn under my dogwood, in increasing small sections, hoping not to stress out a very old tree. I’d probably be better off using a deep layer of wood chips but I thought that would look weird. So instead I used two smallish cardboard boxes and some yard debris bags to go underneath a layer of compost in this strange pattern. Doesn’t that look so much better than a layer of wood chips?

    I don’t know what I was thinking. I wish I could use a sod cutter but the dogwood roots are just too shallow for it.

    That strange half-circle of compost is where a previous owner had put down a circle of bricks to better show off the sewer cleanout that sits in the middle of our lawn. It was planted with daffodils. We removed the bricks and I kept rolling my ankle so I filled it with compost.

    In this newly smothered area (from here on out know as “the meadow”) I’d like to plant a huge swath of Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’, a grass that I saw at Wind Dancer and I’m still kicking myself for not purchasing.

    Image source: High Country Gardens

    The good news is that High Country Gardens was purchased by American Meadows so their wonderful stock is still available to us in the event that I can’t find this grass locally.

    Also in this area (somewhere  . . . ) I’m going to put this baby.

    This is a Cistus ‘Elma’, one of the plants Maurice talked about at the Yard Garden and Patio show. It’s evergreen with beautiful red stems and sticky leaves that emit a wonderful fragrance when the sun warms them. So even when it’s not covered in beautiful white flowers it still smells good.

    Image source: Joy Creek Nursery

    It’s also drought tolerant and incredibly hardy. And it was $8.50. I’m so excited about this guy.

    The bigger picture for this area includes continuing this pathway that goes behind the agave berm . . .

    . . . through the meadow, where it will spread out to accommodate a bench or a large boulder or some sort of sitting device under the tree. And the path will continue to the backyard, so you can theoretically do one large loop through both the front and back yards.

    The meadow will be expanded with more grasses and drought-tolerant perennials. I want to build up a small hedgerow to the right of the dogwood tree to create a little privacy for the seating area. By the house smaller shrubs and perennials will go in. Behold, my MS Paint skills!

    So I have a plan but my neighbors probably can’t tell. My hope is that everyone is so distracted by my neighbor’s strange burial mounds that they don’t even notice my crappy smothering attempts.

    I don’t know why.