Still very much winter here, but my husband is building tables for the greenhouse today!
Showing posts with label arbors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arbors. Show all posts
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Clematis Photos- Best of 2011: Part 1
I have been doodling and reading, searching and planning the placement of my clematis at my new home. No house picked out yet, no idea what sort of sun exposure or climbing aparatus I'll have on hand, but I know- no matter where I go, most of my clematis are coming with me. I am loving the idea of pairing this color with that, and some nodding small flowers with huge flat ones- like play time or art class for me. Way too entertaining. I seriously spend hours and hours on this folks...
In thumbing through some pictures I thought I'd like to so a series of posts showing off some of my favorite clematis shots of last year. Arguably, clematis are some of the most photogenic flowers out there! So, this is part one of a series of posts with some of favorite clematis photos taken in my Wisconsin garden throughout 2010.
Violet Stargazer:
unknown, possibly Huvi:
Polish Spirit & Pillu:
Etoille Violette:
Polish Spirit:
The President:
Violet Charm:
unknown:
In thumbing through some pictures I thought I'd like to so a series of posts showing off some of my favorite clematis shots of last year. Arguably, clematis are some of the most photogenic flowers out there! So, this is part one of a series of posts with some of favorite clematis photos taken in my Wisconsin garden throughout 2010.
Violet Stargazer:
unknown, possibly Huvi:
Polish Spirit & Pillu:
Etoille Violette:
Polish Spirit:
The President:
Violet Charm:
unknown:
HF Young:
Madame Julia Correvon
unknown:
Rooguchi:
unknown:
Fireworks:
Durandii:
Rooguchi:
More to come soon.
Happy gardening!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Springety Spring, Spring!
Well, there is no escaping it now! Spring is here, and the plants are growing. This has truly been an odd year, as the snow melted and the temps climbed up almost immediately. I have been rushing to pull the winter protection (a 6-10 inches blanket of leaves and twigs) off my beds so the bulbs could grow. The longer I leave the protective layer on, the harder it becomes to remove later without damaging what is growing beneath. Look how these tulips just pushed themselves right through the barrier.
Once the barrier is removed the parts of the tulip that were not getting an sun are yellowish; two days have passed now and they are all solid red. Here is the mis-colored bulb:
Beneath the surface I've found blooms on primrose.
This spotted deadnettle also had little purple flowers on it.
I was stunned to find this Wallflower (Bowles Mauve) had not only survived winter, but was pushing out blooms already. All my research told me this guy was shortlived, and not hardy. Surprise!
The sedum 'Angelina' is glowing already!
Once the barrier is removed the parts of the tulip that were not getting an sun are yellowish; two days have passed now and they are all solid red. Here is the mis-colored bulb:
Beneath the surface I've found blooms on primrose.
This spotted deadnettle also had little purple flowers on it.
I was stunned to find this Wallflower (Bowles Mauve) had not only survived winter, but was pushing out blooms already. All my research told me this guy was shortlived, and not hardy. Surprise!
The sedum 'Angelina' is glowing already!
The soil has been quiet soft and workable, so in the new sunny front yard we've errected my newest arbor, and I planted sweet peas on the base for now. I will be putting flower beds on boths sides for dahlias, roses, and clematis, among others things.
I hope to have some blooms, soon. I can also hardly wait to start dividing and moving a few things. Happy Gardening!
Friday, May 16, 2008
General Progress, Warm Nights Ahead.
Our overnight temps are going to remain steady near 50 this week, so some serious growing will be going on in the garden. I can't wait! I spent some of the nights this week putting the finishing touch on some of my garden beds. I thought I'd share--these should make fine before-pictures in just a short time.
I dug out some sod along our new fence on Mother's Day, and plugged in some roses. Day before yesterday I tucked in some annuals around the roses, and added some mulch. I added petunias. I know I'm going to regret this, but I had to try it. I've mentioned before that petunias drive me crazy, dying mid-summer and looking down-right garbage-y after the rain. But they impact of the huge white flowers is unmatched by any other annual that maintains a low growth habit beneath the roses. Many of the roses I've planted here I have not had in the garden before, and thus have not seen their color. Having a nice neutral annual beneath was my desired goal. Additionally, I added some annuals I grew from seed in the house, including snapdragons and celosia "red velvet,' as well as ice plant (proper name is just slipping my mind right now).
As of last spring this space below was lawn with a burning bush in the middle. I started with a small kidney bean shape up front, filled with lilies, bee balm, hostas, lamb's ear, bleeding heart, and daisies. last fall I extended the bed back, and this spring, after the fence was put in, I extended it all the way back to the fence. Lawn is overrated. LOL. This picture is front the front sidewalk:
This is from the middle of the bed, still facing the backyard. Poor 'distant drums' is surrounded by bare root roses for now. She looks loney, but there's another rose, 'proud land' about to bloom in this bed soon.
This is from the picket fence looking toward the sidewalk.
Another shot of rose, "distant drums,' with campanula 'blue-eyed blonde' and spirea 'firelight' at her base, and hosta 'sum and substance' and 'fried bananas' to her side, as well as weeping norway spruce (a $33 healthy walmart find) to her rear.
I've made some progress on this portion of the yard, too. I moved this arbor from a different spot in the yard. I've added one Peace rose at the base and 3 climbing roses, 'Gertrude Jekyll,' 'Cl. Queen Elizabeth,' and 'Cl. Blaze,' with two clematis, one multi-blue and one unknown --but blooming soon, so we'll know. These bright red non-stop begonias have been supplying the eye candy until the roses and clematis take off. I underplanted with sedum, primrose, johnny jump up, dafs, hyancinth, delphium, peony, and coleus. You can't see it all yet, but you should be able to soon. I can see this arbor so well from my living room and dining room, so I'm particularly anxious for it to bloom! I had to stick in this stepping stone, as I kept slipping in the mud from the hose. LOL.
I've found the birds love having this arbor here; its near some birdhouses, and also their feeders, so there's always a bird perched on this thing. Love that.
I dug out some sod along our new fence on Mother's Day, and plugged in some roses. Day before yesterday I tucked in some annuals around the roses, and added some mulch. I added petunias. I know I'm going to regret this, but I had to try it. I've mentioned before that petunias drive me crazy, dying mid-summer and looking down-right garbage-y after the rain. But they impact of the huge white flowers is unmatched by any other annual that maintains a low growth habit beneath the roses. Many of the roses I've planted here I have not had in the garden before, and thus have not seen their color. Having a nice neutral annual beneath was my desired goal. Additionally, I added some annuals I grew from seed in the house, including snapdragons and celosia "red velvet,' as well as ice plant (proper name is just slipping my mind right now).
As of last spring this space below was lawn with a burning bush in the middle. I started with a small kidney bean shape up front, filled with lilies, bee balm, hostas, lamb's ear, bleeding heart, and daisies. last fall I extended the bed back, and this spring, after the fence was put in, I extended it all the way back to the fence. Lawn is overrated. LOL. This picture is front the front sidewalk:
This is from the middle of the bed, still facing the backyard. Poor 'distant drums' is surrounded by bare root roses for now. She looks loney, but there's another rose, 'proud land' about to bloom in this bed soon.
This is from the picket fence looking toward the sidewalk.
Another shot of rose, "distant drums,' with campanula 'blue-eyed blonde' and spirea 'firelight' at her base, and hosta 'sum and substance' and 'fried bananas' to her side, as well as weeping norway spruce (a $33 healthy walmart find) to her rear.
I've made some progress on this portion of the yard, too. I moved this arbor from a different spot in the yard. I've added one Peace rose at the base and 3 climbing roses, 'Gertrude Jekyll,' 'Cl. Queen Elizabeth,' and 'Cl. Blaze,' with two clematis, one multi-blue and one unknown --but blooming soon, so we'll know. These bright red non-stop begonias have been supplying the eye candy until the roses and clematis take off. I underplanted with sedum, primrose, johnny jump up, dafs, hyancinth, delphium, peony, and coleus. You can't see it all yet, but you should be able to soon. I can see this arbor so well from my living room and dining room, so I'm particularly anxious for it to bloom! I had to stick in this stepping stone, as I kept slipping in the mud from the hose. LOL.
I've found the birds love having this arbor here; its near some birdhouses, and also their feeders, so there's always a bird perched on this thing. Love that.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
No Pansies in Sight.
I went to three stores, one of which promised their garden center would open April 1st, and I could not find a flat of pansies anywhere. I'm about as impatient as gardeners come. I found this old radio flyer wagon with a nice bright blue aged patina, and I'm dying to fill it with blue and yellow pansies. See, a wagon is on wheels, and I can pull it in the kitchen overnight if the temps are too low, only to bring back out during the day and have an instant color in the colorless yard. While shopping I did find my very first rototiller, a gas powered model on sale at Farm and Fleet. Happy Birthday to me.
Soil
Theo picked up a boatload of manure for my vegetable bed, and I'm dying to get it worked into the grass clippings and homemade compost I threw over the soil surface last fall. I've never ammended my soil, just fertilized with my watering can, and topped it with weed preventer. I started my compost pile a year ago, and have begun to use it. After losing squash, and having some less than spectacular tomatos last year, I've concluded my biggest soil problem in the veggie bed is drainage. Had I known 4 years ago I would have saved the tiny chunks of cement Theo dug out of the patio that used to cover the now veggie bed. I could have used the cement chunks to create a rock layer beneath the soil. I did not know much anything about gardening that first year though, and the rocks are long gone. My quest to improve drainage begins now, or after I till. I'll be putting in various lettuce, swiss chard, radishes and turnips this weekend. I'm taking a risk of losing the crops to record cold temps, but if that happens, I just replant later. Each of the items I listed say to plant either as soon as soil is workable or after danger of heavy frost has passed.
Roses
I'm just so anxious to get out into the garden! Today, while the boys napped, I added some manure & bone meal around the base of each of my roses, then dumped some water soluable rose plant food over them. I can't remember if I shared the miraculous news, but it appears ALL of my roses survived winter! I'm stunned. I thought for sure I'd lose one, as I always have in the past, but the bud union is green on every single one! I have 12 roses, a Morden Centennial, Granny's Pride, Double Delight, Toulouse Lautrec, John Cabot, Mr. Lincoln, Kordes Perfecta, two cl. Golden Showers, a cl. Don Juan, and cl. Iceberg, and an unidentified whitish rose that us wonderfully reliable.
Here's a picture of the base of my John Cabot rose. I've read tons of articles and books about rose gardening and I find it interesting that many people will tell you it's "easy" to prune a rose back in the spring, simply remove "dead wood." One article said dead wood was easy to recognize b/c dead is brown/black and alive is green. This doesn't apply to my roses. Sure it's a nice general rule, but this John Cabot is thriving from toe to top, and it has plenty of brown branches that have fresh nodules of growth forming on them. See, here, there is no dead wood pictures, and it's not all green. In fact, most of the shrub's higher branches are a warm indian brown (for those of you who loved your big box of crayolas as much as me as a kid).
Additionally, not all healthy rose branches are green. My morden centennial is all red, all throughout the winter. It's quite stunning actually. Here's a picture of a thriving branch of the Morden Centennial. I'm not shy to mention mine looks a hundred times better than the one at the local Rotary Gardens, and I got it half dead on clearance at Home Depot years ago.
Last fall I protected these roses with a 10 inch layer of free city mulch and leaves from a tree beside our yard. I stopped pruning in September. Otherwise, nothing special, nothing different; perhaps I finally have a collection of roses that are right for my climate. I have 8 more new roses in my dining room and kitchen sink waiting to be planted for this season. 3 are potted, and the rest are bare root I've been adding suplemental water to. I'm researching when its safe to plant them in my area. I think mid to late April, sooner if they are purchased outside b/c they have then been hardened off or acclimated to the cold.
So, I can't plant much anything yet, but I have been finding some ways to keep busy. Yesterday afternoon I moved an arbor I have had in the veggie bed to the side of the house at the entry to our hose area. I wanted to have something to look at through the living & dining room windows, preferrably roses. Plus, the back of the house had too many arbors. I found these glass balls at Hobby Lobby for $2.50 each, and new instantly I wanted them to be in my garden. There's a garden themed gift shop in McFarland (up by Madison) that has similar balls hanging all over looking so charming beneath branches. I can't wait until a vine makes it to the top of the arbor and casts a shadow so these balls can glow in the shade.
My very first time seeing a blue ball hanging in a garden was last fall. I'm shopping for sedum at a local perennial farm as it was raining, freezing cold; I passed on a path and into a breathtaking hosta garden beneath a massive tree. I glanced up to find a huge lone blue ball hanging from the tree. I fell in love with the idea, and if I ever have a huge tree like that you can bet it'll have a giant reflecting ball hanging it's shadows. For now, these little blue balls will do. I threw some pink sweet pea seeds on both sides of my arbor. Sweet peas are one of the flowering seeds that can be started before the last frost, although I've personally never tried it until now.
Of the 8 new roses I have awaiting planting, 4 are climbers, and two will be put to work beside this arbor. I may even try to get all three around it. I have a cl. blaze with bright reddish-orange blooms, a cl. queen elizabeth with perfectly pink blooms, and a cl. pink don juan and cl. don juan (red). I want to get the look of multiple rose colors on one arbor.
While I'm on the topic of arbors, look what survived the winter winds:
I constructed this knobby little arbor in the middle of perennial border I created last year. I used branches from our willows. I love Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree it is. A cl. iceberg (white) rose grows here, and I plan on adding a white or purple clematis this spring and possibly some blue morning glory. I'm debating whether or not to battle years worth of seedlings coming up in this bed.
Sedum & Perennials
I've uncovered some treasures in the bed near this arbor. I planted these maiden pinks from seed last spring indoors. They look so lush and green and I can hardly believe they were encased in ice a few weeks ago. I ran my hand through the dainty foliage over and over to make sure it was real.
I was surprised to see that this Sedum Angelina I picked up at the perennial farm with the blue ball, has emerged with a nice red hue. This is quickly becoming one of my favs in the garden.
And I cleared last years growth from sedum 'Autumn Joy' this week also. I always find these little rosettes of new growth so pretty.
Happy gardening to you all. I'm off to get some gas for the tiller.
Soil
Theo picked up a boatload of manure for my vegetable bed, and I'm dying to get it worked into the grass clippings and homemade compost I threw over the soil surface last fall. I've never ammended my soil, just fertilized with my watering can, and topped it with weed preventer. I started my compost pile a year ago, and have begun to use it. After losing squash, and having some less than spectacular tomatos last year, I've concluded my biggest soil problem in the veggie bed is drainage. Had I known 4 years ago I would have saved the tiny chunks of cement Theo dug out of the patio that used to cover the now veggie bed. I could have used the cement chunks to create a rock layer beneath the soil. I did not know much anything about gardening that first year though, and the rocks are long gone. My quest to improve drainage begins now, or after I till. I'll be putting in various lettuce, swiss chard, radishes and turnips this weekend. I'm taking a risk of losing the crops to record cold temps, but if that happens, I just replant later. Each of the items I listed say to plant either as soon as soil is workable or after danger of heavy frost has passed.
Roses
I'm just so anxious to get out into the garden! Today, while the boys napped, I added some manure & bone meal around the base of each of my roses, then dumped some water soluable rose plant food over them. I can't remember if I shared the miraculous news, but it appears ALL of my roses survived winter! I'm stunned. I thought for sure I'd lose one, as I always have in the past, but the bud union is green on every single one! I have 12 roses, a Morden Centennial, Granny's Pride, Double Delight, Toulouse Lautrec, John Cabot, Mr. Lincoln, Kordes Perfecta, two cl. Golden Showers, a cl. Don Juan, and cl. Iceberg, and an unidentified whitish rose that us wonderfully reliable.
Here's a picture of the base of my John Cabot rose. I've read tons of articles and books about rose gardening and I find it interesting that many people will tell you it's "easy" to prune a rose back in the spring, simply remove "dead wood." One article said dead wood was easy to recognize b/c dead is brown/black and alive is green. This doesn't apply to my roses. Sure it's a nice general rule, but this John Cabot is thriving from toe to top, and it has plenty of brown branches that have fresh nodules of growth forming on them. See, here, there is no dead wood pictures, and it's not all green. In fact, most of the shrub's higher branches are a warm indian brown (for those of you who loved your big box of crayolas as much as me as a kid).
Additionally, not all healthy rose branches are green. My morden centennial is all red, all throughout the winter. It's quite stunning actually. Here's a picture of a thriving branch of the Morden Centennial. I'm not shy to mention mine looks a hundred times better than the one at the local Rotary Gardens, and I got it half dead on clearance at Home Depot years ago.
Last fall I protected these roses with a 10 inch layer of free city mulch and leaves from a tree beside our yard. I stopped pruning in September. Otherwise, nothing special, nothing different; perhaps I finally have a collection of roses that are right for my climate. I have 8 more new roses in my dining room and kitchen sink waiting to be planted for this season. 3 are potted, and the rest are bare root I've been adding suplemental water to. I'm researching when its safe to plant them in my area. I think mid to late April, sooner if they are purchased outside b/c they have then been hardened off or acclimated to the cold.
So, I can't plant much anything yet, but I have been finding some ways to keep busy. Yesterday afternoon I moved an arbor I have had in the veggie bed to the side of the house at the entry to our hose area. I wanted to have something to look at through the living & dining room windows, preferrably roses. Plus, the back of the house had too many arbors. I found these glass balls at Hobby Lobby for $2.50 each, and new instantly I wanted them to be in my garden. There's a garden themed gift shop in McFarland (up by Madison) that has similar balls hanging all over looking so charming beneath branches. I can't wait until a vine makes it to the top of the arbor and casts a shadow so these balls can glow in the shade.
My very first time seeing a blue ball hanging in a garden was last fall. I'm shopping for sedum at a local perennial farm as it was raining, freezing cold; I passed on a path and into a breathtaking hosta garden beneath a massive tree. I glanced up to find a huge lone blue ball hanging from the tree. I fell in love with the idea, and if I ever have a huge tree like that you can bet it'll have a giant reflecting ball hanging it's shadows. For now, these little blue balls will do. I threw some pink sweet pea seeds on both sides of my arbor. Sweet peas are one of the flowering seeds that can be started before the last frost, although I've personally never tried it until now.
Of the 8 new roses I have awaiting planting, 4 are climbers, and two will be put to work beside this arbor. I may even try to get all three around it. I have a cl. blaze with bright reddish-orange blooms, a cl. queen elizabeth with perfectly pink blooms, and a cl. pink don juan and cl. don juan (red). I want to get the look of multiple rose colors on one arbor.
While I'm on the topic of arbors, look what survived the winter winds:
I constructed this knobby little arbor in the middle of perennial border I created last year. I used branches from our willows. I love Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree it is. A cl. iceberg (white) rose grows here, and I plan on adding a white or purple clematis this spring and possibly some blue morning glory. I'm debating whether or not to battle years worth of seedlings coming up in this bed.
Sedum & Perennials
I've uncovered some treasures in the bed near this arbor. I planted these maiden pinks from seed last spring indoors. They look so lush and green and I can hardly believe they were encased in ice a few weeks ago. I ran my hand through the dainty foliage over and over to make sure it was real.
I was surprised to see that this Sedum Angelina I picked up at the perennial farm with the blue ball, has emerged with a nice red hue. This is quickly becoming one of my favs in the garden.
And I cleared last years growth from sedum 'Autumn Joy' this week also. I always find these little rosettes of new growth so pretty.
Happy gardening to you all. I'm off to get some gas for the tiller.
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