2017
Once we made the decision to move the bench to the moss garden with a wide path approaching it, that arrangement clearly divided the space into a couple of large beds that swept around the seat. I decided that I would just fill in the space with plants I already had and that would be that. So I dug up Japanese painted ferns, candelabra primroses and Hostas and began to fill in the space. The white buckets indicate the locations for future Yew balls. We already had one planted under the Carolina Sweetshrub by the fence, so adding four more would make a nice uneven number.
I also added a young Korean maple and two boxwood seedlings, all of which had been growing in pots around the garden. The boxwoods would also eventually be trimmed into balls. Everything's caged to keep the rabbits away now and during the coming winter.
But hardly had the plants in the first picture begun to settle in when I decided it was too much color and pattern. That probably sounds crazy but the old moss garden was a calm green moment amidst everything else that was happening in the garden nearby. I wanted that green quiet feeling again. So on my recent trip to the Flower Factory I bought 8 solid green Hakonechloa macra plants to use instead of painted ferns and Hostas. This spot is fairly dry and the Hakonechloa will do better here than the painted ferns anyway.
Mark and I then revisited our early idea of a long "wave' of Yews — rather than a mere four — that would be pruned into balls until they start melding into each other a number of years down the road. That would lower maintenance since they only need clipping once a year. After calling a few local nurseries we discovered Winterland Nursery still had what we wanted despite it being almost Labor Day.
Luckily we had a planting plan otherwise it would have been easy to be seduced by Winterland's fields of trees and shrubs.
We bought ten Taxus x media 'Tauntonii' which we've used elsewhere in the garden. Hopefully these will do as well as the others we've planted over the years. Winterland Nursery was bought out by McKay Nursery and they now offer a one year guarantee which is a valuable added protection to pricey plants like these.
Mark unloaded the heavy pots and brought them to where we wanted to plant them via multiple wheelbarrow trips. We spent a fair amount of time moving them around to determine the best placement. Then it came time to plant them. Out came all the necessary tools. Mark started to dig the first hole to see how bad the roots from nearby trees might be and to see what the soil was like. He gave me some tips and said to call him if I need help.
I didn't really need help. I just had to do it my way with my tools. I knew it would take me twice as long as it would if Mark did it, but I wanted to do it right and also not hurt myself. That meant I did not use Mark's big shovel in the foreground or the heavy duty orange-painted spud. They were so heavy to lift I didn't have enough strength left for leverage!
I used the cardboard template to cut the diameter of the planting hole and the other tools as needed. Luckily I only had to use the saw on a few big roots; my Felcos worked for the rest. I planted two yews last Wednesday, three on Friday, three on Sunday and got the final two in the ground on Labor Day. I've got a pile of empty pots, a bucket of roots and a pile of dirt to use elsewhere in the garden. I'm sore, but not incapacitated, and very proud of myself.
Alas, it doesn't look like much given all my hard work. You get a better sense of how this will look from the shaggy Yew ball at the rear which has been in the ground a few years and thus makes a bit more of a statement.
This is the swath of Yew and Box balls that we planted a number of years ago and is what we're aiming for in the former moss garden as well. The individual plants are just beginning to touch each other, so Mark can soon start pruning them into a meandering cloud. These shrubs are almost 4' across and about 3' high.
Along with the Hakonechloa, I'm planting maidenhair ferns and candelabra primroses. All are pest and maintenance free, other than cutting them down in the spring before they start to regrow. The primroses will provide a burst of red and then everything will revert to green again. Podphyllum 'Spotty Dotty', a Rodgersia and a red-flowered Trillium are planted around the apple tree to add some contrast to the ferns and forest grass that will eventually surround them.
I'm hoping I can steal enough Hakonechloa and Maidenhair ferns from elsewhere in the garden to get this area off to a good start during this cooler weather we're currently having. Then I have to get back to the Sacred Grove where I've been re-doing a chunk of that area as well.
