Each Little World

Gardener gardens

Our recent rains coupled with reasonable temperatures have kept me out of the house and away from the computer. I dug out three Hostas on Tuesday and replanted chunks of them to complete unfinished areas of the garden. Did the same with Maidenhair ferns. Moved a young Rodgersia and spread out some Iris germanica. The front garden is laughably out of control as I am ignoring it while the road work continues. I am a tired but happy gardener and I'll get back to blogging soon.

This is Hydrangea quercifolia 'Pee Wee'; one of my last purchases from Song Sparrow in 2019. Size-wise it's reached its 4' x4' size in a mere four years rather than the eight suggested. I plan to move it this fall as it's hiding too much of the other plants in this area. It was eaten almost to the ground by rabbits in its second year but clearly that didn't slow it down one bit.

A garden visitor

There are some garden visitors that you long to see and they rarely stop by. Then early one morning, suddenly there they are.

Alas, it looks like he got a bird and not a rabbit based on the feathers Mark saw after he took this photo from inside the house. Nevertheless there hasn't been a bunny in sight for most of the week. Hope Mr. Fox decides to make us part of his regular route.

Wordless Wednesday

(Double click to see the detail on the bug).

Wordless Wednesday

Where they went

I think my sister's unexpected death early last December sent me on a garden buying spree. Online or in person, I have been buying plants non-stop since last winter. The last perennials just arrived along with bulbs from two suppliers.

I've posted pictures of my worktable covered with plants a few times. But I've never shown where the plants went. Many are being used to correct problems, fill in unfinished areas or to create a focal point once a plant attains some size.

. . .

I planted Helleborus 'Kingston Cardinal' in 2008. At some point I added a self-seeded boxwood from elsewhere in the garden and a clump of Japanese painted fern. These days the Boxwood is hiding the Hellebore and the fern has spread wherever it could. 

The biggest problem is rabbits who keep chewing the ferns off midway and lolling around in them. Each time the ferns grow back and everything starts to look good, they're attacked again. The loss of a tree also means the ferns are getting more sun than they like.

I decided it was time to redo the whole area. I intended to quickly rip out the ferns — which took two days of intense labor with my "Root Slayer" Shovel and a Cobrahead weeder. This area is a little over 2' wide in the rear and 4' wide along the gray gravel path. 

It was just an inch shy of six feet back to front. 

I bought this Salix candida 'Iceberg Alley' on sale and plopped it in a pot that I set in the spot where the rabbits ate the ferns. There it sat during the last two big tours of our garden. 

I planted it where the Hellebore had been and moved the Hellebore forward.

I added clumps of Adiantum venustum (Himalayan maidenhair fern) from elsewhere in the garden. I'm hoping to add a few more this fall so it will fill in quickly and suppress weeds. 

The big question is whether I got all the Japanese painted ferns out of the area.  I want to be able to just enjoy my handiwork and not have to do any more digging in this space come spring. 

Front garden surprises

When Mark pulled into the driveway yesterday morning, after meeting friends for coffee, he spied this hawk calmly sitting on the big rock by the oak tree. 

Neither Mark's truck nor the traffic zooming past, seemed to bother him. Mark always has a camera with him so he snapped a couple of photos from inside the truck. 

When we went out later we could see that the hawk had been enjoying a meal. The soft, gray debris suggested a rabbit. I can only hope that's what he caught. 

The big pot by the rock was the other surprise. For the first time we're aware of, someone walked into the garden to steal one of the pots. It's a heavy piece, so they probably were rolling it towards the street. Either they decided it was too heavy to lift or they saw the big crack in it. We put it out front since it was damaged and we wouldn't feel bad if it disappeared. But I don't think either one of us actually expected someone to give it a go. 

A holiday for some . . .

but not for others.

Wordless Wednesday

Caging season

Last fall, my gardening friend, Ruth, and I visited Ken Nordlund's beautiful garden. We bombarded Ken with questions, including wanting to know how he kept rabbits out of his mostly unfenced garden. His plants did not appear to have been randomly munched as in my garden.

He took us inside his garage to show us his plant cages. While I was spending lots of time hooking cut edges of wire together to make round cages, Ken slipped a pair of bamboo stakes through the coasted material he used to bind his cages together. Then he pushed the stakes into the ground. When he didn't need the cages, he flattened them and piled them up in the garage. 

Ruth and I both went right out looking for material similar to Ken's. I bought a small roll of plastic poultry netting. I already had a stack of old bamboo stakes. As it was the end of the season, I didn't make any cages with this new material last fall. When I discovered rabbits had already munched on the emerging foliage of a trio of Viola 'Irish Elegance,' I grabbed my green netting and went to work over the weekend. 

The net is 2' wide and I cut it in half as that's much taller than I generally need. The cut edges are still sharp but I put that end on the ground, since most of the cages had a smooth edge as well. 

I made five cages in two sizes in nothing flat Saturday afternoon. I made a few more yesterday as I saw Tulips and Fritillaria thunbergii pushing up. I know those plants are rabbit candy. I am thrilled at how quick and easy it was to make cages using Ken's method.

I used sod stakes to hold the other edge of my cages securely to the ground as I have lots of those. At this point the green cages are much more visible than my old wire ones. But that means I can see them, so I am less likely  to trip over them. I'm hoping they will be less visible as bigger green plants grow up around them. Truthfully, these were so much easier and quicker to make, that it is unlikely I'll go back to making wire cages. Thanks again Ken for showing us your cages. 

Good-bye Gypsy Moths

Well, not the moths. Just their name. 

According to an article in the Tree Health Management newsletter (the company that takes care of our trees), the Entomological Society of America announced last summer that they have removed the common name — Gypsy Moth — of this critter because of its derogatory nature. The ESA has introduced the Better Common Names Project to get community suggestions and input for new names. 

You can send your ideas for a new name for this pest here.