Another flower bed...

I’m pretty much through with major projecting on this house…at least until I find something else to tear up!

I did replace the door between the screen porch and the breakfast room.

It was set a tad low and over time the “sweep” has begun to scar the wood…so I took out the old door and “lifted” the new door by adding a piece of 1/2” wood beneath the threshold. The door is also 25 years old and metal. I went with a newer, more energy efficient fiberglass door. Not a difficult project and one you can find a TON of tutorials for.

(You can see the old door with a divided light HERE.)

When I ordered the new door I decided I no longer want “divided light” …in other words “grids.” Which meant I had to replace the glass in the den door since it is divided light as well…and of course they have to match. That door is fine and I really only needed to replace the glass insert. Again, not a big deal…love the look!

As I mentioned before, one of the ways I stay busy and “give back” is to help my neighbors with their projects. In the past few months I have helped one build a wood screen around her AC units, installed a water line for a back yard faucet, hunted plants for landscape projects, help set a large pole for a hose reel, modified a metal fence to keep dogs from escaping a back yard and did some fiberglass repair on a garden fountain.

And this week I built a “garden bench” for my neighbor…I will share that soon. Too stinking cute!

Have wagon and tools, will travel!

In between dragging my wagon around the neighborhood, I managed to get a little yard work done.

I absolutely love my back flower bed and love this time of the year when it comes to life! Every time I look out my bathroom window I am so grateful for it!

This is the view from my bathroom window! When the dogwoods are in bloom…WOW!

But I have one area in my yard that bugs me…rocky and wouldn’t grow decent grass.

Since I have transitioned to perennials and don’t have to do as much spring planting, I decide to tackle this area and extend my back flower bed.

Why do I convince myself that ANYTHING is easy? In my mind I think, oh, I’ll just put down a little landscape edging, throw in some compost and add some plants.

Silly me.

First, this area has some massive tree roots that needed to be taken out. So I had to dig the dirt and rocks (more rocks than dirt) away from them, take a reciprocating saw and cut the roots and take them out. Sounds easy…it is not.

Oh, and I cut a buried wire while I was hacking on the tree roots. Don’t know what it is but I cut it and had to repair it.

Then I had to install the metal edging. Okay, first, that stuff use to be around $8 for an 8’ piece…it is now $30 for one piece. What the heck? Second, again, this area of the yard is really rocky so creating a little trench to set the metal edging in unearthed about 4 five gallon buckets of rocks. CURSES!!!!!

So then I decided I really should use what grass was there to fill in a few bare spots around the yard…kind of like “sod plugs.” That took two days and I think I have destroyed my elbow. Don’t ask, I don’t know.

Again, rocks. LOTS of rock. I think I raked up another 4-5 buckets and honestly I don’t think I put a dent in it. I just got it down low enough to top it with about 5-6” of compost. The booger was digging holes for new plants…AUGH!

And of course the whole irrigation thing, which will now not really work well with the new bed addition. So of course that had to be moved which entailed digging MORE rock…what a pain!

I carefully researched plants to make sure I put in perennials that can take full shade during the day with full evening sun.

Another issue…this area is under a huge black walnut. Black walnuts put off a chemical called “juglone.” Some plants can grow under their canopy but others can not! Research, research, research!

The only thing I knew for certain I wanted to plant is a pink dogwood…found a decent one at a local nursery. They didn’t bother to tell me that a tree can suffer “wind burn” if you transport it in the back of a pickup truck without a tarp.

Half the leaves are all shriveled and “dead” but they swore it will rebound next year. Guess I will find out.

I added a serviceberry, some coral bells, a few flowering bushes, and a few annuals just for summer long color. I transplanted some Stella lilies from another area of my yard where they didn’t get enough sun.

All in all I am pretty happy with it…only one regret…I should have made it bigger! But it’s done for now and maybe next year I can play with it some more…right now I am too busy icing my elbow and knees!

ANOTHER COLLEGE GRADUATE!

A few weekends ago we will celebrated my oldest grandson who is graduating from college. Hard to believe! CONGRATS CAMDEN! We are all so proud of you!

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It's time to look for discounted perennials!

A couple of months ago, out of necessity, I created a little flagstone and rock path on the south side of my house….

When I first made it, it was all crisp and perfect…then two big dogs did a little “zoomy” number on it. Now it’s not so “crisp and perfect.”

So be it…still better than the wasteland that was there before. Too much moisture and shade for grass to grow but shade loving perennials will LOVE it!

First, let me explain the difference between annuals and perennials.

Annuals last one year and in MOST zones have to be replanted every year. Perennials come back every year…in MOST zones. It is important to check your “zone” and know what you can count on to come back and most importantly, WHEN you can plant. Our last freeze is in mid-April, whereas northern states may have freezes as late as early May. Know your zone…then in my experience, add a few weeks just to be on the safe side.

THIS is a good site to check your planting zone. Again, I always add a few weeks to our freeze date before I plant. Even though the threat of a freeze may be over, new plants still struggle with cooler temps and heavy rains.

I have been trying to plant perennials as much as I can and just fill in with colorful annuals.

But man they can be pricey. A cute little annual may only cost a few bucks but a perennial can cost $10+.

Short term, painful. Long term, you will be money ahead.

One way I have found to save a few pennies is to look for perennials that have been marked down.

This is the perfect time of the year to look. Sales of plants are starting to slow a tad so stores (especially big box stores like Lowes and Home Depot) are more likely to have markdowns. Plants are more likely to be marked down just from showing stress and being root bound rather than dying from heat and lack of water. Some smaller stores are marking plants down just to get rid of them before the heat hits…especially grocery stores!

That is exactly what I did to fill this side yard with perennials…I went searching for puny plants.

I ended up finding two Redbud trees, 6 perennials ferns, 6 Lungworts, two bottle brush bushes, 2 hydrangeas and a handful of other perennials I have never even heard of….all for 1/2 off. Most big box stores and even nurseries have a place where they put marked down struggling plants. Look for them. (And it never hurts to ask a manager…this week I was helping a friend pick out some perennials and we ended up getting two free and the rest 75% off …SCORE!)

They aren’t dead. They are usually just root bound and maybe have some dead foliage. But they are still salvageable and if you plant them properly and water them well this year, they will all rebound beautifully next year!

TIP: Research each plant and make sure you pay attention to the sun requirements. This area of my yard gets no direct sunlight so I had to make sure I choose plants that could handle shade.

TIP: Make sure you dig a hole twice the size of the root, amend the soil with potting soil if necessary and cut the bottom 1” off the bottom of the root if the roots are “bound.” Water, water, water!!!!

TIP: I used a root stimulater (mainly because of the trees). You can also add fertilizer. Just make sure you follow the directions because you can burn up a plant by giving it too much of either!

I need to split my hostas. I like to wait until they are just popping their little heads up in the spring to split them. Then I can take the splits and plant them in the side yard…free plants!

MOST, if not all, of the marked down plants I picked up should survive this year…but if a few don’t I can always fill in with the hostas.

The only thing I didn’t get at a reduced cost was the dogwood tree. I have several white dogwoods in this yard and I have desperately wanted a pink one. Those aren’t on sale. Not only are they difficult to transplant, they don’t rebound well when they start struggling. I ended up buying a smaller one only because I couldn’t handle the thought of killing a big mature one. Hopefully it will make it!

Most of these plants will bloom in the spring…if this were a focal point in my yard I would have worked a little harder at “layering” the plants so that I would have blooms throughout the season…but it’s not, and I didn’t. Again, if I really have to have some color I can add some annuals or maybe even some pots later.

If you are looking for plants that will come back year after year, this is the time to buy them at a discounted price. With a little TLC this year, they will come back for years to come bigger and prettier!

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The death of the rose bushes....and a peak at the rest of my landscaping!

Que sad music...the knock out roses finally bit the dust.

They were beautiful little additions to the side yard when I first planted them....

I walked around the yard and took a few pictures a few months ago and they looked halfway decent then!

I built this flower bed and planted the knock out roses because it is an area of the yard I rarely tend to...

Rarely...as a result they were looking REALLY pathetic!

Two bushes died last year so I removed them and planted another. This year the another died and two were near death.

In their defense, knock out roses tend to stop blooming in the heat of the summer...but they obviously had other issues!

So this past weekend we decided to pull them all out...except for the one little bush I planted last year. It may eventually get transplanted when it is cooler if I decide to go another direction with this bed.

I'm not sure what caused their demise. Age, disease, neglect...maybe a combination of all. I did throw a little fertilizer down on them occasionally but I can honestly say I probably didn't tend to them like I should have...a weed eater is probably not the proper tool to use to prune rose bushes.

Knock out roses don't make the best "cut flowers." Cute in a little ironstone creamer...but certainly not something you plant for the purpose of creating indoor arrangements....

Que sera...

I think I will leave the bed "vacant" for the time being...let it winter just incase it is harboring disease or fungus.

Besides, I can't decide what I want to plant in their place and honestly, it is really too hot to plant right now.

I would love to plant hydrangeas but evidently they don't take well to direct afternoon sun...and that is exactly what this bed gets...hot afternoon sun. Curses. I like crepe myrtles but they get very full and bushy and are probably not ideal for a narrow bed against a fence.

When planning your plantings pay attention to what sunlight and care the plants will need. Do your research!

Maybe I will just resort to more potted plants...those tend to do well but they certainly can't be neglected this time of year. Right now I am watering every day.

I will leave you with a few pictures of areas of the yard I don't neglect...

After YEARS of struggling to landscape this front bed, I finally resorted to flagstone and potted annuals..I love it!

Hostas are a super simple perennial that require little maintenance! They can easily be split every spring which explains why I have TONS of them in my yard! I have even started planting some in containers!

Planting in containers has become my "thang." I'll scatter a few annuals around in the ground, but just about all annuals go in containers these days!

Make your yard an extension of your home...

BTW, last year I shared here the new fescue sod...I thought the "difference" between the fescue and bermuda would bug the heck out of me...not so much! I see the difference...but I can live with it! As you can see, it made it through the winter and that is a good thing!

Until next week....