Busy, busy days....

I haven't had a post in over a year...it has been a busy time for me.

Things are changing and change is good....at least most of them.

This tree just fell yesterday. We think it was nearly 200 foot tall. No rot, it just was on the edge of an old creek bed and finally gave way to gravity. I was in the house and heard something crashing. I looked out the window just in time to see it still shaking as it landed. We haven't measured it yet, but it is both tall and has a humongous trunk. Too big for our chainsaw.

We don't know yet what we are going to do about it. Maybe see if a lumber yard wants it.


This beautiful picture is on the south side of our house. Creeping thyme that I brought from my old house and I originally got from my mom. Various sedums grow with it making striking color contrasts.


These lilies are some of my favorites. I don't have a name for them, but when we first moved here there was only one lone bloom. It really likes this spot I transplanted it to. I have already removed some spent blooms on it and it keeps on going.


This is one of my favorite flower plots in our yard. It is at the end of a long bed beside the side walk leading to the front door. It gets very little light so I have to be creative with the foliage. The rocks make a nice frame.


This rock sculpture I talked my husband into helping me create. He thinks it is strange but I think it is a nice focal point and calming somehow, sort of zen-like. I really like it a lot. It is probably 3 foot tall or so.


This is my mini-sedum garden that I tucked into a hypertufa bowl I made a few years ago. I put one of each kind of sedum that I have including the various hens-n-chicks. It is really filling out nicely.


Anyone want to swing?


My husband was mowing when I took this picture, so the grass is fresh cut. This line of plants is some miscanthus and a bunch of Rose of Sharons that a nice guy at work gave me this spring. All transplanted well. Only out of 35 hasn't made it so far.


This is a brand new bed I began this year using the lasagna method-which is my favorite way to start new beds. I have only barely started the framing, using bricks and scrap concrete as a base for something else. I hope to find some great field stone to put on the base. I love the look of granite around my beds. This new bed holds a Magnolia "Anne" and an Azalea, both which have purple flowers. I also tucked some ferns and a hosta in there and a few annuals. This bed is near the rock sculpture.


I got this wonderful urn at a garage sale for $5 this spring. It was full of twigs and the original price tag from Garden Ridge was still inside it attached to the twigs-$65! I took the twigs out and planted it up.


Compared to the urn, $5 for this little tiki planter doesn't seem like quite a good deal, but I still love it with it's Begonia hair.


My tufa trough is planted up with various annuals. It split over the winter unfortunately, but it has fallen apart and I haven't tried to move it.

Well that's all for now. There's plenty more pictures that I should take and show, I just need to try better to make the time. I hope you've enjoyed the show!

My Hillside Veggie Garden

Can you tell how steep this hill is? Not only is the garden on the side of a hill, it is also facing NORTH! It will be quite the season to see how well things do. I have everything sowed now and only have the Brandywine Tomato's left to plant. It has been real windy lately and not wanting to flatten them, I am waiting to put them into the ground.

I have plans to terrace the garden and make some sort of rustic twig fence around it. Fencing will probably be first, just to keep the critters out.

I went and checked the rows out today and pulled a few clods of weeds still laying around and starting to grow. I have leftover piles of leaves from last year that I may use as mulch to help keep the weeds down and the moisture in, but may omit them to use in the flower beds instead.

Busy Spring

I have been completely neglectful of my blog, but not my gardens, which is why I have been neglectful of my blog.
We have finally gotten the hillside garden tilled up and nearly ready for planting. It was a lot of work, mostly for my husband, who had the chore of tilling. Tilling is hard enough, but do it on a hillside and it triples the amount of work. I had started by using a shovel and loosening all of the weeds and growth and pulling and pitching them all aside. Only got about a tenth done when Chris brought the tiller down and did the rest. He ended up tilling the entire thing 4, maybe 5 times to get it where it is now. After each tilling, I took the rake to it and got all (or most) of the weeds and roots out.
Before planting, I still need to mark out all of the rows and terrace them all. The soil is in good shape and I really should still add compost, but will leave that until this fall when it can all be tilling under. I expect Chris doesn't want to touch the tiller for several months again.
I have lots to plant. I have tomatos that I started inside over the winter, Brandywine. I have corn, green onions, watermelon, pumpkin, gourds, beans, carrots, sweet basil, cucumber, and red sunflowers.
I am going to use the 3 Sisters method for planting the corn, beans and pumpkins. This will save a lot of space and allow me to also plant some strawberries.
I have also been spending time trying to figure out what I am going to do about keeping deer and raccoons and rabbits and everything else out of the garden. We aren't building a fence, but I may try to gather lots of branches and make a rustic fence (free) and hope for the best. I also have lots of bars of soap sitting unused, so this will be a good way to put them to use. I may also try the pie pan method and maybe the plastic grocery bags too.

Today's chilly Spring pictures

This is a section of a bed that I enlarged last fall, encircling an old Pine tree. There are various Day Lilies, Blue Flax, and a variety of bulbs including Blue Delft Hyacinth, Mr. Fokker Anemone Poppies, Tulips, Chionodoxa Forbesii "Glory of the Snow", and maybe other things that I have forgotten that I planted. (Ignore the dandelions - I did not plant those!)

Chionodoxa Forbesii "Glory of the Snow"

Blue Delft Hyacinth - note the green tips on some of the petals, an anomaly.

Garden ball I made over the winter. I had a small problem with this one when grouting, a palm sized chunk of pieces came off of it! The bare spot is placed facing to the ground....

Grape Muscari popping up everywhere!

Out of hibernation I am!

"Hyacinthus orientalis 'Delft Blue' "

After a long white winter, I am emerging from my sluggishness, as well as my Spring blooms.

"Narcissus 'King Alfred' Daffodil"

I haven't really been sleeping every minute of the past few months, but didn't have the interest to post on snow or more snow. Who wants to see a picture of all white?



I have been busy with indoor projects, some painting, some upholstery, some ridding of household items. The real fun starts now though!

"Hyacinthus orientalis 'Splendid Cornelia' "

I did start a lot of seeds this winter and have many sprouting at last. Some heirloom tomatos, Jasione, Coneflower, Sweet Peas, Ageratum, Lavender, and many others. I don't really have any space to plant them anywhere, most of my beds were pretty full by last fall. Luckily we have nearly 4 acres, so plenty of room to expand!

"Hens n Chicks" A perfect circle

I have been outside in our wonderful 60-70 degree weather cutting back perennials, pulling dead annuals, dividing, and moving plants already. So much to do and already lots of weeds that need pulled.


Do Dandelions ever stop growing???

Sad news

Very sad news, one of my favorite garden bloggers has passed away. Andee Carlsson of http://gardenerinmexico.blogspot.com/ passed on January 13, 2008.



I hope you will check out her blog and see the beauty of Chacala through her eyes.


She will be missed!!!

Winter Projects...non-gardening!

Well, aside from winter sowing, which I have only done one jug (Ageratum) so far, I have started working on stained glass! Santa brought me a glass grinder, so I have been busy cutting and grinding. Here is a picture of my work in progress. I am pretty happy with it so far. I took a class awhile back (over five years ago I think) and this is my first project since then. It isn't perfect, but for first project without an instructor, I'm not going to complain!

Thanks to http://gardenjunk.org/ and http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/stainedglass/ for answering all of my questions!

Merry Christmas fellow GARDENERS!!!

Using those grapevines....

I made a grapevine Christmas tree today. I actually started it yesterday, but ran out of vines and had to stop, go hunt down more vines, pull it from the trees, untangle it, cut it, coil it up, and put it into a trough to soak overnight. This tree is about 38 inches tall and took a lot of grapevine. The frame is just a tomato cage. Starting at the bottom, wire the first bit of vine to the lowest circle at each of the splines. Keep wrapping around, using additional wire to hold in place as needed. The center section didn't need as much wiring, but once I got to the top, I needed to wire it some more because the vines kept wanting to slip off. After the first layer, I went ahead and rewrapped it to completely hide the cage and to thicken it up. The second layer did not require any wiring, just tucking the vine. It is quite heavy, but once it dries and cures it will be a bit lighter. It took me around 2 1/2 hours to make this, not including retrieval of the vines. I think it turned out very nice!

Some red for YOU!

A few days ago there was no sign of this brilliant red. We got a bit of rain and over night they have turned. It is spectacular I tell you!
The Maple trees around it are yellow and green and the nearby Walnut trees are completely bare now. Tulip Poplar is still shades of green and yellow. Choke Cherry is a fading green. We are lucky to also have a few very mature Pine trees that will give lots of color throughout the dreary drab gray winter months.
Here's a couple of buzzards sitting in one of our trees out back. They don't normally hang out there and I wouldn't normally take a picture of them. It was unusual to see them there though, so thought I would share them with you.
My beautiful Toad Lilies are still blooming their little heads off. This is the best show that I have ever gotten from them and I am loving it!

"Puffball"

One of our sons spotted this out in the yard. This is the first I have seen them up topside. Usually we find them at the bottom of the hill, usually way past their prime. I am considering plucking it from the ground, slicing and cooking it up today. I have heard that they are really yummy and it looks prime for picking.
Here is another one that has already split open. It is not good for picking now.
Here is a look at some of the leaves that have fallen so far. I am hoping to rake some and run them through the shredder, but may just leave them whole and just rake them directly into the flower beds.
The colors of the leaves are very beautiful. Due to the drought this year, the only leaf colors we are getting are the ones on the ground. Most of our trees are still green, dropping a few leaves at a time. They seem to be changing color on their way down.

eeeewwww!

I almost stepped on this little guy while bringing my plants indoors yesterday.

Just a little thing, it snapped at my shoe when I nudged it with my toe. He wasn't more than 8 or 9 inches long. I went and got a leather glove and picked it up. After picking it up, it quit trying to bite me and instead wrapped itself around my fingers. Not being a "snakeologist" nor a fan of snakes period, I didn't know what kind it is. I certainly would never ever pick up a snake without a leather glove. Too gross for me. I did touch it with my ungloved hand away from the head. I placed in one of my flower beds where I wouldn't step on while dragging my plants into the house. I looked in my papers and found that it is most likely a Milk Snake. Harmless and can't really bite. It is a constrictor, which is why it wrapped itself around my finger, it thought it would try to squeeze the life out of me! I hope it catches lots of mice and other critters.

Here is a small portion of the plants that I brought in. These are in the front window, the rest are scattered throughout the house. I have Jasmine, Pineapple, Orchid, Hydrangea, Spider Plants, Jade, common Geranium, Coleus, Sweet Potato Vine cuttings, Elephant Ears, Philodendron, Poinsettias, and a few others. The Poinsettias (a regular red one and a Da Vinci, which has pink bracts) have begun spending their nights in the closet for a couple of months to try to get the bracts to grow. I tried this last year, but wasn't able to keep it up for the required amount of time, so no color. As a gardener though, I have faith that if I try, try again, it will happen.

Gardeners are always so optimistic, aren't they?

Fall planting and transplanting...

I've been doing a lot of planting lately. I did a trade with someone in New Jersey. I sent her a couple of my Toad Lilies, a Candy Lily, and a Red Bud tree seedling. In return I got two Rhododendrons and a Boxwood. She didn't know what color the Rhodo flowers are, but that is okay. So I planted the Rhodos in the large pine tree bed outside our bedroom window and the Boxwood out front near the driveway along the future stone path. I am looking forward to the Boxwood growing and giving us some winter greenery out front.

I also received a large box of plants in the Plant Traders fall swap. Loads and loads of plants! Here is a list of what I received:

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium)

2 pink flowering Coral Bells (Heuchera)

Geranium Sanguine

Sedum Angelina

Sedum 'Coral Reef'

Heuchera 'Palace Purple'

Sedum 'Kamtschaticum'

Euphorbia myrsinites

Sedum spurium

Kenilsworth Ivy

Linaria Purpurea

Hyssop oficinalis

Sedum 'Blue Spruce'

Woolly Thyme

Clematis viticella 'Venosa Violacea' cuttings

Lungwort (polmonaria)

Caryopteris (Blue Mist Shrub)

Salvia 'May Night'

There were also several packs of seeds and bulbs. I got all of the plants into the ground, but have not touched any bulbs yet. I have others than need to go into the
ground too, but I am waiting on a bit of rain to soften the ground first. I have Chiondoxia, Hyacinth, Daffodils, Poppy Anemones, and Grape Muscari.


Besides all of that, I have many things that I would like to move out of their current locations. Maybe they have already outgrown the location, or maybe they aren't getting the optimum amount of light, or maybe they aren't as visible where they are now. This too is waiting on some much needed rain to soften the ground and make the transition easier for the plants.

I am already excited about next year's growing season, the colors of Spring, how well everything should grow with the addition of compost, some things being in the ground for over 2 years now should be taking off... So much to look forward to. I know probably next fall I will have to expand, I know I have over planted some of the beds already, but you really can't have too plants can you? Just not enough space!

Getting down to the nitty-gritty of fall

It's that time of year...when it still feels like summer, but it certainly doesn't look it. The leaves are changing colors or just plain falling to the ground. Walnuts litter the lawn, making it dangerous to walk for fear of twisting an ankle. Flowers are being pulled and tossed onto the compost pile. New perennials are put into the ground. And a few trucks loads full of well composted horse manure all around.
Most of the flower beds here are very compacted. The plants grow poorly and it isn't soil - you gardeners know what I mean. It's just plain dirt. My brother is lucky enough to know someone with horses who has a couple of piles of horse manure compost to get rid of, since he needs to make a couple new ones. I got 3 truck loads and it only made a dent in one of his piles. These have been sitting for approximately 2 years cooking and seem to be real nice black gold now.
3 truck loads was a lot and made a dent in my flower beds, but really, I could've used one more. I had enough for 8 flower beds, but I didn't get to finish one bed and I have some other beds away from the house that could have used some, but those beds "aren't as important", meaning, they aren't where I keep any prized plants. The plants I get that I don't love, maybe just like, or one's that I've accepted because someone is giving them away, but I don't really want them...just don't want them to get tossed. You know what I mean?

So, the "important" beds are done. Now I am waiting for the leaves to turn and drop. Then the next big chore, raking and running them through the chipper/shredder and putting them on the beds. If you have never used a chipper/shredder, let me tell you, it is a lot of fun. I will be sure to post some pictures of it in action.

Plants....for Ginia

Matteuccia struthiopteris aka Ostrich Fern
36-48" tall
Part to full shade

Pardancanda norissi aka Candy Lily
12-36"
Full sun
Mid-Summer to Early Fall blooms; colors ranging fuchsia to purple

Veronica incana aka Silver Speedwell, Wooly Speedwell
12-18" tall
Sun to part shade
Violet/lavender blooms mid-Summer

Hosta Austin Dickinson
18-28" tall
Light to full shade
unknown flower color (have not bloomed for me yet)

Ceratostigma Plumbaginoids aka Hardy Blue Plumbago, Leadwort
6-12" tall
Full sun to part shade
Blue late summer to mid-fall flowers with bronze-scarlet foliage following

Tricyrtis formosan aka Japanese Toad Lily
24-36" tall
Purple spotted blooms late summer to mid-fall

Cercis canadensis aka Eastern Redbud tree
15-30 ft. tall
Part sun to full shade
Fuchsia blooms late Winter-early Spring

Linum perenne aka Blue Flax
18-36" tall
full Sun to part shade
blue flowers early Spring to late Fall