Due to a problem uploading pictures (AGAIN!!) this is not finished, will have to be done later - have Karate, , and sewing classes today!! (phone ringing!!) Neighbor, mother of 3 of my sewing class kids, calling to talk about plans for a half-sleepover at her house for Mia and others.
Oh, NO!! I have the grandkids coming for a sleepover and need Mia here!!
Quick reshuffling, and I am hosting the half-sleepover, with supper here for, now let's see, it'll be 10 kids, with Dawn coming over with supper and staying here to play with all the kids. Now that is a good deal. I don't have to cook, Mia and the grandkids will have fun for the evening, and I can even join in the festivities!
And so I will need to finish the pictures that go along with the Andromeda transplant later, or tomorrow! Have a wonderful day, folks. It will be a busy, fun filled day here with my favorite people in the whole world!!
There has been continuing progress in the gardens. So much accomplished, so many great gardeners here to help!
Due to all your wonderful help in the gardens there has been much progress made in getting plants moved, thinned, weeds gone and overgrown areas back in check.
The reclaimed path, which many of you took plants from that overcrowded, impossible to navigate area, is just about complete. My thanks go to Joyce, Krissy, Stephanie O. and all of those of you who took plants from there in May.
I got the last few plants out of the way with the help of Kathy and Steve late Friday. Thanks so much. Isn't it great when you can bring a truck and completely fill it up with plants to transplant in your own gardens. Friday saw two truckloads of plants leaving the gardens.
We thought we had the path ready to finish over the weekend, until we discovered the soil that we were going to use to fill in the area was actually clay, and not at all appropriate for that area. We now need to take up the clay we had put there. We'll have to spread it around to different compost areas to give it a chance to roast and get enriched for future use. As I plan to plant thyme in the path, I will be needing a better quality soil, which I will easily get by just adding our compost to the soil which was already in the path. It just won't be happening until after vacation.
But don't worry, folks, I put my hubby's strength to good use in another project this past weekend!!
I had the opportunity to get two shrubs from the same Freecycler who gave us the paving stones. She had two shrubs she wanted removed to make way for a new garden. Knowing they were three foot shrubs, John and I headed over Friday night, after a long day of gardeners here, expecting to make light work of an Azalea and Andromeda.
What I had forgotten to ask was how long they had been there. Yes, they were about 3-4 feet high, but had been pruned down, and had been there for quite a number of years!!
No problem, I pruned them down a bit more, pruned the roots and we focused just on the Andromeda for this particular trip, as only one of these great shrubs would fit in the car at a time! Fortunately the Freecycler's husband was there and helped John get the shrub out of th e ground and into our car. I never would have been able to help him get it done.
This is the area where I decided to plant the new shrub. It has a non-blooming Hydrangea, some Bee Balm, Sundrops, Barren Strawberry, Rose Campion, and a few other wayward children in the mix. So you need to know that John had to wait around to help dig the hole for the larger shrub while I carefully rescued each and every one of the plants I found hiding in that area. It took a few
hours for me to get this done, as I even found a cache of Grape Hyacinth bulbs and Daylilies that I had forgotten were even there. The area was so overgrown, that individual plants were hidden under the Hydrangea and larger plants! I get very excited when I find plants I was expected to have.
I knew someone who would definitely want all I removed so I didn't have to even give a thought to getting it all transplanted here! Just to the left of the bridge is a deep rose Meadowsweet, Spirea. There is a huge gorgeous deep purple Rhododendron just to the right of the Hydrangea. My only concern was how to fit the Andromeda in without bothering the Rhodo.
This is a jumbo size wheel barrel, which we used to roll the bush out of the back of my car and into it to get it to the back yard. It was so heavy I was totally unable to budge any part of it by myself. This was interesting as I usually handle all this type of work myself. So I had to rely on John to do the grunt work in all of this. Fortunately he has always been willing to help out whenever he can, so it was great to have him in on this project.
As you can see there is a great deal of splendid limb structure in this shrub, and John was very patient with me as I pruned it up a bit and figured out just the right position for it to be in for a good fit in that location.
I had actually wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what would be its best position in the area, as when we started to move it to get it onto the ground, it just rolled out of the wheel barrel away from our trying to hold it and it landed in a position that wasn't too far out of what I had wanted in the first place! Since it had picked its own position to be in, I decided to go with it!
So here we are, in its chosen site, ensconced in its new home, thoroughly watered, all the soil shoveled back in.
It adapted to the spot immediately, so much so that I was amazed at the area when I took my first glimpse at it from a distance. The Andromeda fit in so nicely, with its beautiful form, distinct color, seeds and foliage, that it looked like it had been there forever.
And look at how welcoming the Rhododendron is, almost embracing it within its realm. I think that the contrast of the two shrubs, with their distinct coloring, dissimilar leaves and forms compliment each other in a manner in which they both look even more beautiful together than they did alone.
This is what the area looked like in the spring, with the Hydrangea barely showing among all the Sundrops, the stately Rhododendron, the focus of the area.
This Andromeda Japonica has brought a special harmony to this garden area. It looks like it has been established there for a number of years. Thank you Erin, for allowing us to take this majestic shrub and add her to our gardens.
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