If you had the opportunity (see how I am trying to be optimistic, really more like the unfortunate circumstance?) to re-design your garden, what would you do differently?
What kind of things have you always wanted in your garden, but didn't get to have, and why?
My last garden was a work in progress, as I think now, that all gardens are. After about 14-16 years, it was finally what I would say was finished, as close as it ever would be. But I had to move because of dh job, and now I am looking at starting over. It might be a year or two before I get much action, but I am in the planning stages now since I have a little time on my hands off and on. Our house plans are in the hands of an architect right now, we have a 5 acre lot purchased. Next we will choose a contractor and then head to the bank with our plan... Hope they buy it LOL
So, as I was saying, my last garden went like this. I guess I am a plopper and not a planner as someone recently suggested. Perhaps a plant collector and not a gardener. If I like something, I find a place for it. But you know how it is. You plant A over here, because is will look nice next to B. Then plant A gets larger than the tag said, so you decide to move plant B next to plant C. Then plant C dies over the winter. Well, now you're off to find a plant D to look nice to plant B. In the mean time, the tree that was there when you bought the place has gotten larger and spread out its roots kinda in the bed. So you finally decide to talk dh into whacking it down. Now then, there went all the shade! So plant A, plant B and plant D need moved. Wait a minute, was it B or C that died? Well you get the idea. It is just a haphazard experiment every year... always saying, NEXT year you will be DONE! LOLOLOL!
So this time I thought since I am starting with a blank slate, I might do a little more planning. But planning is kind of boring, and well things don't always go as planned, and what if find something I really LOVE but it isn't in the plan, then what?! Just find a place to plop it?!
Starting Over- the garden of course...
I really would like to have a goldfish pond. I had a rather nice one back in MO that I dug by hand MYSELF nonetheless only months before we moved and left it. I did manage to take the rocks with me, gave away the fish, and rolled up the liner which is in storage. So I will get to put it back together. Rocks are hard to come by here in OK where I am at, and the liner was brand new of course. So I wasn't about to leave it. PLEASE tell me that YOU have moved rocks too, right? My dh probably thought I was nuts, I was more concerned about taking my rocks than my furniture....
The temps here in the summer get blazin hot, over 100 for days or in last summer's case, weeks, and I am worried how that will affect my pond. I was thinking of putting a lattice structure, kind of like a pagola (? is that the word) over the area to help shade it. Would look neat with some vine on it, of course most vines that are really cool, end up invasive, so I probably won't do that part. I just love those neat old houses with the ivy growing all over them. But I am too chicken to do it to my own house of course. I have a porcelain vine that I love, it is so pretty. I love the variegation and the blue little berries it gets all over in the fall after tiny white blooms. I had it planted in a barrel and put a trellis in it I got at Lowes, and it grew and covered the trellis and just looked awesome. Kicker is it had seeds and sprouted up everywhere EVERYWHERE, ok if you have diligence to pull them up shortly and not let them getaway.
One thing I have absolutely decided not to do is plant a bunch of bushes that need constant formal shearing. That is just not my thing. I am too haphazard for that and will not keep it up. Plus that is boring to me and I wouldn't enjoy it, so it would always be procrastinated...until tomorrow.
I would love to have a gazebo. A white one with a green roof. But alas that is an expense I can't justify and my dh does not have the time or energy to put one up. Since I haven't found any money trees on my property, a good idea that will remain just that, an idea... sigh....
Roses are another romantic idea, that realistically, look nice in someone else's yard, and always die on my side of the fence. The leaves turn yellow and black, fall off and it's dead. Or they don't make the winter. I hate pruning them, and absolutely abhor having to clean the leaves out from around them in the spring. There scent is so nice, and they are so pretty, but I just cannot get past the thorns, not to mention the dying part lol so they are permanently marked off my list...
I have decided firmly on an area for iris, and of course it goes without mentioning, dl.
I also would like to have a vegetable area and some herbs. I was planning on a large patio, poured with a roof over it. About 24x 12. But now that I have experienced the strong gusty wind, blowing DIRT all over everything, I have decided, why not close it in and make a sun-room? I already have the floor, the roof and of course one full wall, and part of another wall. So I don't think it would cost that much more to finish it off lol if I'm gonna go broke, might as well go in style, right?
So I wonder if I could grow tomatoes in the sun-room during the winter? I don't know what it is about store bought tomatoes, but I am convinced that whoever 'they' is everyone is always talking about, is out to kill us all off with those things...
Would be nice to keep onions and cilantro through the winter too... ok well most people put houseplants, citrus trees and tropicals in their sun-room, but looks like I would prefer a vegetable garden. hmmm. Anyone have a veggie garden in their sun-room?
I wonder if avocados or lime would grow in there? The price of avocados is outrageous around here, over a dollar sometimes!
I do have to have a shed of course to store all my junk in. most of it is junk, but I just can't part with some of it, ya know?
So I was thinking, I can't have a gazebo because I can't justify the money. But what if I incorporated some gazebo-like qualities into my shed, since I gotta have a shed? Maybe I could put sort of a little porch area on the front of the shed and some spindles and fancier woodwork on the front, painting all the trim white. Some windows and shutters and window boxes would look nice, sort of a cottage look I think is what that would turn out like. I think I should make it wide enough to be useful though,not just look nice. Maybe 6 foot wide or so. Would be a great place to pot things, divide dl and that sort of thing. So it would look nice, be useful and be part of the shed, saving me some money.
So in all I have an idea what I want, but then trying to plan where to put what and all that is tough. I want to add extra water spouts to the back yard, ya never have enough water it seems like, and electric outlets too....
I would have to put in full privacy fencing around the whole thing to help block the fierce wind or it will tear up everything in no time. I am in need of great ideas for fencing that is not too costly, looks nice, and lasts a long time. Well, miracle material it looks like lol
In general do you wish your gardening area were larger or smaller than you have? I have 5 acres so no shortage here. I was thinking of putting only flowers, veggies ect in the back yard, fenced area, and putting all of the trees out away from that. I would like trees, just not growing in my beds. I thought maybe some crab apples, pears or cherry trees would be nice in the back, but I think I will choose fruitless so I don't have to worry about bees...
Some pics of my last garden
Well, I like the sunroom idea! The winter tomatoes might not work though as they need pollinating and day length. The avocados are $1 each here, and everybody has one in their yard! In spite of what the nurseries and magazines say, you will never get a decent avocado off a dwarf tree, and they need pollinating too, but leaf and cole crops, and root veggies should work. As far as the citrus go...gotta have those bees! I have avocado, lemon, and seedless lime blooming as I type, and I spend a LOT of time prunning them so I can have enough sun to grow anything else. Also spraying them , as the wind allows, because they get bugs you've probably never even heard of. Just think of all the tender perennials you could grow in there. Maybe a water feature where you could have your morning coffee and enjoy the waterlilies and fish?
OK! Thats my dream.....
hmm hadn't thought of the pollinating thing... that puts a serious kink in the veggie/sun-room idea!
Nice to know that about the dwarf avocados, I probably would of tried one, thanks for saving my time :)
Oh, I don't like bugs if they are ugly LOL or of course if they sting. I absolutely loathe spiders
well maybe I'll have to grow radish in my sun-room. I surely could grow herbs, do they need pollinating? I suppose a person could do some pollinating by hand for tomatoes, not sure if that would work though.
I wonder if evergreen daylilies would bloom? Do they need a cold spell to bloom properly, well some are reblooming but still at some point, I wonder if they need a freeze?
I think I should like to have my computer in the sun-room, because I'm pretty sure it would be my favorite room in the house and I spend a lot of time on the computer messing with my garden stuff. Pictures, wish lists and DG, and orders, and looking stuff up, and lists of plants I have, and what is planted where and such. I really should keep a better journal of the weather and when things bloom and what does better where and such. But that kind of stuff kinda gets tedious and while it is nice info to have, one wishes someone else came up with it lol
Haha! The bugs on the citus and avocado aren't anything that stings... more like mites, mealies, Scale, and the all new citrus leaf miner. But they all have their own select variety of pest. As to Daylilies, depends on the cultivar. I have mostly evergreens, but only one bloomed all winter, and it is taking a break now. Of course, this has NOT been a typical winter anywhere. Evergreens don't need a freeze, but don't normally bloom in winter.
AH, I'm picturing a table overlooking the fish pond, with a laptop on it. Hey! we could even get you hooked on orchids!
One thing that we would do differently if we had the benefit of hindsight is to cut down the large trees very close to the daylily beds. Every time we have large trees taken down and stumps ground up, we have a huge mess to deal with. There is damage to daylilies, loss of names to daylilies (the only plan that we have found that works is a map and I did not map out one bed this last time), damage to the borders previously installed, etc. MUCH time is spent putting the beds back together. We recently had three huge pines and a mighty maple taken down. We are still putting the beds back together. I hope we do not have to do this again for a LONG, LONG time. The tree service that we use does try to do their work with as little damage as possible and do a good job of cleanup, but we are still left with lots of work to put it back the way it was. We wanted to keep as many trees as we could and still be able to grow our daylilies. You probably do not have this problem, but this is one change we would have made from the beginning.
I think you can grow tomatoes, all you have to do to pollinate is shake the plants, they don't need the bees and I would put a fan on them. Worth a try anyway.:)
I love the idea of a sunroom with the computer and orchids.
I think orchids are pretty, but I do have an addiction already to iris and dl. so i better not go there lol
I have never actually had an orchid, probably dangerous adventure for me to try. I think orchids have to have humidity? The air around here is very dry. I may have to run a humidifier some of the time just to keep myself comfy, my skin and my hair get so dry sometimes.
I think cherry tomatoes would be nice to try growing, great idea about the fan blowing, will try that if I decide to do it.
We had some large trees taken down at our last property, well actually we did the work ourselves, and then we did some stump grinding also. What a mess! I definitely think anyone starting a garden with large trees close, should seriously consider taking them down BEFORE building beds and all that. Then of course you plant for shade, and end up with sun! So many storms lately it seems everywhere, I would be afraid to have large trees close to the house anyway. They can do so much damage.
I would check on the tomato forum about growing tomatoes inside in a container. They might have some good comments. If you do decide to go with the idea of a sun-room with plants you might want to think about having a drain put in before the floor is poured, something like they have in commercial kitchens. It would work great with those Mexican tiles, if you like them....Not so sure how much that would cost, but worth looking into if you like the idea. Check out this for growing your veggies in that sun-room: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3236/ I loved the series!
Hmmm...putting in new beds PLANNED from the git-go !
Map them at the start!
Plan for several years of growing, you probably have a good idea by now of how fast the things that you like will grow, although they might do differently where you are now. Plant temporary things that will look good the first 1-2 years that will not interfere with the final look of the mature bed.
Goldfish pond: find out if there are any fishing birds in your area! (Probably not, but a good friend of mine spent several thousand dollars feeding the anhingas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhinga) when he stocked a pond in Florida!
If you have a fountain or running water as part of your pond it will probably not get as hot.
Like you ideas so far. Keep us posted. Will add more as I think of them. Good luck with the financing.
Laura
This message was edited Mar 5, 2012 1:06 PM
Actually we do have some fishing birds here, not sure what they are, but I seen one at a pond just down the road last summer. I do not care to feed them of course, so I'l have to take some precautions on that one. Love the drain idea, will put that on my list of things to ask about when it comes time. I think that would be really handy to be able to hose down once in a while. I will have to check out the forum on tomatoes, hadn't visited there yet.
well one thing I have been thinking about is the physical effort (and time) it takes to care for a large garden. I am turning 35 this year, so I'm not over the hill yet lol but I can definitely tell I'm not 20 anymore....
I was thinking in the future I may not be able to care for as many flowers and would like to direct my efforts toward a yard that looks nice, isn't too much constant work, and will draw birds, and small animals like toads, lizards, turtles, snakes ect. I don't know if we have frogs here? I haven't seen any frogs yet, but the drought we had here last year was probably fierce on them.
I should think rocks, bushes, trees, (not large ones too close to the house or beds of course) a pond, bird baths, birdhouses, a nice sized garden shed, and a few benches/chairs/swings.I think a place could look really nice without too many plants that need constant weeding, watering, staking, dead heading (which kills my back to lean over, then if you actually get on the ground-there goes your knees-can't win for losing...) not to mention all the dividing if you don't want them taking over the place.
arbors, large planters, trellis, and windchimes, a table of course-but that would do best in the sun-room. Seen some pictures of a rock garden that had a bubbling rock in it, that would look neat and not be too much to maintain I wouldn't think. Any more things you can think of to add to the list of things a garden could have besides plants. Perhaps some people are better at decorating their yard, rather than actually growing their decorations?
Have you included a nice patio area for your BBQ and entertaining? I designed ours based on the weird shape of our yard with a wind break because we get a lot of wind. A windbreak or fence should not be a solid structure.
Wish I were 35 again! BFG!! Margaret that's a nice backyard. You gave it lots of tlc. Frilly you have a lot of potential there. M
Since you are interested in attracting bird I thought you might find this site interesting: http://www.creativebirding.com/index.html
Herb Lewis - Honorary Master Gardener came and spoke to our club last year about "Developing a Backyard Wildlife Habitat". He has done a lot with his suburban backyard. I really enjoyed the talk and he had great pictures. All were taken through his plate glass window sitting in a chair in his house.
Thanks Mike. Wish I were only 35 again too!! It would be nice to have the energy to do more in the yard, my DH doesn't garden, he cuts the grass, but that's it.
Margaret, I have to second Mike, I like your yard. I especially like the shed/cottage(?) in the background.
Wish I was 35 again. (Oh course, at that time I had a newborn and my son was yet unborn. Took another 4 years for that, so a lot has changed.)
You have many years of happy gardening in front of you. Enjoy!
Thank you Laura. It's a shed and I love it, so handy for potting up plants and keeping the tools handy.:)
My dh doesn't do much out in the garden either. he mows, weedeats, and picks up the leaves ect. He will help me move heavy stuff if I ask him and will help me get stuff if I need to use the trailer. I sometimes wish he would do more in the garden, and then other times I'm glad it's all mine! I don't have to worry about pleasing another person, I can do what I want out there and he is ok w it~
LOVED the creative birding website, what a GORGEOUS yard! of course it would have to be Alabama... somehow I don't think a SW OK yard will ever look like that :(
I sent the link to my mom, she will enjoy it.
Here are some pics of the garden I left
Some more pics
I'll post more later, I just love being able to do 5 at a time :)
Here's some more
Just realized I haven't posted any pics here of my dl. I have gobs of pics of them. I guess I was thinking more of other things since we are mostly talking about gardens. I'll start another thread for dayliles I think and do them separate, maybe that would be easier...
I just loved this sage, it has a variegated white and pink color on it, and some purple and green and always came up a tad late but then grew like crazy. It hardly took any water and looked great all neglected!
I'm not sure what the white star shaped flowers are, but they came up all over my moms lawn and she gave me bunches of them. They spread all over, it is a bulb of some kind.
I don't think they are fragrant that I remember, but they are only about 5 inches tall or so. If I remember right the flower closes up at night and re-opens in the morning.
This is a gourd I grew one year, tried a couple years after that and couldn't grow them again. Too much rain I think and they rotted. Anyway, I grew several and painted them, dh put holes in them for me for the birds and I gave them all away but one, it is in my closet right now, the only thing I really have left of my garden, boo hoo :(
Picture of a lily I took in a friends yard, I think the name of this is American Dream.
Ditto, and named Muscadet (sp?)
Mardi Gras Ball dl and I was playing with the coloring just for fun and did a sepia shading on it.
Golliwog clump
The wind here today is really fierce and I can hear it gusting and roaring against the house. Temps are in the 70's but the wind is too nasty to do anything outside.
Bleeding heart that never did alot for me, I think the soil was too heavy where I had it and it eventually rotted.
A Japanese Painted Fern which never took off for me and after 4 or 5 years was still the wee thing it was when I planted it. Is there a secret I don't know about?
A woodland pholox which did awesome for me and I loved it!
Oak tree
Iris, noid
This message was edited Mar 6, 2012 3:17 PM
Peony, Dancing Butterflies
The other peony with the big yellow center, I don't remember the name of right off, would have to look it up.
The rose pic was taken in my neighbor's yard...
front of the house by the porch area
back yard, left corner
path area, the dl are all purple or cream colored
front porch again
Last batch and I have to go pick my kiddos up from school...
Frilly, the white star shaped flower in the fourth set of photos is Star Of Bethlehem. It is pretty, but it is not unusual to see it in people's grass here. We have had Star Of Bethlehem for years. It was one of those "passalong plants".
You had very beautiful flowers at your last home. In time you will once again have beautiful flower gardens. We will enjoy seeing pictures as you create your new home and gardens.
Gosh, Did you leave all those plants behind? Your gardens were so beautiful.
I had created a beautiful garden at a rental house before we bought our current place.We lived there for nine years and I had improved the soil over those years. Everything grew so well there. We moved in January, and I took as many plants as I could. I wished I could bring the soil too! Of course we were only moving to a new town in the same county, not to a new state as you did. We had 3 big truck loads of plants. I potted some up and others I healed in to saw dust as my local nursery told me to. I didn't lose much. Of course there were plants I couldn't take and many bulbs I didn't find that were left. That summer I drove past our old home and saw some of what I had to leave behind. Five years after, everything was gone and you couldn't even tell there had ever been any garden beds. There was only grass. So I'm very happy I took what I could.
How exciting that you'll not only have a new garden to create, but a new house as well. What are you living in now? Is it on the property where your new home will be? Be sure to share pics of your progress. I'm so excited for you!!
Joy, right now we are in a 2 bdrm rental, farmhouse out in the country. We bought 5 acres and have our architect working on some plans for us and then we will go from there. As you know, it is a slow process. The plants I decided to save are planted in my parent's yard in MO. In a year or two when I am ready for them, I will bring starts down. I left alot of things, I just had so much there was no way I could save it all. I had thousands of dollars in that property over the past 15 years or so, and like you have worked hard on the soil and of course had trees planted. The folks that bought the property, haven't a clue how to care for it, and I don't think they care either. I suspect w/in a few years it will be overgrown w weeds, choked out, and will finally be re-grassed when people get tired of looking at it. It is kind of sad to see. I thought you grew some things in pots? I cannot grow a weed in a pot to save my neck. I wish I knew the secret!
Casshigh Thanks for the plant ID and the encouraging words, right on about it being a 'pass-a-long' plant, you can't help but spread it and give it away, as it usually comes as a freebie in the soil somewhere along the way. I don't consider it invasive though, in case anyone might think that.
Someone on another thread mentioned they are adding arches to their beds, I should think that would be a great way to plant some honeysuckle and help keep it in check and give it plenty of room to go UP instead of OUT all over the place. I planted honey suckle before and did it as a bush and just kept it mowed around. That kept it from creeping out in the yard and it had plenty of room to do it's thing w/o hurting anyone else. Cattle panels I think they were using in the other thread. Wouldn't look all that great in the winter, but then I don't think I would mind really, I think some honeysuckles are semi evergreen anyway, and probably would be here where the winters are a tad mild.
Some more pics before heading off to bed...
First plant is one I loved, but only lived for about 2 years it seems and then dies and has to be replaced. It had a neat scent to it also. An Artemisia or something like that, it had a soft feathery like silvery-gray-blue foliage to it.
The dl bed, the red one in the left front is Siloam Show Girl, bloomed like crazy that year
The 4th pic, I suspect is another artemisia but I would love to know the name if anyone can make a guess. My friend had this once, but she didn't know the name either.
A little visitor I had on my porch one night and he came back regular that whole summer. I left the light on for him at night so the bugs would come to the window.
I had a really long comment written last night, but I hit a couple of keys on the keyboard and my window closed up on me. GRRRRR!!!!!! That was my cue to go to bed.
Anyhow, I was saying how I would love to spend some time redoing my beds. I've been wanting to do it since last year, but with so many other things needing attention, I know it will not get done, as I just don't have the time. I would like to redesign the beds so that the daylilies are all facing towards the pathways, and not off to the side or in the opposite direction. We all know they face towards the largest area of sky and away from any shade. Took me awhile to figure that out, or for it to really sink in. Anyhow, lots of redesigning would be needed.
I can certainly relate to how the gardens are always a work in progress. I tend to do a lot of plopping, too, cause like most of us here, I'm a collector. Not just daylilies, but all kinds of plants, though daylilies feature the majority. Things get shoved in where I have space, then get moved around as they grow out of that space or get smothered by plants that crowd it out. Anyhow, I'm always moving things around.
You have a nice large area to plant. I have about 1.25 acres and way more gardens than I have time for. I sure wish I was 35 again. I turn 49 this month, and I'm sure feeling my age. I miss my youth.
Karen
Oh, btw, we had that fierce here yesterday and the day before. Boy, was it loud out there last night! It's called down now, though.
Sounds like you'll have a lot of fun designing new gardens, and I'll be looking forward to reading about your progress.
Karen
Know what you mean Karen. I would like to redo my gardens too. But my back problems are standing in the way. I just couldn't dig that many daylilies up and rearrange them. I try to do a few every spring and will be doing that again this spring.
Yup, I know what you mean about your back. I have an arthritic ankle from an old injury that acts up pretty bad after a day in the gardens, as well as bad knees, Tingling leg syndrome, etc. It's heck getting old.
This spring I will be putting up a birch arbor, from birch that we cut on our property last year. I was meaning to get it done last year, but never did. Too many other things to get done. I also have a stone walkway to finish, and more to get started. Here's a pic of the walkway, which was done with gray blasted granite.
Karen
