Help with Moms yard :o)

continuation from http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/827285/


I will be leaving for Rochester tomorrow!!

I'll be ripping out all the lawn in the front yard, and creating and planting a bunch of garden beds instead. Moms allergic to grass, so that stuff has to go!

I have 2 Japanese Maples that I will be planting.
also will be making 2 veggie gardens in wine barrells for her.
also have tulip, Daff, and glad bulbs.

any other ideas for plants, shrubs, bushes, perinneals?

this is a layout of her entire lot.....but I'll only be doing the front yard this trip.

The front yard is approx 25 feet deep and 38 feet wide (across)

here is a rough graph of her front yard and my tenative flower beds

I'll see if I can find the photos that I had from the other thread.

Front yard is mostly sun

back yard is mostly shaded by big pine trees.

I wish you and your mom could visit Heidi's, our /my woodland or many others who have the same type of a shaded area I can kinda help, Sunny not so good. Sun does'nt hit my yard till after 10AM

Well, I am no landscaping expert, but honestly the idea of having a lot of bulbs along the street side could look scraggly after they have bloomed out, but need to stay until they are brown to get next year's nutrients. Anyone have ideas on how to interplant with something else to hide the fading foliage?

Yes, I want to interplant in the bulb area. I just dont know what to interplant with! lol! salvia? penstemmon?

I am DEFINITELY going to Heidis!! I'll google it when I get there, but I will be there right after I get into town! lolol!

There is a lot of ways to inter plant, I am just now going to try it. early spring bulbs and Dahlias thats just one.
Nite All
^_^

small shrubs - berberis thunbergii 'crimson pygmy', leucothoe walteri 'rainbow', taxus baccata 'cavendishii', spirea japonica 'magic carpet', ilex crenata 'compacta' are some smaller shrubs to use as bones of the garden. Add bergenia as a tried and true evergreen plant with a different texture. Don't forget to use lavender and rosemary and other herbs where there is sun and the dranage is good.

oooh, rosemary and lavender.... can I take cuttings from mine and plant them right in the ground there? does anyone know? I love the rosemary bush I have :o)

I think if you are doing interplanting, you need to think about what is going over and what is coming up - with bulbs you need something that is dormant in winter, but gets a good spring start. I think the penstemmons (good sun/shade) would work very well, and if you use aguilegia (good sun/shade) too they will compliment the bulbs but give you some leaf, but be in blossom before the pens. I like astrantia also - although they are a bit slow to establish - but will do well in sun/shade. They will really be coming through just as the bulbs start to look ugly. You might want to consider Amsonia Hubrechtii or Amsonia Taebormonta to interplant with the astrantia/aquilegia/penstemmon. Lovely blue, late summer blossoming when most others are over or slowing down, trouble free. Also any of the heleniums are good late summer, and pretty good with some shade.

Your blossoming progression would be bulbs (if you work crocus, snowdrop, bluebells, allium (these are all perennial/bulking bulbs) - you will get a good 3-4 month progression) overlapping with aquilegia, then astrantia, penstemmon, Amsonia and hellenium, with overlap inbtween.

Oh, that was fun. I didn't know I knew that much.

Nice progression, Laurie, I'll have to make sure I try that myself!

Tulips require very sharp drainage if you want them to return, and some won't no matter what you do. Hemerocallis is a classic combo, if you like dealing with them.
Ed Hume (a local well-respected gardening authority), was explaining a couple weeks ago that the new research by tulip & Narcissus growers recommends cutting the foliage after bloom, and that leaving it to die out does not aid in the bulb's food storage. I thought that was almost sacreligious, but thought about the time I had to cut foliage out of necessity, and the Tulips returned the following year. Plus, I still have them.
Another thing to try would be seeding the area with plants such as poppies & Larkspur after planting the bulbs. I agree with Kathy about the mixed border: small shrubs, perennials, grasses & bulbs - it tends to have more interest year round.

Yes, start with staples, some evergreen. Use grasses and big-leafed plants for texture. And then interplant with your favorite subshrubs and perennials. Bulbs are great, but are short-lived, so don't design around them - use them as focal points or points of interest.

An exception to that is swaths of small bulbs. They can look beautiful and last in shaded areas.

One landscaper here used hypericum as a ground cover with daffodils coming up all along the front of his property. It's looked awesome (if not necessarily imaginative) for the last few years. The daffodils are slowing down now - he thinks it's a viral problem.

Or congestion - daffodils need lifting and dividing every few years to keep blossoming.

Yeah. Good ponit, Laurie. I don't envy him that task . . .

AnjL- You better let us "Nuts" know when you made it up there. We all miss you already....sniff sniff

~melissa ;o)

Melissa - come on up!! It's cool up here . . .

I bet it is....it was 109 here in Santee today...ugh If our AnjL doesn't come back when she's supposed to I am willing to come get her ;o)

Oh, 109. You poor thing. I hope you have a pool.

;o) Sure do... that what saves me from having to turn the ac on everyday....of course when it gets in the triple digits then the AC goes on no matter what!!LOL!! But tomorrow it's suppoed to be even hotter...not to used to it being so hot this early in the summer. Plus it hasn't rained in.... well, gee I can't even remember!!

Santeelady, my daughter lives in Orange County (Dove Canyon area) - she called me about 11:00 and I think it was 105 already. Take care!

If Oneanjl has any sense, she'll stay at her mom's until that heat wave is over!!!

I am here!!!! well, I'm in Gate WA...which is just next to Rochester WA....

and....

IM STAYING!!! (oh how I wish!!)


It was 105 in Fremont when I left :o( I thought I was going to lose all those plants I packed in the back end of that car! it was so hot! didnt drop below 100 until after we got to OR @ about 10pm
I drove to Roseburg, then had to pull over and sleep for a while ...finally got here at noon today.
I am not looking forward to driving back home next week! lol!

It was suposed to get to 110 in fremont today.... I am SO GLAD I'M NOT THERE!!!
I just hope my house sitter waters all my plants while I'm gone :o)

I printed off all the info you all have given me... thank you sooo much!
I have daffs, tulips, crocus, iris that I'll be planting in the front bed, but I do want to have other plants that will add almost year round interest.
still need to find something evergreen.... but I'm sure I can find something when I get to dragonfly :o)

Headed out to big lots now to pick up some essentials for moms yard :o)

TTYL tonight!
Anjl

Did you fined one close?

yes, went to west olympia...I dont think ANYTHING is CLOSE here! Lol!
I got the cast iron bench I wanted to get her...but no table :o(
still have to find the table, a lil white plastic picket fence, and some pots big enough to do a water garden...

oh, and Where is Heidis" I cant find the link to her website... I I wanna try to go there tomorrow or monday :o)

Heidi will have lots of fantastic ideas.

Here's her site - http://dragonflyfarmsnursery.com/

Directions on the site to her place

http://dragonflyfarmsnursery.com/visit_us.html

So glad you made it up safely. We're supposed to have mostly sunny weather with highs in the 70's this week, so you may have picked the perfect time for your visit.

Oneanji, Dmail Heidi. She will just love to see you, I wish I could meet you there but I gotta work all week my Vac. doesnt start till next Sat.
She is Cattledogs.
I love that store, its better than mine.

:o( I just looked at her site and she's only open on weekends?! I am sooo bummed! :o( she's 2 hour drive from here and if I leave now..... she'll be closed by the time I get there ....
I'm leaving on friday to go to oregon...and then back home :o( I never imagined she'd be closed during the week :o(

She is never open during the week, Her and her DH have a landscaping business, I have been there during the week, but you have to set up a time. Dmail or Email. She will get back to you.

I may do that later... we ran into a problem with moms grass :o( heres what I posted on another thread... to tired to type it all out again! LOL! so, I'm just gonna cut copy paste....

Hi all,

I'm here... I'm tired and sore and covered in dirt and sod :o(

Nannie... I came soooo close to buying a rototiller today! LOL! Went to HD (no froffie's at the two local HD's here mellissa....) and was going to rent one for $85.... then saw them for $200 and my sis was gonna split it with me.... then the guy told us that a lil two stroke rototiller aint gonna pull up sod.... so now we are going to rent a sod cutter.... but there is no truck to get it the 10 miles to moms house....can you believe it! 10 miles to the nearest HD!!! I have 4 in my city at home...and she has to travel miles and miles! ugh! we spent more time on the road driving here and there getting stuff today, than I did in her yard!

We started digging up grass with a flat blade shovel and quickly realized that it wasnt gonna work...not unless I stay here for a few months! lol! the bottom of my feet are sooo sore from pounding on that shove all day! ugh!
so, tomorrow, I'm getting that sod cutter machine, even if I have to rent a truck to get it back to moms!!! I cant believe these folks live in the country and no one has a truck...well, not a running truck! :O(

I did buy her some plants today. Mainly veggies, and a rosemary and lavender. Also a really cool rose bush, and a cast iron white bench...

also found out that my sis has lots of rocks and pebbles at her property, so we have the kids collecting those and piling them up so we can use them for paths and border edging....
I'm so tired, I cant even type...my back and legs are throbbing :o(
gonna go soak in the tub and start again tomorrow ....

AnjL

anyone know of a good low growing creeper that will grow in shade? I want to put some in between stepping stones but its mostly in a shady area.

--

How about moss? Pretty easy to grow in the shade. I love the bright green irish moss because it is bright and helps show the pathway in the evening.

I love bunchberry (cornus canadensis). Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is nice, too.

I sympathize on the difficulties with the sod. I have an acre full that I'm chipping away at little by little. We used a sod cutter; you'll need an area to put the sod while it decomposes - make sure it's covered to smother the grass because very stoloniferous grass will just turn around and grow back through the sod the other way.

And then you'll want to till or turn the soil over. I do it by hand with a mattock (my very favorite tool) because I have so many rocks and decomposing roots. I'd recommend having some compost delivered, if you can because when you pick up the sod, you lose a lot of your soil (you'll get it back, of course, in the compost).

You might also consider putting down lanscaping fabric as there will still be grass seed and bits of grass roots that will come back at least for this season.

It's a good thing you're doing - the results should be spectacular!!

I agree with katie for sure. Any money and energy you put into the soil before you plant will save much in the future. I used to skip the landscaping cloth step until one year I finally spent the extra money. The new bed stayed beautiful all season with no weeds. More time for relaxing and enjoying. If all you manage to get done this trip is to remove the grass, amend the soil, and put down cloth and compost, you will accomplished much! Put in the large structure, like the Jmaples and the bench, and you will be able to add plants easily as you go along.

BTW, I killed a large japanese maple purchased for a community garden one time by digging a deep hole and watering it well. The water sat at the bottom of the hole and drowned the tree. As the leaves started wilting, I watered it more. duh. Anyway, they like a wide shallow hole, no commercial fertilizers either. They are happiest with good compost.

That reminds me, anjl. Not sure what soil you're used to. And not sure what your mom has. Up here we do have lots of clay, so achieving drainage is a major challenge. If you do dig a hole, fill it with water and see how long it takes to drain.

A lot of non-native plants can take the lack of drainage in the summer, but in winter the wet soil freezes and melts and that can mean the death of plants. Of course, natives can tolerate that better than some other plants.

hi all!
well... the sod is GONE! yippee! so are my back muscles, and my leg muscles and even the tips of my fingertips! lol! but it is GONE!
Mom lives in a mobile home park and they have a big embankment that you toss your yard stuff over and then you can get compost at the bottom...so we have lots of compost, they even supply bark, topsoil and gravel. :o) yippee!
the park manager lives right across from mom and he has every yard tool imaginable... (well except the sod cutter! lol!) so we cut the sod and then slowly removed it all today by wheelbarrowing it over to the embankment and then tossing it over...my back is screaming...but its a done deal :o)

I did buy landscape cloth. oh and the soil is absolutely beautiful black crumbly wonderful! I wanna sneak some of it home ! tee hee! no clay at all, when I dig down a few feet...we run into rocks... and I've been informed that the town is nicknamed 'rock'chester! lol!
we did water it down today. drainage is good...not fast, not slow... so I think we'll be okay there. also moms grass was thick and above grade. so we only lost about an inch of the grade. I'll use compost and bark to bring it back up to grade and eventually it will slowly build back up :o).

tomorrow I get to haul rocks from sis property to moms to edge the beds. then we get to haul in gravel from sis to mom to create the paths.

oooh! and I get to go to dragonfly on wed!! yippee!! I am so excited! so is mom! lolol! I'm also gonna take her to port orchard so I can take pix of the area while we are up there!

we settled for blue star creeper between the stone area in the shade. its all walmart had and I was tired of driving so far to get stuff!~ LOL!


off to get some much needed sleep! lol!

AnjL

okay...here is our work in progress! :oD

the very beginning.....

and another angle

sis operating the sod cutter... Thank God for sisters! lol!

we quickly discovered that we needed shorter pieces ...in order to move these lol!