Recent Garden Acquisitions

[Opsa]

See when you say Marigolds I think Calendula officinalis.

Which BTW are very nice too but does not work as pest control...
I love the seeds they look quite alien and there isn't two that looks the same. I'd love to take macro photos of them and blow up to poster size .

That's a cool idea. You could post some here.

[pieces o nine]

I take zero credit for the landscaping, as that is V's hobby, and I am more than happy to leave it to her - ha!  But here are two pics -- taken after a rain, as otherwise the foliage color here is a sort of khaki -- of some of the tremendous work she's done of late:


Newest space - solar-powered, faceted 'moonlights' are quite pretty when seen from the deck above at night. There are rings of fast-growing lambs' ear circling what will be larger shrubberies. At the center top you can see some of another new berm planting to create more space between our yard and the neighbors. The little white 'fences' are funny, but in proper scale for Yoda and Benji.




Front of house - trees planted last year to replace improperly planted (and dying!) ones have taken strong root -- especially that one on the right! Better plantings around the koi pond (always popular with neighborhood kids).

[Opsa]

Wow, what a gorgeous yard. I like the crane sculpture, too.

Where are the "moonlights"?

[pieces o nine]

Where are the "moonlights"?

Hmmnmmm, good question. They are cleverly hidden among the foliage in these photos! I tried taking a pic at night showing the faceted lights, but the flash went off and it looks like a crime scene photo... 

[Opsa]

POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS  POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS  POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS

Are they like solar powered christmas lights?

[pieces o nine]

They are small solar powered lights on little stakes, with faceted [shades] over the light receptor/emitter. When they come on at night, there is a circle of small diamond-shaped lights cast on the ground around them, with a nice fuzzy glow out the top.

[Opsa]

Sweet! Where did you find them?

[pieces o nine]

She found them on an end-of-season sale at Target.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
hmmmmmm,  kind of like these, but the glass shade is faceted.

[Opsa]

Oh yeah, I've seen those. I oughta go look at the end-of-season sales and see if I can find some.

I have one solar garden lamp I got at a yard sale. It looks like a rusticated lantern with a little metal tulip pattern. After sunset it has a rather bright green glow.

[pieces o nine]

V has been seriously busy with her landscaping; here are some update photos:


1. Front Yard -- V digging down 9" to accommodate replacement pond liner. The original one showed signs of multiple patches and was startlingly light and flimsy when she pulled it out. Neighbor helped home builder put that one in, congratulated V on getting a 'decent' one -- it's sturdy, deep enough to discourage deer wading, and will accommodate proper aquatic plants if she wants to incorporate them this year.
... here's where we hide the bodies ...

[edit]: forgot to add that the trees are Russian Hawthorn & Black Lace Elderberry (left) and Gambrel Oak (right). Out of the photo are a Prairie Gem Pear and Homestead Buckeye, all established last year.


2. Back Yard -- Gate finished and this side of yard covered with yards of black grass kill fabric and a honking pile of mulch chips, a couple weekends ago. This weekend she put in (5) Sunjoy Gold Pillar Barberries in the narrow neck next to the gate at top left. They anchor a new hedge of (alternating) Barberry Red Dwarf and Bonanza Gold Barberry; they're two slightly different sizes, so she expects them to grow into an 'wavy' border to help keep their little dogs from charging the fence (and the HUGE Marmaduke dog on the neighbor's side).

The center is home to the 'Kentucky Coffee Tree plantation' and forsythia border replacing the dying stick plants the home builder installed along the fence.

[pieces o nine]

3.  Butterfly Berm -- hedge in photo #2 ends at a lawn building, turn corner to the Butterfly Berm established last year. All kinds of miscellaneous specimen plants in there; the feature is a nice variety of irises from her dad's garden.

In the center of the yard (no photo) is an Oakleaf Mountain Ash and a Royal Raindrops Crabapple, both planted last year.


4. Back Gate -- looking back towards lawn building from the other end of berm. You can see where the other side of the yard was covered with black grass kill fabirc and mulch chips a couple weeks ago. (She had over a ton delivered, if I remember correctly!)


5. Ghost Walk -- Kintzley's Ghost hedge plants started last year, mostly cropped from this photo. Various Ninebarks in the center of the mulch chips. Also a Pride of Moscow White Lilac, Endless Summer Twist & Shout Hydrangeas,  and (to be added later) Honeyberry bushes and a Mulberry Tree somewhere in front of picket fence at end.

Against the house are Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry flanked by Tiger Eye Sumac. Along that masonry 'ramp' shape towards house (dead stick bush privacy hedge removed this spring) will be Crandall Clove Currants, Gro-Lo Sumac, and Autumn Amber Sumac.

[Sibling DavidH]

Wow, Pieces, your garden looks so lovely.  Fancy flying over and doing ours?

[Griffin NoName]

Wonderful! If only I had a nice garden + gardener........

[Opsa]

Wow, that's some seriously fantastic garden work. I very much admire the carefully chosen plant types and colors. Is V a master gardener?

[pieces o nine]

She enjoys gardening, but she really likes planning landscaping for each house. She's good friends with the owner of a local nrusery, so he's given her some good tips (and steered her towards some lovely specimen plants!) over the years.

Now you see why neither her son nor I offer to help (except when she's really in a jam). Just think what she could do with two more-or-less, full-time, on-call laborers schlepping wheelbarrows of soil, mulch, and rocks around!