3 is a Magic Number
This advice is a little late for planting spring bulbs, but it is useful advice whenever you plan to have more than one of the same plant in your yard; plant in odd numbers.  For some reason 4 red tulips never look exactly right, always plant 3, 5, 7, etc.  I like the idea so much whenever I even cut flowers from the yard (like peonies) I always cut an odd number for an arrangement.  This is especially true if your house is asymmetrical in style.

If you have a symmetric design to your house, you may be tempted to plant in twos, such as an arborvitae bordering each side of the front door, etc.  I would caution that once you begin to plant in that style you may be locking yourself in to a more formal garden setting.  Formal gardens require more planning and maintenance than the casual cottage garden, but if you are willing to do the extra work for the satisfaction of the effect, go for it!

Peony Rain
June is headed fast our way, the peonies are all budded, so that only means one thing: we can expect a week of rain.  It is an oddity that peony buds mean heavy rainfall, but it never fails, the peonies will just begin to open then get so heavy with rain water they flop to the ground. They do sell peony supports, but I am not usually on the ball enough to get the support on the plant before it needs it.

Peonies are one of my favorite cut flowers, which is fortunate since they almost require cutting once they flop, because you only have to pick a few (in an odd number :) to create an arrangement that looks both dramatic and beautiful.

Shown here is a pink peony I brought from our last house.  There is a rumor that peonies do not like to be moved, but I disagree.  I brought three in pots in the move (the roots are long so careful lifting them out of the ground) and now have about five of these plants.  I would just have the original three, but I tried to move one a couple years back and when I lifted it out of the ground, the roots fell into three separate sections.  I planted each root section separately, and though they were very small for a couple of years and did not bloom, this year they look large and healthy.  In gardening it is good to be flexible and a little brave.  If you are unsure about whether you can move a plant, you can try to research how large the root ball is expected to be (you don't want to accidentally drive a spade through the center of roots) or you can take a good guess based upon the age of the plant and start digging a large circle then move in as needed.

The pink peony also has a little story.  When we moved into our last house there was a large garden-like area in front of the house which contained only a large blue spruce, 2 climbing roses, roughly 30 double flowering pink peonies and nothing else.  When Spring hit, I decided that I couldn't justify an all pink front garden (not sure what possessed the former owners to plant so many of one color) so I offered up the peonies to everyone I knew but had no takers (sad because I've come to understand how expensive peonies can be).  Consequently, I threw away about 25 of the peonies and kept the rest but spaced them out and mixed in some summer and fall bloomers.  I was a bit sad when we sold the house under two years later, because I didn't get the chance to see how beautifully the plants would have filled in.  I took consolation in potting up many seedlings (and three peonies) to take with me.  If you do plan on potting up some plants for a move (or to give to a friend) do make certain to keep them watered and put them in the ground sooner rather than later (nothing drives me crazier than to carefully dig, pot, and care for plants just to see them dried out in a friend's driveway, it's just plain disappointing.)

The Best Things in Life are Free


To continue on from my last post where I recommend that cost cutting can really help out if you are saving for something really big (gazebo, shed, greenhouse as pictured in one of those old fashioned British mysteries) I neglected to add that oftentimes the best plants are obtained from a friend, neighbor, or coworker when they are dividing or rearranging their own yard.



In our first house I was over the moon for some bearded irises that my husband brought home from a coworker who was dividing her own garden.  They were tall and elegant, and, best of all, needed no pampering or fussiness in order to be beautiful (they only need to be divided every 3 to 5 years, with the exception of siberian irises which need no division).  Irises today are still my most favorite flower.  I have several types in different colors.

Sometimes I wonder if I may have planted too many irises, but since they are easy to divide and give away, none have gone the way of the compost pile.  I can usually find someone thrilled to have the extras, with the one exception of a neighbor who declined my offer of irises because she did not feel that they bloomed for a long enough period.  Of course, I disagree entirely, but to each their own (plus she is the one who kept planting multi-colored pansies with faces in the same planter each and every year so I took what she thought and promptly disregarded it.)

Though I will admit I do have some yellow siberian iris that do not trip my trigger.  For some reason they like to bloom only halfway up the stem.  In contrast to the delicate beauty of my purple siberian, well, they are a bit of a disappointment but I leave them in as I need the color contrast.  (My yard is inadvertently heavy on the purple.)

Know When to *Spurge*

I've talked a bit in earlier posts about ways to cut costs on landscaping; such as only buying tools you really need, reusing items that may have been left over in your yard from the previous owner, and shopping the "orphanage" section of your local nursery (if you are lucky enough to live near one).  But it's also good to know when to splurge on that one item you really want for the yard (a bench, a fancy shrub, new deck, etc) and with the money you have saved from all your other cost cutting activities, perhaps you can buy more than one.

Another good way to save is to go to a nursery, farmers' market, or other place where they sell plants with a specific list.  Otherwise, it's like visiting the grocery store when you are hungry-everything will look good and you'll buy on impulse and consequently overspend. Plus, if you go without a specific plan you may end up with all spring bloomers, all summer bloomers, too much of one color, etc.  To make a comprehensive list, it is best to begin by thumbing through a few books that profile plants for your region (the hardiness zones are in practically every book, so it should be easy to discern what plants are appropriate for where you live).

Then from the list you've compiled you can further downscale it (if you want) to drop off those plants that might be susceptible to pests (in Maine Japanese beetles and Lily Loving beetles are real concerns) and diseases (unless, of course, you love the plant so much that you are willing to do the extra work).  You may also want to avoid any plant in which the description reads as "may be invasive" (but again, you can find ways to control an invasive plant but it will require extra attention).

Neighbors and Fences
When I was in high school my English teacher explained to us that Robert Frost's poem with the famous line "good fences make good neighbors" was intended to be an argument against having fences between neighbors.  I have to say regardless of the intent of the line I actually believe that boundaries should exist.  Perhaps it is because we live in a City with limited outdoor space; I like my privacy and I like knowing where I can and cannot plant and improve my own space.  Plus we had an issue with the placement of a fence and a neighbor who was trying to "empire build" by stealing land from each of us on both sides.  The other adjacent neighbor bought from someone who smartly had an easement drawn up and filed in the Registry, the previous owner of our home didn't care enough to worry about it.  In fact, I don't think they ever used this yard for anything recreational (thus explaining the multitude of yew buses and no pretty landscaping).

After several heated interactions with the land-stealing neighbor, we had our plot professionally surveyed and took back what was ours by title.  We did this in the event we decided to sell our house and the question of boundaries were to come up. (I didn't think we could legitimately sell our plot if the neighbor was preventing any new owner from access to it).  Plus, I was disappointed that we  had helped our neighbors on many occasions with snow removal, tree planting, and other odd jobs (they are older) and the attitude from them in regards to their installation of a new fence on our land, was  "tough luck for you".  Didn't seem fair somehow.  So not only did we get the land back, but we got over the feeling that we were obligated to help people whose values seemed skewed.

My moral of the story is be a good neighbor.  If you decide you wish to plant a row of privacy trees or install a fence, be kind and make sure it's on your property.

Unintentional Assets
When planning yard work sometimes you have to evaluate what the previous owner left behind before you can move forward.  In our last house we scored big with a pile of granite blocks stacked up against the side of our house.  At first, we were a bit miffed that they didn't clean up after themselves as we had expected (they also had a dog who "used" the yard all winter and spring and they apparently felt no compulsion to pick that up either, so, in essence, we earned those blocks!) but then we found there were many uses for granite.  I used the blocks to edge a couple of gardens and with those left over we put in a "patio" where we  placed our outdoor table and chairs since we had no deck.

In our current home we were not the benefactors of granite, but there was an odd square patio by the sunroom made out of concrete pavers.  I'm not certain why they were there (I don't imagine they had a grill or other item on this makeshift patio), but once we picked them up I realized how lovely they would be as stepping stones in a gravel path especially as moss grows over them.

Above is a photo of just a section of the path from outside the sunroom.  Below you can see that it also wraps around a side garden (where the pavers used to be).  This area is heavily shaded but we planted a hosta, bleeding heart and cedar seedling (it was only 2 inches tall when I first brought it home from the woods) and I have room to add an astilbe or two.

The path was originally all asphalt and extended from the driveway, all around the back yard deck, and to the bulk head (I suspect there was a sale on asphalt when the house was built).  I wouldn't have thought to replace the asphalt until I envisioned the concrete pavers as stepping stones so it was lucky they were left behind.

Now we've discussed what you can do with stuff that is there, let's discuss what to do with stuff that isn't there.  The lack of privacy, fences, and grass can all be motivating factors in planning your yard.

For privacy, evergreen trees can be useful and also provide the benefits of a fence without the fence (two birds as it were).  We decided to close off the back yard fencing with real fencing as we had small children and a dog and didn't want to have to be on "high alert" all the time we spent outdoors.  Our dog has passed and our kids have grown, but I still like the fence as a mode of privacy and for creating an outdoor space that feels like a room.

Where the grass won't grow I've put in plants as discussed in earlier posts.  But I also started a memorial garden in the back where my dog spent a lot of time.  There is no grass in the area I've selected, so planning a garden there seems both functional and appropriate.  I'm taking my time moving shade tolerant plants to that section as I've planned to place my dog's ashes in the garden when it's completed and I'm in no hurry to part with them even though it's been a couple of years since he passed.  See below for heart tugging photo.

Get Thee to a Nursery
Yesterday I headed to the local nursery in hopes of bringing back a flat of pachysandra to put in the back yard under a tree where grass has given up all hope.  I wouldn't usually buy pachysandra as it can be invasive when left to it's own devices, but when I imagine the corner filled in with a sea of green I'm willing to chance it.  The nursery, as it turns out, will not have pachysandra for a couple of weeks, so I will have to return.  It's important to remember when buying plants you oftentimes have to wait until the correct season to buy the plant you are looking for (which is usually right before they bloom; in other words, don't go to the nursery to buy a fall blooming plant in the spring.)

While at the nursery I did spy a bright red bleeding heart in bloom.  The leaves were a beautiful shade of silver and the blossoms were so deep in color, they almost put my fringed bleeding heart to shame.  The price was $14.99 which I thought was expensive for a quart sized pot but I was still tempted.  But as tempted as I was to give in to its prettiness, I also remember that oftentimes the showiest plants aren't the most reliable.  Sometimes it's better to stay with reliable if low maintenance and/or frugality  is in your game plan.

Speaking of choices, there is something else to consider when planning your garden.  Sure, you can pull out the color wheel and plant according to complementary blooming colors (an orange next to a blue, a yellow next to a purple) but I never bothered and I think my garden looks nice.  Every spring I am loaded with purples (ajuga, grape hyacinth, creeping phlox, etc) and once it goes by, the sea of yellow will take over.  I have found that blooms in solid colors planted repeatedly in the yard have big impact when viewed from the sidewalk, across the street, etc.

As a aside to that, when I plant pansies as an annual to fill in around the perennials (sometimes pansies will winter over, sometimes not, so I always think of them as an annual) I select the "faceless" kind and I plant groups of the same color.  When a lot of multi-colored flowers are planted in a small space they don't seem to "pop", at least that's this gardener's opinion.

Photo Credits
You may have been wondering about the photos shown on my blog and whether or not they are from my own garden.  They are!  The photo above here is of the pagoda dogwood my friend "adopted".  The blossoms are really lovely and you can see that the "orphan" we adopted from the nursery that initially appeared as a dead twig in the fall just needed a little TLC.  The dogwood also produces berries once the blossoms have faded and gone by which provide food for your neighborhood birds.

Certified Wildlife Habitat
Which leads me to also mention that if you provide food, water, and shelter for your neighboring wildlife, you may want to proclaim it!  See http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Create-a-Habitat.aspx on the details if interested.  Of course, you may have guessed that I have already certified my yard (I did it about 5 years ago after spotting someone else's certification in their yard and I loved the idea!).