A Vacation from Vacationland

Over the past couple of weeks we took a vacation outside of Maine.  While it was good to get away I was in such a hurry to pack and get work (paid not hobby) related items done that I didn't even take the time to mow the lawn.  Fortunately, my sister was kind enough to mow the back yard while she was house and cat sitting so that we didn't have to sickle our way through to the composter when we got home.  However, I didn't realize the extent of my neglect until the first weekend home.  The weeds had taken over throughout the front lawn and most of the flower beds. Yikes!  I knew that weeds like sun and rain as much as any other plant, but I guess I had gotten complacent.

The good news is that it is never too late to get a handle on your yard.  Using scissors to deadhead the plants that blossomed while we were away, a two pronged weed puller (especially useful for large dandelions) and a narrow spade, after a few short (ok, a few more than a few) hours, the yard looks even better than before we left (or maybe it looks that way because it's neat and organized, like cleaning out a clothes closet).  After the next rain and bit of beautiful weather, it will probably be a mess again (like your closet before laundry day) but it's the natural cycle, so go with it and don't get discouraged.

Another good summer activity (besides dead heading and weeding, see, gardening can be fun!) is to take stock of your plants, what works and what doesn't.  For instance, I realize that in my haste to put in plants the last two years I didn't exactly plan their placement as well as I should have.  I currently have an incredibly tall grass plant (a stray my sister dropped off) far too close to a couple of peonies (it casts a shadow over both) plus two daylilies that are side by side (same color) that should be moved to either side of a complimentary red wine weigelia.  There are other adjustments that need to be made and hopefully I will remember to do them all.

Sorry if I am repeating myself repeating myself

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this next pet peeve in an earlier post (possibly two, but I'm old, I forget) but I really dislike it when people plant the exact same perennial and/or shrub in a straight row of multiples.  There is a house in my neighborhood with three white pieris japonica under one window and nothing under the opposing window on the other side of their front door.  I wanted to take a picture of it to demonstrate here, but didn't dare tick off a neighbor.  But it's not unusual.  I think we all know a house that has a walkway lined with hostas of all the same size and color, or a row of lilacs,  or the dreaded yews.  I'm not quite sure why people plant like this.  It seems so very unimaginative.  Hostas come in different colors, and so do lilacs and pieris japonica, but, alas, not the yew, so why limit your yard's appeal?

I feel the same way about trees.  Our neighbors (note, plural) like to plant two of one variety.  One house has two red maples, another two weeping cherries, still another two lindens.  I'm not against any of these trees, in fact I really like them, just one at a time, please.  For perennials and shrubs, mix 'em up a little.  Planting for impact is actually a good idea, repeating colors and blooms flatters your yard, and makes those blooms stand out, whereas planting in straight rows, looks o.k. (and I mean just "o.k.") while blooming, but is blah afterwards.

There are exceptions to every pet peeve, however.  The Audubon Society near us has a beautiful peony garden where peonies have been planted in long rows. They hold a "Peony Social" each year to celebrate the blossoming of the peonies.  I am also all for planting shrubs if you plan to create a garden maze in your own backyard.  And, if you do create a maze, you will find you can ignore my other pet peeve, using electric garden shears to trim your shrubs into straight little boxes.

As my bird seed stealing friend might say, it's variety that makes life nice.

Wee.....ds

I am not a great identifier of weeds.  I have probably only really waged war against crabgrass since it maliciously hides from my lawn mower and seems almost impossible to combat.  One of the best, non-violent, ways is to throw down some pre-emergence in the spring just as the forsythia are budded.  The environmentally friendly pre-emergence is composed mostly of corn gluten.  Because crabgrass is an annual this method is best for the pacifist; however, dandelions are quite another story.

I should have more compassion, really, for the dandelion.  Some people put dandelion leaves in salads or use them to make wine.  We can make wishes with the seed heads, and the blossom to leaf ratio is actually quite good.  But, I am not a fan.  I lie and wait every spring, weed puller in hand for any sign of the yellow invader, then I pounce.  It seems we will have just canvassed the yard, pulled every single weed, and lo and behold the next morning five more will appear.  It's a courtesy that they are easy to spot, unlike crabgrass, so they only have themselves to blame.

Lest you think I am completely heartless.  There do exist weeds I actually like and will allow a little invasion, and not just because I am lazy.  White clover has a pretty little bloom and adds healthful nitrogen to the soil.  I like the clover and will purposely buy grass seed that has clover in it (regardless of what the lawn "experts" say).  I also like johnny jump-ups (they look like baby pansies) but will eventually pull them when they get too uppity.  Lastly, violets often will grow where the grass won't, in both white and purple (yes, more purple!) and are easy to yank if you change your mind.

Purple Haze

Spring in Maine is a beautiful time of year when the white of snow is replaced with fabulous colors, although in my yard it pretty much amounts to many shades of purple.  I think of it as a wonderful "sea of purple" whenever I pull in to the driveway.

The purple is mostly groundcover, ajuga and creeping phlox, but I also have a lion's share of grape hyacinths (muscari) that have spread like crazy.  Because I have lots of shades of purple, I think it looks good.  Once the blossoms have faded, the different shades of green will look pretty, too.  Not far behind the purple will be a sea of yellow, coreopsis and the like will replace the purple by June.

While some might think that the purple is a bit "too much", I don't.  It's fabulous to have color in Spring when all the trees are just finally leafing out and neighbors have only green and brown in their yards. I also have had crocuses and daffodils come and go already, so there has been some color in the yard since early April.  For the low maintenance gardener, bulbs are a great investment.

Some bulbs, like grape hyacinth, crocuses, and daffodils, will multiply year after year and look so pretty in drifts.  Other bulbs, like most tulips, seem to peter out after a couple of years (the flower gets smaller and eventually stops blooming).  I tend to avoid tulips because I haven't had a lot of luck with them.  I do have nine dwarf  "May Wonders", but I am not crazy about the way they bloom, very low to the ground and hard to see.  Also, I started with nine, and still have nine.  I also bought three double flowering tulip bulbs a few years ago, but only now have one that blooms and the blossom is so heavy it usually opens then snaps off.  But I do see tulips in other people's yards that seem to do very well, so it could be that my yard doesn't have the conditions that they like.

I also have problems with doronicum (leopard's bane).  My dad can grow doronicum without even trying just one mile away.  Every year he pulls seedlings out for weeds.  I've taken my fair share of seedlings and planted the pretty yellow spring flower in my yard but it hates it here and tends to die fairly quickly.  I have no idea why.  But sometimes that is just how it happens.  So, I visit my dad, enjoy his blooming doronicum, curse it a little under my breath, but appreciate it anyway.

I suppose I could have a soil sample taken and I could determine the properties of my soil.  But, frankly, I don't have that kind of ambition, I am content to trial and error my gardening.  If something doesn't perform, I simply replace it.

Other purple currently blooming, dwarf iris, vinca minor, and PJM rhododenrons.

Yew Not "Ew"

If I were to list all my gardening pet peeves, 1) this would be a very long post 2) I would run out of adjectives and, 3) I'm certain someone reading would disagree with each and every one of them.  What bothers some, does not bother others.  For instance, when I look at houses with absolutely no landscaping whatsoever, not even so much as an obligatory foundation planting, I get a cold shiver and a creepy uninvited feeling, like vampires are afoot, and the house is just a daytime coffin.  However, others might look at the same house and think, "awesome, low maintenance".

While looking for examples of what I call "crimes against the yew bush", I brought my cell phone along with me on a lunch time walk to take photos of those "yews" that I find to be "ews".  On my first day I saw some great examples, but it was sunny out and a lot of people were home so I was afraid to take photos worried I'd be accosted by someone demanding to know why I was paparazzing their domicile (for all I know these people weren't at work for some other reason besides lunch).  But the next day, I got a little braver and tried to look like I was checking my messages on my cell, while I was actually taking photos.

This first yew pictured here is a victim of bad trimming.  I really dislike the "flat top" method of pruning a shrub like the yew.  Are they planning on having a picnic on it?  There are probably three yew bushes lined up in a row in this image, but you cannot tell where one begins and another ends. I'm sure someone just hauled out an electric or gas powered hedge trimmer and took one pass over the top and said "done".  While I am all for low maintenance, this is just plain lazy and does nothing to enhance the house, the yard, or the people who live there.  I get so disappointed in those who trim in this way, I wonder if we shouldn't require a written test and a permit for use of hedge trimmers, much in the same way we do for the operator of a motor vehicle?   I suppose it could be worse, however...

Here is an image of "worse".  This image shows a couple of poor bushes being attacked by unweeded maples.  Though you may not be able to see it clearly from this photo, there are several small trees growing throughout the yew bushes.  There isn't room for all of them, and the small trees seem quite large already, since maples are fast growing and can seed like wildfire.  Best to mulch under shrubs and keep weeds (like tree seedlings) easy to pull out in the early stages than try to get them when the roots have taken a firm hold.  Now, the roots of both may be too intertwined.

This next photo shows two yew bushes that have not been trimmed, perhaps ever, and while they appear now to be getting a bit leggy, I actually prefer this look to the first image I posted where over trimming is the crime.  This problem, well, I see it as a problem, although the home owners may just like the street privacy, is the easiest to fix.  Thinning a few branches here and there, giving the yew a rounded, more controlled, shape, and allowing the trimmed branches to thicken a little, would make these two shrubs refreshed and quite pretty.

I feel like the above image is a "Where's Waldo?".  If you can easily spot the two yew bushes, then it is because you are really looking.  The rhododendron takes center stage, and really there is no need to distract from it with two badly trimmed yew bushes off to the side, so I would just remove them.  If they are small, they could be relocated, if not, well, less work for the home owner.

Now a very personal example of good yew bushes gone bad.  When we bought our house in 2001, this is what it looked like (this is the city's online tax image, I was in no hurry to take photos of our lackluster exterior). As mentioned in one of my most early posts, the yew bushes probably lasted for one week, maybe two, before I looked at the better half and begged relief from the eyesore.  There were seven badly trimmed yew bushes that added nothing to the charm of the house.  Frankly, I found the house pretty charmless anyway, inside and out, built by the neighborhood contractor in 1972 so that he could live and work in the same area.  He cut every corner, and I actually doubt he planted anything in the yard at all.  These shrubs in the photo were still quite small in 2001 and may have been planted after the house was vinyl sided (sometime, I believe, in the 1980s).

This is our house in 2008.  We have changed the shutters and windows since this photo was taken and the false cypress boulevard is now higher than the gutters, but essentially you get the idea.  With some well thought out landscaping, a house and yard can become a welcoming, colorful playground, where you can enjoy the view inside and out.  (Case and point, that lovely snowdrift flowering crab also looks beautiful when viewed from the living room window, even on a rainy day.)  You may also notice that mulch replaced the grass.  We lost a well fight battle with grubs and decided to plant ground cover and fill in with mulch.  It is far less maintenance than grass and I like the look of "park" in the front more than high maintenance green carpet.  

In closing, if you like yew bushes because they are evergreen and easy to grow, just thin them when needed and resist the urge to make them look like shipping boxes or picnic tables.

Good Example or Horrible Warning

Every day at work I’ve made it a point to walk during my half-hour lunch.  My office has no windows and a lot of my job requires sitting at a desk so I need to move my bones and clear my head at least once a day.  Fortunately my office building is located in a fairly residential area so I get to look at other yards and gardens to see what others have planted and how they regard their use of outdoor space.

 

What disappoints me most in looking at these yards, however, is seeing shrubs and trees poorly placed and struggling to thrive under adverse conditions.  I think the shrub that is most often abused in this way is the rhododendron.  On my walk today I used my cell phone to take a few photos of some rhododendrons improperly placed.  Looking at the right photo, this rhododendron, though hard to tell from this photo, is planted three or four inches from the foundation.  This what I would call major mistake number one.  When planting small shrubs you must always adhere to planting guidelines.  Too often people forget that the little shrub now will soon be big. In my basic gardening book it recommends planting a rhododendron 4-10 feet apart depending upon the variety.  I think a 4 foot minimum is a very good guideline.  

To the left is another example of rhododendrons planted far too close to the foundation.  It's double the tragedy as there are two struggling rhododendrons instead of one.  It is not possible to tell how old these two shrubs are, but it is evident that they are not really thriving in their current location.  It could be that the roots are not established due to their tight quarters, or perhaps the amount and quality of sunshine are not adequate.  They do not appear as healthy as the one pictured above which, despite poor placement, seems to be full and the right shade of green (frequent pruning is most likely the cause, can be used to keep a shrub looking more bushy less leggy).

In this last rhododendron photo I think the problem is fairly clear, the type of rhododendron (they come in dwarf varieties as well as woodland sizes) planted on each side was far too large for the space and have overtaken the house and porch.  If privacy is your desired plan, then I guess it's o.k. But this type of overgrowth makes outside house maintenance difficult and gives your home and porch a very uninviting feel.  Consistent pruning would have helped this early on, but now I believe only removal and replanting of some smaller shrubs to be a viable option.  Also, it's always dangerous to plant symmetrically.  Two shrubs of the same type may not grow at the same rate.  If one thrives and the other does not, or if one blooms and the other doesn't, you may end up with an uneven, lopsided effect.  

In this last photo there are no rhododendrons, but primarily a pieris japonica and a yew bush smooshed against the house foundation.  I don't suppose I need to tell you what bothers me about this photo.  A pieris japonica and a yew, like the rhododendron, need space.  Each one has a beautiful, fairly large shape and planting them at this proximity is just plain wrong.  To make matters worse, a deciduous shrub was planted in front of them (I cannot determine the exact name from the distance at which I took the photo) so that it hides them even in winter when evergreens should be most appreciated.  

In my next blog I hope to discuss crimes against the yew bush.



 

(Don't) Let It Snow

Last weekend our local nursery had an open house with coupons for getting ready for spring. I utilized one of the coupons to buy a bag of pre-emergence for weed control (of our rampant crabgrass).  Sadly, though, pre-emergence is supposed to be spread on your lawn when the forsythias are just budded.  Well, our neighborhood's forsythia seems to be blooming while we have quite a few inches of snow left on the ground.  I was hoping for a warm week with sunny days to melt the remaining snow, but it's still very wintry.  I've begun to believe that we will be swimming in the local lake before I see green grass again, but maybe the snow will keep the ground nice and moist for spring planting.

Sometimes winter in Maine feels like it lasts half a year.  Snow can start in October and in March you are just so sick of looking at it, you feel like taking a hair dryer to your garden to melt it all away, but that would take too long.  My crocuses came up before the last snow storm, and thankfully reappeared.  I have daffodils about 2 inches high, too, but fear for the other spring bulbs that are buried in the deeper piles of snow in the back yard.  But, I really shouldn't worry, nature is pretty good about adjusting to current weather conditions and rarely do perennials, bulbs, trees and shrubs have lasting trauma from an unusually long winter.

This winter has also been especially long because our fence let go in several places.  Considering it's not more than 11 years old, I am disappointed that the rot set in so fast (of course, it could be because the snow was especially wet and heavy this year).  So before we get to "playing" in the yard this spring, we'll be making a list of projects that are most needed (this includes fortifying both sides fences before they fall on some poor unsuspecting shrub, tree, or stray cat).  I have also noticed, despite my diligence, that we do have some split branches on the taller shrubs.  I'll be doing some trimming as soon as possible to give the plant time to recover and fill in by the end of summer.

Last year I threw down some expired marigold seeds
I found for a dime at the local discount store.
Very forgiving, I spent no time or attention on them
and they bloomed all summer into the fall.

If you are planning for annuals or vegetables this year, you may be tempted to buy seed packets that seem to be for sale at home improvements stores year round.  If you do intend to purchase seeds, check the package for an expiration date or recommended season date before you buy.  Some places will sell old seeds at a discount, price is good, but can be unreliable (unless you are just experimenting, than go for it).  I usually only buy seeds for annuals that are foolproof and large enough for my chubby fingers to plant easily directly into the ground.  Morning glories, marigolds, cosmos, sweet peas, etc, all are good seeds for gardeners like me that have no space to start the seedlings indoors.

The seed packet should tell you the best time to plant the seed outdoors (if you start them indoors, first, remember to divide seedlings prior to planting and "harden" them off for the outdoors).  Some seeds should be planted before the last frost, some when the ground is just warm enough to be worked, etc.  If you wait too long, you won't have time for the plant to mature before the first frost hits in fall.  It's a good idea to follow the instructions.

In Maine, gardeners usually heed the Memorial Day weekend rule of thumb.  That is, annuals and vegetables, when purchased as small plants, can go safety into the ground on or about Memorial Day weekend without danger of nighttime frost killing the plant.  Obviously, if the winter was mild that day can be moved to earlier in May, but it is not necessary to move it past Memorial Day.  I will buy my vegetables from local farmers and plant just about this time.  Because I am a low maintenance gardener, I stick with only those that I have had good luck in the past.  Traditionally, we plant cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.  I may also throw in some leeks, radishes, peas, or peppers based upon what looks good at the time, but have not the same consistent success.

For fun we have also tried the strips of seed paper.  That is, when seeds are set in paper or other form that also includes some type of fertilizer built it so all you should have to do is water and wait.  These can be interesting as you don't really know what to expect (I've gotten them as promotions on the sides of Triscuit boxes and in charity mailings) but not usually a good substitute for an actual plant.