A Little Landscaping Makes a HUGE Difference Plus Some Stars In the Garden

I can hardly believe tomorrow is the first day of August! Where has the time gone? What have I been up to? Well, I've been busy as always but what is very different for me is not blogging. I have to be honest, I haven't missed blogging either. I did not expect that and really don't want to lose my 'scrapbook of activities and gardens-called the blog' so I am trying to still put up a post or two while I go through this phase. In addition I do try to post things on my professional page found under Coach In the Garden on Facebook. Today's post is what I did this weekend-worked on my daughters property! 

Mr. Fix-it and I traveled to Louisville to visit my daughter (Liz) and new granddaughter (Everleigh who is four months old). Whenever I get together with Liz our activities include gardening. No big surprise there right? Both of my daughters garden and my older son likes to garden, though he doesn't do much. The younger son (the Jimster) refuses to garden outside. Something about icky spiders and dirt and heat. Ha! You all do know gardening is dirty right? And hard work? I don't really blame Jimmy at all but for the girls and I the benefits of a beautiful landscape far outweigh the discomforts of getting there.

Liz purchased this house last June and as a housewarming present I promised I would do a landscape design for her. The landscape design is completed and over the past year Liz has been slowly implementing the design in stages. It is hard to do this when you are pregnant and have a newborn so the going has been s-l-o-w for her. Much too slow. Enter Mom (garden helper) and Stepdad (baby duty) and some changes miraculously happen-overnight. Or so it seemed to the neighbors who were all quite curious as to what the hard working ladies next door were doing in the yard.

We started by collecting a ton of rocks (four small trailer loads) from an undeveloped part of the subdivision (with the developer's permission of course). The rocks match her house perfectly, are an awesome garden edger, and were FREE! Rocks are very expensive to purchase so if you can find a local source where they are usually very happy to have you haul them away then you should take advantage of it. Once we had a load of rocks we began laying cardboard on the garden to be. Liz had been collecting cardboard for a long time and had plenty to do the job. It is best to spray the grass prior to laying down the cardboard with a weed killer if you have the time and can safely do it without damaging nearby plants. In our case most of the grass had been sprayed but not all. This is not a big problem and it is still okay to cover the grass without spraying, but the grass will take a bit longer to die completely. This is not an issue if you don't plan to plant anytime soon (within two or three seasons). In Liz's case she is in no hurry. One more note, if you plan to plant a lot of perennials you might wish to use paper bags or newspapers in place of the cardboard. Cardboard is a bit tougher to cut through when planting but it is not an impossible job. I personally prefer cardboard under shrubs and paper under perennials.

Be sure to cover all grass thoroughly. Liz was pretty good at this job. My job was to trench the edge of the garden while she lay the cardboard and rocks. Then we all (Mr. Fix-it, Liz, and myself) spread the mulch over the cardboard. The mulch need be no deeper than 2-3". The point is to cover the ugly cardboard with pretty mulch and make the mulch thick enough that it will not wash away.

Her garden design encompassed a major part of the frontyard. There will actually be just about a ten foot grass path through the frontyard when all is said and done. Also, the hell strip will become a perennial garden. Looking at this view you can see we still have a lot to do, but for now the front garden closest to the house and the eastern side of the house is complete.

Part of planting this garden meant relocating laurels that were planted about two feet from the house in this location. The limelights are planted five feet from the house. They look quite forlorn out there in the middle of the garden but trust me when I say they will grow quickly and will soon fill in this space. I always allow for a few feet between the house and shrubs. It may be that as the 'Limelights' mature Liz may have to prune a bit to maintain that space but it won't be a big problem. Not like she would have to do if the laurels stayed in place. The laurels were moved out back as a border hedge. This subdivision is very new and there are still a ton of houses to be built and which are being built even as you read this post. None of the houses has much landscaping and what they do have is only a builder package next to the homes. Liz's house stands out in that she has planted a beautiful 'Sunburst' magnolia out front by the hell strip along with a few other small trees. Her laurel hedge out back really stands out too in a landscape that includes nothing but grass in all of the surrounding yards. You can see the houses are pretty close together so to differentiate the houses and make them more comfortable and appealing landscaping is needed. Liz will surely reap the benefits of a beautiful landscape soon and I suspect some of the other residents of the subdivision might try to catch up to her as well. Good landscaping can be contagious.

Now in my garden I have to share the 'Limelight' hydrangeas. They are slowly coming into full bloom. I pruned my half a dozen or so 'Limelights' back in March then again in June. The blooms will all be staggered. These blooms pictured here are on the growth from the March pruning. The June pruning is also producing blooms but at a slower rate than these fully opened flowers. The total effect is one that will enable me to enjoy the blooms for a longer period of time. Behind this group of four 'Limelights' is a large group of Joe Pye weed. To the left of the grouping are yellow cannas. Pink, yellows, blues, and whites are a good color combination for me. Out on our farm I have one complete garden dedicated to this color scheme (no reds or oranges are allowed-they are saved for the 'hot' garden). I will share more of the hydrangeas on my professional page found under Coach In the Garden on Facebook.

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Canna Pest

By SkeeterSomething is eating the Canna here in my Georgia Garden! As you can see here, they are blooming so the damage is not hurting the Flowers. Last year we had damage from Leaf Rollers. (Above picture is from last year) I learned this after asking Blogger's for help in identifying what made those perfectly round holes in the leaf of the plant. You answered, Leaf Rollers! That post along with more information from you on other Strange Happenings, in my garden, can be seen by clicking Here. Click Here to see what Wikipedia has to say about Leaf Rollers.
I knew this was not leaf roller due to the lack of round holes. After a bit of investigating by observation, I found the culprit.
Japanese beetles had gotten to the Canna while I was out of the garden on one of my several TN trips after the flood.I plucked beetles and now the plants are once again fine. Look Lola, no Leaf Rollers this year on the Tropical Canna you gave me! She is healthy and happy in my garden. But wait, there's more....She is a proud mama to baby's! Every time I look at this Canna I think of you Lola, Again, thanks for your wonderful gift. No more CANNA PEST, In the Garden... (for now)

Update on my parents flooded house: It has been 3 months since my parents house flooded. The rebuilding is going slow and I would say about half way complete. They continue to live in the basement apartment of their wonderful neighbors home. My dads hip has healed with the brace and not surgery! That is a good thing. He is back in his yard about an hour a day pulling weeds and doing light work until he knows the hip is back to 100%. I hope they are in their house soon...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,In the Garden

Always Growing and Changing

By SkeeterThings never seem to stay the way they start in my Georgia Garden. I have showed you my little Wishing Well Garden in the past. Things change over time, some for the good, some not so good. This picture above was snapped on Oct. 2, 2009. Canna, Daylily, Ginger and Sage are the main plants in this garden.
Three days later, the baby bananas were added extending the garden to the swing and other end. This picture shows the Good of time and change.
We now jump to spring of 2010 and we see the not so good of change. The Ginger and Bananas did not return.
But never fear, because I had more Free Lilies to plant!
In this picture you can see how I moved the Wishing Well off what will one day be the pathway linking this garden to the Butterfly Island (as well as another garden). The Well is now nestled in the middle of the Canna and Daylily.
One month later, the Lily are standing tall and the grass filled in as a frame for the garden. Also added to this planter; Gerbera Daisy, Purslane, Christy Speedwell, Apricot Twist Wallflower and the red Sage, which the Humming birds love!
In this picture, you can see I have another thing to add to this Garden. I had a few baby Bananas in pots over wintered inside the house. One small banana was planted near the swing but you cannot see it as it is so small. You can see the one in the pot to the left of the garden. I had intended to plant it in the Beach Planter where it was removed from last fall. After reading Tina's post on how her bananas grew and spread, (Taking down the Bananas) we feared the bananas were too close to our house foundation so we opt out of planting this fella so close to the house. We will instead, extend the planter a bit to add the bananas leaving plenty of room for them to grow and spread.
The Angel Garden is close to this Garden so they will be attached via a gravel pathway some day in the future. I also have a plan for that cement slab of a sidewalk you see in the background. The orange thing on the ground is an extension cord.
Another Freebie you see added to the planter is Iris. I am so happy I finally have Iris in my Garden. Iris reminds me of my hometown in Tennessee but I have never had any in my garden. Thanks to Tina, I now have Iris in my garden! Thank you, thank you, thank you Tina!
Vines are climbing up the grapevine of the swing and I am ever so happy for that plan panning out for me! I have another plan for under the swing in the future. Here you can see I am already removing the grass.This is where this post ended as of Thursday when I wrote it. Now the weekend has come and gone with more yard work. Ah, this Garden was extended and the banana planted! I dug all that sod out by myself in the humidity and with dry soil, it was a tough job. I used my brain a bit and had a fan blowing on me and lots of water near by. The Saint collected the sod and placed it on a large bare spot in the front yard. I left plenty of room for the Banana Trees to take off if they should desire. I also spread pine straw mulch in the planter. As you can see, I still need to tweak the shape of the planter but not in this heat. I am finished for now. Also since Thursday, some of the Free Lily have started to bloom. Yes, this one is Orange as I was told they would be. But lookie here, this one is NOT orange!And this one is NOT orange either! I have multi colored Lily and for Free! I am so excited about these beautiful freebies...
I will soon be off Blogging as I plan to get back to Tennessee with my family. My niece will be getting married soon plus my parents need some help and support during the flood rebuild. So here is something that I will show you now as it is related to the Banana Trees.

This Beach Planter is where I had the Banana Tree. The hot Georgia sun faded the fish so they will soon have a fresh coat of paint. I also finally found a Pelican to add to the planter. The metal cat silhouette to the right was a bargain find at the Humane Society Yard Sale. As I mentioned, the main banana did not return after our abnormally cold winter. The baby banana's I wintered in pots inside went into the Wishing Well Garden so this left me an opening in the Beach Planter. Lola had given me a lily and it is located to the right and even though growing slowly, still growing for now. The Saint and I went on a quest this past weekend to find something Tropical looking to fill in the empty spot. We found this "Silver European Fan Palm" with a tag that reads Cold Zone, one of the worlds most cold hardy palms. Full sun to part shade, low water, Temps to 0-degrees. We decided to give this palm a try as we think it will be fine in this spot. Only time will tell though. Wish us luck.....

Tina, the root ball of the Mother Banana, after one year of being in this spot, was as large as a bowling ball. It took the Saint some time to remove! Thanks for the warning...

Things are ALWAYS GROWING AND CHANGING, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,In the Garden

Update the Wishing Well

By SkeeterHere you see my small Wishing Well Planter I added to my Georgia Garden last fall. When I started this planter, I knew it would grow larger in time. All I had originally were the cute Well, Cannas and some Sage. You may remember my cat being mesmerized with a Visitor to the Sage before it was placed into the ground last fall. The two Salvia Greggii, "Wild Thing" Sage have thrived in this area and gifted me with lots of blooms such as above.

This year I added some new things to this Planter. I put the last of the 12 Bargain Serena Angelonia's I told you about a while back. I also added some Lilies.

The Spring Rains were nice to us but not so nice where weeds in the Garden are concerned. I had a lot of weeds to pull out of this planter as well as other planters and gardens. Here is a closer peek at that bright Lily that popped out first for me. I don't know her name as she was a bargain Lily with no name for $1.00. I have two of these side by side but this is the only one which bloomed for me.Another Bargain Lily with no name! I think the law should be all plants should have tags with names on them even if bargain finds. I am joking of course, but it would be nice to know what I have here. I found 3 of these for $2.00 each.
Ah, now this one I did not find on the Bargain Shelf.
Meet the lovely Minnie Pearl, the Lily Bloom and not the Hee Haw regular we all knew and loved from the old TV show.
Here is something that Lola passed along to me last fall with some Canna's. I had the Zingiber Zerumbit/Shampoo Ginger in a pot inside during winter and it was growing well. In Spring I put it into the ground in a spot where too much rain was turning it yellow in color. I took it out of the ground and in the process, I broke off every stem of the plant! I was devastated to say the least. I put the rhizomes back into the pots and in time it started to grow for me once again.
This time, I very carefully planted it in the center of the right side of the planter behind the thriving Angelonia. A Banana Tree was planted here once. Tina was so kind to pass the nanner along to me but the poor thing bit the dust from what I assume to be too much rain in the winter months. Sigh, we do not like droughts nor do we like too much rain. I long for a garden with perfect rain fall conditions. Does anyone know where that place is located? The Ginger grew nicely but no blooms this year as it was late going with the earlier mishap.
The main thing Lola was sending me last fall were some Canna from her Florida garden. I was after a certain one and she sent me a huge box full of goodies. I was like a child at Christmas opening that package!
Here is one I recall being known as Tropical. It never bloomed for me this year but I am holding out for blooms next year!
This one I believe to be Durban but not sure. I had so carefully tagged them each and put the tags into the ground only to find faded names when I peeked at them for this post. She did not get as tall as my other canna but taller then the Tropical.
The colors to this canna are just beautiful.
I was only lucky enough to get two different bloom times from this canna with the most recent being October 2. I am hoping for many more blooms next year.
The colors were just awesome to my eyes!

Lola also put some Caladium in the goodie box! They did not do too well and I doubt they will return next year but I can cross my fingers and hope though. A Fromosa Lily did not make it either. It started out with such growth then died once planted in the Beach Themed Planter. However, it did produce a second small plant so I have hope for the lily next year.

Here is one of last years canna showing its bright red colors again this year.
As did the Orange Canna from last year. This canna has given me many babies and this single plant bloomed all summer long with its last bloom being October 2.
Here is a close up of a bloom after a nice rain fall.
This picture was snapped on Aug. 18. All three colors of Canna were blooming along with the Butterfly Bushes, the Periwinkle and Crepe Myrtle. I was so thrilled!Look at how full the planter is getting now! The Ginger really filled in and I can hardly wait to see what happens to this planter next year. Notice that tall banana tree in the planter by the water hose!
When starting this post a few days ago. I was going to end it here by saying more would be added next spring.
From the birds-eye view, you can see where something needs to connect this planter to the swing.
Well, why wait until Spring when you have nice weather in early Fall? I took out some of the baby Banana plants from the Beach Planter while the Saint dug out some grass to extend the Planter for me! A bale of Pine straw will finish off the look for now.
Now the birds-eye view tells me to move the Wishing Well from the center and place it else where while connecting the walkway from this planter to the Butterfly Bush Island Garden! And to also make a pea gravel base under the swing. Ah, the ideas, they are a flowing...
Oh, how exciting it was to UPDATE THE WISHING WELL, In the Garden...

Thank you so much for the gifts from your Florida Garden Lola! I give you full credit for giving me the motivation to make this once small planter into something special!