The Butterfly Garden Grows

By SKEETER Here is another project I tackled in Mid-March while playing in my Georgia Gardens. "Play" instead of work as I am outside once again enjoying the warm air, songs from my Bird Friends and digging in the dirt! Life is once again good for this gardener.

So we continue from Tuesday's post. You can see the border I dug out from the swing, around the ForsythiaAnd connecting to the Butterfly Garden, enlarging it. The Saints Bald Cypress tree is growing like crazy and needs more room to flourish. You can see where I have already spread fresh pine straw mulch in the original garden which I call the Butterfly Island. We dug out the two butterfly bushes that were beginning to crowd the tree. We also dug out another of the bushes to make for a better color contrast. I dug up several small butterfly bushes elsewhere in the yard as well. We planted all the bushes between the existing Butterfly Garden and the Forsythia. Wet ground makes for easy dirt turning. Now all the grass is turned over and ready for fresh Long Needle Pine Straw.Ah, now she looks better with her Pine Straw! Mulching with Pine Straw is the way to go in a Georgia Garden with our abundance of pine trees. I skipped a major mulching last year to save a bit of money. This year, I had to buy mulch with sparse gardens. The dilemma is "Long or Short" needle? Long Needle is more expensive then the Short Needle. I opt for the Long Needle this year and purchased a truck bed of 27 bales. I must say I made the right choice with the long needle. I believe I ended up spending less money in the end. Long Needle covers more area and this was the cleanest straw I have ever purchased in the 9 years I have been into gardening here! I found a total of 4 small sticks and one large pine cone and NO leaves or dust in those 27 beautiful red bales! The short needle will cover less area and will also break down quicker and is usually mixed with small amounts of debris. I "know" I paid less money in the end... I connected the Butterfly, Swing and Wishing Well Gardens making one large Island in the yard. Gee, should I keep all the names to distinguish the area I am talking about or give this big garden a new name? Ah, the dilemmas in my life should be so complicated. Ha....I love the new look of the Swing with Rock for the feet and Pine Straw background. This project took place on March 17. Here is the way things are progressing today. Butterfly Bushes all seem to have survive the move with lots of rain falling on them. Snowball Bush, Azaleas, Dogwoods all blooming and Crepe Myrtles greening up in the background!

Within this island, I planted transferred Elephant Ears, Angel Trumpet and Canna. I also scattered lots of seeds near the swing. I hope this Island will flourish with color soon.I over wintered a Banana plant inside the house. She lost some leaves in the cool part of the house and never produce one leaf the entire winter. She made her way outside on March 13 and the very next day, she had a new leaf coming out! I reckon she was happy as me to feel the Warm air in the great outdoors. I put her into the ground and she is a very happy Nanner giving me a second new leaf! The 27 Bales of Pine Straw covered this entire area along with mulching all Crepe Myrtles, a Ceder tree, the Driveway Island, Angel Island and the front Hedge.

I left my Gardens for a week and returned to a soggy mess with 4.5 inches of rain falling in 6 days time. Thus, keeping me out of my garden for an additional week. I walked the garden today for the first time in 2 weeks and found some nice surprises. I long for the yard to dry up for more Spring Play.

This is how THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN GROWS, In the Garden...

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Note: This week our town of Augusta, Georgia is full of visitors attending The Master's Golf Tournament. The Saint and I were lucky enough to walk this beautiful Golf Course a few years ago. If you would like to see the beautiful garden views of Azalea's plus more that we saw, Click Here. For a behind the scenes maintenance peek, Click Here . And Click Here to see more of the course's treasures. Tune in Sunday as you can see this course live for yourself via the television....

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

A Frolicking Georgia Fall

I hope everyone enjoys that extra hour this morning or did you forget to Fall Back!
Let's get the glue gun out along with some floral crating items and make something!
Stealing this design and idea from the Saints mother, I created this arrangement for our mailbox.














Maybe the arrangement will take the eye up and off the pitiful looking planter below. The drought did not set well with the planter this year. And just look at that pitiful County Right of Way! How sad...

Ah, 40 bales of my beloved Georgia Pine Straw and she looks so much better don't ya think?

Now let's move into the woods a bit from the street and see what we can do with this Fencing, Hay bales and pile of supplies below.

Supplies complete with a homemade ladder compliments of scrap wood and the Saints hammering skills!
First, we shall arrange the hay bales in front of the fencing. My little friends just had to take a seat to try out the softness of the hay. I made a deal with them. As long as they wave to passing cars, they can stay there throughout the Fall season.

Let's add some more from the pile of supplies shall we...

Ah, pumpkins are the perfect fall decor. And just look at the Crows toying with my Scarecrow friends. I think they are all buds now as they have not moved even after several heavy rain falls.
Now we add some colorful flowers to the mix.

Hey, what are you two doing? Okay, go ahead and hang that Fall garland for me in the tree.Now we will step back and take a peek at our little gang in the woods. Ugh, a bit too far don't you think?
Ah, that's better. Now we can see you all having a FROLICKING GEORGIA FALL in the woods when you should be, In the Garden...

Georgia Pine straw

The Saint says I have an Obsession with Pine straw. I don't believe I have an obsession at all. I just like the look of fresh pine straw used as a mulch.

We have many pine trees in our yard so the look of the straw within the landscaping fits perfect.

A good base of straw also is an asset in weed control.

I don't use fertilizer much and would rather the nutrients in the pine straw do the work for me so that would be several reasons as to why I spread so much pine straw each year.

Here is a load (27 bales) I picked up this spring that I spread around in my gardens.

I spread pine straw throughout in Islands, Planters, The Flower Garden, under bushes & trees and around the patio area. I have spread about 75 bales this spring.



You never know what condition of straw you will find as some people will allow twigs and pine cones to be picked up in the bales. I have recently found a pretty good place to purchase the stuff that is really clean. The primo stuff is the Red Long Leaf but hard to come by not to mention pricey. I paid $3.85 per bale for short needle and it is sort of dry, meaning I will have to top it with additional straw because it will break down before summers end.

The process I use around trees or bushes is as follows...

I take a flat shovel and dig out the grass around each tree or bush to form a perfect circle. When possible, I use the old sod elsewhere in the yard. This day, I was working around the Forsythia bush.

I often step back to see if the circle is even and large enough.

Once I have the circle exactly how I want it, then I am ready to spread the pine straw.

FORSYTHIA

I spread the straw fairly thick to keep sunlight from penetrating to allow weeds to sprout...

Here is the final look of the freshly mulched Forsythia...

I really do like the clean look of the pine straw and think it adds to the natural look of our woods with many pine trees...

Here are some additional pictures of places where I have spread pine straw.

PATIO AREA

We had a real problem with drainage in this area of the backyard. This area is a natural run-off for rainfalls. We tried grass to no avail so I came up with a natural look of pine straw instead. It works great and stays in place after a good rain fall.

BUTTERFLY BUSH ISLAND





I will post on this island in the future. It is interesting how it evolved for us.








DRIVEWAY ISLAND



This island breaks up the large paved driveway for us. This island was in place when we bought the house.

The Saint wanted to remove the island and pave over it but after the words divorce were brought up, he backed off of that one. Not really just kidding, I would never divorce my Saint over asphalt but he got the point of how mad I would be. Now he too enjoys the island even though it is a bit of a challenge for him to back the boat into the shed with the island in the way!




FRONT PLANTER

We have two large planters in front of the house and they are both filled with pine straw as a mulch as well.


The pine straw keeps the Japanese Maple trees, Camellia and Nandina bushes cool in the summer and warm during the winter.


FLOWER GARDEN
The Flower Garden gets its share of pine straw also. I usually try to plant things which like the acid from pine needles but this year I added some new plants and did not research to see if they would like the nutrient from the pine straw. I may end up loosing some plants due to my lack of research. But if I loose any plants, that will make room for more next year!



CREPE MYRTLE
Here is one of the many Crepe Myrtle trees that we keep pine straw under. I also keep the straw under all the bushes and trees that are in the grassy portions of the yard. The trees in the woods provide their own mulch each fall by dropping tons of leaves and pine straw.

It is a shame I cannot use the pine straw in our woods but I prefer it stay there as a natural look plus leaves get mixed in with the pine needles and I don't like that look in my landscaped areas. Looks fine in the woods and county right of way though.

I do Spread a lot of pine straw but now that you have seen the look of things, don't you think it is worth it? I know I enjoy the look of it and it last all summer long and gets a fresh thin coat for winter.

If you build up too much, it will mold really badly and can cause disease to the trees and plants. I remove the old straw every other year to keep the mold away.



I usually take the old straw up to the county right of way and spread it around to keep a natural look on the roadside.

This picture was snapped one spring when the azaleas were in bloom up on the street.



Now that you have seen my pine straw mulching, what do you think? Do I have an obsession with spreading Georgia Pine straw, In the Garden?