Husbands and hedge trimmers

Rule No. 1. Don't allow your husband in the front yard with a hedge trimmer unsupervised.

The tragedy began when we returned home to find a note on the front door: Meter could not be read.

That would be the water meter, which is hidden by a dense hedge beside the driveway. Although the hedge looks to be mostly on our property, our neighbor has kindly trimmed it once or twice a year, a courtesy he likely began with the previous homeowner.

At the time of the meter reader's visit, the hedge had not experienced a spring trim and long tendrils bounced in the wind, giving the hedge a distinct Medusa-like flair. It never occurred to my husband to trim it, although I'd clipped it here and there, especially where it infringed on the small ice plant and phlox garden nearby.

But, when the meter reader left his damning note, it was time to charge up the battery and get our hedge trimmer roaring.

It was a hot day. Sticky for spring. My husband worked hard. I remained in the house doing laundry from our two-week trip north, prettying up our sun room and vacuuming the house.

I did not supervise the hedge trimming.

My husband came back in the house, tired and sweaty. "I opened it up real good," he said. "Did you trim our neighbor's side," I asked, meaning the long tendrils bouncing in the breeze. He shook his head no--but he'd get back to it tomorrow.

Now it's tomorrow. "I opened it all up," he said, smiling, face glistening with sweat.

Now it's the day after tomorrow. We're going to Costco. I walk outside. I see the hedge. You can drive a Volkswagen through it. My husband has hacked and whacked a four by four foot gap in the hedge--wide enough for a four hundred pound meter reader to dance the quick step.

That I could live with. But, he also "opened up" our neighbor's side, exposing the big, green metal box the hedge has successfully covered for many years--the reason people plant these hedges around big, green metal boxes.

My husband is oblivious to such aesthetics. And since he worked so hard, I don't have the heart to complain. This isn't a complaint. It's a comment.

I haven't yet heard my neighbor's comment, although she did smile at me as she backed her car out of the driveway this morning. That was before I saw the hedge. Now I'm wondering--was that a smile or a wince?

Peach buds by the dozen

My Bonfire Patio Peach is advertised as ornamental but the branches are lined with dozens of baby peaches. Last year, the first year in my garden, it had a few peaches and I tasted one, finding it edible.

I guess I'm supposed to cull most of those peach buds off to encourage larger fruit. I remember a plum tree in the backyard of a house we rented in western New York many years ago that blessed us with thousands of plums--each the size of a grape. I was less than an amateur fruit grower at the time. In fact, I was merely a renter with a plum tree in my backyard.

This little Bonfire, though, is quite lively and getting me excited about the warm, sweet, fragrant taste of sun-kissed peach on my tongue. Yes, I'm looking for a few good-sized fruit. Just a few will do from my little patio peach.

The Lovely Lady Banks

Wilmington may be famous for azaleas (dogwoods, redbuds, cherry, peach, crab apple and apricot trees), but the Lady Banks rose is my absolute favorite springtime treat. Lushly laden with blooms, it showers an arbor or fence with more blossoms than one can possibly count.

Besides exploding with clusters of yellow (in my case) or white flowers, Lady Banks is thornless, a vigorous climber and not picky about soil types (although what rose doesn't enjoy a little organic matter now and then). It grows furiously and can quickly cover a rooftop.

In late winter my Lady looked like she'd been electrocuted. Branches grew up, down and sideways. One morning I grabbed clippers, scissors and a role of twine and tied that Lady down. Cutting away any branch that didn't grow left to right, I formed a thick dome across the top of an antique arbor, leaving short branches to grow up from the base. As you can see in the photos, right, Lady Banks truly is spectacular.

If you're ever in southern Arizona in April, stop by to see the world's largest rose--The Tombstone Rose--a white Lady Banks that covers 8,000 square feet. Now that's vigorous! And old--more than 100 years. The branches twisting up from its massive trunk are thicker than a wrestler's arm--way thicker. Check it out at http://www.goldcoastrose.org/articles/tombstone.htm

I suppose this could happen to any Lady Banks left to her own devices. Mine has gotten pretty shaggy in previous years. This year I intend to keep her neatly trimmed, a lovely welcome to my home.

Taking advantage of a glorious day

A beautiful day in the garden! After brunch and a walk on the beach, there was no reason to go inside, so I started a late winter cleanup of the front yard gardens.

Cut back last autumn's mammoth mums: new growth starting. Cleaned up the lilies (some already sprouting, others lush with leaves). Trimmed the prostrate juniper away from the sidewalk. Cut back my favorite pony tail grasses. Many babies are ready to fill in where some of the older ones expired.

On a roll, I decided to tackle the Lady Banks rose, which for the last year has looked like it had been electrocuted. Tied the branches down to the arbor and cut off the erratic ones shooting helter-skelter. My Lady is loaded with buds and will soon present a fabulous display.

Throughout the winter purple and yellow pansies have bloomed gloriously in the front porch window boxes--something that continues to thrill me here in Wilmington.

Daffodils near sunroom

After a pleasant walk around the neighborhood this morning, I checked the garden in front of my sunroom and Viola! Daffodils! Many of them, some just leaves, some with buds, popping up near the windows.

I call this my reverse garden. It's designed with the smaller plants near the windows and taller shrubs set farther back. The sunroom is floor to ceiling windows, so we can enjoy the flowers without having to get up and look out the windows. Very pretty.

Windows, windows, window. What would I do without them?

Plants, trees need mulch this winter

I heard from a landscaper that plants will need a thick layer of mulch this winter. Our super hot, super dry summer caused the thin feeder roots to rise close to the surface searching for water and are therefore vulnerable to cold temps this winter.

I immediately went out a bought eight bags of cypress blend mulch and bedded down my river birch (planted this spring) and Japanese maple (planted last spring). Both are still vulnerable to cold and frost. I also mulched the two small dogwoods planted last May, the bridal wreath spirea and the native azalea, which is doing poorly.

My daylilies look well-nestled in the mulch, so I didn't add to it.

Ooops, just remembered. Forgot the weeping cherry! Will give it a good blanket of mulch today.

Propagating Mexican Bush Sage

I was planning to purchase more Mexican Bush Sage next spring but just discovered the plant is easy to propagate. Just break off some stalks, stick them in the ground and keep them wet. Not too complicated.

I like this plant because it blooms in mid-to-late September when most of my garden is burned out from too much sun and too little rain.

The sage blooming gloriously right now is the one I bought my first spring in North Carolina (2007). Three more planted in the front yard the following spring did not survive the winter, although I'm beginning to think I was impatient waiting for them to shoot up their second spring. I might have yanked three poky but healthy plants.

Hummingbirds and butterflies love Mexican Bush Sage, which is why I love it, too. And who can dismiss long, waving stems covered with soft, showy flowers? Best of all, the plant is drought tolerant! Amen.

Most beauteous beauty berry

When I purchased my American beauty berry four springs ago at the Wilmington Farmers' Market, it was misshapen but healthy. The first year it remained gangly but in succeeding years grew into a vibrant bush heavy with clustered, grape-hued berries. Easily the favorite shrub in my backyard garden.

A little research shows the beauty berry is not just another pretty face. Its berries are relished by a variety of wildlife, birds and deer among them. I don't have a deer problem, but if you do, you might plant a few beauty berries on the perimeter of your property to keep them snacking away from your more delicate plants.

Don't worry about hauling water out there to keep the berries beautiful. According to Dr. Mike Dirr, professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia, "This shrub thrives with neglect." Can it get any better?

Besides being a natural insect repellent and a survival food for birds such as robins, catbirds, cardinals, mockingbirds, brown thrashers, finches and towhees, the plant's berries can be made into jelly and wine. Again, does this plant have a single fault?

Well, sometimes shoots volunteer around the plant, but I haven't found this to be a problem. My American beauty berry is not a pest! She is most welcome in my garden--a beauteous sight outside my kitchen window.

Big mums, clean-up time

Returned from cool Rochester, NY and spent a good seven hours hand watering my Wilmington, NC front and back yard gardens. We're still desperately low on rainfall; down 5 inches for September alone.

Yet somehow, two autumn mums have managed to grow to mammoth size. I didn't get out the tape but they easily measure three feet across. I'll post a photo when they bloom. Already they're separating into clumps.

I'm officially in the garden clean-up mode. Trimmed the blue hydrangeas back far enough to allow a bit of sunshine to hit the tiny red azaleas surrounding the pine tree. Raked pine needles and laid them for mulch.

Drank a large cup of coffee in the sunroom afterwards and realized with glee that all I'll need next spring are another black-eyed susan, another tall Mexican petunia, a few red pentas (they grow tallest and most lushly) and lots of zinnias.

Harvesting a Worm Box

I set up my worm box last April and harvested a hearty amount of worm compost at the end of June. Here's how to do it:

1. Tear up strips of old newspaper and cardboard. You'll need a lot. Enough to fill your worm box 2/3 full.
2. Soak the torn paper in a tub of water. Wring out very, very well. Can't be soggy.
3. Add dry leaves, clippings (I used pampas grass leaves and the sawdusty stuff from an old, dead plant). This will pick up much of the moisture in the soggy paper.
4. Move worm compost to one side of the worm box.
5. Bury new food scraps in the new bedding. Worms will crawl over to the new bedding side. Give them a couple weeks.
6. Remove compost. Put any residual worms back in the box to gnash on new food. Spread around your needy plants.
7. Fill empty half of box with new bedding.
8. Keep your girls' tummies full. They work hard for you and your plants.

Hot & Dry Summer

Whew! June was a sizzler and July is following suite. Thank the rain god (where are you?) I have three rain barrels!

The Dragon Lily is starting to bloom. All other lilies have done their dash. Lovely but gone.

I dismantled the two-tiered circle in the front yard and my husband carted the landscaping pavers to the back yard and built a patio. Don't know if we'll ever sit there, but it sure looks pretty with three big pots (purple fountain grass, ginger lilies & callas, one sky pencil holly with petunias at its feet). The ornamental peach is doing well in the center, surrounded by short but gorgeous zinnias and petunias.

The circle is now a simple mound of lantana and an Arizona Crystal "something" evergreen. Much easier to weed, and we all know the weeds never give up even in the heat.

Pony Tail grass blows in the wind

My favorite grass, officially known as Mexican Feathergrass but casually called Pony Tail grass, is spectacular this month. See the photo of it blowin' in the wind. I love how the plants mimic rambunctious horses tossing their palomino manes. I trimmed the plants back in February and the new growth is frisky.

I finally took down the two-tiered circle in the front yard (relic from previous owner), smoothed out the sandy soil, planted an Arizona Blue Ice Cypress, and replanted six purple and yellow lantana.

I was told the Blue Ice Cypress would reach 10-15 feet by the nurseryman, but upon checking online learned it grows to 30-50 feet with a 10-foot spread. It pays to check!

The landscaping bricks/stone/pavers (whatever they're called) are being reused to build a patio in the L-shape between kitchen and family room. While in Massachusetts last weekend, I bought three LARGE pistachio-colored pots to place on the patio. Filled them with ginger lilies, canna lilies, purple fountain grass and the lonely sky pencil holly that's been hanging around here since February.

These should be the last big projects in my yard. I'm looking forward to keeping up with garden maintenance and maybe putting in a few favorite annuals like pentas and wave petunias each year. That's all!

Can't get enough of this spring

I am lovin' spring 2010! Temps are pleasant, maybe a little on the cool side, but this means the lovely ornamental trees and shrubs will entertain us with stunning color a bit longer than if we were baking in 85-degree heat.

The Lady Banks rose is absolutely glorious. I've taken several photos from different angles, but can't capture its beauty. The pink azalea is brightening up one stretch of the house. My neighbor says its name is Mimosa. All I know is that it's a stunning deep pink.

I didn't get a picture of the loropetalum in time to catch its brilliant hot pink blooms, but that'll leave one good picture for next spring. I'm letting this plant grow tall. I saw one last year in Raleigh that was as big as a full-grown Bradford pear.

We've cut back the camellias. Yeah! So happy to catch them this year right after blooming.

And it's only April! So much wonderous color to look forward to this summer.

Red Bud's first good year

The Red Bud tree I planted two years ago has finally shown its color. The photo at right was taken a couple days before it really popped. I love this early spring garden, bare as it appears, because the creeping phlox is hot pink and contrasts so nicely with the tender, spring green of the daylily leaves and pony tail grasses.

The Lady Banks rose on the arbor is just beginning to flower and should look spectacular this year. You can just see the weeping cherry in the left side of the photo. The grass is still crisp and brown but we've turned on the sprinkler system and it'll be healthier in no time.

The holly bushes near the house foundation are full of bees. Not the stingy ones--the big fat friendly ones that love Spanish lavender. Something smells good in the garden, but I can't figure out what it is. The holly?

Azaleas are beginning to bloom. Spring is a truly hopeful time of year.

Ready for worms

Ordered 1,000 worms from earlybirdworms.com. My 2x4-foot worm box has been readied--marine varnish on the inside; primer and dark green exterior paint on the outside.

When the South Carolina red worms arrive I'll soak newspaper strips in water, squeeze out the excess, place them in the box and be ready to go.

We eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables in our house, so the worms will not go hungry. Soon I'll have rich, homemade compost for the garden plants.

The work begins!

I hit the Master Gardeners' Sale at the arboretum Thursday morning and walked away with pink, red, purple and white pentas, zinnias, cardinal flower, Mexican petunia, creeping zinnia and a gorgeous varigated lavender/purple dahlia.

I put everything but the pentas in the ground and weeded (ugh) the butterfly garden. On a tip from friend Marcia, I loaded up the van with 20 bags of 99-cent per bag hardwood mulch.

Fed and pruned the roses (two climbers, one Lady Banks and three miniature) last week. Trying to do a little a couple times a week instead of the 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. marathons I've labored through in previous years.

My husband has begun dismantling the two-tiered circle of landscaping stones in the front yard. Some went under the recycling bins, some under the worm box, some are stacked and ready to be shaped into a platform for my kayak--and there are still a hundred or more left. Maybe we'll lay a patio where the pampas grass used to be.

My Bradford pear is beautiful, as are all others in the neighborhood. Camellias are still blooming.

I'm looking forward to gardening this year because most of the hard work of filling in bare spots is done. This summer I'll concentrate on color--hence the pentas and zinnias, two butterfly favorites.

Oh, yes! The Redbud is red and ready to pop. Weeping cherry is flowering. Can't wait to see their glorious colors soon.

Finally, Camellias!

With several days of warmer temps, the camellias on the west side of my house are finally achieving their annual glory. I was getting worried.

Camellias are natives to Asia and were brought to Europe by a Jesuit missionary named G. J. Camellus. I call them trees, but they're actually shrubs with glossy evergreen leaves and white, pink, red, or variegated roselike flowers.

All the camellia in my yard (planted by the previous owner) seem to be of the same variety, which gives nice continuity. But there are so many varieties of camellias, I kind of wish I had some different ones just for fun. See photos at right.

Spring progress

I returned yesterday from six days up north: Pittsburgh, where streets narrowed by six-foot-high piles of snow made it difficult to pass and find parking spaces. Everyone up there is eager for spring, but not a hint of it is in sight.

In contrast, my Bradford Pear here in Wilmington looks ready to POP its leaves. Daffodils are six-inches tall and sporting buds. Daylily leaves are looking greener and taller. The camellias are finally blooming after our own cold winter.

We've decided to cut down and eliminate our pampas grass, which is overgrown and tearing at window screens. In their place will be a lovely flowering tree. Still undecided on the variety but it will bring color to the space visible from large kitchen windows.

I love the way Angelina sedum has turned deep red--almost burgundy--this winter. Another response to the cold.

Leaving northern temps (20s) and returning to southern temps (50s) makes me grin.

Second day in the garden--daffodils!

Here it is the last week in January and I'm lucky enough to be living in a region where daffodils are poking through the ground. Nowhere else have I lived where I was this lucky.

Yes, some daffys are just poking, while others are three inches tall. I'm pleasantly surprised to see the hydrangeas with leaf buds ready to pop. This will be the first season for Lemon Daddy. I can't wait for its chartreuse leaves to shine like lamplight under the pine tree.

Camellias are still slow, although a few flowers are smiling at me through the family room window. The Bradford Pear, completely denuded of fruit by hungry birds, has leaf buds looking soft and hopeful.

I expect strong color--crayon red--from the azaleas under the pine after the good fertilizer drink I gave them last Sunday.

Some unpleasant sights: two yucca plants that refuse to leave my yard peacefully. We dug them out in '08 but they continue to send their sturdy spikes skyward. Can anyone share a foolproof method for extinquishing them?

We also decided the pampas grass has to go. The plants are immense and not flowering well. Just too big, I think. I envision a lovely flowering tree--cherry or crab apple--in place of those outside the kitchen window. Can anyone share a foolproof method of extinguishing pampas grass? I love the flowers but these have outlived their charm.
Georgia

First day in the garden

After a heavy night rain, the sun came out shining. With temps in the high '60s, how could I not go out into my garden?

Basically, it was clean-up time but I did revel at the sight of buds on hydrangeas and azaleas. The camellias, I'm afraid, have been stunted by below freezing night temperatures and daytime lows in the 30s. Just not good blooming weather. Only a few flowers are open and the buds, though numerous, are brown. We'll see what happens.

I'm expecting action soon from the Lenten Rose and am on the lookout for daffodil shoots. Remembered to fertilize the azaleas around the pine tree.

Also getting excited about the worm box I'll have this year. I've heard they're very successful and easy to establish. Fruit and veggie scraps go it and natural compost comes out. Go worms!

Georgia