tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27315639931460620272024-03-13T10:49:14.241-07:00The Sun is Killing Me-The Sun is Killing Me or To There and Back Again.-
A Garden Journal about leaving Seattle to live and garden in Central Texas and returning home a decade later to once again garden in my beloved Pacific Northwest.Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.comBlogger257125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-54702073182170926062019-10-19T17:01:00.001-07:002019-10-19T17:20:38.169-07:00Autumn garden shrooms and things.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The rainy season has settled in and the mushrooms are taking full advantage. I have no idea what the name of any of these are, but there are so many different ones in the garden. The squirrels like to munch on them while perched atop stumps.</div>
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Little purple shrooms.</div>
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Cluster of large shrooms on the decaying alder tree snag. These are so cool.</div>
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Fungus on garden stairs made from fallen big leaf maple.</div>
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Shrooms marching in line.</div>
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Korean dogwood under the bigleaf maple.</div>
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Japanese maple leaves dot the moss lawn.</div>
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Yellow colored japanese maple leaves.</div>
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Crimson colored japanese maple leaves.</div>
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Dried seed heads of oceanspray shrub.</div>
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Hardy cyclamen hederifolium</div>
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More fungus, this time on an old douglas fir stump.</div>
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Collection of large shrooms in the lawn.</div>
Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-22515433937040010852017-04-29T19:33:00.000-07:002017-04-29T19:36:49.167-07:00The Stumpery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In the front of the cedar grove is a pile of old cedar stumps. When we moved into this place it was buried under the remnants of an old wood pile, garbage, and a few ginormous sword ferns that grew around that mess. I cleaned it all up and moved a few of the huge sword ferns to a slope that needed a bit of stabilization. I proceeded to re-plant the stumpery with shade garden-y things and here it is today. It is filling in nicely and quickly!:</div>
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Here you can see a few of the sword ferns I left in place as well as the native trilliums and bleeding heart that I planted. It didn't take long for these to really begin spreading:</div>
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A lace leaf japanese maple has also been planted on the stumpery underplanted with more bleeding heart, trilliums, and some native alpine enchanters nightshade that has just popped up. Buried off to left under the dicentra is a native honeysuckle:</div>
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Redwood sorrel has also been added and is quickly forming a large mat. I dig up bits and move it about the woodland garden:</div>
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Oregon grape also grows on on the stumpery and has these lovely yellow flowers every spring:</div>
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Erythronium has been planted here as well and like all that I plant, it disappeared for a year, then came back with a few leaves this year, and will likely bloom next year. Seems to take a few years to get settled in my garden for some reason: </div>
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The stumpery also hosts twinflower and starflower:</div>
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The starflower is spreading like mad and the twinflower has really begun to spread. Off to the right is a nice clump of hepatica media. The hepatica has lovely blue flowers in early spring and is ever so slowly forming a nice little mat:</div>
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I pile leaf litter over this stumpery every year and the plants stay snuggled under it in the winter and devour it during the growing season. Don't toss those fall leaves! They are garden food at their best and provide homes for many beneficial insects.</div>
<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-48037893252196077362017-04-21T23:45:00.001-07:002017-04-22T09:41:28.648-07:00Random Post About Birds in the Garden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Many types of birds visit the garden every day and it's just fun to watch them do their thing. Sometimes, less fun like when the ravens open up the garbage and pick through it to get clam shells and the like. (Sneaky little buggers at it, too!) I actually enjoy the ravens, I just don't want them in my garbage, so I try to keep the garbage in until garbage day. </div>
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We have a large rabbit population which means raptors often make visits. Here's our local bald eagle up in the tree above the garden. Owls often make an appearance at night, but I have yet to get any pictures of those elusive beasts:</div>
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We have Anna's hummingbirds and Rufous hummingbirds. The Anna's hang out all winter, being replaced by the Rufous in the spring. Sometimes, we have both kinds in the summer, but the Anna's seem to like to move off to higher elevations once the temps warm up and the Rufous move in. Below is a newly arrived Rufous this spring:</div>
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Here he is at he feeder. Once too many hummers show up, I hang multiple feeders on opposite sides of the house to attempt to minimize the fighting:</div>
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Sapsuckers spend quite a bit of time in the garden. So many things for them to eat:</div>
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We also have Pileated Woodpeckers that spend quite a bit of time in the garden. Last year, we had an entire family hang out on 2 of the snags in our yard - 2 adults and 3 juveniles. I thought about taking the snags down at one point until I realized all the critters they hosted including squirrels, woodpeckers, sapsuckers, flickers, chickadees, and many others. Since the snags aren't in any danger of hitting any kind of building or structure, they are staying and will continue to host all kinds of wildlife. </div>
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<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-9642573613195705432017-04-21T23:14:00.000-07:002017-04-21T23:14:55.201-07:00Spring has Sprung!Well, it's been a very, very, very wet winter and spring this year. My garden is at least a month behind. The flowers have finally begun to bloom, though! Here's what I have going in my garden right now:<br />
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Narcissus:<br />
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Blue hyacinth and pieris. Both smell delicious!:</div>
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Pulmonaria. I rescued these from a brush pile in the woods when we first moved in. They are starting to spread and look fab now that a few years have passed:</div>
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Some sort of purple rhododendron:</div>
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Narcissus Thalia after a rain shower:</div>
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Fancy blue giant hyacinth that smell amazeballs. These drench the whole backyard with a fab scent:</div>
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Fritillaria meleagris. I really like these a bunch and they have done very well in my garden the last 2 years. I'm thinking about adding more:</div>
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Closer shot. Notice the white one in the bunch:</div>
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Trilliums! Oh, How I adore you. This is our native trillium ovatum in a sea of native dicentra formosa:</div>
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Vanilla leaf! I'm so excited! I added these last year and was hoping they would take and they did! I'm working on creating a large swath of these in the woodland garden.</div>
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Redwood sorrel, the workhorse of the dry, deep shade garden. I planted these in the western red cedar grove. I have few options here and these fit the bill with shining green colors. I hope to have carpets of it blanketing the grove: </div>
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Native wild cherry tree in bloom. So pretty, but so fleeting:</div>
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The salmon berries have been blooming for several weeks now. They hearken the return of the Rufous hummingbirds each year:</div>
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Trillium luteum. I planted these a few years ago and it looks like they may finally bloom this year. Fingers crossed!:</div>
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Bergenia. Evergreen, takes shade, sun, or poor soil. It can be split a gagillion times to make more. How can you go wrong? This is one tough customer and these live in a very shady part of the garden. I do have some others in complete opposite conditions on the sunny slope and they do just as well:</div>
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Yellow stream violets. I finally have a good little grove of these going. Diminutive little things, but I love them. They seem to thrive when planted along with mosses in an open, but shady area. They like to pop up along the woodland trail here and there (and, yeah, that's hail on the ground, it's been a bit stormy lately): </div>
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Erythronium. I don't remember which variety this one is specifically. I've planted various ones and they seem to take a few years to get going. This is the first group really doing well for me. I plant them, they seem to disappear for a year, then come back with leaves, and the next year begin to flower. I guess they just need a few years to settle in:<br />
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Bleeding heart Gold Heart. I have this planted along with trillium luteum and if I can get the trillium to finally bloom, they should look spectacular together:</div>
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More Narcissus Thalia. I like this one because it's tough and takes a beating:</div>
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Pasqueflower. I've moved this a few times due to rabbits wanting to make lunch out of it. I finally moved it to this rocky slope and the rabbits seem to leave it alone here. Too much trouble to get to, I guess:</div>
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Another trillium. They pop up all over the place in my woodland garden:</div>
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This clump of trillium is really spreading. I've already split it once and this year there are even more in the clump! This one grows in the stumpery of old cedar stumps:</div>
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Some fun daffodils next to the new gold leafed spirea Gold Flame:<br />
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Tulip Clusiana. These just keep coming back for me year after year. The rabbits don't seem to bother these species tulips, either. I haven't had as much success with the yellow species tulipa sylvestris as the rabbits like to mow those to the ground for some reason. So, I'll stick to survival of the fittest and add many more of these guys to my garden:</div>
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Multiple clumps of Tulip Clusiana. These are growing along the sunny, dry slope below the sport court in my garden:</div>
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And that's what's blooming for now. My garden is still pretty new and is still in a major building phase, but I'm starting to really be able to add some fun things in now. It's been a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to continuing the garden build this year.</div>
<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-81802693686746679812017-01-22T14:24:00.000-08:002017-01-22T14:28:04.946-08:00Wormsign!I was out turning over the decomposing leaves into the garden today and in many of the forkfuls of soil were earthworms! Big fat worms, medium worms, and small baby worms. Worms everywhere:<br />
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Why is this a big deal you ask? Because this is garden section number 2, the one that I built from scratch 2 years ago that sits above the ground. I brought in some base garden dirt, added a ton of composted chicken manure and have been adding autumn leaves, green cuttings, kitchen scraps, wood ashes, shredded newspaper, kelp meal, old aquarium water, and bone meal ever since. The first year it produced nothing but beans well (which fix their own nitrogen), last year it produced peas and beans very well and the rest of the veg at about 50% of what it should have:<br />
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This year I hope to have a fully functional garden. Worms help aerate the soil, minimizing soil compaction and allowing plants to access water and air easily. As the earthworms eat their way through the garden soil, they produce waste - worm castings - that are full of nutrients such as phosphorus, calcium, nitrogen and magnesium. The more worms in a garden, the more productive that garden soil will be. Last year there were a few worms in the garden, but not many. This year, there appear to be many worms! Color me excited to see how the veg garden will perform this year with a garden crawling with worms.Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-85780110753677349422017-01-09T00:10:00.000-08:002017-01-09T00:10:42.499-08:00GrapesOne of the first things I did when I began the garden was to plant grapes along the fence of the sport court. It gets very hot along this area and stays sunny all day long. I thought, heck, I'll give grapes a go. Well, a couple years later and I harvested 20 pounds of grapes from the 2 vines I planted! And that was after the deer ran off with several mouthfuls. The grapes totally took over the fencing and provided us much needed privacy on that side of the yard:<br />
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These are the Canadice grapes. I also planted Glenora and harvested an equal amount of those.</div>
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All of those grapes became jelly! Beautiful jewel colored jelly. This is the Canadice grape jelly:</div>
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I also thought I would try my hand at preserving grape leaves and that also turned out pretty well:</div>
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This year I planted a white grape as well and if it follows the growth pattern of the other 2 vines, will begin to bear fruit this next year. I think I better learn how to make wine.</div>
<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-51386810297823086892017-01-06T00:02:00.000-08:002017-01-06T00:11:57.793-08:00Perennial Slope Garden Through the SeasonsThe last couple years have been spent removing 3 ft tall weeds from the slope below the sport court. I have slowly been clearly it and replacing with perennials. Sometimes the plants work, sometimes not so much and I shift things about. As it is, I have snapped pics of all 4 seasons, which turns out, is pretty neat.<br />
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So, here is Spring and as you can see, there are many iris on this slope on the right. I split a 30 year old declining iris bed up and moved several of them to this spot:<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">The iris love it here and are really making a comeback. I think they just needed split up:</span></div>
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There are also species tulips I planted here. The rabbits don't seem to bother these like they do the hybrids:</div>
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Closer. These are Tulipa Sylvestris:</div>
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I think these were Tulipa Clusiana Cynthia:</div>
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And Byzantine glads. Yep, these are the real deal:</div>
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Same slope in the Summer. Crocosmia, Guara, Lavender, Jerusalem sage, California poppies, several varieties of Penstemon, Achillea, and many others fill this space. And look at the rampant grape vines! Glorious! Beyond the Crocosmia and escaping the camera shot are 2 Gooseberry shrubs and maybe 11 or 12 Lingonberry shrubs that are really starting to take off. I'm really excited about those.</div>
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A closer look at the slope plantings and a garden lantern surrounded by OxEye daisies and California poppies:</div>
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Nasturtiums and California poppies:</div>
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And here we are in the Autumn. Goodness, I do so love having real seasons again! Here, the grape vines are turning fabulous colors, the blue gray of the Lavender really stands out, Guara foliage turns more reddish as the nights cool way down, and the huge fuzzy leaves of the Jerusalem sage add texture:</div>
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Winter! Snow blankets the perennials with the Achillea and Jerusalem seed heads providing texture to the winter garden.</div>
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I have expanded this bed even further along the slope this year adding shrub roses, more guara, more herbs, and other interesting plants. I can't wait until spring so I can watch the slope fill in the rest of the way.</div>
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Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-23329802538401228202017-01-05T20:22:00.002-08:002017-01-06T00:16:57.852-08:00A Brand New Year - I'm back!Wow, It's hard to believe it has been this long since I posted to this garden blog. My life has been so busy the past couple years that I hardly had time for myself. I love living in the Pacific Northwest. It truly is my happy place. The last several years have been spent working, working, and working some more and spending what little time I had to myself outdoors hiking, exploring, and of course gardening!<br />
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Even though I love where I live, after a decade of hard work, I realized that life was passing quickly and that if I didn't stop and look around a little bit, it would pass me right on by. So, this past year I made a life choice to take a sabbatical and spend some time with my family. It's the best decision I have ever made. I went to visit family I haven't seen in a couple years, I took a month long vacation to Yellowstone National Park and hiked over 100 miles of back country and boardwalks, spent weekends hiking in Mt Rainier National Park, ran many cross country miles in my state parks, visited the coast, learned to cook real food (how funny that I love to grow veggies, but never was a very good cook), completed a 5000 piece puzzle, learned to can and preserve all manner of gardened and foraged foods, and of course worked in my new garden I am building. I had some days where I just sat back and enjoyed the sun hitting my face while sipping an iced tea and reading a book. It was fabulous.<br />
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I feel as though my mind is finally refreshed and I'm ready to tackle this new year and whatever it may bring.<br />
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I knocked around the idea of changing the name of this blog since I haven't spent much time with it recently, but really, the name still applies. The sun french fries me when I'm out in it and I really am a pluviophile. So, the blog name is staying and I'm returning to frequent it.<br />
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Without further adieu, here is a pic of the backyard perennial garden as it was this last summer and I'll be back soon with more garden-y updates. Happy New Year Everyone!<br />
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There are many daylilies in this bed as well, but bloomed earlier in the spring. Here are the lemon lilies:</div>
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These bloom the same time and I think are hemerocallis dumortieri:</div>
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Here are the lilies all together. The neighbor lady who has lived in her house for over 30 years gave these to me when she was splitting the massive clumps of them she had:</div>
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On the sunnier side of this flower bed are the liatris, coneflower, rudbeckia, and hollyhock mallow. This is really the first year they have bloomed like this since I started them from seed. I think I had a couple coneflower the year prior, but that was it. Everything in this bed has to be rabbit-proof because, well, we are overrun with rabbits here. I tried to grow some giant allium in this bed, but the rabbits mow it down every year in early spring. So I gave up on those. Oh, well. At least they don't eat these!</div>
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<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-8296114827306167092015-03-01T19:56:00.000-08:002015-03-01T20:04:50.869-08:00The Woodland Trail ProjectIt's the beginning of March and the perfect time to build a woodland trail. At this time of year, the foliage is still all down and I can see where to safely cut a path. It's also the time of year when the woodland ephemerals (dicentra, for example) are just beginning to emerge and I can safely dig and move them out of the way of the impending trail. The days are also a bit longer and I have more time to work outside before I lose daylight.<br />
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The woodland trail will be leading down the slope, through giant ferns, past groves of native trillium and dicentra, under the giant mossy vine maples, past ginormous western red cedar, past the salmon berry grove, around the ginormous stumps enveloped by red huckleberry that are all that remain of the old growth forest that once covered this land before it was logged off in the teens and 20's, down to the stream and back around to the other side of the yard. Phew! It's kind of a big project but I am so very determined to create a fantabulous path through the woods that I can presently only peer down into.<br />
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In case anyone is curious, the tools used for this project include a big-ass pick ax, loppers, hand saw, mini pick ax, and a chainsaw. Oh, and occasionally a buff hubs to help move large rocks and logs about.<br />
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So far, I have managed to cut my way through the ferns and down the slope and created a few switchbacks. A large swath of native dicentra (bleeding heart) had to be moved to a new location at one point. I refuse to crush any of those lovelies!:<br />
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The next leg of the trail will require the chainsaw to cut fallen logs out of the pathway. Hopefully I'll have the trail finished in another month or so, weather permitting.<br />
<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-79277652827109692662014-11-27T17:07:00.001-08:002014-11-27T17:07:51.306-08:00To Build a Garden - Progress Through this YearHello! It's been a mighty long time since I posted an update, but I've been super busy deconstructing 30 years of neglect and reconstructing a garden on our little acre. This has been an immense amount of work so far and at one point I had wondered what I had gotten myself into! But I am determined to transform this place into something wonderful and so keep plugging along.<br />
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I am breaking up the yard into several different garden sections including 2 wilderness gardens, a side garden, an eventual patio area at the base of the deck, a perennial plants area over the septic mound, slope gardens, a firepit area, a zen garden, shade gardens, and a large veg garden area so far. Holy cow!<br />
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Let me just give an overview of the progress this year. Here's what it looked like when we moved in Summer of 2013. You can see I started cleaning even at that very early stage; in the far back right corner I was tearing out overgrowth:<br />
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The first order of business was to weed whack the 4-8ft tall weeds out of the way. Hubs took on this job summer 2013. That's him in the far back corner of the image:<br />
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The weeds were a jungle:<br />
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Once the weeds were knocked out of the way, I could see what I had to work with:<br />
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I wanted a woodland garden in that cedar grove behind the septic mound, so I went to work ripping out 30 years of overgrowth, blackberries, and garbage including old smashed burn barrels, soda/beer cans, tarps, and leftovers of a woodpile long hidden and gobbled up by the woods:<br />
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This took several months of ongoing work. I finally had cleared a space in Fall 2013 to plant a few Korna Kousa dogwood trees. A pink one and a white one. Just a few weeks ago I planted narcissus Thalia underneath them:<br />
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The cleanup of the cedar grove continued until I was finally able to clear off the nurse stumps that I have planted native bleeding heart, trillium, creeping dogwood, redwood sorrel, and Himalayan blue poppy on. I also busied myself with constructing a path through the woodland. It's still a work in progress:<br />
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Once we had the woodland area entirely cleared of overgrowth by this Spring, it was time to bring in the mulch. 30 yards of mulch:</div>
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To keep the weeds from coming back up, we had saved the cardboard boxes from our move and laid them out across the large area that we would be covering with 4-5 inches of mulch.:</div>
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We also raised the canopy of the grove by 25 feet. Well, the hubs did most of the trimming, but I helped out, too. In the photo below, you can see how much this opened up the yard and the woodland garden area:</div>
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Once that task was complete, we laid the mulch down and results were amazing! This is July of this year. It's beginning to look like a real yard and garden!:</div>
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That giant wood round will eventually be rolled up to the firepit area, but we haven't gotten to that task quite yet:</div>
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Now moving to the area below the deck where eventually we will put a patio. I haven't done much with this yet. Pretty much just trimmed back the giant huckleberry bushes and weeded the area. Before shot:</div>
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After shot:</div>
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Moving on, we arrive at the perennial garden I am building over the septic mound. Here, I am ripping out grass/moss and replacing them with perennial plants and grasses I found on sale, were gifted to me, or have been started with seed. Anything I plant here I pretty much have to be willing to lose if the septic ever needs replaced. So far, I've only got about a quarter of the area cleared off that I eventually want filled in with plants. This photo was taken around April of this year:</div>
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And here it is in July this year:</div>
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Moving on to the massive veg and fruit garden project. This is a big one and has consumed a bulk of my time this year. It was once a horse field and is filled with various junk including many rotted pallets. I began cleaning the first section of this area out in February of this year. It was once a veg garden many, many, many years ago and had once been filled with piles of horse manure so the weeds were immense. In the fall of 2013 we piled cardboard and old plastic pallets on top of this area to try and kill the weeds, but it was still necessary for me to pull the foot-deep rootballs out by hand. Yep. Me and my pickaxe are gonna transform this land:</div>
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Here is veg garden section number 1 finally cleared of weeds:</div>
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And here it is August of this year planted with all manner of veggie goodness. What a transformation!:</div>
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Here is veg section number 2. Cleaning began this spring and was completed this September. There was a lot of junk that needed disposed of from this area. That ugly fence belongs to the neighbors and they removed that this fall and are replacing it with a nice greenbelt of evergreen trees/shrubberies this coming spring. They also plan to re-roof and paint the garage, so it shouldn't such an eyesore anymore. Yay!:</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">I had 15 yards of garden soil/compost brought in. We used cedar logs from trees that we thinned from the cedar grove for the borders of this garden:</span></div>
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This is what it currently looks like. Next year there will be corn and pumpkins and sunflowers in this space. Hurray!:</div>
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Just above the veg garden area is a tennis court. It is surrounded by a slope that is covered in nothing but weeds, weeds, and more weeds. I am working on tearing out all the weeds and replacing it with drought tolerant plantings. Oh, and random posts that I suppose were supposed to become a fence once upon a time, but never came to fruition. I put copper tops on them and fixed hooks to the posts from which I hung garden lanterns. This is also another HUGE project. I didn't get as far as I had hoped with this this year, but it's coming along and is a priority for next year:</div>
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I have planted grapes along the fence at the top of the slope. They really seem to like it where I planted them and have been growing like gangbusters even though they are brand new this year. Slope planted with new plants and plants divided and moved from other areas of the yard:</div>
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Below and to the left of the tennis court is a space that was once used to tie the horses in place. We added a crossbar and hung a garden bell in this space:</div>
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Since the ground in this space is hard as cement and filled with gravel, we decided to create a zen garden and added borders and filled it with sand and a few large rocks. I will be weeding and replanting the sloped area around this space this coming year:</div>
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Behind the now zen garden is what will become wilderness garden number 2. First order of business was to weed, cut back, and build steps and paths through this area. The staircases on either side have been rough-cut in by me and my pick-axe this year and will hopefully be completed next year:</div>
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We are planning on having a large delivery of rocks brought in so we can finish off various staircases like this one with the rockery:</div>
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Here is the wilderness garden area the stairs lead up to. In front of those giant trees, to the right of the apple trees, but above the tennis court is a space that I weeded last year and attempted to grow wildflowers in. I failed miserably as even though it is wet in the fall/winter here, the summer dries the area out in the summer and it receives no supplemental watering. This year, I am trying Camassia quamash and alpine strawberries in this space. I noticed the alpine strawberries had reseeded themselves into the hardpan and gravel in the full sun last summer and were doing quite splendid, so I'm taking that cue from nature and trying them in this hot, sunny space. Also, the shed you see in this shot, I initially wanted to paint, but it is so rotten, we have decided to take it down and replace it with a new modern shed. That will likely happen in the next couple of years:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M97e6V0IJVU/VHfGaHIsLjI/AAAAAAAAJrM/d4MzG7xJYFo/s1600/staircase4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M97e6V0IJVU/VHfGaHIsLjI/AAAAAAAAJrM/d4MzG7xJYFo/s1600/staircase4.jpg" height="181" width="320" /></a></div>
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And finally, along the side yard, I have been cleaning out the gully that was filled with 30 years of cuttings thrown over the side. The trees had been pretty mildewy in this area and cleaning out all the rotted cuttings, trimming up the trees, and getting airflow back into the area helped a ton. I haven't had mildew problems on the trees this year:</div>
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I also weeded the edge of the yard and planted a boxwood hedge to try and delineate the edge of the yard from the woods a bit more:</div>
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Well, that's most of the projects I've been working on this past year. I have many more ambitious garden plans for next year including planning an alpine garden space, more staircases, and hopefully adding some fruit trees and shrubs. I also want to find more time to post updates on this garden build. I finally feel like the garden is coming together, even if very slowly. </div>
Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-75875128844460755812014-05-15T19:23:00.001-07:002014-05-15T21:05:59.134-07:00Bloom Day May 15, 2014So, I've been super busy cutting, trimming, and reclaiming the woods and weeds into a new, ginormous garden. I did finally get one small area of the woodland garden planted up. I'm trialing some different plants in it this year and one that has done just spectacular for me so far has been the Himalayan blue poppy. I'm so freaking excited about it that I will leave just this for my bloom day post this month:<br />
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Happy Bloom Day, everyone!Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-86573293926682104332014-02-04T17:57:00.000-08:002014-02-04T17:57:28.483-08:00Wintering Annas HummingbirdsIt's going to be mighty chilly this week - into the low teens at night! Don't forget to put out out nectar for our overwintering hummingbirds and keep it thawed out for them. These guys need all the energy they can get to stay warm!<br />
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Tips for feeding hummers in the freezing temps:
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<li>Remember not to adjust the mix! Keep it at a 1:4 ratio sugar to water.</li>
<li>Use christmas lights wrapped about the feeder to keep it from thawing or </li>
<li>Swap out feeders to keep them from freezing. Make sure to put the feeders out before dawn if you bring them in at night. I have several feeders and just rotate them. </li>
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More info on feeding hummers in the winter:<br />
<u><a href="http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/LearnAboutBirds/SeasonalFacts/Hummingbirds.aspx" target="_blank">Feeding hummers in winter</a></u><br />
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This Annas hummer in the pic below was up feeding just as the sky was seeing its first hint of light in the very early dawn this morning:<br />
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He's chilling out on the red huckleberry bush defending his favorite feeder. Invaders, beware!:</div>
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<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-15914888722128860822014-01-01T14:42:00.000-08:002014-01-01T14:42:23.864-08:00A New Year, A New GardenI've been absent from posting for a while. I have been mostly in cleanup mode in the yard. The entire thing really needs some serious work and that has been the priority over the last several months. No flowers or plants can go in until the yard is prepped.<br />
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We are still working on raising the canopy in the two large trees groves and I need to have a large delivery of rocks (for a retaining wall) and mulch brought in, so those things are on the agenda. We are still cleaning out brush, etc, but managed to really clean a huge chunk of that stuff out over this past Autumn. This spring we are going to be working on putting in a large vegetable garden and that is also a huge project in the making right now.<br />
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I did find some time today to get out in the front yard and plant a couple hundred spring bulbs. Yes, they should have gone in earlier in the year, but it was always raining on my days off and I wanted a dry day for this. Today was gorgeous, so I took the opportunity to get to planting! I can be so impatient sometimes. I have these great visions for my new garden, but there is just so much prep work to make sure it is done right. So, it feels really great to get some new things in.<br />
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These are bulbs of some mixed narcissus and some frittilaria:<br />
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These are a bunch of mixed crocus:</div>
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Some small allium:</div>
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I also planted some daffodils and bluebells putting clumps here and there. The ground was quite full of rocks so I put the giant pick-axe to work today! Once I got most of the rocks out, I mixed some garden mix with the native dirt to get some more nutrients in the soil.<br />
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Along with the bulbs in the ground, I planted a wine barrel full of tulips. Here's to hoping for a flower filled spring in my new garden. I'm so excited!<br />
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Happy New Year everyone!Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-74512737307088553382013-09-16T18:54:00.000-07:002013-09-16T18:54:41.501-07:00Garden Bloom Day September 2013 - A Day LateAhh, dammit. I'm a day late with bloom day again. It's hard to keep up when you are working full time AND busy cleaning and clearing an entire acre for a new garden. I do have some fun things blooming, so I'll just get right down to it.<br />
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Fall in the Northwest is for dahlias! I filled a wine barrel full of orange and yellow ones and here they are. They are about 4 feet tall in the barrel. Pretty!:<br />
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And some smaller yellow/orange pompom dahlias as well:<br />
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I have another wine barrel planted with some nasturtiums:</div>
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When I lived in Austin, September was for Oxblood lilies and it is apparently time for those up here, too!! I'm so excited these bloomed for me up here! They didn't do anything last fall, just hung out in the ground being boring bulbs, but I think they were confused since I moved them last year. But this year, Wooo!! Here they are in all their glory and I'm so very glad I brought some back with me. If any bulb represents Austin gardens, it's the Oxblood lily:<br />
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More coming up:<br />
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Another southern plant growing for me up here is turks cap. Love this one:</div>
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Another one that is doing splendid in hanging pots for me I brought back last year from Austin is the firecracker fern. The hummingbirds go crazy over this one:</div>
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Here is some big red sage. It really needs to go in the ground, but I still don't have the bed ready yet, so its blooming in its pot:</div>
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The bird peppers are turning red. Very bright red!:</div>
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Another red one is the dragon wing begonia. I'm just about ready to bring these into the solarium for the season:</div>
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Black and blue salvia and hot lips salvia in the background:<br />
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And last, but not least, I discovered some white perennial cyclamen coming up in the corner of the lawn, so I dug it up and moved it to a more prominent location where it came be noticed and spread:</div>
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That's it! Happy Bloom Day!</div>
Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-48459318418355160872013-08-31T21:25:00.000-07:002013-08-31T21:25:12.124-07:00Fragrance in the EveningOne of the things I really did love about the Austin summer evenings were the night blooming flowers - the tuberose, the moonflower vines, and especially the datura (devil's trumpet). They would fill the summer nights with an intoxicating scent that just blanketed my garden. I brought seeds for the datura with me when I moved along with a bunch of mexican tuberose because I just could not bear to leave them behind. Would they grow up here? I didn't know, but I was sure gonna try to get them to grow.<br />
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The tuberose have been all crowded up in pots for a year, but they are finally blooming!:<br />
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I bought some moonflower vine seeds from a local store earlier this year and they did grow and are now flowering as well! I've been meaning to get this one repotted in a large pot, but just haven't had the time. It doesn't seem to care and the flower is bigger than the 4-inch pot the vine is growing in right now:<br />
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Both the tuberose and moonflower vine are filling the night air with their heady scent and reminding me of the sultry southern summer nights I left behind, but without the heat and humidity.<br />
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I also have some datura (devils trumpet) that I have started from seed which are growing pretty well right now, but are not yet large enough to bloom. No worries though, I have a solarium to move them into when the weather starts to cool down and they can keep on plugging along. I will have datura blooms one of these days.<br />
<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-27424746845472299422013-07-15T21:12:00.001-07:002013-07-15T21:24:13.175-07:00Bloom Day - July 15,2013Happy Bloom day! I've been absent from bloom day for a bit as we were in the middle of a move to our new home (see <a href="http://thesuniskillingme.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-blank-canvas.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> on that). I don't have many flowers right now since I'm working from a blank slate, but I do have some pretty things blooming in pots. Here's what I've got:<br />
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Begonia. I overwintered these tubers with resounding success:<br />
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Fuchsia, black and blue salvia, hot lips salvia, hawkshead fuchsia, and red geranium in pots:</div>
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Close up of Hawkshead fuchsia:</div>
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Closeup of black and blue salvia. This is one of the hummers very favorite flowers:</div>
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Lavender fuchsia:</div>
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Hot pink fuchsia:</div>
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Purple and white stripey petunias:</div>
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Red geranium and pink guara:</div>
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Firecracker fern:</div>
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Blue hydrangea patiently waiting to be planted in the woodland garden:</div>
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Atom gladiola:</div>
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Shasta daisy. These are one of the few flowers in the ground right now:</div>
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It's been a long time since I haven't had much of anything in the ground to show off and feels a bit weird, but that will be fixed as time goes on. I've got a big project ahead of me and soon I'll have many wonderful and fun things to share. For now its all about planning, dreaming, and building. Happy Bloom day everyone!Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-21540162784957478022013-07-08T21:36:00.002-07:002013-07-08T21:43:51.120-07:00A Blank CanvasSorry I've been gone, we were in the middle of a move to the Eastside of Seattle Metro area and it consumed all of my time. But, I am so very excited to be back on my old stomping grounds! We purchased a wonderful house that sits on a very pretty piece of property, it just needs a little (read a super, ginormous amount) of work to make it beautiful.<br />
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I have always had this dream of having a ginormous blank canvas to build a dream garden in and well, now I have it. I have to pinch myself as it has been a very, very long journey to get here. All the way to Austin, Tx and back. More than a decade in the making. All the events that have happened, good and bad we used to bring ourselves to this place. The new house sits on an acre that overlooks the woods with a stream that runs to the lake down below. I don't have to look into the window of the neighbors bathroom or bedroom or living room. Nope. Just trees. I am thankful every single day for this view of lush, green, goodness:<br />
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The yard is huge. And, a huge overgrown mess. Truth be told, I'm a little overwhelmed, but totally up for the challenge. So here's the rundown:<br />
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The side yard is actually pretty clean, just full of boring lawn. A large part of this lawn will be replaced by a woodland garden. The first task is to reuse all those cardboard boxes from our move and lay them out in the yard and cover them with mulch and let it all break down to shrink the lawn:<br />
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The front yard is pretty clean like the side yard. I've got about four wine barrels with veggies and dahlias lined up out that way right now, but I'm planning on putting in a trellis and planting hops:</div>
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Against the house is a terraced area that is full of half dead grass and weeds because it is too shady for the lawn that was planted to grow there. I'm working on replacing this right now with shade-friendly small trees and all manner of bulbs and shade loving perennials and natives:<br />
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Around the back is a hill that leads from the deck stairs to the tennis court. Oh, yeah, the place came with a tennis/basketball court which I initially hated, because I thought that is where a veggie garden should go instead! I have changed my tune and the tennis court is staying, it just seems so...snobby...but it's fun and I'm learning to play some tennis. (I have stopped whacking the ball a million miles over the net at least, so I'm improving). I will be putting some kind of stairs in here, along with a jar fountain up on the top:<br />
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Off to the right in the shot above, you can see a patch of the largest deciduous huckleberry bushes ever known to mankind. Oh! And some Peonies and Iris on the left against the house. Here's a shot showing the huckleberry patch and looking beyond:<br />
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Off yonder is a mound septic system. Ick. It is ugly, but I'm gonna fix that! Oh, yes. This mound will eventually be covered in perennials and grasses and groundcovers (no trees or shrubs or deep rooted things can be grown on or near a mound system). Yep. This is where the butterfly garden is going:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LQrDRm02v0Q/UduBef6rpTI/AAAAAAAAGF4/wfxoqKbg6Po/s1600/mound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LQrDRm02v0Q/UduBef6rpTI/AAAAAAAAGF4/wfxoqKbg6Po/s320/mound.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The challenge? Plants bunnies won't eat. The entire world's population of bunnies lives in my yard. I'm actually thinking of planting them a nice clover crop on the shady side of the mound. That kept them out of the Olympia veggie garden. Distracted by delicious clover, they were.<br />
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On the topic of woodland creatures, in that photo of the mound above, looking towards the back, there is a cedar grove. I was back there clearing it out and blazing trails (really nifty woodsy area back in there) when I happened upon a yellow jacket nest. Yep. I pulled out a blackberry bramble that was growing from a rotted stump and out poured thousands of yellow jackets! They pummeled me with their stings and vicious, relentless biting as I tore out of there as fast as my legs would carry me. That all resulted in a trip to the ER and a very miserable week of wasp sting recovery. I now am the proud owner of a wasp-sting kit complete with EPI pen. Yay.<br />
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Moving on, we come to the old horse shed on the tree covered knoll. Yeah, there was once a horse that lived on this side of the property:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tgfNQN6MdeY/UduHlgBaITI/AAAAAAAAGGI/mflv8Gql9oA/s1600/shed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tgfNQN6MdeY/UduHlgBaITI/AAAAAAAAGGI/mflv8Gql9oA/s320/shed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This shed will soon be painted turquoise and pink, maybe purple? I dunno, but it's gonna be fun Austin colors. I loved the colors down there and want to incorporate them into my new garden. Central Texas meets Pacific Northwest. It'll be fun!:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yZDwh58JCpg/UduIPGf2kNI/AAAAAAAAGGQ/IWn0x-IIXiA/s1600/shed1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yZDwh58JCpg/UduIPGf2kNI/AAAAAAAAGGQ/IWn0x-IIXiA/s320/shed1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I had to cut some steps into the hillside to get up to the shed. Guess what I found? Another bee nest! This one was full of native, miner bees, though. They were non-violent and just buzzed around, so I let them be until they calmed down:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jPQRk0mC-LI/UduIyEp0XKI/AAAAAAAAGGY/gbnVzGWYDzQ/s1600/shed2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jPQRk0mC-LI/UduIyEp0XKI/AAAAAAAAGGY/gbnVzGWYDzQ/s320/shed2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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While trimming the overgrown trees and shrubs, I found....<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BJHQ39MxFSI/UduJDQ8_UMI/AAAAAAAAGGg/PdiOzsEBkyE/s1600/lakeview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BJHQ39MxFSI/UduJDQ8_UMI/AAAAAAAAGGg/PdiOzsEBkyE/s320/lakeview.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
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A lake view! I have a view! I had no idea. The horse did. He had a great view from his horse shed. Guess where I'm putting a bench and a trail and a woodland garden? And the hubby has promised to reinforce the shed, add a second viewing level and build a spiral staircase up the huge fir tree to access this second level. He better make this happen. It's really not nice to tease about these kinds of things.<br />
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Here is all the overgrowth we cut out from that area that was obscuring the view:<br />
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Those black bags are full of ash and nails - 10 pounds of nails! - mixed in with the burn pile the previous owners made you see in the picture below. This is a big project, cleaning up all the nails they tried to burn in the fire. Ugh. Who does that? Geez. What a mess. I'm still working on it, but when it is finally cleaned up a nice fire pit will go here along with a nice picnic table:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ymLlaMqWZTA/UduLRJX3BoI/AAAAAAAAGG4/5OPHjqEBbr4/s1600/cleanup2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ymLlaMqWZTA/UduLRJX3BoI/AAAAAAAAGG4/5OPHjqEBbr4/s320/cleanup2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Back down behind the fire pit is where the fenced in area for the horse once was and will now become my veggie garden once I get time to borrow and bring the tractor with the tiller up here for a weekend. And, yeah, that ugly fence needs fixing/painting/hiding as well:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iRFoQeVXoqA/UduLiSORhGI/AAAAAAAAGHA/KDU8QUwiAZE/s1600/cleanup3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iRFoQeVXoqA/UduLiSORhGI/AAAAAAAAGHA/KDU8QUwiAZE/s320/cleanup3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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All that area on the slope around the (snobby) tennis court is going to be covered in perennials. I am slowly collecting clearance items and also growing them from seed:<br />
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Did I say I was overwhelmed? I am totally overwhelmed, but I can so fix this. Oh, yes. This will be my dream garden. I've already been poking around and found some neat plants hiding here and there. Here are some celandine poppy coming up in the shade through the mulch that was piled on them in order to sell the house:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TMXi-WiKp-c/UduNoDFOCMI/AAAAAAAAGHc/tyQGGsFMwEI/s1600/yellow2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TMXi-WiKp-c/UduNoDFOCMI/AAAAAAAAGHc/tyQGGsFMwEI/s320/yellow2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And I also discovered this guy. I don't know what it is, but very pretty:</div>
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Until I can get the garden really going, I have all my potted plants to keep me entertained on the deck:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rxUTVXUrAS4/UduOd0_vwMI/AAAAAAAAGHw/laKny4x5J0Y/s1600/pots1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rxUTVXUrAS4/UduOd0_vwMI/AAAAAAAAGHw/laKny4x5J0Y/s320/pots1.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Fuchsia, geranium, rose campion, milk and wine lily:<br />
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Close up of the milk and wine lily. I brought this one back from Austin with me and it had never bloomed before, but has bloomed twice in two weeks for me this year! I'm ever so excited:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dKtEoFKw7rY/UduPGjhhgaI/AAAAAAAAGIA/0SVk0QIUkps/s1600/milkandwinelily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dKtEoFKw7rY/UduPGjhhgaI/AAAAAAAAGIA/0SVk0QIUkps/s320/milkandwinelily.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Now it does rain a lot in the Pacific Northwest, so to complete this garden I needed a solarium which I can sit in and watch the rain come down and the sun come back out. We're not in Kansas anymore! Rainbow shot through solarium windows:<br />
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So that's it. My blank canvas. It's a huge, multi-year project. May the powers that be give me the opportunity and time to finish it. And so it begins...Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-88150951547416707022013-05-01T21:20:00.000-07:002013-05-01T21:20:40.116-07:00Happy May Day!Wow. So it's been awhile since my last post. I didn't fall off the edge of the planet, but I did get a new job with a horrific commute that is consuming way too much of my time. We'll be moving in closer to the Seattle area very shortly so I can get my free time back. In the meantime, my flowers have been blooming and the hummingbirds - both Annas and Rufous - have been going crazy at the feeder. We have so many right now that they drained the entire feeder just today.<br />
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Happy May Day! When I was a kid, my mom and I prepared bouquets of flowers on May Day and left them on the neighbor's doorsteps. Today, I'll post photos of flowers for everyone to enjoy instead.<br />
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Here is a pink Lewisia. I always wanted to have these when I lived in Austin, but it was just too hot for them. I am excited this one is blooming:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q7qyl5npAkg/UYHl9Wub30I/AAAAAAAAF9E/01_weevhNj4/s1600/lewisia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q7qyl5npAkg/UYHl9Wub30I/AAAAAAAAF9E/01_weevhNj4/s320/lewisia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A collection of potted flowers. The purple anemone is on it's last legs, there's some grape hyacinth, and a couple varieties of species tulip. The yellow and red stripy ones grow just as well up here for me as the did in the South, but the red ones I am really excited about since they always shriveled and died in Austin, but are quite glorious here in the Northwest. I have visions of a large flowerbed full of these. Maybe next year :)</div>
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Heirloom White Cemetery Iris brought back with me from Austin, Texas. These are nearly twice as big up here as they grew in Austin, and smell just as wonderful. They remind me of the garden I left behind and make me smile:</div>
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I'm cheating a little here as these finished blooming a couple weeks ago, but I took the photo and didn't get it posted. Blue Hyacinth and Daffodils:</div>
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Forget-me-nots spread like crazy here. Here's some with viola and chives:</div>
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Happy May Day everyone!</div>
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<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-62216543153342246312012-12-18T19:10:00.003-08:002012-12-18T19:13:41.795-08:00Winter WonderlandI woke up to a winter wonderland this morning:<br />
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This is what I missed so terribly living down South; seasons. There is just something about watching summer turn into fall and waking up with the crisp morning air and the changing colors of the leaves against deep blue skies which then give way to clouds, dark days, rain, sleet, and snow.<br />
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Sure, it occasionally snows in Austin, but it always gives way to 70 degrees and melted snow by noon (OK, except that one time where it snowed all day, but it was still 70 the next day). I missed the socked in, power outage, cuddle up in a sweater with a cup of hot Market Spiced tea and a good book kind of snow. The kind that lends itself to giant snowman making:<br />
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And buries the dormant veggie garden and it's ever watchful owl in snow:</div>
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As well as the garden squirrel that watches over my potted plants:</div>
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The kind that turns a green forest white:<br />
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And makes a succulent pot look like a snow cone for several days:<br />
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And turns skeletal remains of annual flowers into frozen lollipops:<br />
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The kind that drives the year round residents of Puget Sound, the Anna's hummingbird, to make trips to the feeder every couple minutes to keep up energy:</div>
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Closer:</div>
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This is the kind of winter I have missed for so long, where even in the winter the region is blanketed in green, occasionally concealed by white. </div>
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The winter solstice is just around the corner and the dark,stormy months of winter will begin slowly marching towards the rainy days of spring. But, there are a few more months of winter yet to go and I plan to enjoy every minute of it. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to move back home to the Pacific Northwest.</div>
Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-39305699554836082262012-11-15T19:25:00.000-08:002012-11-15T22:08:23.041-08:00Bloom Day - Nov 15th, 2012November Bloom day and I actually have blooms to show off. Even though we have had a few freezes, the plants right up against the house are still blooming, including the hanging fuchsia (OK, so I cheated a little and put the fuchsia in the pop-up greenhouse the days it froze, but it's back outside now that it has warmed up again).<br />
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Here's the hanging fuchsia. It's still attracting hummers every day so I try and keep it out as much as possible:<br />
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The hardy fuchsia is also still blooming and attracting hummers:<br />
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The dragon wing begonia is still flowering! This plant has been super for me up here in the PNW and the hummers also love this one:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--O_gbUsWDFo/UKWuSpP_bDI/AAAAAAAAFi4/MqSVC5KOS5E/s1600/dwbegonia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--O_gbUsWDFo/UKWuSpP_bDI/AAAAAAAAFi4/MqSVC5KOS5E/s320/dwbegonia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I also have a blue mist flower blooming:<br />
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Pineapple sage is still blooming and smells strongly of pineapple, hence it's name:<br />
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The geranium is still blooming. I did pick off a bunch of moldy leaves and move it under the eaves where it stays dry. It seems to really like that:<br />
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The abutilon keeps on flowering and attracting hummers. This one flowered all through winter for me in Austin, we'll see what the PNW result is. For now, this guy just won't quit:<br />
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This purple salvia I recently picked up on sale is still flowering:<br />
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The Guara is still flowering as well:<br />
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And last but not least, this nifty creeping campanula (bellflower) continues to send out pretty purple bell shaped flowers:</div>
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Happy Bloom day everyone!</div>
<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-77133103200483550082012-11-11T21:46:00.001-08:002012-11-11T21:49:19.570-08:00Anna's hummingbirds - year round residents.Here on the Puget Sound, the Anna's hummingbird is a year-round resident. Two of them have been fighting over the feeder and this pineapple salvia today even though it is only 46 degrees outside:<br />
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I'm surprised this salvia they are fighting wars over hasn't froze back yet as we did have a freeze two nights in a row, but I do have it in a pot on the deck in a sheltered area between 2 sections of the house. It must stay warmer here creating a micro climate. That's a big plus for the hummingbirds since their favorite flowers are still going strong:<br />
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Here's the Anna's hummers. I observed many females in the spring and summer, but very few males. This is one of the females that is frequenting the feeding this November:<br />
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Here is the male. I have been seeing him quite a bit since October. I'm not sure if he had moved up into the hills during Spring and Summer and has moved back down now that it is Fall, or if he has been here all along and I am just seeing him more now that I have many flowers he likes and he is spending more time in our yard as a result:<br />
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Anna's male hummers have gorgeous pinky red heads, but you can't tell from this angle. It was difficult to get a good shot of this guy's iridescent reddish-pink feathers since there wasn't much sun to reflect off them today. I'll keep stalking him until I get a shot of them shining in the sun. <br />
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All these hummers are very busy lately keeping fueled up in the chilly, rainy, Pacific Northwest fall/winter climate. They like to perch in the birch trees and fly down for drinks from the feeder. One of the theories on why these guys do so well in the winter up here is that they include a larger number of insects in their diet along with nectar. They will also eat sap from holes made by sapsuckers and eat the insects that are attracted to this sap.<br />
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As recently as the 1930's Anna's hummingbirds range was only into California, but as the climate has changed and as people have planted nectar friendly flowers in their gardens, the range of this hummer has expanded all the way up to Vancouver, British Columbia. <br />
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I'm really enjoying having these guys year round. In Austin, we had ruby throated and black-chinned hummers until September when they would vacate for warmer climates. The Rufous hummer would then show up to winter with us from about October to January when they would then take back off to the west coast. We have the Rufous hummers up here in Spring and Summer. I wonder if any of these are the ones wintering in Central Texas?Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-83561792324107571612012-11-07T12:19:00.000-08:002012-11-07T12:19:42.481-08:00Creating a Secret Woodland GardenI've got a big woodland gardening project going on right now. This is how it began back in the 5 acre wood:<br />
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<strong>Grams:</strong> "So, see that area in the woods there? Where there is a big clear area and all the trees fell down? I want to put a secret garden there." <br />
<strong>Me:</strong> "That area where all those fallen trees are and covered in salal? (looking at impenetrable wall of salal hiding a good 15+ fully grown fallen fir trees)<br />
<strong>Grams:</strong> "Yep. We cleared that once 20 years ago, but it's all overgrown. I want it right there."<br />
<strong>Me</strong>: "How big do you want this thing?"<br />
<strong>Grams</strong>: "Oh, you know, just from the edge of the trees over there to the trees over here."<br />
<strong>Me:</strong> "So, what, a 40-50 foot circle?" <br />
<strong>Grams:</strong> "Yep, that sounds about right"<br />
<strong>Me:</strong> "OK. Um...Where do you want me to start?"<br />
<strong>Grams:</strong> "I dunno, maybe about here (pointing to thicket of brush, blackberry brambles, and twisty fallen treebits)" Just start making a trail in right here and then we'll see what we have once it is cleared out"<br />
<strong>Me:</strong> "Okee-dokee".<br />
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And so it began. This is actually a really brilliant idea. Brilliant, I tell you. I LOVE this idea. I think it is awesome. But while I am cutting my way through the forest, I am silently cursing Grams for this. But it's gonna be AWESOME when it's done. It's just......so much work. Thank God for the muscle-y husband and Gramps with the big-ass chainsaw.<br />
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We've been working on this the last couple days from dawn to dusk. Actually, we have gotten a whole helluva lot completed in 2 full days. We busted through brush, cut out 10 or more fallen trees and burned up 2 giant piles of brush. Here's what it looks like so far:<br />
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This was once an impenetrable thicket of salal and fallen trees. I'm lining the entire space with logs from the fallen trees to define the woodland garden area. That middle bit there is a huge nurse log/rootball covered in ferns and other woodlandy bits. We decided to keep it and make it the center piece of the garden:<br />
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A closer look at the moss and ferns:<br />
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The left area of the garden is pretty much cleared out:<br />
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There were all kinds of completely rotten logs in this area and I just broke them up into bits with the pick axe and raked them across the ground after I completed some leveling of the forest floor. It makes a wonderful natural mulch for the floor of the garden.<br />
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The log that sits across the left area in the photo above became a bench. We cut it off on both ends to make sure it was safe. The root ball was still attached and those can randomly flip the tree back up and kill you if you aren't careful and the conditions are right. We had one flip back up earlier in the day on us that was down the hill a bit after we took all the load off of it by pulling other trees off it and trimming it down. (We were aware it would flip back up, so stayed quite clear of it until it did so on it's own. Now it's a nice woodpecker tree). Clearing forest is not something to be taken lightly.<br />
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Here's the natural log bench:<br />
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Behind the bench I will be planting some rhodies. This is a true woodland garden and there are deer. Lots of them. That means no deer salad plants like hosta, heuchera, or iris. But deer don't like rhododendrons as they are poisonous; they might stomp on them, but they won't eat them. So those will go in the space behind the bench here:<br />
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I'll be tucking ferns in here, there, and everywhere. I made a flower pot in this corner where the logs meet and moved one of the ferns we pulled out into this space:<br />
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On to the right side of the garden. This side is still a huge work in progress:<br />
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As you can see, there is a wall of salal still being cut through and several big logs to cut and move:<br />
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The house terrier, Tabby is having a great time. She caught a vole and tried to eat it while we were working. Gross:<br />
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The entrance and exits to the garden are in progress. Here's the entrance. I'm thinking of lining it with solar lights, but not sure if it would get enough sun to really make that effective. I'll have to test it out with a couple solar lights and see what happens:<br />
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Here's the exit. The plan is to put in some stairs in this spot with some old concrete blocks and sand we have lying about:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DBM3l4HsiL0/UJq8iQNVsOI/AAAAAAAAFYU/vqWLOXThzVo/s1600/WG-backentrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DBM3l4HsiL0/UJq8iQNVsOI/AAAAAAAAFYU/vqWLOXThzVo/s320/WG-backentrance.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Many of the logs we have been cutting up have groovy fungi on them. I placed these next to the back entrance. They can stay here, slowly become nurse logs, and grow more fungi, therefore becoming more nifty looking as they age.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nmr2iC3YWsM/UJq-RHhgwbI/AAAAAAAAFYc/gzWbh4Er84s/s1600/WG-fungi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nmr2iC3YWsM/UJq-RHhgwbI/AAAAAAAAFYc/gzWbh4Er84s/s320/WG-fungi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's a bit more fungi on a log placed in the center fern garden:<br />
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So that's where the woodland garden creation is right now. This weekend Gramps will be taking down several widow makers (dead trees looming over the garden space) and we'll get those outta the way. Once that is done I can work on cleaning up the rest of the space, and planning where to put woodland plants and other garden features.<br />
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Today is rest day. My muscles are tired and I need a break. Plus, I need to do some wash:<br />
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<br />Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-37600977735197759192012-10-31T17:25:00.001-07:002012-10-31T22:59:44.387-07:00Happy Halloween!There is nothing more fun than growing your own pumpkin patch. When I was growing up we always had a huge display of jack-o-lanterns all from pumpkins grown in our backyard garden. The neighbor kids would come over, we would all pick out some pumpkins from the garden to carve and we would have a big ol' pumpkin carving party. Sometimes drills and saws were required for the big 100 lb'ers and that was the biggest blast! Power tools, wheeee!<br />
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This is the first year I have had enough space to grow pumpkins in a long time, not to mention the freedom from those dreaded squash bugs. The garden produced several pumpkins this year even though I got the seeds in a little bit late. Here's the harvested haul. As you can see, some didn't quite ripen up, but that's OK. There's always something fun to create with a green pumpkin:<br />
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Here most of them are all carved up. There were 13 in total (perfect Halloween number!) and it took 2 days to carve them all. This is what was created on day 1. Most were original creations, the two on the left were from printable templates:<br />
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The kid created this nifty 4-sider:</div>
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This guy requires an up-close shot since it's hard to see his gourd-impaled head in the dark shot. The kid stated that 'that gourd must have had some pretty good momentum to get stuck in his head like that'.:</div>
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Here they are on the porch:</div>
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Day 2 the last few were carved up. A cat from a template, but we added a moon and stars:<br />
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It really comes alive when all lit up:</div>
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And a zombie pumpkin with a cauliflower brain. An old wire hanger cut into pieces was used to secure the top pumpkin and the brain in place. Red food coloring and pumpkin guts provided the bloody effect:</div>
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All lit up:</div>
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Happy Halloween everyone!Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-32119475245832835952012-10-16T18:14:00.000-07:002012-10-16T18:14:26.056-07:00Deck Cover FabulousnessWe have an uncovered deck area just outside our room that we wanted to use as an extended outdoor living area, but it needed a cover since it rains a bunch up here. The solution? The hubs ordered this Kookaburra waterproof sail shade and attached it with eye hooks to anchor points on 3 corners of the house and a giant pole we made from part of a big leaf maple that had been cut back earlier this year. Then he strung twinkle lights all about it and around the pole.<br />
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It turned out awesome:<br />
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It reminds me of the outdoor spaces in Austin that we left behind. I love it! I'm thinking of painting the pole blue. <br />
Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731563993146062027.post-64955394425367199242012-10-15T21:34:00.000-07:002012-10-15T22:00:05.908-07:00Bloom Day October 15, 2012It's October Bloom day and in true Pacific Northwest fashion, it is pouring and windy outside today. Fall has finally arrived and it's storming in like a pissed off mountain lion. <br />
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Even though it's nasty outside, I still have lots of flowers in bloom, but I'm sticking to the ones potted up on my deck so I don't have to get drenched to take photos.<br />
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The begonias are looking fabulous. The dragon wing begonia I brought with me from Austin really love the maritime climate and are just gorgeous:<br />
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Closer:<br />
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I also now am able to grow tuberous begonia and they are looking spectacular:<br />
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Some yellow ones:<br />
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More yellow:<br />
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Some pink ones:<br />
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Another plant I'm so glad to be able to successfully grow again are fuchsia and they love this weather:<br />
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Here's the one that had a zombie revival from what I thought was a dead for sure after a million degree summer but came back in winter in Austin and traveled to the PNW with me to live a glorious new life:<br />
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Also brought from Austin and loving the maritime climate more that I ever dreamed it would is firecracker fern. It's blooming crazy right now and still attracting Anna's hummers even in mid October:<br />
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I'll be moving this to the pop-up greenhouse shortly, but am leaving it out as long as possible since the hummers enjoy it so very much:<br />
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Another one that really has been doing well that was a surprise to me is the Kangaroo Paw. It keeps blooming away:</div>
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The geraniums are still blooming beautifully. A pink one planted with fuchsia:<br />
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A purplish ivy geranium:<br />
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A bright red one:<br />
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The purple dahlia is still blooming:<br />
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As is the purple-stripey petunia that seeded iteself into the garden that I dug up and put in a pot so I could see it up close every morning:<br />
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The guara keeps on blooming. I like this one because it reminds me of Austin *smile*:<br />
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And I shall close out this bloom day post with the labuffarosa rain lilies that just keep on keepin' on. I had no idea they would love it so much up here:<br />
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Happy Bloom day everyone!<br />
Lee17http://www.blogger.com/profile/13585316725404778916noreply@blogger.com0