Garden Talk - to get through winter :)

I have worked a ton in the garden the last couple weeks so its on my mind

Thought it would be cool to have a place to discuss and plan our gardens for 2013.

I planted a good 350+ bulbs this fall. I had a ton in years past as well but they were starting to get worn out and many were planted before we used the front yard for dogs and prekids so they were not in good areas to avoid trampling.

I divided up the irises and moved those all around and made an actual bed where they used to be. It has irises, tulips, daffodils, anemones, and crocuses in it now. Its bookended by a lilac and butterfly bush. I added some russian sage and pearl wort last weekend and then today put in some autumn crocus. Havent decided what else I will put there yet, probably some sort of annuals. Oh, I do want to put some toad lilies, love them

Late summer (bad timing but its the way it worked) I put in about 15 azaleas and a bunch of hostas. Some went into new beds that border the front of the veggie garden (which I also added tulips, daffodils, and irises to) Some may not make it as we were transplanting them during 100 degree weather.

I added some mums and more bulbs to some of the existing beds today. I am just about out of bulbs now but think I will get some more as I want to pot a couple containers up with them as well.

I am getting heavy into the planning stage for next year. Adding some clematis to grow up the roses and the espaliered apple and pear trees so trying to decide on varities. Need to get more ground covers for under the fruit trees as well, right now its corsican mint and chamomile. Need to fill in the flower beds with some more perennial and annuals so trying to come up with a plan for those. Have a big side garden that has lavender, lemon balm, comfrey, and a nandini in it now but otherwise is way overgrown so need a plan for that (and a LOT of elbow grease come spring).

Then of course all the raised beds for the veggies/herbs/companion flowers. I have 16 on the one side of the house (plus some borders with asparagus, strawberries, horseradish, etc) and 4 LONG ones on the other side which those may be turned into the new chicken yard.

Ok, totally rambly and long post lol....but its nice to get it all in one place!

I think it will be fun to bounce ideas off each other too

Some random spring pics from over the last several years. Seeing them together helps me not harp on how sore my back is right now lol

irises - now a new bed


What the tulips (daffodils were mixed in too but done already for the most part) used to look like













grape vines






I have a billion more but....

Your garden is stunning! I love the photos.

I have decided for my birthday I am ordering 10 or 15 dollars worth of seeds from Missouri Wild flowers. Since I have a woodland yard, but none of my favorite wild flowers grow here, that is what I want. Wild sweet william is first on the list, but I am still thinking on the rest. Can't go wrong with what grows here on it' own and the number two reason I plant flowers is for the butterflies, so I want to give them what they would have and so much of this is gone now due to urban sprawl.
So one part will be dappled sin to shade, and up front will be the hot full sun where I already have the phlox that makes the swallowtails drunk with the smell. Other than that I have only the intention of adding mulch, and Hyia has asked to have her own rose bush which is certainly doable.

Beautiful! Your irises are really elegant. <3

We're limited on space here but the kids and I are doing a small veggie garden. I've got a packet of Hernandez multicolor dent corn that I'm planting and bagging so we can increase the seed storage since I've only got 50 of this variety right now. It's from the Sierra Madres and short season so I'm hoping it'll be more cold hardy than some of the other varieties, since I can't get Mohave anymore.

Other than that, I'm going to just be hunting down some specimen plants. Like:

Mulberry tree, 'Illinois Everbearing' since it's self fertile and the seeds are sterile.

'Scorpion King' bee balm. Or pretty much any other bee balm variety with deep red flowers.

Some blueberry and lingonberry, taro, ginger, and stuff I can't remember right now. lol

Oh, a pic of most of the big veggie garden

I am completely jealous of your veggie garden!!

The thought of planting 350 bulbs exhausts me.

WOW I love your veggie garden. I love the gate too!

Very nice! I think your gate is really cute and rustic. And all your flowers are so beautiful.

I've been planting bulbs for several weeks too. It is a chore. I didn't count how many but there are a lot of them. My sons been putting in an automatic sprinkler system, which is very extensive, as much of it...for the gardens is drip irrigation and there are a lot of plants...every plant almost gets a few micro tubes that drip water around the base. It's mostly finished, but there's a little tweaking of it still to be done.

I am about to do a little juggling around of some of the perennials. I'm pretty sure I would like to add some hollyhocks so that means moving some delphiniums to another spot. And I think I'll move a hydrangea to the back yard as it's not happy where it is in the front....too hot. The plant is okay, but the blooms fade too quickly and look gross.

There are lots of fall chores to do in a garden, for sure. I need to add more of that black mulch. Also need to pick up all the leaves as they fall from my dogwood tree, as it was infected with anthracnose, a fungus... and if those leaves aren't picked up, (every one of them) it will come back. Then in Feb or so, I should spray it with a dormant spray.

My son splashed mortar mix all over the front of my house and that is getting cleaned off, but it's a chore and he needs to use this solvent stuff. He was building a little brick step/retaining wall thingy from the front garden to the gate on the side of the house. I'm so irritated with him. Grrrrr.

Plans for next spring are to get some rose bushes for the front garden that goes along near the side walk. But my son needs to finish the arbor that goes there so the climbers can go up the sides and over the top of it. (or I might put in a Clematis) And the gates need to be finished. Next spring I'm planning to finish up my back yard with a water fall or maybe just a fountain....not sure yet. But that area will need landscaping. And the ground cover things will need to be put in the cracks of the flagstone patio we just put in. Well, that's some of the chores ahead, but not all. It's a work in progress.

Anyhow, your gardens look so pretty. And I can see a lot of work went into them. My yard isn't nearly that big and my gardens are small and it's STILL a lot of work.

I didn't plant any bulbs this year, but it was the first year I got the garden completely prepared for winter before... winter. My entire front yard (it's a small city lot), part of the boulevard, and one whole side of the house are all perennial gardens, so it's a fairly substantial job.

I've been slowly trying to convert over to natives over the years, partially because they are so low maintenance. But I love peonies so much that I will never get rid of them. I don't have any pictures of the whole garden from this year, but here are a few individual plants:

This is a native called pussy toes, a nice low ground cover.


This is one of my very favorites, called prairie smoke. Apparently large groups of this plant blooming on the prairie looked like wisps of smoke to early settlers.


Marsh marigold, another favorite of mine.


Joe Pye weed. I don't really know who Joe Pye was, but this is a really tall and beautiful native.


I'll dig up some others eventually.

Oh! *gasp* these are all simply gorgeous. And I mean simply. I love their non-pretentiousness. I must look for some of those for next year if they'll do all right here....probably, huh. (?) I wonder if something there might work in between the cracks in my flagstone patio. Or do they stand up too high? When putting in the flagstones, I purposely kept them a good couple inches apart...even more so I could plant stuff in between them. I can't wait to see pictures of your garden...maybe next summer. I'm hoping my yard will be finished enough (it will never be finished...always a work in progress) to take some pictures. Next summer we'll have to make another garden thread.

Joe pye weed is one of my favorites. It's been on my list for probably a decade. Lol. I grew it from seed one year but killed it. Maybe this will be the year for me

Automatic watering, we are FINALLY just about done with our system. So happy about that. I am definitely a lazy gardener and admit I have lost many plants over the years from not watering. We also have our rain water harvesting system all set uP now and that is a big help as well.

For the arbor, you should plant roses AND clematis. I just love that combo!

Speaking of clematis, I am behind the times. Last several years I have been focused on veggies and missed that autumn clematis has escaped the garden and has be come very invasive, choking out natives. I was all set to grow some along the front fence. Thinking of doing virgin's bower now, looks very similar but no wonderful smell.

Thought some people may enjoy seeing how the rain water system works...the first video has more detail but it was clogged so the second one is better to see how much water moves through. You can also see the old veggie garden that is still in use but kind of a hot mess and the way overgrown full sun garden that is my big project come spring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA1htX46Qyw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc5MKeWbPnU

And a tour of the other veggie garden lol...DH made these for a friend as very embarrassed by them for some reason so shhhhh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br0GaGbaFGU

I have a video somewhere of the force that comes out of the rain water harvester. It is VERY powerful.

I believe you folks need to come by and work on my landscaping for me haven't done much since moving in a year ago besides adding some vegetable garden beds back by the shed...the (ridiculously gigantic) "flower beds" by the house remain in the same state of disrepair they were upon our arrival...they were just too far down the priority list this year. And we couldn't get to part of it until the pool & pooldeck were gone. Bah! It's a little overwhelming...the rear flowerbed is 130' x 35' and that's just craziness :/

Thanks for the idea. That never occurred to me. LOL. When I visualize that, it WOULD be awesome I think. Thanks!

We really must not lose track of this thread. There are some neat ideas. Plus, I bet there will be more.

Smkie, I always love your garden pictures. You should post more...the whole lot of them. lol.

Shai, that sounds like one big garden!

Greenmagic, thanks for posting those links. I did look at that idea before a little. It would be cool. Nice, non-chlorinated water and all free. I will look at those links later...thanks for posting. I have to go take the turkey off the carcass soon so I can make soup. Thanksgiving chores aren't finished yet!

Just don't plant that autumn clementis..that is the plant from hell..yeah it blooms a thousand flowers alright, all over everything and spreads like nobody's business.

It's not as "flashy" as some garden plants, but I really love it. It's very stately. The one native I've had a lot of trouble keeping healthy in my garden is vervain, which is a shame because I really love it (I say that about everything, lol).

If you (or anyone) want any seeds from the JPW (or other stuff) let me know next year. I've already cut everything back and sent to compost for this year, but holy cow do I get a bajillion seeds off of everything. Usually I just shake them out right in the same bed but they would be easy to save.

Oh I love vervain too! I admit I do a lot of non natives in my flowers but I love the natives too! I am strict about heirloom veggies so let myself go a bit with flowers and plants lol.

Yes, we should do a seed swap next year!!!!

Oh there are some non-natives I will never let go of. Peonies... stonecrop... daylillies... hostas...

It's easy for me to go native because I truly love a lot of the plants. I have 5 varieties of native goldenrods, for example, because I adore them.

A seed swap sounds like an awesome idea.