Rennovation Pictures

New pics added over the weekend:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tximeleta.nc/2008Rennovation?authkey=lAFgA5DmimQ

Too late to transplant a tree

I noticed that it is going to warm up some on Monday. I have a small red bud tree that I want to move. Anyone think it is too late in the year to do that?

Shutting it down

Besides taking care of your grass as Brandon detailed, does anyone else do anything extra to shut down their yard for the winter?

Divide any monkey grass? Fertilize any plants? Get any bushes into the ground?

What's your check list?

First Frost Expected Tonight!

Make sure to bring in or cover anything that won't make it!

Tis' the season

The focus today was on the grass. I did the following:

• Mowed the grass really short
• Hard raked the bad areas and did overall cleanup
• Overseeded (tall fescue everywhere but the street level..did rye there for the winter)
• Limed
• Fertilized
• Watered in

It's pretty big time...I hope something actually happens. :-)

Suggestion for a tree/bush by the pond

I want to tear out the red tip that sits at the end of my pond and I am looking for some suggestions.


It is the 8 foot tall bush/tree you see in the far left of this pic. I want to replace it with something that will provide some shade over that end of the pond but not grow any higher than the current tree/bush (I would take something shorter as well). I also have a bunch of shade loving plants behind it which I need to protect. It could be a bush or something. I was thinking Japanese Maple but that would be too much of a cliche to have that by the Koi pond.

While I am at it I could use some suggestions for something to help with the run off I am getting down that stone path. We are going to put in a stone wall at the bottom of the deck where the path starts but I need something running up the path and to the swing because when it rains that becomes a river. Bret and I discussed Ajuga and that is what I am going with until someone can suggest something better.

Lawn care

Aerating. Check.

First round of seeding. Pennington Fescue Grass Seed Blend Plus. Check.

Second round of seeding. Due October 15.

Natchez crape myrtle

The Natchez crape myrtle that was mushed by my pine tree has bounced back and is now about 3 feet tall. I have it in a pot but don't have anywhere to plant it. Does anyone want it?

Wisconsin Flora

For anyone interested in what the flora looks like in Northern Wisconsin.

Here is the backyard. Not sure how much of this is local besides the trees and ferns (they are everywhere and huge).















We took a hike on one of the thousands of local trails. There are bogs everywhere



















Here is some of the spongy ground around the bogs. You sink into it.














The water lilies where blooming and everywhere.

Another chunk of the 5-year plan

A big chunk of work was completed this weekend. Frankly, I'm pleased with how it turned out. So, let's start with an update to the plan.

As you can see, I did the section just to the right of the front door. Previously, it had 4 or 5 azaleas (which some were doing horribly and others did OK) and 2 other shrub type bushes which I can't identify. (Side note - these plants are available to you for the low cost of one lunch. See 40 Lunches in 40 Days. Actually, I probably wouldn't charge you, but it sounded good...).

When I took them out of the ground, it was rather obvious to me why they weren't doing well. The guy who lived here before us did a lot of things half ass. There was a black TV cable that literally ran exposed around our bonus room rather than going through the ceiling (it was a nice contrast to the beige carpeting). He painted the living room but failed to remove three picture hooks so when I removed them, I found different color paint underneath the hooks. My kids' bedroom ceiling was painted with one coat of paint so it looked horrible. And now, I yanked these plants out of the ground and found that the roots were intact as in still in one tight cluster like it had just been pulled out of the pot in which they were sold. I always thought that you were supposed to tear them to let the roots grow. Well, apparently, this guy didn't do that and now we know why they didn't grow well.

Back to the project. The replacement plants are:

• 1 Purple Pixie Loropetalum
• 4 Emerald N Gold Euonymus
• 4 Otto Luyken English Laurel
  

The first 5 plants were easy to find. Lowe's had them. The last one, the only ones I could find were rather expensive. I'm talking $79.99 for a good mature one. And since I need a total of 8, 80 clams each wasn't happening. I searched high and low and couldn't find them. Finally, I went back to the woman who did our plan and she sent me to a website, Carroll Gardens. There, I purchased 8 for $14.95 each plus shipping. Total bill was about $140.

This is how the eight plants arrived.



The unboxing...



Plants have been located.



Two for the show.



Frankly, I was fascinated by how they arrived, how they were tied up to prevent their movement, and how well they made the trip. I still have 4 in the box and I think I'm going to pull them out and put them in temporary pots, just so they're not deprived of sunlight for too long.

So now I had all the plants necessary. So, here's the starting point:



I started by weeding and taking out everything I had ignored for the past month and a half. As you'll notice, not a desirable growing thing in this picture.



After the weeds, out came the aforementioned azaleas and unknown shrubs (see note above about availability) were excavated. Then, I got rid of the grass. This part of the job is a huge pain in the arse, but I was able to re-use it for an earlier project where seed I planted too late had met an untimely demise. The result: dirt.



After adding peat moss (Allen's suggestion) and working it into the land, I placed the plants according to the plan (and then got Laura's approval since she's previously questioned my interpretation of the plan) and drank my first beer, a Molson Canadian, eh. Do note the image of my sweaty physique in the window.



In went the plants, on went the mulch, in went Andrew for a shower, out went Andrew with camera. Do note the non-sweaty image of my not so svelte physique in the window. Drank second Molson.



And a slighty different view.



Overall, I'm pleased. These plants are all easily trimmed and shaped and won't require much work, which is basically the whole point of our plan.

Sellars Baseline

OK, Here is my baseline. (comments are below the photos)




















Alright, here is the front walk. All the monkey grass was free from a friend in G'boro and the boxwoods are from the house I grew up in. Nice to have a little heritage around. That dogwood planted at the corner of the house is kicking it. It is the best of the four we bought and I am not sure why. The jasmine vine growing up near the front door needs continuous watering. It is under the over hang and doesn't get much. Two years later we had hoped it would be bigger but it is getting there. Those are Otto Luykens between the boxwoods and the jasmine. They are great plants.




This is the front of the house. You might need to click on this to really see what is happening. The area on the left side is where we are going to focus some attention to next year. I have some Anise bushes planted that should block the neighbors. (nice people so I hope they don't take offense). I got a ton of vinca from a friend. You can see it growing around that tree in the middle and the slope on the left was planted this year so it will be covered by next year. I am going to put some daffodil bulbs in with it. I planted a few loropetulums and winter jasmine where the slope levels out. The right side is a big bed full of azaleas and one more dogwood that is the least prosperous of the bunch.






This one is from the front door. You are see the tabla rasa area to the right behind a nice Red Bud that is starting to take off after being moved a few times. The house came with about three Azaleas in the big bed near the middle. I moved two more from the back and the rest cost me $2.50 at Lowes (score!). The majority are of the 'George Lindsay Taber' variety. You can also see how jacked up the lawn is looking.




OK, so if you walked down the driveway and look to the left into the backyard this is what you see. This is C's areas. Herbs and flowers (girly girl things Matt). That is a River Birch in front of the deck. It has really taken off this year but sags big time in the rain. We had some in G'boro and I was never a fan because of the number of small branches it drops once it gets big. My mom talked me into it and I think it looks nice. (in a side note my mom, a real estate agent, has always said that when you buy a house you should plant a vine over the front door and a river birch near the deck. As I drive around and see houses that I like, I realize they have both.)



As you walk down the path towards the deck and turn around you get this view. There are more anise bushes in the back in front of the utility boxes and some East Bay Lingustroms around the River Birch. We wanted to do Otto Luykens but couldn't find anyone who had them cheap. That is rosemary that separates the walk from the bed.






If you stepped up on the porch this is the back yard view. Pond is kicking it. Gardenias in the circle in the middle with Azaleas and peonies. The circle to the right is full of forsythia. You walk between two dogwoods to get into the backyard.




This is a closeup of the back of the house. Off to the far left are the three crepe myrtles and hawthorns I bought at Broadwells. They are all doing real well.





So if you walk into the backyard and look towards the house you see this view. To the right behind the bench and sandbox you will find a bunch of hostas, a viburnum (I love this bush), butterfly bushes and some wax myrtles to act as year round foundation plants. We will start filling in the empty areas over the years but have no idea what with. On the left side you can see the rhododendrons and Spring Bouquet Viburnum that we planted two years ago.

I didn't show the far back wall which has green aucuba, a Japanese Maple and some Leyland Cypresses. I also don't have a pic of "the hole" which I think needs a post of its own.

All the plants are following the standard sleep, creep and leap adage. The two year old stuff is just starting to jump while the fall plantings are chillin'. If you want to see everything that is planted look here.

Lawn Zombie

Lawn gnomes are so yesterday.

Plant in Need of Assistance - Won't You Help It?

My Fellow Hortikulturists - It is with great sadness that I write this post. A dear friend of mine (see image to the left) is in great distress and needs our help. My friend, I'm not sure of this plant's name, is struggling this summer with what seems to be a pest, fungus, or vermin. I'll be the first to admit that summer hasn't been kind to my backyard (grass, flowers, and shrubs are all under-performing), but this latest incident is just too much. I mean, come on Mother Nature, don't you have some other beautiful yard to molest?

Long story short - I've noticed some dead leaves on this shrub in the last month, but death is closing his icy cold fingers more tightly every day. Can you please review the attached images and let me know if you are familiar with this shrub and if you can offer any ideas to bring him/her back to life? Any help would be much appreciated!

Daniel Ost

I saw this in the NY Times mag this past weekend. It is about the Danish florist Daniel Ost. He is doing some wild stuff like this.



Here are some more pics from Google images and his website.

Reminder: Grub Control

Tis the season for Grubs.

I lost my entire yard to grubs after I moved into my house and had to start over. They can be pretty nasty on a lawn. Also they turn into Japanese Beetles which eat a lot of your other plants, so killing them now may help with that later.

So get those spreaders out!

What is this?

Matt - I'm counting on you...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20688988@N00/2533753952

Long live the Farmers Market

The plan continues, slowly but surely, to be implemented. Here's the latest update:



As you can see, I've added a Crimson Queen Japanese Maple. A 1 1/2 foot one at Lowe's cost $35. A larger one cost upwards of $200 at a couple nicer nurseries. Yesterday at the Raleigh Farmers Market, $55.

Before:





After:

Slow progress

It's been over a month (maybe almost two) since I did these two sections of the yard so I thought it was time for an update. There's also an update to the hibiscus I was concerned about in this post.

Various Landscaping

Myfolia

UPDATE: I just saw Penchuk posted this. I'm leaving it anyway.

Since I just got my new battery charger it might be a few days until I get my baseline up. However, since there is nothing else new I thought I would post about Myfolia. Read about it on Unclutterer. I tried to find some good info but it looks like it is still a work in progress.

That is all.

Folia

Check it: http://myfolia.com/

Backyard baseline

So I walked into the backyard yesterday and tried to figure out what in the heck to take pictures of because the whole thing is a mess. It was somewhat of a mess when we moved in and since we did NOTHING for 2 plus years, it's still a mess. You all know that I pulled a ton of ivy last summer/fall. That was mainly to try and solve the mosquito problem. There's been a ton of rain so far this year but no mosquitoes. Might still be too cold, but so far, so good.

Well, the end result was I wasn't sure what to take pictures of so I upped the ante. I busted out the video camera that I bought for Laura over Christmas (hat tip to Bret for the idea of the gift). And now, the resulting video:



If anything isn't clear, let me know. I can supplement. One thing I was thinking I should do is approach the backyard from the other side of the house since I entered on the clear side.

A sad day for plants...

We have a fuschia plant in a hanging basket that has slowly started to wilt. I think it was under watered and then over watered to compensate. Should I re-pot it? Any thoughts?

Also, I discovered today that a hanging basket of a variety of petunia was starting to look pretty rough. It turns out that it was infested with aphids. I have since treated it, so we'll see if it comes back.

Beginning of May - StatoLewis Household

In case people didn't see the baseline pics from planting that happened when my parents were in town, here's the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/brandon.staton/GardeningSpring2008?authkey=Nu5O1KlIg2Y

Home Projects Update.

Well, here is my post for a baseline.


Here is a picture from the street right by the mailbox. This picture should capture just about all of the plants in the front yard. In the mailbox bed we have a dwarf teddy juniper and the beginnings of the blackeyed susans that come late summer each year.

In the background right is the Cherokee Brave Dwarf Dogwood. Eventually I would like to create a bed for that area of the yard, but right now I have more pressing issues to contend with.

The bed next to the house has Skip Laurel and Lorapedlum.


Picture of the front beds. Plants: Skip Laurel, Lorapedlum, and Dwarf Magnolia.


Grass. . . kicking it.


This is a picture of the side yard opposite the garage. There is a large bed over here and some of the standard builder landscaping (read Holly) that I transplanted.


Lets make our way to the backyard. Here is the entrance to the backyard and the deck.


Looking up at the new covered porch from the deck. Man there is a lot of wood that needs to be stained.




Looking down from the deck to the backyard. The Parson Juniper is relatively happy and it is doing the job. The lower section is the newly placed pinestraw. I don't know if you remember the post describing the beginning of the project (The Big Kahuna), but the improvements are vast.


Here we are in the backyard looking back at the deck and the hillside. The staircase embedded in the hillside was my project from last Christmas Break. It is made up of 4x4x10 and filled with mulch although, I am thinking about changing that at some point.



10 gallons of Weed Killer. . . $16
5000 sq ft of landscape fabric . . . $135
100 Bales of Pine Straw Delivered . . .$500
Saying goodbye to the nightmare that was my backyard. . . priceless



Heading back up onto the deck. Another angle of the backyard. In the distance you can see the Forsythia.


Inside the covered porch. Got the TV hooked up (shoutout to Brandon for actually doing the work to mount the TV while I watched and drank beer.)


Standing in the kitchen/breakfast nook looking back out towards the covered porch.