Promises We Make to Ourselves

Do you make promises to yourself about your garden that are difficult to keep? When you get the chance to start a new garden after being in the same one for 30 years there are certain promises you might make to yourself.  Mostly promises about what you will or won't repeat in the new garden. You know what I mean? Some promises have to do with lessons learned from all those years of experience. Some are just simply new choices you promise to make based on the level of maintenance you think you want to sustain.

Pathway to the north. Perennial Peanut Groundcover encroaching into wide open pathway last week. 

I wrestled with what to do about the groundcover taking over the pathway. It is so lush and healthy as it creeps its way from one bed trying to reach the other.

Pathway to the north. Perennial Peanut Groundcover shaped with weed wacker a few days after photo above.

The mulched pathways in this area of the garden were large swaths of St. Augustine grass last summer when we moved here. In July/August I layered the grass with cardboard and covered it with 3-4" of pine bark to eliminate it. The new pathways created a unifying floor of mulch that connected 4 distinct spaces: the 2 sunny gardens, the Birdhouse Garden and the fire pit. The #1 promise to myself about the new pathways was to keep them wide and open (there's another one to the right also, see photos below). The one in the above photo leads north; the other (below) east, both with some curves along the way.

July 1, 2014, view from west to east BEFORE pathways.

Pathway from west to east AFTER pathways, photo July 2015.

They are each 10-15' wide at various points. In other words, I have to deliberately consider each installation along the borders in order to keep my promise to myself and not to allow whatever I plant to encroach into the open space. That's not an easy discipline for a plant/design/garden lover!

8.2.2014 I layered the entire pathway with cardboard and pine bark. Same pathway as first photo, only this photo is north to south. Same direction as photo below.

Almost a year later. Same pathway as first photo, only this photo is north to south. Same direction as photo above.

Recently, I trimmed the perennial peanut groundcover (Arachis glabrata) because it was creeping its way past the middle of the pathway (as you can see in the first photo). The Florida-Friendly perennial peanut was one of the few plants already growing in this bed when we bought this home, but it was barely surviving and weed-infested. I made the decision to keep it even though I had no prior experience with it. It is a lovely mat of soft green foliage and bright yellow flowers. It's easy enough to trim, but I've broken a promise. A promise to myself not to have any groundcovers in this new garden that needed regular maintenance like trimming with a weed wacker. I had to trim the groundcover in order to keep the other promise. I really do want those pathways to stay wide and open! With that confession, I will say I am sticking to most of my personal vows about this new garden trying to keep maintenance low (ish).

What about you? Which promises do you make about your garden and keep? Break?



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If you've just arrived to this page as a new gardening friend or perhaps missed the back story about how we moved from our home and garden of 30 years to the house next door you can catch up here... http://www.hoeandshovel.com/2014/07/a-new-journey-bitter-and-sweet.html 


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Time to Trim Gingers

Florida had a mild winter. Well, West Central Florida did anyway. It was even milder than last year and last winter was mild. Anything that didn't get trimmed in the fall actually put on new growth due to our warm soil and gloriously warm winter sunshine.

Shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet var.) in my front garden BEFORE I trimmed it.

I started my spring pruning in early February. I know we are supposed to wait, but I had big faith we wouldn't have a freeze at that point. It seems pretty safe to start trimming in protected areas. You know, the places under large oak trees where plants are mostly insulated from the cold anyway. My shell gingers in the front garden as well as the back garden are rarely affected by cold because of the trees.

If you haven't already trimmed your shell ginger plants, now is the time to do it. Buds for their late-April/early-May bloom will be forming soon so you probably don't want to wait any longer.

After their trim.

Here's a link to a step by step how-to trim these gingers I wrote previously with lots more info on these lovely perennials. Enjoy your spring garden and your spring clean up. I am loving our Florida cool nights/mornings this week. I hope you are too!

Happy gardening,
Meems

Heartsick

Sadly, I made a decision - or a mistake is a better word- in my garden that made my heart drop into my tummy when I saw the results.

Once in a great while I hire someone to help me with the heavy jobs around hoe and shovel. This time is was getting the leaves off the roof and out from underneathe the solar panels. In addition he had a short list of gardening to do. Trim some branches from the oaks, and "trim" the vine growing over the 12' wall that borders the east side of my yard. The monstrosity of a wall was built by a huge "ritzy" gated subdivision that developed the formerly wooded acres behind us about 11 years ago. That's another long story that also caused some queasiness while getting used to what felt like an invasion of my property and privacy those many years ago.

The vine overhanging the wall was planted by my new neighbors on the other side of the wall. I'm not really certain if the folks over the wall qualify as neighbors considering the fact that I've never seen them due to the height of the barrier wall. Nevertheless I think that is what you call folks who live right next door regardless of walls. (AND that's another story isn't it?)


I found this photo from January to illustrate the lush greenery covering the wall. I really like the greenery and I was so elated the wall was finally disappearing into the landscaping. Once the vine covered the wall it actually added to the tropicalesque look of my garden.


The vines were growing outward (as vines do) and latching onto my split leaf philodendron so I only wanted them TRIMMED for heaven's sake!

Unfortunately, I couldn't be here while all the work was being completed and my "handy-helper" got way too happy with his gas trimmer.

Didn't I say that? Didn't I show him/tell him/explain to him specifically what I wanted? Wouldn't it make sense to take off the edges and not the entire greenery of the vine down to the wall? I'm sorry... every time I think about it or look at it now ... well I already said it... my tummy does a churn inside.

This is a good example of why I am "delegating-challenged"!

I guess the up side is that it will grow back- kind of like a bad hair cut. This will surely take too long for me.

Trials and errors! Big sighs. Lessons learned. Note to self! Calm down. Take deep breaths...

The Garden Gamble

Hoe and Shovel is taking advantage of our mild Florida winter weather to get ready for spring. For the past two weeks I have used every wonderfully cool day possible to trim back perennials, dig and divide agapanthus, irises and day lilies. I'm cutting the tops out of draceana and variegated schefflera and using them to propogate more plants. In a few weeks they will have enough root system to transplate.

I know it's a gamble getting started this early but the way I see it I have more to gain than lose. If there were to be a freeze I would still have to cover most of my plants whether I had cut them back already or not. The possibility of a freeze is highly unlikely. So I think I am fairly safe. And if by some odd chance it does happen I'll be eating my words. Hmmmm... won't be the first time that's happened. So I'm working while the weather is nice and taking my chances.

Meanwhile, is it okay if I say I used to think squirrels were cute but now... well let's just say, they are more of a bother than they are cute?
For some reason we had an enormous amount of acorns this year. I've read where there is actually a scientific name for this- of course I can't remember that part but oh my - acorns were/are everywhere. Now we have always had our share of squirrels to fend off from the bird feeders but THIS YEAR... it isn't unusual to have a dozen at a time racing through the trees. They trample across the roof of the house making the noise of what sounds like a much larger animal. And digging! They dig holes in the ground everywhere... even in the flower beds.

They look innocent enough don't they? I don't really let them bother me too much- just thought I'd rant a bit about their digging ways.

Caught sight of this unusual bug today. It is very small- sitting on the back of this petunia it isn't taking up too much space as you can see . I can't recall ever seeing one like this. Anyone know what it might be?

fall clean-up progress

it's a slow, steady process right now... the fall clean-up is still underway. there's been progress made and i finally feel i've made some headway with the daunting to-do's. anytime there is a change of season gardening can feel overwhelming if i don't keep things in perspective. i'm a project sort of girl - i like to get things done - check them off my list. but truly, as the years go by, i'm doing my best to learn how not to rush the process getting to the result. it can be frustrating when i don't have time to get to the gardening or when i don't have as much time as i'd like. i love gardening (every little detail) but sometimes when i put pressure on myself to be finished, i rob myself of some of the pleasure.


today every muscle in my back hurts from trimming the confederate jasmine off of 40+ feet of fencing yesterday. it was a big job even using a gas trimmer. holding up the blade at shoulder level must be what enlisted the help of muscles that forgot they were there.

milkweed

i have been checking out all the lawn and garden shops and nurseries for two weeks now... visiting several and making plans for new plantings. in between big clean-up projects i have managed to plant a few new things. i planted two milkweed for the monarchs.

fire bush

another "first", i now have my very own (actually two) fire bush plants. i put them where they will have plenty of room to get quite large and attract all the butterflies they can. in the same area as the fire bush i planted something my neighbor gave me that i had left in the pot since last year. i am hoping it is a fire spike. she didn't know and i am only guessing until i can be sure when it blooms.

the grass killing seems to be moving along as planned. next week i hope to dig out the dead grass which will enlarge this bed for some transplants and some new plants. digging out grass might be my least favorite gardening job... but ... it's necessary for the most fun job which is designing, digging and planting.


i also have about 8 trays of annuals in the driveway waiting to be put in the ground... oh happy day!

weekend ramblings

woo-hoo! that's my excitement over the great rain we are finally getting this evening. just one nice steady rain like we're having is better than a week of irrigation for sufficiently watering in the lawn fertilizer i put down a few days ago. not to mention we just need the rain to help the
drought conditions we are enduring.

i broke in another pair of new gloves this weekend made by the rumford gardener. i had purchased them back in September in a little gardening store in north carolina. they are goat suede and spandex and washable. they protected my hands quite well and i like the way they fit. several pairs of workable gloves are helpful to have on hand (no pun:-) depending on the type of gardening necessary.

over grown ginger plants --before

severely trimmed back ginger plants --after

saturday was my third consecutive day of diligent fall clean-up (and more to go--yes, it's true). the weather was nearly 10 degrees cooler (80) than the days prior and the humidity was down enough to make the day very manageable. so i worked right through the afternoon hours with no trouble. the section of my front yard shown in the photos above is quite expansive (not fully visible here) and consists of several layers and variety of plants. along with trimming the ginger and all the palmettos, the droopy caladiums in the front of this area had to go. it is ready now for new fall annuals. not sure what i will plant there yet... still designing in my head.

my sweet elderly neighbor, helen, i have spoken of in previous posts came out to chit-chat as we were both doing some gardening. i always like to take a few minutes to walk around her garden with her because she loves to talk about her latest gardening triumphs and woes. before long she insists i dig up seedlings of some sort to transplant to my garden. when i'm in her garden it is as if around each corner and at every turn there is another unusual flowering plant. she rarely knows the names of many of them, like me, she just knows what works and doesn't work.

this blue ginger plant is now happy in my garden and i am happier to add it to the many wonderful plants she has shared with me over the years.

this is an example of a plant helen gave me a few years ago that she doesn't know the name of still and i can't find it out either. it drops its own seeds and sprouts up new plants quite easily.


i planted a butterfly bush and some daisies in one of the smaller areas i cleaned out. I still have a couple of firebush plants and the rest of my petunias to go in the ground. much more left to do in the next few weeks.

to everything there is a season

the uglies have taken over

it's not like i didn't know it was going to happen. but i feel the need to bemoan the situation anyway. my beloved & adored caladiums are as ugly and wilty right now as they are colorful, spunky and beautiful in the spring and summer. every year it is the same. but this year they lasted so well... i mean it is october and until now they have performed outstandingly. i guess it makes it doubly hard to see them go because they are everywhere and right now that makes me feel like everything is ugly.

this week in the garden has been one of those weeks. do you ever feel like every where you look there is work to do? honestly, it is as if all of a sudden what was left of the annuals are spent ... the perennials are droopy... the ginger is overgrown... the confederate jasmine is climbing into my neighbor's yard... my lawn is desperate for some rain... the asian jasmine is creeping into the flower beds... even the palmettos need to be de-frond (is that a word?)


today's bounty

all i want to do is plant some fall annuals and enlarge some flower beds (so i can plant more plants). BUT for the past two days i have had to muster all my discipline to stay focused on the fall clean-up. AND it is still so hot!!!! i know i speak of this in every post lately but REALLY... i need to get more work done that what the morning hours allow.

here's a quick run-down of fall maintenance checked off my list the last two days:

• fertilized the lawn with Scott's Bonus S weed and feed
• spruced up with new plants and moved to new locations some potted plants
• dug up some overgrown bromeliads to reveal some landscaping stones i couldn't see anymore.
• transplanted some clerodendrum seedlings
• marked off a grassy area on the backside of a flower bed with spray paint then sprayed the grass with round-up. next week i will remove the grass and my bed will be larger for more plants.
• cleaned out two large flower beds of caladiums; trimmed back all the impatiens and palmettos and ferns.
• cut back the mexican petunia (which is on the invasive plants list) because it can go everywhere in a hurry.
• pulled up and re-laid a pathway made of stones that had gotten out of alignment

i leave you today with some photos i took yesterday because it just wouldn't be nice to show you only the ugly ones...

amazingly, these caladiums are still providing a pleasant display... but... i am preparing myself for their certain demise in the next couple of weeks.

i happen to be a big fan of white flowers. i have a tray of white petunias to plant - probably tomorrow.

yesterday i discovered this plant flowering. i can't remember the name of it but it only blooms in October/ November. i actually pull up seedlings of this everywhere- it re-seeds so easily.

note added 10.23.07: i found this plant online it is a Phillipine Violet-Barleria cristata. Also comes in violet, mauve and a violet and white variegated.

september

this week

September is in full swing and finally, just this week, the temperatures have dropped by (oh so welcomed) a few degrees in the overnights bringing with them cooler, fresher mornings to greet the early birds. Ahhhh... the breezes gentle and calming... less humidity and yesterday as i worked, the sun was hiding mostly as the skies threatened rain. even though somewhere close by it was raining we didn't actually receive any significant rainfall.

i've dreamed and schemed all summer about what projects to tackle when the weather turns and it is bearable to be in my garden for longer than the morning hours. with this first taste of weather change, I am eagerly chomping at the bit to get down to business and do some serious gardening. of course it will take some time to get the "project list" done but not for lack of inspiration. there are trees and bushes to be moved, plants to be dug up and divided then planted in a new home, flower beds to be re-shaped and enlarged, truckloads of dirt to haul and new perrenials & annuals to fill in where others have lived and spent out their days.

this week

typically this time of year, once past the extreme hot temps and dry conditions, i am frustrated and disappointed at the overall look of things. in general i am not terribly unhappy about the condition of the garden right now.huge shout-outs once again to the caladiums. even though they are definitely nearing the end of their cycle -- as always --they have been big performers throughout the summer and they go right on doing their best to stay cheery.

hotter than hades

my plan this morning was to spruce up the front walkway flower bed by trimming and thinning out the rhapis palms or lady palms as they are referred to sometimes. this easily grown palm multiplies quite efficiently by trailing underground from the mother plant and rooting up to make new ones. they can be left bushy and full or (as i prefer) kept trimmed exposing the trunks and leaving the fronds to bush out only at the top. their height and thin trunks give a sort of wispy and tropical feel.


this was one of those days when i started working in my yard early and didn't quit until late ---and it was way beyond my intended stop time. have i mentioned lately how hot and humid and unsuitable for garden projects it is? :-) it's interesting how once i get going and i AM hot , sweaty and dirty ( don't mean to be gross) that the heat of august is not as intimidating as it seemed prior to getting started. no question it was ridiculously hot but there is something about having a determined purpose that moves me onward.

the before photo

things were looking a bit like a jungle. there is no convenient way of getting to the palms because there are other plants in front of them and the bed is bordered by railroad ties (i know - i think they are atrocious- they are on my wish list to replace). i approached the job starting at one end, clearing the path and trimming as i forged through it. eventually i made it past them to some overgrown bromeliads, impatiens, and resurrection fern.

a surprise along the way--- whenever i dig around in my yard or get under brush it is likely i will find an old stray tennis ball from when the kids were little. i smile to remember how they used the garage door to practice their forehands and backhands... or the multitude of baseball games using a tennis ball --played in the backyard.



about the time i got past the palms and spotted the tennis ball i remembered there used to be some exposed large stones right about where the tennis ball lay. the stones were for diverting the rain run-off at the joint of the roof. somehow those stones were not even visible anymore due to the overgrown bromeliads and the leaves and dirt that had made their way piled on top.


i set about to clear out the resurrection fern and with a steel rake pulled back some deliciously rich soil teeming with earthworms from the compost that was brewing on top of the rocks.
oh --there they are. i moved the bromeliads to the wall and put some in another bed- they are very easily transplanted. then i dug up some of that great soil and spread it at the base of the other plants in the bed to share the wealth nutrients.

i would not have guessed there was this much debris that needed to be trimmed out of this bed-- this is only half way through my mess.





i followed my own advice today and moved some container pots around for emphasis. these were formerly in a bed in the backyard and now they have a new home on the front walkway to brighten things up there a bit during this hardly-anything-blooming-august-month.

the after photos

from each angle

reassigned containers placed strategically and lady palms nice and neat.


a view from the other side of the driveway. this is the look i prefer ---the tall, spindly trunks of the palms can be seen and your eye looks through them to the beds on the other side. mind you, they also need ground cover at the base due to their spindliness- i used liriope here.

tomorrow i will start early again but mostly regular lawn maintenance -

tonight i will sleep very well.