Garden update

I had a baby on May 18th, so as you might imagine, our house and garden took a backseat for a while there. However now that we are more adept at this parenting thing, we're focusing again on our garden while the weather is nice. Besides, I would feel lazy if I didn't accomplish something while on maternity leave.

So what have we been up to?

Jack has been digging, mostly. He removed several old tree stumps, then tackled the far back yard so that we can start planting beds along the fenceline. Along the back fence for the entire length of our yard is, apparently, solid with cobblestone-sized round river rocks. Unfortunately it was also a location for bonfires by teenagers, long before our house was built, so he is also finding glass bottles, broken glass, random bits of metal, and fused rock. Still, our rock pile has increased dramatically, and includes more boulders. We are now planning on a Japanese rock garden back there to use all these rocks effectively.

Meanwhile I installed a new planting bed in our front yard. I was gripped with the 'nesting' fever in the weeks before my son was born - not to clean our house, but to garden instead. This bed was the result. It is near our front porch and includes several varieties of blue hosta, a white astilbe, a couple of oakleaf hydrangea (which are in bloom now and gorgeous), a couple of dark heucheras 'Cathedral Windows' and 'Black Beauty', a dark-leaved eupatorium, and, happiest of all, a redbud tree. I've also been going through and filling in our beds with native plants from other areas in our yard. I have a lot of Jack-in-the-pulpit relocated, as well as our two surviving red twig dogwoods, trillium, wild geranium, and Solomon's seal.

This past Wednesday I weeded our southern backyard bed, and attacked the patches of false lamium and buckthorn. Evil stuff, both of them! and I found poison ivy, too. Luckily I was dressed to deal with it and I don't get reactions to it anyway (knock on wood that continues to be the case). I moved the Virgin's bower clematis - almost tore it out as I mistook it for poison ivy at first! - and hope that it bounces back alright.

Next we will cut down a dead tree in the backyard (that I think was ash), start the Japanese rock garden, and plan a bed along the ridge in our yard. My parents bought me a ligularia dentata, an amazing looking plant. It has these gigantic leaves that look tropical, yet it is a native plant that does well in wet shady conditions. Boy do I have a perfect yard for them! I haven't figured out where I want it or what to pair with it yet, but it will be fun to figure out.

And lastly, I ordered more plants today, thanks to a gift certificate from my parents. I bought a blue Hydrangea for our front woodland bed, a bright peach heuchera for the same bed, and a whole bunch of crocus. Not sure where I'll put the crocus yet; probably the front corner bed near the mailboxes, because that is the most visible bed and is the only space in our yard that gets decent sun.