Garden Project
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So I thought about what you said and decided to leave the hydrangea and water it more often. I relocated the green pot and I moved the little maple to the sitting area, partly on your suggestion that there should be nice things to look at when you sit there.
I like it much better in its new location, especially how it works paired with the tall rock. It would look even better in rustic pot - maybe blue - but that would mean having to hand water it -something I’m trying to avoid.
Your thoughts?
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I love using pots in the garden. It's just a very cool way to garden.
OTOH, I hate using pots in the garden because of the climate I'm in.
On the plus side, a decorative pot can add a beautiful accent to the landscape. It raises up the plant, so you get that element of vertical gardening. You can rearrange the pots and get a different look.
On the hate side, pots need to be watered pretty much daily in hot weather if it hasn't rained. And even if it has rained, you still have to check the pot; they don't always get a good soaking from rain. I like to walk around and check things out pretty much every day, so I tend to water the things I have in pots on my daily howdy tour. But if you travel, it can be a struggle to get someone to look after the plants and make sure they get a good drink.
Also on the minus side is winter. I haven't had good luck with ceramic pots in freezing weather. They always seem to flake or break on me.
I had a Japanese maple in a pot many years ago and it made it through a couple of winters, and then up and died one spring. I think the pot didn't have adequate drainage, and that there was a lot of water in the soil and it froze solid and suffocated/killed the roots. I was heartbroken.
I have some gooseberries in nice decorative plastic pots, but I've been hauling them into the garage for winter so I don't lose them. I dump a little water in once a month during the winter. Not practical for most people, and I've decided that includes me. I'll do it for one more winter and I plan to put them in the ground next spring.
I'll use planters for annuals but will leave perennials, shrubs, and trees in the ground where they can survive better on their own without specialized care. If I lived in a warmer climate, say California, I'd be doing way more gardening with pots....
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Ha! This is better yet! Move the maple forward and lower so it shows against the rock. Throws Yosemite vibes…
Once I plant it it will be lower yet.
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I like that. Those finely dissected leaves and the color make it fade into the grass you can see behind it. Having something contrasting like the light colored tall rock makes it stand out more!
I do this all the time...I fall in love with something at the nursery and then bring it home. At some point I think I've made a mistake and that it doesn't belong in my yard. Then I move it around to a bunch of different locations until I have an "Aha!" moment and I know I've found the perfect place.
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Here are some pics of my neighbor's oakleaf hydrangea. Thought they'd give you a good idea of what a healthy mature specimen looks like. They are not gardeners, so they never water. We're heading into a drought right now, as we haven't had any rain for quite a while.
The blossoms started out white, then went to pink, and are now brown. Leaves are uniformly green, except for a little brown on the edge of the leaf in the foreground. I think it’s starting to think about a fall color change.
Fall color can be lovely, and when the leaves fall off and you get some snow in winter, the shrub with the brown flowers and shaggy bark are quite striking.
Seems it's the sad looking leaves on your shrub that you're not a fan of. Like I said, I think that is from stress. But if you don't like the brown flowers in late summer, then maybe the oakleaf isn't the shrub for you. You could live with it for a season and see if it grows on you, or if it leaves you cold, and then decide next year.
I’ll post pics of it this fall and winter so you get the year around picture. It is one of the later shrubs to leaf out in spring, btw.
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Final placement. Now I need something to put in the blue pot
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https://share.icloud.com/photos/037duHs71M8Gew-Qme1Yy76mw
Ha! The video works!
The fountain stopped working -probably a connection in the pump pit. Jack wanted to help fix it and nothing would dissuade him. “Fine”, says I, “First you have to move all of the rocks out of the way. “
Darned if he didn’t do it - in stocking feet! I’ll not be sending this video to his parents. Sharon wasn’t thrilled either, especially with the mud on his face.
What good is the enthusiasm of youth if you can’t get any work done? He had ball and I think he’ll sleep well tonight.
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Pulled a few weeds. Jack helped for a while but he really only wants pull the big ones; - proclaiming each to be “the biggest weed he’s ever seen!”
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They started Wednesday and are continuing today. We thought the initial layout was too small and now they’re making it larger.
The little stand up loader shakes the house when they drive it down the side yard.
@Steve-Miller My wife just bought a cart like that and was also pulling some weeds today until the heat became too much for her to work in.
She used to pull weeds in a large feed bucket, but it would get too heavy for her to carry to where she needed to dump it out. This cart's tipping capability is a good solution.
Big Al
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@Steve-Miller My wife just bought a cart like that and was also pulling some weeds today until the heat became too much for her to work in.
She used to pull weeds in a large feed bucket, but it would get too heavy for her to carry to where she needed to dump it out. This cart's tipping capability is a good solution.
Big Al
It’s been a really good cart. It’s rated for 600 pounds!
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I finished the landscape lighting today. I like it!
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The first red leaf on the new little maple. If the whole tree turns this color it should be spectacular!
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I have a Bloodgood Japanese maple. The leaves are not finely dissected like yours. It's a reddish color all summer and then it turns a brilliant burning red in the autumn.
Can't wait to see yours in its full autumnal glory!
@wtg I also have a Bloodgood. It hasn’t even started turning color yet.
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Found another little tree on sale. It’s a dwarf Horstmann Blue Atlas Cedar. Slow growing to about 8’ but I’m going to keep it at about 4’ and open up the center over time.
Been watching Bonsai videos and I think I’ll give it a try.
Maybe like this:
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That looks like a sweet little tree.
Dwarf conifer collecting can become an addiction. There's a woman about a mile from here who is a garden designer who uses them extensively. Over the years her dwarf conifers have become not-so-small. I have to say that for me, her yard is too densely planted. It looked nice maybe 15 years ago when the trees were small but now they are all crammed in and it's hard to appreciate the uniqueness of the individual specimens.
I had to cut down a dwarf gingko because it was getting much too large for the space it was in. Broke my heart. But the adjoining Swiss stone pine looks absolutely glorious because it now stands on its own. The gingko was behind it and the two trees kind of blended into each other.
I was kicking myself for not saving some branch tips from the gingko to see if I could propagate it. It's a dwarf with a beautiful shape. It's called 'Butterflies'. I have a place where that cultivar would look great.
I didn't have the stump ground out and, lo and behold, it's sending up shoots from what's left of the trunk!
The propagation experiment will begin next spring.
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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It is unbelievable how many people plant cute little pine trees in a small space, usually way to close to the house, never thinking about how everything will look in 15 years. We have a problem with that in our yard. Crowded trees all together. They made it much worse by topping and shaping everything - the pine trees, the aspens - it’s insane - now they all have wierd branching at the top and at some point there will be issues with them splitting and breaking.
