Planticular Update

Gardeny-Do's Done Last Weekend/This Week:

 1.  Planted a white, single-flowered rose in my front garden; part of a new design plan in that bed which I haven't discussed here just yet.  I will, as it slowly unfolds. :)

It's a great, healthy, strong plant.  It's hard to see in this pic, but it's COVERED in flower buds which have appeared just since I planted it.  I guess it's happy!

The sprinkler is a dog-digging deterrent!

2.  This is the American Beautyberry bush I planted in the backyard - the variety with the white berries, insetad of purple.  (Callicarpa americana var. lactea).  It's planted under a bedroom window, just off the patio.

The whole area looks pretty sad in the picture - but that's not barren dirt you see under the plant.  That's freshly-tilled soil mixed with fresh compost and new grass seed!  The spiky thing is a stand of Garlic Chives, one of the few plants from my old herb border that survived The Creeping Death Fungus of 2010. They're not all that excited about the drought.

 3.  This is the "shady corner" behind the back porch I keep talking about.  Another area that's not nearly as awful as it looks, LOL - my Clematis vines are shutting down for the year a bit eary, which they always do when it's been as hot and dry as it's been this year (which is hasn't, actually, since this year has been the worst drought and heatwave in Texas history, but I digress).

Tilled, composted, and mulched heavily, in preparation for the work I'll be doing in this corner next weekend.

4.   The Chasteberry Tree, two weeks after planting.  We had some droopy, yellow transplant shock for a few days there, but it's standing up proud now, and is already beginning to grow upward and produce new flowers.  YAY!

The "trellis" behind it - which is actually a headboard from Ikea! - is what I'm doing in the "shady corner" above:  it's hinged in the middle for flat-packing (bless Ikea), so I'm going to mount it on that fence corner and put another Clematis in there.  A Niobe, if I can find one locally next week.











.

Pseudo-Update

Wow, I'm doing a great job updating this week, aren't I?  

I'm really doing the stuff I said I was gonna do, too.  I just keep forgetting to take pictures!  So far this week, I have:

1. Planted a rose bush in the front garden, and cleaned up the area around it in preparation for some changes I plan to make next week
2. Planted a bush in the backyard (and scolded a dog who tried to dig it up, even though I'd put fencing around it, then put the sprinkler next to it to keep him away, because he's terrified of the sprinkler).
3. Put up some of the shelves in the craft room, and began organizing my fabric onto it, in order to (a) start getting the floor cleared of giant plastic bins, and (b) free up a couple of the bins so I can pack camping stuff into them
4. Taken a gigantic truckload of clothes and items to Goodwill, after having mercilessly purged my wardrobe recently to make space for (a) clothes that actually fit me and (b) costumes! 

Speaking of costumes...

I started that costume blog that I was telling you about the other day. Good news on two fronts:  YOU don't have to be bothered reading my costume stuff if you're only here for the plants and houses; and *I* have a shiny new toy.  Hee!  If you're interested, my costume blog is here:

http://clothofstars.blogspot.com

 


.

Garden Plan Sketches!

I just love making these.  I finally figured out how to get my scanner to understand that they're drawings and not "documents" in plain black and white. What? I never claimed to be good with machines (well, power tools, but I digress).

Anyhow, you saw the garden "floorplans" last week that I made with Icovia Space Planner:

The following sketch is what you'd see if you were standing behind my Mulberry tree (the big green thing above) and the tree was invisible.  Small (2x2') raised garden beds in front of the bedroom windows, the patio shade thing I'm going to be putting up in the next few weeks, and the two (full-grown) Chastetrees - one of which I planted last weekend.

from the west, behind the M. tree.

 Looking at the yard from the east - which, technically the perspective here is from my next-door-neighbor's yard, and I certainly hope he can't see this much!  (That's what the shade, the vines on the side of the porch, and the Chastetrees are for).  The letters in the picture go to a key on the actual drawing, that I cut because my handwriting is atrocious.
A.  The existing patio area is 10x11'.  I need to remove a whole (2' wide) course of stones to make the space the size I want it to be for future plans.
B.  10' 4x4 posts, planted 18" deep in the ground, to support a canvas canopy that will swing over to the eaves of the house over the porch, to shade the patio.  Painted black.
C.   I'm thinking of putting a Bouganvillea by the eastern post (the west side already has my big Mexican Orchid Tree behind it).  It's one of my very favorite sub-trops, and my favorite color of Bouganvillea seems to have made a comback - it's all over the nurseries this season!  I'd better grab one before it's too late. Again.

from the east

There's a wee 6x4' section of lawn that sticks back behind the side of the porch, and is the only place in my yard with shade.  It's a bit of a pit of dead grass at the moment, but it's perfect for some fluffy, shade-loving things I don't normally have spots for.  The trellis out in the yard (near the Chastetree) is going to be hung on the corner of the fence (thank you, Ikea, for flat-packing this thing so that it hinges in the middle, making it REALLY versatile), and will become home to, I hope, a beautiful red "Niobe" Clematis.  Underneath will go some Lady's Mantle, Bird's Nest ferns, and maybe a Bleeding Heart. 

here's my little Chastetree!    ^                     

I have a LOT of digging to do this Fall.

.

Yes, have some!

My backyard, in pictures: 

YAY! 

Ok, not really. This is what it actually looks like.

But then there was a tree* planted, and under that did I get all muddy.

Yes, that's this same area.  Stupid drought. That's a big weed behind the trellis.

So now it looks like this.

Plans for the next couple of weeks include:  removing some of the stones from the patio surface, clearing the brush pile in the southwest corner, planting a second Vitex tree, erecting the shade/roof over the patio that you see in the very first picture, and raking up the dog poop from the yard (not pictured).




*Chaste Tree, aka Vitex agnus castus, the one I bought on Monday.  A Mediterranean/north African native; extremely hardy, evergreen, water- and pest-resistant, covered in purple flowers and bees in most seasons here. Not really a "tree", rather a large shrub, 15' max. 


(Also, the house:yard ratio is waaaaay off in the drawings - the house is basically just there to show where it IS; but in the picture it makes the yard look huge, and it's really only about 36x23').




.