Plant Tally 2013

Here's the official plant tally...

2 flats of Vinca Sunstorm White with Eye (Impatiens)
1 flat Begonia Bronze Leaf White
1 flat Begonia Green Leaf White
1 flat Snapdragon Montego Burgandy Bicolor
2 flats SuperElfin Cherry Splash II
2 flats Dahlia Fresco
2 flats Dahlia Harlequin
1 flat Coleus Black Dragon
1 flat Coleus Crimson Gold
* Note: 1 flat = 12 packs of 6 plants


2 6 packs of Black Sweet Potato Vine
2 6 packs of Vinca Vine
6 Pinto Red 4" pot Geraniums

7 Dracena Vinca Spikes
4 Purple Hearts
8 White Bacopa
6 Nonstop Deep Red Begonias (4.75")
4 Classic Pink Blush Geraniums (4.75")
6 Sonic Red New Guinea Impatiens (4.75")
4 Super Sonic White New Guinea Impatiens (4.75")
6 Sonic Lilac New Guinea Impatiens (4.75")
6 Super Sonic Sweet Cherry New Guinea Impatiens (4.75")

Last flats in the ground today....whew. Plant photos to follow.

Another year, another arbor vitae wall comparison photo.

Sadly, this photo was taken today. A strange winter. Very late snowfall. Things are just beginning to green up. I can see buds on the hydrangeas. Our bleeding heart (usually one of the first to bush out) is just starting to peek out. Our heat is still on. It's still a little too cold to plant. Our plants are confused. So, this year...no pansies or violas in the ground yet.

And sadly, our lollipop roses are no more (and will be no more). This is the second batch I've lost. So we are done with them. Not replanting no matter how much they remind me of Paris. Pulled the final 6 dead lollipops out of the ground this afternoon. Note to self....when the landscaper says any plant is tempermental for the zone...take him seriously....no matter what it says on the tag in the garden store. No matter how badly you want to live in Paris. Face the facts girl....you live in Minnesota. It's not going to happen.

 

On the bright side, it looks like we're going to have a serious warm up this week. I'm running out to the garden stores tomorrow for annuals. Let the planting begin!
Just to keep track....90 evergreen spikes in the ground already. Woo hoo!

 

Final note....expect more pictures this year. Bad job last year. New camera this year :-)

Updates for 2012

It's interesting to see the growth in just a few short years. I was thinking things grow so slowly but it's actually not too bad. We've seen a lot of early growth this year with the early spring and lack of winter. Love how the arbor vitae wall is filling in.
Last year was bad. Lots of rabbit damage to the arbor vitae. Replaced 11 along the back wall. A few are still looking quite sorry around the base but I'm hopeful they will rebound. If nothing else when the hydrangeas start growing in earnest, we won't see the base of the evergreens.
A dry spring so far due to lack of snow. Not too much rain to speak of either. Watering has started in earnest.
I managed to put in 6 flats of pansies & violas mid april this year. 6 flats is just enough for the flower bed and the 7 backyard planters. Pond plants (2 water lillies...and what is it that looks like a calla lilly but isn't?) went in mid april as well.
Baby feeder goldfish (40) went in the pond yesterday.
Evergreens have been spiked. 75 spikes went in. Probably should have done 100 but I ran out of steam (and interest). First round of MirAcid on the evergreens, acid for the blue hydrangeas, and one feeding for the roses so far.

August Garden

Our poor garden was rather neglected this summer. No attention given to it in June or July. Started giving the garden a bit of love in August. When we came back from China, we realized that we were under attack from primarily garden slugs (probably because we had above average rainfall for the summer). Tried drowning the slugs in beer, but that only seemed to bring out more slugs. Ended up using lots of Sluggo...which actually seemed to work quite well.

We did end up replacing and replanting quite a bit. Ripped out the catmint. Put in a new boxwood hedge. Stuck in a line of "lollipop roses". The "hill" seems much more colorful and finished (for the time being). Moved the white anabelle hydrageas to other parts of the yard (they were getting too leggy) and put in more blue hydrageas. And certainly, replaced lots of annuals damaged by rabbits and slugs. Losing battle this year.

Arbor vitae "wall" comparison

Can't necessarily tell that the arbor vitae have grown much. But the russian olive and the hydrangeas sure have!

Growth and a few comparison shots

The white roses appeared yesterday. Nice contrast to the catnip. And a comparison shot to show growth..

May 12

Today

Front yard planters

Planted these on May 17. Three pots cost approximately $50. Really went full-out experiment on these. Dianthus, persian shield, and snow princess. All new this year. Put in a few standby impatients...as a "just in case" everything else dies. Moved the pansies from the pots to the area in front of my asian garden.