Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[MumsyII]

This thread is a good opportunity to refresh my brain on plants. Coming up with names of things that deer and rabbits don't particularly like was hard. A real brain tickler because...Well because I'm getting old and a lot of plants come and go in the garden. I've grown thousands over the years. Some have escaped my memory so into the old photo box I went searching. Before I had a digital camera, I took lots the old fashioned way. Scanning old photos takes time but I hope to share more of them here.



Foxglove with Delphinium and poppies.

Add to the list:

Digitalis (fox glove)
Meconopsis Cambrica (Welsh Poppy)
Yellow Flag (Iris for ponds)
Persicaria bistorta (Pink Pokers)
Crambe
Gunnera



Welsh Poppies and Yellow Flag.

 

[TeriO]

I love this thread. Can't wait to hear all of your tips. I love your garden. I had a wonderful new dawn climbing rose over an arbor but had to tear it down and replace the fencing, I am just now gearing up to replant my chicken garden which you enter through the arbor gate. I am so excited. Thank you.

 

[MumsyII]

I love this thread. Can't wait to hear all of your tips. I love your garden. I had a wonderful new dawn climbing rose over an arbor but had to tear it down and replace the fencing, I am just now gearing up to replant my chicken garden which you enter through the arbor gate. I am so excited. Thank you.

Thank you.

I love New Dawn climbing rose! One of my favorites in the pale pink category! It is growing up through my raspberries in the potager garden now. I built the new vegetable garden around it because I didn't want to take the chance of losing it during transplanting.

Post pictures of your progress. I have a special place in my heart for arbors and archways.

 

[MumsyII]

Took a stroll out to the barn yard to check on the flock and passing by the old beds my old brain shook out some more plants that deer and rabbits find nasty tasting.


Bearded dwarf blue iris. Peonies, old shrub roses, and wild geraniums.


In the shady garden. Pink Astilbe, hardy Fuchsia, and just starting to come up, Giant goldenrod. My son made the dinosaur head in sculpting class in high school. I had it in the bird bath for a long time. I think he snatched it and took it when he left home. I loved that little dinosaur so.

The plants to add to the Deer and Rabbit list:

Columbine
Santolina
Yarrow
Crocosmia
Hardy wild geraniums
The above images were taken sometime in 1990.

 

[MumsyII]

I recently moved from the home I have lived in for years to a new home, smack in the middle of a two acre field that used to grow soybeans every year. It's a blank canvas (not a tree, flower, or shrub in sight) but getting the gardens going is overwhelming. I'm not sure where to start. Hopefully I'll get some inspiration from this thread!

Welcome bjones! Two acres! I'm so jealous! And no worries. Don't look at that whole two acres as something that needs to be dealt with all at once. Choose a chunk of it close to where you like to hang out. Or maybe in a hidden area that needs to be discovered.

First step: Go out in the morning if you can when the sun comes up. What area gets morning sun until at least noon? Morning sun is your best sun. You can grow a lot of things in morning sun.
Late afternoon sun is the hottest. Not good to have late afternoon sun burning up your shade loving plants.

Second step: Start keeping a little garden journal. My Grandmother kept one for eighty years. I've been keeping one for over two decades. I don't write in it every day. I put down the weather. I list the seeds I plant every year. Make notes about those that thrive. Those that were a bust. Same with every tree, bush, and plant. When you have a journal like this, it becomes easier to remember what you don't want to waste your hard earned $ on or what you loved so much you must have more of! If you keep a journal, gardening becomes a joy.

Third step: Get a mason jar or mayo jar. Put a scoop of soil into it and fill it with water. Shake well and set it aside to settle. You will see in a few days what your soil is made up of. Loam, sand, big particles, silt, and clay. Do the test and take a picture of it. Good reference for when you want to plant and a nurseryman asks you about your soil.

Fourth step: Look at lots of images of gardens you love in your neighborhood or books. Take pictures, ask what stuff is. Make a list. Shop. No sense in coveting a type of garden that won't flourish in your conditions. No worries about this either. I know how to fudge it and get a 'look' you love without actually getting the same plant in the picture.

Fifth step: Give yourself goals. Put the bones in first. Prepare your planting site. Start adding soil amendments like your DL from your flock and other organic stuff like leaf litter, sand, whatever you need to make your garden soil fluffy.

Then start a budget for plants.

You are the luckiest gardener! You have a blank canvas! You can do anything you want with it!

 

[zzack354]

Subscribed and looking forward to reading more. I absolutely love your garden. My dream is to have my own soon. I didn't get to plant this spring. We focused on building the coop and digging for a pond.
I need to plant next and not sure where to start

 

[MumsyII]

Subscribed and looking forward to reading more. I absolutely love your garden. My dream is to have my own soon. I didn't get to plant this spring. We focused on building the coop and digging for a pond.
I need to plant next and not sure where to start

Thank you. Oh my. I love what you've got to work with! My dream! A pond within a stand of trees. That's where I would start but you may have more pressing needs. I assume your taking the picture from your house? You could get some things going down at the pond that would take off quickly and naturalize. Once you had one area easily started, tackling the harder areas wouldn't seem so over whelming. You would have that awesome pond garden started. Get a rustic bench or picnic table down there. What a great place to take breaks while working on the harder areas.
Getting the bones of your garden going looks like a lot of soil preparation, possible fencing, and pathways. You need a dry pathway to the coop and a more rustic pathway to the forested/pond area. I can't wait to give you plant suggestions. Holy Carp! What a great setup.

 

[armorfirelady]

I am here as well Mumsy. I adore your gardens. I am on an acre lot that is more grass than house & garage. The gardens when I bought my house 8 years ago were in horrible condition. I spent the first 2 years getting them cleaned up, enlarged & bordered. My Mom loves to garden and has brought me a lot of perennials when she thins out her gardens. I in turn share with other friends.

My secret to cheap perennials is the clearance rack. Most people don't realize those poor looking perennials will come back the following year. It has allowed me to add a variety to my gardens. When I first started I didnt pay attention to what the plants liked- full sun, partial sun or shade. I learned the hard way. This year when I had to redo 2 gardens after having my sewer line replaced & stumps ground out I paid better attention to the plants tags.

My favorite gift this year was a cherry tree that the branches hang down...I forget the technical name. All I know is I need to keep the middle trimmed down so it stays short.

My other splurge that has saved my gardens is soaker hoses with timers at the faucets. I dont have enough time to water all my gardens for hours but it only takes a moment to turn the soakers on. Plus I use less water this way as well.

My new project is several areas where the chickens forage to given them shade & natural places to hide. I moved Rose of Sharons & Black eyes susans into it. Its a full sun area with some shade from nearby trees. I have elephant ear hostas that would do well there as well but the younger tots ate my other variety of hostas to the ground so I am hesitant to put some in their area.

Thank goodness for copy & paste. I made up a list of deer tolerant plants that I can take with me to the store. The deer dont bother my Black eyed susans. And while they do eat hostas I did plant them around the veggie garden so the deer would eat them and no the veggies they can reach over the fence. Its worked well so far

Cant wait to see more of your beautiful pictures.

 

[MumsyII]

I am here as well Mumsy. I adore your gardens. I am on an acre lot that is more grass than house & garage. The gardens when I bought my house 8 years ago were in horrible condition. I spent the first 2 years getting them cleaned up, enlarged & bordered. My Mom loves to garden and has brought me a lot of perennials when she thins out her gardens. I in turn share with other friends.

My secret to cheap perennials is the clearance rack. Most people don't realize those poor looking perennials will come back the following year. It has allowed me to add a variety to my gardens. When I first started I didnt pay attention to what the plants liked- full sun, partial sun or shade. I learned the hard way. This year when I had to redo 2 gardens after having my sewer line replaced & stumps ground out I paid better attention to the plants tags.

My favorite gift this year was a cherry tree that the branches hang down...I forget the technical name. All I know is I need to keep the middle trimmed down so it stays short.

My other splurge that has saved my gardens is soaker hoses with timers at the faucets. I dont have enough time to water all my gardens for hours but it only takes a moment to turn the soakers on. Plus I use less water this way as well.

My new project is several areas where the chickens forage to given them shade & natural places to hide. I moved Rose of Sharons & Black eyes susans into it. Its a full sun area with some shade from nearby trees. I have elephant ear hostas that would do well there as well but the younger tots ate my other variety of hostas to the ground so I am hesitant to put some in their area.

Thank goodness for copy & paste. I made up a list of deer tolerant plants that I can take with me to the store. The deer dont bother my Black eyed susans. And while they do eat hostas I did plant them around the veggie garden so the deer would eat them and no the veggies they can reach over the fence. Its worked well so far

Cant wait to see more of your beautiful pictures.

Thank you. You are doing exactly what I did when we first moved here. I was so excited to plant flowers again, I didn't take my own advice and planted sun loving things in the shade and shade loving things in the sun. I did a lot of shuffling of plants the first two years.
I also used soaker hoses and timers for I think three or four years and then they were buried in the shrubbery and after five years everything was growing on it's own with normal rainfall enough to keep it all alive. Every once in a while my husband will be rummaging through the thickly planted areas and he will yell out, "Found another soaker hose!" Hah! We can't get them out now. So tangled in roots and things. It worked well.

I planted Black eyed susans this year. Haven't grown them in an age. Glad to know the munchers don't like them. I will add them to my list.

Yes. Excellent advice about the sale rack at garden centers. Most just need to have the root ball cut into to rejuvenate root growth and cut back. They will go dormant and come back as usual the following Spring.

 

[MumsyII]

You will hear me mention the 'bones' of a garden frequently. This can be soil preparation, trees, arches, bowers, benches, statuary, ponds, water features, pergolas, fences, garden sheds, coops, raised beds. You get the idea. Anything permanent. It's important to first consider the bones of the garden before planting. These things need to be in place first so you know where sun reaches. Where sun doesn't reach. You need your soil amended first. Trees have got to get started early if you want to enjoy them in your life time. There are fast growing trees that are like weeds but their life span is under thirty years and then they become a hazard. Poplars, cherries, willows, and such. I have them all but they are now giving us cause for concern. Branches are starting to come down in wind. I planted them in 1988 and they are at the edge of safety. Most will have a date with a chainsaw in the next few years.



The first arch was put in as 4"x4" supports with just pruned branches from a wild cherry tree set over the top.A rambling rose was planted on the left with a couple clematis at it's base. On the right was planted a bittersweet (Celastrus). It grew too robustly and really thickly. I moved it into the shrubbery and it took off. A friend made me little garden signs for all my different garden rooms many years ago. I still have them. Looking at the silvery perennial under the rose on the left is a Lambs Ears. Also a rabbit and deer proof plant! My children named the little bunny statue 'Benjamin Bunny'. He doesn't eat much. Hah!



The log play house came first. The porch to the play house second. The rambling rose last.

It's easier to put the structures in place before planting for obvious reasons. Sometimes though, you have a vision and want to change things up. Timing comes into play for this stratedgy. If you know where you want the structure, dig up the plants when they are dormant and pot them up. Put them in a shady corner until the building is done, Then replant. Remember the triangle method of threes for perennials. Large ones like a striking clump of peonies or Delphinium or striking rose can be planted as loners. Kind of like a exclamation point in the bed.