Friday, June 19, 2020

Twenty one square feet of new space to plant!

Three and a half feet deep and six feet wide—twenty one square feet. That's the chunk of lawn I removed last month. It doesn't look like much, but in the scheme of things, it's pretty exciting...

I think this variegated Aspidistra might have have been the most deserving plant that went in the ground, it's been in a container for years.

Here's everything placed before I started planting. Note the ugly color of my native soil, so much clay! This is why I mulch every spring.

One more "before" and it's time to dig in...

All done!

This adorable clump of Blechnum penna-marina came from my friend Evan.

Pyrrosia lingua

Dryopteris sieboldii

Saxifraga x longifolia

I'd been collecting plants for this spot for awhile, it's good to finally see them in the ground.

The dark leafed beauty is Astilbe 'Chocolate Shogun', purchased on a whim when a friend posted a photo after he'd bought one at Fang.

Adiantum microphyllum, of which there are two.

Acaena inermis 'Purpurea' which I adore and refuses to take over my garden. I'm hoping maybe I've finally found the right place.

There are many other fabulous plants in there which I didn't get a close-up of, like Saxifraga paniculata f. rosea, Lonicera crassifolia, and Cyrtomium falcatum. After these photos were taken I found a pair of Asplenium trichomanes available for cheap so they were added too.

This area is tricky in that it gets dappled light until mid afternoon, and then an hour or so of full sun, then shade until early evening when it gets another short blast of sun.

That weeping Callistemon is a 'Woodlanders Hardy Red', a few blooms are about to burst open.

As an unexpected bonus, this project helped me understand why my small patch of lawn has taken a turn and doesn't look as good as it once did. I found so many leather jackets (European crane fly—Tipula paludosa—larvae) while digging out the sod, or what was left of it. My general approach to garden pests is to squish them, dispatch them (slugs to the yard waste bin), or ignore them and hope that the beneficials win out in the long run. The quantity of larvae I found tells me I might have to actually take action with this one.

Until then I'm just happy with the new planting space!

Weather Diary, June 18: Hi 81, Low 53/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

25 comments:

  1. Any new space is to be celebrated! I'm not at all surprised that you had plants already lined up to fill it either.

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    1. This area had been a target for awhile, it was nice to finally get to it.

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  2. Feels so good when a new space gets planted. Looks great. Crane flies ugh! I still have nightmares of when the walls of our elementary school were covered with the things.

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    1. Gross. Too many of any insect becomes a little unnerving.

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  3. What a fantastic feeling to have long-standing containers finally getting to put their roots into the earth! Looks great.

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  4. I'm getting lots of plantings with that tricky light exposure too. And it is interesting to see a "naked" portrait of your soil. I feel the same way looking at my clay. I'm surprised you're giving that acaena relatively low light. I thought it loved sun in the PNW, but I know you've tried it extensively so maybe this spot will do the trick. I can't even imagine planting a Saxifraga x longifolia and hoping for success -- bet it loves it here! What a fun project. Never heard of those grubs either. We get grubs but not leather jackets -- as far as I can tell!

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    1. The acaena will probably fail here too, but I figured why not try. The thing is it likes sun and water. I don't water my really sunny areas much. I kept it in the spots here that get the most sun, so, we'll see.

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  5. When I notice snails in the yard waste bin, I can't let them die a horrible death, so I pull them out and throw them back into the garden. Yep. A little crazy, I know.
    The new shady spot you created is full of desirable plants, some of which I already have, others I still covet first and foremost is that variegated Aspidistra, which is hard to find. The chocolate astilbe is fantastic contracts to all the green and I think the white'ish bloom will light up that shady corner nicely.

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    1. Oh you are very kind...I don't think I'd have a garden left if I didn't dispatch the evil buggers.

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  6. Do you have drip irrigation, or do you water these babies by hand? I really want to do some more maidenhair ferns but am worried about keeping them watered. Have never heard of that Astilbe variety. I have two types of Actaea/cimifuga that look similar, will be interested to see how yours matures.

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    1. Everything in the garden is watered by hand. No irrigation anywhere. I have Adiantum venustum on the north side of our house, along the neighbor's driveway. It gets watered very little over the summer time and does fine. They're actually pretty tough characters.

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  7. Looks good and such fun filling up that space.

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  8. Love each of your plant choices and the mossy stick, too! What beautiful composition and inspiration.

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    1. Hi vbdb! That mossy stick (good eye) helped me build up the soil a bit to plant the pyrrosia. They love a good slope. There are also some rocks in there covered by compost and I hauled home a nice mossy one recently that looks quite at home.

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  9. Planting a new plot of earth is always exciting - this looks splendid, Loree!

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  10. Lawn is always living on borrowed time. Did you decide to skip the crested fern? I was surprised to see one in the before photos. I've been feeding my Pyrrosia addiction by adding a few relatively restrained crested varieties.

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    1. I wondered if anyone would notice it was there in the before planting photos and then disappeared. I have a nice large crested pyrrosia in a container and somehow managed to break off a piece. I rooted it and thought I would plant it here, but just couldn't get over how that one leaf looked like a big piece of lettuce all alone like that. So instead I tucked it into the fern stock tank behind the garage. It calls much less attention to itself there.

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  11. It's always exciting to gain more planting space. I am impressed how many plants you were able to incorporate in the area. It looks fantastic, especially under those challenging light conditions.

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    1. Thanks Karin! If I have one skill it's the art of cramscaping...

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  12. This is going to be fabulous with all those wonderful plants. I grow 'Chocolate Shogun' for the foliage (of course!) and cut off the white flowers. Coral or rusty red maybe, but not white.

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  13. Looks great! So many plants now in the ground is always a satisfaction, isn't it?

    I've been coveting a variegated Aspidistra for years, just the thing to brighten dark shade. Someday...

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  14. There is nothing like new "virgin" space to excite a gardener ! Well done you !!
    I have Chocolate Shogun some where too, now you will have me hunting it down !

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