A few garden "refresh" projects...

Thanks to our crazy mild winter I started this gardening season without any large projects spurred by scorched earth (dead plants). Things just flowed right into March, April, and May—growing as though December, January and February were only a small bump in the road. What a way to live! 

That said, there were three small areas I chose to rework, knowing a few minor tweaks would make a big difference, that's what I'm sharing today. First up, the large container just south of our front porch. This is an after photo...

And this horrible image taken from inside the house is the only before I have. 

I've gotten into the habit of snapping a quick phone photo if I see something in the garden I need to remember to tend to, that's what this image is, a reminder that the container I reworked in 2024 (here) needed some attention once again. The soil had sunk a couple of inches, the Armeria maritima 'Rubra' (sea thrift) had tried to stage a take-over and was dying off at the same time. It wasn't pretty.

I pulled out everything but the Yucca rostrata and salvaged what I could. I added more soil before I replanted, and fresh gravel top-dressing when I was done.

Agave stricta 'Nana' (that tight mass of spikes) may, or may not, be hardy over our winters. We shall see. The other new agave residents are a pair of Agave lophantha from my visit to Paul's garden last September.

The Sempervivum and Maihuenia poeppigii were holdovers from the previous planting.

April 11th

May 13th

The next area of concern appeared in the back garden. This mini hellscape was located to the right of the walkway through the upper garden, as you head down to the patio. Photo from March 16th...

The three circled plants needed to go. The Agave NoID and Yucca aloifolia 'Magenta Magic' were left from a much sunnier version of this planting, they would have perked up considerably if I'd left them in place for the warmer temperatures, but I needed a change. There were three Doodia media (ferns) in the rusty metal circle, one looked dead, one was questionable, and one was alive and looking good. 

Fast forward to May 13th and this is what the area looks like now...

Two Mangave went into the rusty circle. They'd spent winter hanging on the front of the garage along with small bits Lonicera crassifolia, I tucked them all into the circle. The yucca came out and another couple of rusty metal circles were added. Into one I placed a Banksia blechnifolia and the small one has a Hechtia 'Wildfire' that I brought home from a visit to Gerhard's in January. It hadn't rooted into the container it was in for months, so I dropped it here temporarily while I decided where to plant it. It's since been moved to a more suitable (sunny) location and a dark-leafed begonia took its place.

The living Doodia media got moved to where the agave was (hmmm, out with the agave, in with the fern, I think there's something bigger at work here) and a couple of Pyrrosia lingua 'Undulata' were added to the mix. 

One of my favorite things about the new planting is the Banksia blechnifolia (which is planted to be easily lifted when temperatures drop next winter) backed by a Blechnum novae-zelandiae. After all Banksia blechnifolia the "fern-leaved Banksia" is named for it's resemblance to Blechnum.

The final planting area we're looking at today concerns my stated intention to plant my tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica, in the ground. It didn't happen. Or rather one did, one didn't.

I spent a long time looking at this area, where I'd planned to plant them both (photo from April 11th). I just couldn't do it. It didn't feel like the right thing to do.

I planted the small one, in the photo above it's almost straight down from the white smudge on the brown wall. Here's a close-up.

It's much harder to see in this photo from May 13th, as everything else has grown considerably. If you look just beyond the corner of the garage you'll see where the larger tree fern now lives, still in it's container.

Why didn't I follow through with planting the large one in the ground? Although you can't really tell from this photo, the focus of this whole area is the three different Pyrrosia dish plantings in the corner under the window. I just couldn't seem to make the larger area work with the tree fern in the ground. I still might change my mind, but for now that's where I'm at.

The area at the corner, where the tree fern container now is, got a bit of an overhaul so the tree fern had space there, and so I could plant out this Drynaria sp. MD 12-32 from Far Reaches. I ordered it last fall, and when it arrived it was just a bunch of brown basal fronds, I was thrilled to see it waking up... it really was alive!

Since I don't have a tufa wall to grow it in like they're doing at Far Reaches, I stuck a big piece of bark in the ground to act as a backer.

Will this plant be hardy over our crazy winters? Only time will tell...

Of course I will do what I can to protect it and help it thrive.

Here's a "from above" look at the area, I must say I'm pretty thrilled with how it turned out.

The Dicksonia antarctica has been in the same (large) container for well over 15 years. It got some new soil and fertilizer and seems happier than it's been for awhile now.

Of course the fact it's been moved out into a better location helps too.

It had been tucked back behind the round tank on the right. What was I thinking!? Now the question is, do I plant it in the ground here? Maybe...

That small galvanized, fluted, pedestal dish below the bromeliad trash can lids is a new addition too. I found it at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Salem. It's holding an assortment of tillandsia. Fun times in the garden!

The Bit at the End

I feel a great deal of foreboding when it comes to AI and appreciated Amy Stewart's recent lament: "AI is the English Language's Uninvited Guest."

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