IT'S IN THE MAIL!

We live in a rural area and mail theft is a reality. Here my under-gardener, "Have Gun Will Travel" Ashcraft, is showing off our new locking and much sturdier mailbox, complete with custom numbering and design. A little "artsy fartsy" never hurts! 

GARDENING DRIVEL...

 Our newspaper, in the Sunday edition, has a local gardening columnist who evidently thinks that we of the gardening persuasion need to be exposed to the writings of so-called gardening gurus/experts. This latest column featured a book by a male garden writer who exhorted us  to "leave your egos at the garden gate" and to be "socially responsible."
  
What a load of bat guano!

When I'm in the garden, I'm worried about what needs doing and keeping my plants happy. I'm NOT worried about my ego or what the neighbors will think! My garden has the style that reflects ME without any other considerations and I don't call that "ego." 
I garden to get away from thinking about the idiot child in the White House or any other social ills. I can listen to the birds tweet, the dogs bark and the neighbor starting his ancient lawn mower. 

Since gardening is my hobby, I tend to want to enjoy it and also enjoy reading about it. That means some HUMOR should be included! Unfortunately, all we get from our local columnist is lecture after lecture. Obviously she never read any garden columns written by Dulcy Mahar, the Oregonian's garden writer for 28 years!   

Oh, well, on to more important things...like continued plant lust. 

I get tortured daily by yet more garden and plant catalogs. I try to ignore them...really, I do...but this one from Oakes Daylilies found me at a weak moment because I was, at that very moment, wondering about what happens in my garden AFTER the full flush of spring blooms? 

Usually, just about NOTHING happens until the second flush of rose bloom. 

That's due in part to my dislike of most annuals (geraniums and alyssum excepted). I can't abide those stiff little marigolds or petunias that always get worms. So this catalog reminded me that daylilies DO bloom in the summer and could rescue my garden from the summer doldrums. 

I placed an order with Oakes (located in Corryton, Tennessee!) I ordered a collection of shorter ones (18"-24" tall) since I plan to put them in pots and move them around in the garden to their (and my) best advantage and fill in where needed. The colors will range from cream, yellow, pink, apricot, and white with purple centers. Of course they all have names like Miss Tinkerbell, Little Grapette, Happy Returns, Cranberry Baby, and the one above called Pandora's Box. 

Now it's off to the garden center...Let's see, how many more pots will I need? 

IT TAKES THREE...

 Because the garden is still wet and we keep having snow showers, the only thing to do when you are infected with "gardenitus" is look for pots and plants! The nurseries and garden centers are still mostly deserted because you need a warm jacket, gloves and a nice hot Styrofoam cup of latte to roam around in the chilly days of early spring. It was easy enough to find the three dwarf boxwood (buxus) but finding three pots the same color and the same size...not so much! 

Maybe I was just too early in the season, although there were new pot styles at the garden center. Lots of nice Vietnamese and Malaysian ones (along with the cheapo made in China ones that I ignore). Luckily I found my garden center lady who brought out another pot to match the two that I had picked out (Malaysian). They don't put all of them out at once due to space limitations.
 So my plan is to make a birdbath focal point using pots at the base. Now I only need three more matching pots in a different color from these to place between them. I'm thinking geraniums or daylilies in maybe green or blue pots... 

MY PLANT LUST CONTINUES UNABATED IN 2018

I'm forced to admit it...with Spring comes "PLANT LUST." I went to Southern Oregon Nursery to get a few odds and ends or "fillers" as we call 'em, including some dwarf Japanese garden junipers and a couple of sedums. Harmless enough. But of course, you...well I,... can't go to this wonderful nursery without treating myself to some aimless wandering among the offerings. I had just congratulated myself about not succumbing to anything in "Temptation Alley"...that's the area at the entrance where they put together a display of currently blooming or good looking plants. "Nope," I said to myself, "I'm above all that!" So indeed I wandered for a good half hour, stopping by the koi pond to greet the huge denizens of the deep who always come over to see if I have anything for them. 
It was at the very back end of the nursery next to the lattice house where they keep the bonsai plants that I spied these little bushes. 

I loved their conical shape and the bright yellow/green color of their new growth. The tag said "Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Treasure Island." It was then that PLANT LUST hit me! I HAD TO HAVE THEM! I even knew just where I'd put them. It was just after that I noticed their little price tags...Oye! For plants sooo small (about 10" tall) they commanded  $19.99 EACH. 
So I petted them but passed, making my way back to the sales counter. I purchased my plants and went home to dig away. 
But I couldn't forget these little guys. I did some research in my trusty Sunset Western Garden Guide and found out that since the plant breeders had gotten a more disease resistant chamaecyparis rootstock (developed by OSU...Oregon State Univ) they had breed lots of new varieties. 
The very next day I returned to the nursery for some dwarf boxwood (I told myself). I visited the little chamaecyparis and ran my hand over their soft yellow foliage. I put 2 of them in the cart (it was like a slow motion action, as if I were hypnotized...uh huh).  
When I got to the check out area I asked the plantsman/owner of this family owned business WHY these little gems were so expensive. He said it was because they were very rare yet...a new dwarf variety that would only grow a few inches a year. 
To seal the deal (he knew I was a good customer and he recognized that glazed look in my eyes) he said, "Oh, look at that...those other plants (3 boxwood) are mis-marked...they should be only $7.99, not $9.99." 
So I bought my "babies" because I "needed them"...just like I "need chocolate." 

They mark the entrance to a seating area and offset the heron beautifully, don't you think? I even had the perfect square blue pots for them, which lessens the cost, right, since I didn't have to buy pots! They will get shade in the afternoon which will be much kinder to them in the heat of the summer. Now where did I put that little foil- wrapped piece of chocolate?

ROCKY SITUATION

 When I first established this bed, I placed the rock border in a nice thick bed of sand. Little did I know that our expanding clay soil was like quicksand...only in slow motion. So 5 years later the large base rocks were totally submerged in the dirt with only the top layer showing.  

This year I planned to enlarge this bed a bit and found that I had to dig out all the rock border. This time I have used a substantial base of gravel to keep the rocks from sinking (I hope). Time will tell on that! Check with me in 5 years! I got this done just in time as we've had over .5" of rain overnight.  

ALL THINGS TREES

 A new "view" of sorts out my kitchen window! Our neighbor Jim Martin planted these "arborvitae" that you see beyond our fence in 1995...he thought they'd make a nice green wall and screen out the neighboring homes to his north. He was assured that they would grow quickly and they did. In let's see...28 years...they've reached at least 30' to 40' and were almost a solid wall, blocking out my view of the hills and keeping the side yard in perpetual shade.  
An "arborvitae" is really a Thuja (pronounced Thoo-yuh) which is really a member of the Cupressus or cypress family of trees. It can get up to 60' tall (oh, goody) and grow multiple trunks as you see.

Thankfully one big clump died over the last year and was threatening to fall into our fence. So neighbor Jim and my trusty under-gardener Jack got together with a chainsaw and took out the dead one. Jack also convinced Jim to remove many of the multi-trunks that were too close to the fence (about 2 dozen of 'em). With a snow load, some trees would bend over 20' and lean on our roof! Some also snapped off and left ugly bare trunks. Now there is about 50% more sunlight getting through, which will make me and my plants happier. And I can see the hills and sky to the southeast! 
Speaking of trees, weather (late snow storms) and the price tag of removal ($2000) made me rethink having the Red Maple cut down in the backyard. It lives to plague me with its constant mess for many more years, I fear. "Just get over it," says my under-gardener. I'll remind him of that this spring while he vacuums out the gutters filled with maple flowers or this fall during the month of 3' deep leaf raking! The arborist assures me that someday the tree will split and a part will fall on the house unless drastic measures are taken before then. As Scarlett said with a southern accent, "Oh fiddle-dee-dee, I won't think about that today...I'll go crazy if I do...I'll think about that tomarrah!