Tag Archives: backyard

Ye Olde Garden

More Stone Please

Just as winter brought a chill to the air, our pandemic water feature project gained another ton of rocks. It seems we won’t be finished with this yard crash this year.

We had the finish line in sight when a flow test revealed that the waterfall just didn’t produce a significant amount of noise. At least not enough to drown out some road noise. Now while the slow flow was part of the original design, I convinced the DH that we needed a bigger waterfall.

So the plan is to erect a taller falls behind the original, which necessitated removal of the newly planted lorapetalum tree.

Spillway, pump and PVC tubing are on order from Amazon; now it’s just a matter of agreeing on the placement of the falls and the actual construction work. However, with this winter weather, we feel less inclined to work outside.

Ye Olde Garden

Winterizing the Backyard Beds

Finished trimming shrubs and trees, planting out the last of the brussels and broccoli starts, and composted the beds last week. Just in time for November’s first frost date.

At first I thought I’d have to discard the extra starts, but I decided to install them into the cinder block wall, as well as the 65 gallon felt pot in which the lorapetalum has found a new home.

The nights have dipped back down into the 40s and 50s, so I’m hoping my outdoor greenhouse tent will keep my sensitive plants protected. I’m researching ways to keep things warm in there without resorting to expensive heating.

Ye Olde Garden

Cats in Trees

My DH thinks that trees near fences and cats make for disastrous outcomes.

We did move this builder-installed Chinese Pistache to the backyard when we bought our Shantung. At the time, we didn’t have any other shade cover in the backyard, and having a tree there sounded like a good idea. Over time, the lawn surrounding it got ripped out, ornamental beds got installed next to it, and now a pondless waterfall is in the process of being built above it.

This pistache has weathered all sorts of neglect, yet grown tall if a little askew. It’s given our most athletic of cats a place to test his climbing skills. It’s also something to look at with every color change in the fall.

Someday, we’ll likely take out the pistache, but for now, it makes for a great cat climber.

Anyway, it’s a lot more fun than watching them rolling around on the dirt.

Well…maybe not.

Ye Olde Garden

Milkweed ID needed

I need help figuring out what milkweed is growing in my beds. I started milkweed in 2018 which found its way into the backyard. I also bought and transplanted other specimens as well.

The only ID I’m certain of is the variegated butterfly weed which overwintered in the garage. The Home Depot version lists as Butterfly Kisses, but it didn’t stop me from picking up another variegated milkweed from North Haven Gardens, Monarch’s Promise. Maybe they’re one and the same.

Previous year potted milkweed
2020 New planting of Monarch’s Promise

Anyway, the following milkweed springing up from my beds are defying attempts to identify them properly.

  • Mystery Milkweed #1 in Long Bed (a)
  • Mystery Milkweed #1 in Long Bed (b)
Mystery Milkweed #1 in Long Bed
  • Mystery Milkweed #2 in Rogue Bed (a)
  • Mystery Milkweed #2 in Rogue Bed (b)
Mystery Milkweed #2 in Rogue Bed

True to the Rogue bed’s name, milkweed #2 appears to have reseeded rogue, with over a half dozen volunteer starts. The young leaves start out green which mature to the gray-green color seen in the pics.

Then there is the one potted milkweed that I can’t recall what it is. But I’m glad it emerged, suggesting that garage overwintering suits these plants. Now if I can only remember what it is. Hint: I bought 3 packets of Botanical Interests milkweed seed — Common (A. syriaca), Showy (A. speciosa) and Irresistible Blend (A. incarnata). If I remember right, one of the 3 proved difficult to germinate and didn’t take to water sowing at all.

Mystery Milkweed #3 in a pot
Ye Olde Garden

Adventures in Stacking Stone

I indicated in my IG feed that I completed redoing the stone border on the HA bed (dubbed for the heart attack that my man incurred attempting to mulch it 2 years ago). I then switched over to redoing the long bed borders and that’s taking quite awhile longer. Digging up clay and re-leveling the entire bed means that we’re adding at least another foot of height on the existing bed. The beds are nearing completion but it is back-wearing work. The sprinkler system redo next to the fence line is slowing down progress.

  • HA bed with finished border
  • Before
  • Before
  • During
  • During
  • During
  • Almost there!
  • Almost there!
  • Almost there! Long and Rogue Beds

To help out with the stone and dirt hauling, we purchased and assembled a GorillaCart poly dump cart. It’s quite a monster! We still need more bags of stone, gravel, soil and compost and mulch to get the backyard in a semi-organized state.

GorillaCart poly dump cart — huge!

The man wants another pallet of stone, but our sod removal contractor hasn’t been exactly responsive so I’m not sure that we have new beds to work on this year.