Garden

[mousiegirl]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

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@mousiegirl wrote:

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@Lilysmom wrote:

@Snicks1, get the Epsom Salts ... can't do without them myself.  Just had a marathon three day yard cleanup.  I am far from done but it is shaping up nicely!  LM

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@Lilysmom wrote:

@Snicks1, get the Epsom Salts ... can't do without them myself.  Just had a marathon three day yard cleanup.  I am far from done but it is shaping up nicely!  LM

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@Lilysmom  What do you use Epsom Salts on?  I use them when planting peppers and tomatoes.

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@mousiegirl  She probably gets achy doing that bending lifting and soaks in them. 

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@Kachina624  Oh, of course, lol.    

[Carmie]

We re in PA Zone 6a.  Right now the ground in front of our home looks like dry dirt.  We didn't put down any mulch last year because we planned to do this, but we needed a new roof and never got around to it.

We left two rhododendrons about five feet tall and four feet wide, and two yews that are pretty big and two holly bushes.  They all look in great shape and I will be cutting them back.  We also have some burgundy bushes that have thorns on them,,, don't know the name but they are beautiful.

Our front door is in the middle of the house, so we have to landscape both sides of the house end to end. All the shrubs at the ends and on either side nearest the the front door are gone. We left the middle on both side there.

RIght now I am just looking at different plants. I want to get something conical (3) that will be between 8-10 feet tall max and no more than three feet wide,  I am also thinking about smaller shrubs with color and texture.  Most of what I took out was the same old dark green color.  

I am trying to find a spot for blue hydrangeas. I took out my azaleas because they were not nice looking anymore.  I am thinking about some decorative grasses too.

I can't buy anything until the walkway is in and the stumps and those big roots have been removed. DH is renting a stump grinder on Monday.  We had the landscaping done professionally when we built the home and it was beautiful, but after 29 years everything is too big and tired looking.

If anyone has any suggestions of low maintance shrubs that are nice, I'd like to hear about them. My planting area is wide and I'd like to have shrubs of differing heights.  I don't want the straight line plants pattern.

[JustJazzmom]

The burgundy plants sound like European barberry plants. Look at false cypresses -- come in yellow with thread like leaves and mound over time. 

Look at glossy abelia, dwarf fothergilla and weigela shrubs. These three are deciduous but have certain characteristics 

Abelia -- summer blooming with white or pale pink small trumpet shaped flowers -- slight fragrance

dwarf fothergilla -- late spring blooming with white bottlebrush flowers before leaves totally emerge. In the fall the leaves turn beautiful shades of red, yellow and orange.

weigela -- spring blooming shrub with pink trumpet shaped flowers; certain of the newer cultivars either have variegated leaves or their leaves turn a burgundy color as the weather cools down.

Korean spice viburnum -- pinkish ball shaped blooms with a nice fragrance in spring. Nice leaves rest of summer before they drop off in the fall. 

All viburnums are relatively disease or insect pest free.

Anorher option is to plant perennials in among the existing shrubs. Your landscape doesn't have to be the same height or color. Pick a color or two -- like red or pink flowers with yellow and green evergreens. Vary the bloom times so not everything is in bloom at once then dull the rest of the year.

google pictures of these plants. 

This site will will give you more descriptions on the various plants mentioned

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/list.php

[Lilysmom]

@mousiegirl@Kachina624 yes, Epsom Salts to revive my sore body!!!  

Kachina, took a photo yesterday but for some reason it is too large.  LM

[Lilysmom]

@JustJazzmom@Carmie great ideas.  I have forthergilla and it is in it's second year.

The Korean spice viburnum sounds lovely.  I also like the idea of the weigela that turns red and is variegate.  My only comment about weigela is that I had to constantly be trimming mine.  In the end, I removed it.  They certainly are hardy.

I am a huge fan of evergreens.  I love nesting spruce.  I also love gold mop cypress.  The drape is so beautiful.  My favorite evergreen tree is Canadian Hemlock but something makes me think it doesn't grow in your area?  JJM would know.

Dwarf Japanese Hinocki is nice also.  At one of my favorite garden centers, the nurseryman keeps a stock of dwarf evergreens of all sorts.  Really beautiful.

One of my favorite grasses is Japanese Forest Grass (All gold).  It is just gorgeous and is a bright yellow.  Another favorite is Japanese Blood Grass.

Post photos @Carmie.  Would love to see the transformation.

Happy Easter.  LM

[Carmie]

@Lilysmom

@JustJazzmom

thanks for the suggestions.  I can't wait to Google the plants to have a look at them.  everything sounds interesting and pretty.

[JustJazzmom]

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@Lilysmom wrote:

@JustJazzmom@Carmie great ideas.  I have forthergilla and it is in it's second year.

The Korean spice viburnum sounds lovely.  I also like the idea of the weigela that turns red and is variegate.  My only comment about weigela is that I had to constantly be trimming mine.  In the end, I removed it.  They certainly are hardy.

I am a huge fan of evergreens.  I love nesting spruce.  I also love gold mop cypress.  The drape is so beautiful.  My favorite evergreen tree is Canadian Hemlock but something makes me think it doesn't grow in your area?  JJM would know.

Dwarf Japanese Hinocki is nice also.  At one of my favorite garden centers, the nurseryman keeps a stock of dwarf evergreens of all sorts.  Really beautiful.

One of my favorite grasses is Japanese Forest Grass (All gold).  It is just gorgeous and is a bright yellow.  Another favorite is Japanese Blood Grass.

Post photos @Carmie.  Would love to see the transformation.

Happy Easter.  LM

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Weiglas -- some have variegated leaves (My Monet') and some get burgundy ones ('Wine & Roses' and 'Midnight Wine' are two that do that.) I also have 'Minuet' another low growing front of border plant.  Yes, weigelas do need in spring to have dead tips removed -- I wait till they leaf out to see what to cut off. 

There is also a mounding Hakone grass called 'Naomi' that gets burgundy accented leaves come the cooler fall weather. Look for it on mailorder as most nurseries carry the white variegated or the gold ones. I like 'Naomi' as it doesn't get huge -- another border type grassy perennial in my backyard along a pathway. 

The gold mop cypress is what one of my sons years ago called it the 'everyellow' plant. We have these in our front landscape.

Canadian hemlock is a lovely large over time privacy plant in very cold parts of the world, but in the NE where we are they are getting besieged with a scale like insect called Woolley Adelaide and it eventually de-needles them causing them to die over time with out a scheduled spraying of insecticide at various intervals through the year. Just too much work here for that. Our winters aren't cold enough to kill the scale which surround themselves in an impervious hard shell. The spraying is timed and is set up to kill any emerging crawlers or egg suffocation.

Definitlely look at perennials for added interest and of course bulbs to plant in among the shrubs for added interest.

If you can, post photos of your work in progress.

[Lilysmom]

Photo 1 nesting spruce bottom of photo

Photo 2 Japanese Blood Grass

Photo 3 Japanese Forest Grass (All Gold)

Photo 4 Canadian Hemlock ... Such a beauty.  I recall @JustJazzmom‘s comment on the reasons why they don't thrive in warmer zones.  LM

[JustJazzmom]

@Lilysmom The forest grass is what we call the Hakone grass here and the blood grass is what we call the switch grass here..

[Snicks1]

@Lilysmom, your gardens are beautiful. So satisfying to have them turn out so well.