Designing a plot

If I may toot my own horn here, I was the star pupil in my garden design class today. My work was used as an example for the class. My design was for this bed:

And here's what I hope it will look like:

This is the plan:

I will need the following: 3 wood's pink asters, 3 thread leaf coreopsis moonbeam, 1 silver mound artemisia, 6 ornamental onion globe master (allium), 9 lungwort (blue with the spotted leaves), and at least 13 ageratum.

All these plants are more or less deer-resistant and partial-shade-tolerant, and something should be blooming from late April through September. 

Meanwhile, here's what's currently happening with the bulbs and the magnolia, which despite the frost is in full glory:

Bulbs in bloom

On Wednesday, the crocuses bloomed! And today my first daffodil is out, along the back wall. Just one, but soon to be joined by others.

Plus some new entrants, from yesterday, in everyone's favorite series on this blog, "Fuzzy Photos of Birds." The bird in question this time is a downy woodpecker.

The magnolia is on the verge of greatness, but frost is expected in the next few days, and my garden design class teacher Helen says all the blooms will turn brown, which would be tragic.

In my mini-greenhouses, the basil has joined the alyssum in starting to germinate.

Blooms in waiting, plus garden design class

Some of my lovely crocuses are juuuuust about to bloom! Mostly yellow in this batch:

Some of the daffodils have blooms readying themselves, too - I think the Rijnveld's Early Sensation is living up to its name.

And the first of the Spanish bluebells is peeking up leaves:

This shows the bluebell plant (up against the wall) in context, with the Pink Wonder daffodils poking up in the foreground. And a dandelion, which must die.

Last week having been so uncharacteristically warm, the magnolia tree is on the verge of massive bloom. It has cooled back down this week, though.

And in my mini-greenhouses, the alyssum has started to germinate.

I am two weeks into a garden design course at the South Orange Maplewood Adult School. It turns out to be taught by the sister of my friend Matthijs, whose daughter goes to preschool with Emma. I would say "small world," but it's not as if we didn't know that about SOMA.

Anyway I have learned all sorts of interesting things, though it has not translated yet into a design for the sad patch on our back patio that I have plans to redo.

Some of the things I've learned:

• Plants with variegated leaves are nice for reflecting moonlight if you'll be enjoying a garden after dark
• Plant grape hyacinths with daffodils because they have shoots in fall that let you know where you've already planted daffodils - plus they're cheap
• We can plant plants hardy to Zone 7A or any lower number
• This area has quite acidic soil. And trees increase the acidity in soil - which is why grass doesn't grow well under them, and moss takes over. You can decrease the acidity with lime.
• Lavender likes well-drained, rocky, limey (not acidic) soil - not clay! (explains why the plants in front did badly)
• Boxwoods don't like mulch
• Epsom salts contain phosporus, which promotes blooms, eg. for hydrangea
• If you want to get moss to grow on something (e.g. stones), mix some moss with yogurt and water in a blender to form a thin paste, then paint it on!
• Lawns should receive about 1" of water per week - if you're watering, give it to them one long (eg. 1.5 hour) dose
• Master Gardeners hotline: 973-228-2210
• Soil tests are especially important for places where you're growing edible plants, to test for contaminants.
• There are a couple nearby gardens that I'd like to visit: Durand-Hedden garden in Maplewood, and Greenwood Gardens in Short Hills

Helen (the teacher) recommended a book listing all plants - National Gardens (there is also a Northeast version), by Sunset publishers.

Sowing seeds

Today I put five kinds of seeds in my little mini-greenhouses, not that a seed would need a greenhouse in a week as lovely and warm as this one. The high today will be around 60 degrees; in two days it will be 75!

Thyme, basil, alyssum, poppy, forget-me-not

I also put lavender seeds, as per the package directions, in "moist" growing medium in a bag in the fridge for a month. Kind of winging it with this. I'm picturing taking the stuff out of the fridge in a month and working it into the soil in the ground to actually germinate? Couldn't be bothered seeking greater clarity on the internet.

Right next to an enormous bag of chocolate chips. And now I'm craving cookies.

Six or seven days ago, I cut some forsythia branches from the back yard, crushed the ends of their stems with a hammer, and stuck them in a vase of water with a drop of bleach, which I've been replacing every other day. And today, they started blooming! Further proof that it's spring when I say it is.

Bulbs peeking up from the soil

Spring is coming tomorrow, TOMORROW, I have judged by the weather forecast, and I won't be talked out of it. I am very excited! It was an overall mild winter and I tried to embrace it, but now that it is over, I am willing to admit that I never liked it. Still, I will try again next winter.

But moving on: my bulbs are coming up! I cleared leaves off them today, and cleaned up some of the many, many, many twigs and branches that fell in our yard over the winter. And I turned the compost pile a bit, and added some deer poo from the yard. The matter is composting, albeit more slowly than it should, I'm sure because it gets very little sun.

Daffodils along the back wall

More daffodils along the back wall

Crocuses in the front, by the garage. This is also where I planted the tulips, quite deeply, and there is no sign of them yet.

Crocus along the walk in the front. It appears to have been chewed off by wildlife. Boooooo.

Daffodils by the front steps. I forgot I had even planted any there!

This is one of the red tulips that were already in front of our house, to the left of the steps as you face the house, when we moved in. It was literally growing through several leaves (so funny that the leaves didn't move out of the way!), so I pulled those off and moved the leaves aside - see below.

Some bad news: The wall in the back has started to fall down, on the northern end. We had some hard rains in the last couple months and I guess they proved too much for the wall. I suppose we will have to have the whole thing replaced at some point - my preference would be to put up something similar, using the same stones, because I do like the way the wall looks, and it photographs so nicely - I think it makes our yard look like a park in photos.

Tree pruning

This coming Tuesday, a crew from SavATree will be pruning our little forest - expensive but necessary. Their arborist Ryan Case is very nice and helpful.

We're also working with them to figure out cutting down the dying/compromised trees in the front and on the south side of the house, but meanwhile here's what's already scheduled:

General Tree Care
Location of plant material is from the perspective of main entry point and targets (trees and shrubs) are oriented in a clockwise direction. One (1) 22" DBH Oak, Chestnut (Quercus prinus), Rear Yard- Perform hazard reduction pruning to include crown cleaning of deadwood 2" in diameter and greater to reduce large falling deadwood. One (1) 28" DBH Oak, Red (Quercus rubra), Rear yard- Perform hazard reduction pruning to include crown cleaning of deadwood 2" in diameter and greater to reduce large falling deadwood. One (1) 14" Oak, Chestnut (Quercus prinus) Rear Yard- Perform maintenance pruning to include crown cleaning of deadwood 1" in diameter and greater to enhance health and aesthetics One (1) 25" DBH Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Rear Yard- Perform hazard reduction pruning to include crown cleaning of deadwood 2" in diameter and greater to reduce large falling deadwood. One (1) 14" DBH Hickory, Bitternut (Carya cordiformis)-Rear yard- Perform maintenance pruning to include crown cleaning of deadwood 1" in diameter and greater to enhance health and aesthetics One (1) 50" DBH Oak, Red (Quercus rubra)-Rear yard- Perform hazard reduction pruning to include crown cleaning of deadwood 2" in diameter and greater to reduce large falling deadwood. Also, perform a weight reduction on several arching secondary limbs over/toward the roofline and upper right canopy. Also, perform installation of 2 steel cables to help provide supplemental support to the co-dominant leads. One (1) 26" DBH Oak, Pin (Quercus palustris)-Rear yard- Perform hazard reduction pruning to include crown cleaning of deadwood 2" in diameter and greater to reduce large falling deadwood. Plant Health Care ArborKelp Plus Treatment - Mid Season This unique biostimulant consists of sea kelp and other biologically active components, enhanced by additives prescribed by your arborist specifically for the needs of your landscape. This mixture is recommended for trees which are weakened by construction, insect damage or transplant shock.   Service Details:  1 Japanese Maple-Rear Yard