"Push-feeling"

I read a book to my kids over Advent a couple of years in a row and I want to share a passage from the book that describes this time of year for me. The book is entitled "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen.

"They were called lumber roads because trucks and wagons had made them years before when the land was timbered. Now trees were growing up again, but there were tangled old limbs in piles and ancient stumps overgrown with lichens and moss and little green leaves and ferns. If she stopped in the middle of all the thousands of things growing in every direction, she got what she called the 'push-feeling.' Everything was pushing up into the sun, trying to grow taller and bigger. She had never thought about it before in all her life, but all the miracles every week made her think about it. At first the wet brown leaves had lain over everything, everywhere, and then suddenly the peepholes started showing, and then through the peepholes came leaves and stems.
When she told Mr. Chris about the 'push-feeling,' he looked very serious about it. 'Everything has its own sap, I guess,' he said. 'It's got to rise, that's all. Nobody knows why. It's like the sun in the morning.'"

I have been watching things push up through the ground over the past few weeks. Even though it will still snow occasionally, the buds are beginning to swell and shake off the winter coat. The birds are singing love songs to one another though the temperature is still in the 40's on most days.

The limbs and branches from my fallen trees have been taken away and I realize there is much to do to prepare my yard and garden for a successful spring. Fortunately, if I don't get to it, it will go on, messy perhaps, but no real worse for wear. It is comforting somehow.

A pleasant surprise

I was killing time before work the other day and stopped into the Home Depot. I was aching for something green and lovely, so I headed toward the garden center. I don't have high expectations for the advice I get at Home Depot generally. If I ask someone a question, usually they smile at me politely and if they can, they call the guy who knows something. He may know a great deal, but I do tend to be hesitant regarding his level of expertise. But this day I got an unexpected surprise. The fellow near the garden center asked if I needed anything and I started to ask him questions. I told him about my plans so far and he shared that he had a tree business I think he said. My hearing isn't fabulous and don't like to ask people to repeat themselves, so I often nod as if I heard every word. In any case, he told me about planting trees in containers to keep them a bit smaller. He suggested how to go about it, to not put anything more than a shard of pottery in the bottom of the pot, to use a blend of top soil and compost and that should create a kind of bonsai effect.

He told me that most trees need to be watered more that we think they do. I know I am guilty of that. I put a bird bath in the dogwood tree to help water a hydrangea I have and the tree did better that year. It wasn't fool proof, but it did seem to help. I have never watered any of my trees except for incidentally when I watered the grass or beds.

He suggested I get a trellis for my camellia that is in a 2' heap right now. I didn't know it needed to be staked at all. I reviewed it in my books and they don't mention needing to do that either. Again to be fair, usually I only have a hang tag with a little information on the plant, optimal light conditions, spacing, that kind of thing. I haven't researched the varieties to determine the best location for the plant. Instead I say, "I need a plant for this shady spot! Hmm, this one will grow in shade. Good to go!" And that is it. Either it thrives or dies or I move it in time. But I immediately chuck the hang tag right before planting. The planning I am doing now is really advanced thinking for me.

All in all, the older gentleman at Home Depot was great. When the expert wandered over to lend his sage advice, I made my good-byes and went to work. I love those surprises.

High Bush Cranberry

I was really shocked when I found this plant. I first saw it on a list of plants native to Washington State. Then I read a few more reviews on other websites. I found it at a nursery in Michigan for about $6.00, so this spring I will have a new plant in that boggy spot. My husband thought it would be a good idea to build up that area as the rocks and boards holding it together (it is somewhat raised) have started to deteriorate. I think that is a good idea and it looks like I will have a little time to get that task done. I am so excited. Birds love it, it likes to have moist soil, can tolerate shade. Perfect!

Patience

Gardening in nothing if not an exercise in patience. One may hope for spring flowers, but it is February and nothing is going to change that fact except for the passage of time. In order to assuage my jonesing for spring, I wander the yard to see what is or is not happening. It is a little like making Christmas morning last for months, but delaying gratification is supposed to be good for you.

My friend and I were contemplating my yard after a walk the other day and she suggested I wait and see what happens to my yard with all this added light. It is true that my grass will likely do better and the moss may recede if I do something about it. These trees and shrubs will be small when they arrive, so I could plant them in wine barrels for now and move them around the yard for a year or so and see what works and what doesn't. That also buys me a little time when it comes to the garden I am building in my back yard. But I am jumping ahead. I want to think about what is already planted in the front yard.

Next to my house, there is a small square that has a yellow crocosmia growing in it. I uploaded this picture from the Internet. In years past, it has been lovely in the late summer. It is a rather shady and damp spot, so I often have the green foliage and fewer flowers. It also looks horrible most of the year. If the dead foliage isn't lying in a heap, it looks like it has been hacked apart with a dull knife, which is at least partly true. I have some hyacinth bulbs and a couple of impatience that come back year after year with some degree of beauty, though not really. The slugs have made the hyacinths lopsided and slimy in the past, and I would bet it will be the same this year. I don't sprinkle the safe slug bait until after I have seen the damage and by then it is too late. I moved some corms as the crocosmia bulbs are called to some other places in the yard last year and I don't recall seeing anything but greens. I have some gorgeous red ones in the north eastern corner of my yard, but the yellow ones may have done all they can do. It would be good to pull them up and see if they will thrive elsewhere because they are not a nice welcome mat where they are.

So I need a small shrub that likes mostly shade, doesn't mind having wet feet and looks good all year long. Here are some ideas...

Camellia

I have a camellia in the back yard that I planted a couple of years ago and is now about 2 feet tall and looks like it will bloom this year! It hasn't bloomed up to now. They do grow taller than I want for that spot, and I don't know if they can be trimmed to the height I need it to remain (once it gets there anyhow). Time for more research! They are an evergreen and now that the magnolia is gone, I don't have anything evergreen other than ferns in the front yard. I should amend that statement. I do have a rhododendron at the border of the yard. I think it is actually on my neighbor's property, but I am not certain. And I have some low growing azaleas by my mailbox. They are pretty when they bloom in the spring and then I forget about them. I have seen enormous, tall and wide camellias, so maybe that wouldn't be the right plant. I put the one in the back with the idea that it would fill up a damp and shady spot. We call it the children's garden as initially they planted back there and put their painted rocks and so forth. That was before I realized how damp it was back there. I have since planted astilbe and hostas and a hydrangea and ferns and bleeding heart in that corner to see what will thrive. Some of it does fine, but the creeping buttercup does the best and I have broken metal hoes trying to clear it out of there. Not to mention the collateral damage to my wanted plants.

Japanese Maple

I have one in the front yard that I would move to that spot. It is the right size and shape, but it has been it its current location for over 10 years and moving it might be really traumatic. I wouldn't want another one because I already have the one. So, that is not a good option. It also doesn't have winter interest.

Rhododendron or Azalea

As I stated above, I have a couple of them already. There are enough varieties that I could surely find one that fits my needs. Azaleas are not especially interesting once the blooms die off. Rhodies are ok, but my neighbor has rhododendrons encircling their house, so I don't want to add to the monoculture. That is why this plant is low on the list of options.

Aronia

This plant is in the collection I purchased. I don't know how it responds to wet feet. It can tolerate part shade which is what I would think this spot is. It is on the north side of my house, so the sun comes late in the day. I had a hydrangea two feet further north that would get sunburned in the height of summer so I moved it closer to the house. My research says it gets to be about 4' tall and equally wide, but can be trimmed if need be. It can sucker, but that some is rather isolated, so I don't know that it would do much of that. The variety I am receiving is the Aronia melanocarpa 'Viking'. It should have morning sun and afternoon shade. Hmm. That would mean it would do best in the eastern side of the yard. Might it work for me? It might. Is it perfect, no. It is a 3 season beauty which makes it a solid maybe.

Pacific Ninebark

Pros - meets the light and soil requirements, food for birds, right height, native to Washington
Cons - kind of messy looking in the winter, toxic bark (but I am not likely to eat it), gets a little tall (up to 13') for this spot.

High Bush Cranberry

This might be the one if I can find it that is. I found the descriptions on native plant sites, but not in a retail market so far. It feeds birds and looks good in four seasons. I will let you know if I can find it.

Live and learn

One tenant that I hold dear is that natural consequences are the best lessons. If you opt to not wear your gloves and you find your hands are cold, well then, next time, wear your gloves. I admit I may take this too far when it comes to gardening. I am driven by impulse and then I figure out how to deal with it when the time comes. But I also learn by doing and seeing if it works out for the best. I follow my instincts and most of the time, it works out fair enough. The earth works on a clock that is somewhat slower than my personal impulse and can therefore out live any damage I may have inflicted in my random pruning or placement of flowers, trees and shrubs.

My thoughts today are about pruning. I have read articles about proper pruning. I have. I just don't always follow it to the letter. Or at all. I hate the look of those poor trees that have been lopped off at the top of their huge trunk on order to sprout ungainly twigs that resemble the drawings of hair by kindergartners. It is undignified! When I was younger, I recall my stepfather pruning his fruit trees and it said to just cut out the crossing branches. So pretty much that is what I do. Except when it comes to a few trees in my landscape.

I have two wisteria trees that were here when we moved in. I don't know if they began their lives as vines and were shaped into these trees or if they are a specific type of wisteria. When they are in bloom, the scent is intoxicating. It is the smell of lust and passion and any other erotic kind of scent known to man. It makes me blush. The behavior of these plants falls in line with their scent. They send out these tendrils that get caught up in the nearby plants. Then their wickedness reveals itself as it can strangle those plants in order to gain what it wants - to grow ever taller. Because of this aggressive behavior, I have often cut it back to within a few inches of its limbs. I don't know when is the right time to prune the wisteria. I usually wait until all the leaves have fallen off in the late fall. The trees have some split limbs right now, but I opted to leave them because they have split before for various reasons and seem to heal up okay. I am certain I could do better by these trees, but up to now, I have mostly been just managing them as best I can. I pruned them way back a few years ago and I didn't have fabulous blooms. Maybe it is time for wisteria specific research.

One of the catalogues I received, Michigan Bulb Company, was having a 50% off sale. I must admit I have a certain compulsion when it comes to sales. I would not go so far as to say I was a shopaholic or anything, because there are limits to what moves me. I don't shop for clothes very often for instance. But I have been known to buy more than I needed because it was a good deal.

As I was saying, Michigan Bulb Co. was having a sale and they bundle things together in a cute little drawing that I can invision in my own yard. The flowers are all blooming at the same time, the bushes grow only to the top of the picket fence, etc. I know I am being snowed, but I am compelled just the same. There were two such listing that caught my attention, one labeled "Bird Sanctuary" and the other "Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden" or something along those lines. I know a little about butterflies. They like sunny gardens. I live in the Pacific Northwest where most days are partly cloudy. I have a north facing lot with tall trees on the south side, so I don't have a particularly sunny location. But, I make decisions because I wish for things to be true, not because they are. I am also a sucker for words like "Sanctuary", because I wish for more tranquility in my life and someone in marketing is going to make it so for me.

I didn't completely leave my head behind when it came to the catalogue. I did a little research to see if they could tolerate part sun and at least the bird sanctuary can grow in those conditions. Included in this collection are Aronia berry (chokeberry)and Goji berry. The Aronia can grow around 3-6' while the Goji can grow 8-10' tall. That is taller than it looked like in the drawing! The flowers in the collection will be fine, but I don't really want anything that tall blocking my windows. The Aronia can go in a couple of places because it does top out at 6' (6'!). I have some plants at the front of the yard that I don't like very much. They are a flowering shrub that are mess except when they are blooming. They require no effort from me unless I choose to cut them back. They can go I suppose. Good grief.

Planning

I am more than a beginning gardener, not a master gardener, but somewhere in between. I know enough to pay attention to where I am planting a specimen, but not enough so that I completely follow the advice of those that know more than I do. Maybe that means I am foolish, maybe stubborn, or perhaps both. When I knew that I had lost the trees, the first thing I did was to pull open my seed catalogues and start dreaming. Because birds and privacy were on the top of my requirements list, I searched for things that would accommodate those needs. I was talking to my dad on the phone and was telling him about a tree that I loved. It is the Japanese Stewartia tree. It has beautiful bark and 4 season interest. It isn't common in my area. In fact, I have never seen one. It is slow growing, but it can grow to 40' according to some publications. That is a little taller than I want, but the catalogue I saw it in said it tops out at 25' which is OK. So my dad is sending it to me for my birthday. This is a perfect example of acquiring knowledge then promptly ignoring it. I do believe I will plant it in the middle of the front yard so that it won't hang into the road which the magnolia tended to do and will allow a little more light into the house. It is so pretty, I really want it to work out.

A clean slate

These pictures I took yesterday. Being winter, the yard looks especially bare. But you can see that the dogwood tree and the magnolia are gone. The upper photo is from the northeast corner of the yard. The second is from the northwest corner.
There is a hydrangea and a small Japanese maple in front of the lower window. There are a number of smaller perennials planted along the driveway and in the flower bed by the window. There are two small trees at the northern most part of the yard that are tree form wisteria. They suffered some damage, but they have survived other breaks, so I am hoping for the best here.
Today I raked up many of the leaves I had left to protect the bulbs over the winter. We may get another dose of winter, but it won't likely be as harsh as the one we already received.

In planning what comes next for this relatively blank slate, I am considering what I liked about my yard before I lost my trees and what I didn't like so much. I love watching the birds. In my front yard I have a number of bird feeders and a birdbath. Bird watching has been a passion of mine for some time and it is something we enjoy as a family. The birds used to perch in the dogwood and fly over to the feeder in front of the window. I knew that I was fortunate in having the birds so close. As I have other trees in the yard, I don't know what the impact of the loss will be on my bird population. I liked the privacy the trees offered me. We don't hang heavy curtains in our living room because most of the time it wasn't necessary. The house is north facing, so the sun does not shine through the windows. I felt I couldn't be seen from the street with the trees blocking the view. My neighbors may say differently, but that was the feeling I had. The front yard also had a secluded feel. I could sit in the grass and watch the world go by and no one would know I was there.
On the negative side, it has been very shady in my front yard, so I was limited in what I could grow. The dogwood often had some fungus that made the leaves curl and look dead in the middle of the summer. I had to use pesticided to keep the leaves looking green. I do try to avoid pesticides whenever possible, but there was no alternative for this fungus. Also, the leaves needed to be raked up to keep the fungus from returning to the tree and with all my plantings under the tree, I often was unable to do this without harming my other plants. The branches of the two trees often overlapped in the middle of the yard making it a bit of a challenge to get through without ducking. The magnolia shed its leaves in the summer and made a dusty mess of things much of the time. The leaves could not be composted at home because of their composition.
Next: the planning begins

Starting again

I have been given an opportunity that I would never have taken on my own. A few weeks ago, a storm rolled through Maple Valley. It started with snow, which is relatively rare in this part of the world, then it was followed by ice. Then more snow. This caused most of the branches on two trees in my front yard to snap off. Over the days since then, I have taken those trees down.

So this blog is dedicated to the recreation of my front yard.

The back story

This photo shows my house as it used to be a few years ago in early spring. We moved in 10 years ago and much of the front yard was already established. I put in much of what is growing around the mailbox including lilies, iris and a mountain ash. The arborvitae that is shown in the picture was taken down two years ago as it was leaning against the house. The neighbors told me that previous owners had planted red and white flowers in neat rows. I don't know what happened to those flowers, but I would have pulled them out in all likelihood. There were petunias planted along the driveway when we moved in and they went with the floral curtains. I suppose you could say that structure and order are not in my way of thinking. I planted the day lilies to replace the petunias.

There had been a pine tree in the front yard (outside of the photo's borders)that had broken in a previous ice storm and had been losing limbs ever since. I took that out and moved a vine maple into that space. I also added a lilac and forsythia as well as hardy lilies to that corner of the yard. There is an apple tree over there as well. Before the storm, I began removing a largish hedge that was crowding the north east corner of the yard. The neighbors had removed most of the rhododendrons that bordered our yards so that space had opened up considerably except for this large hedge. Most of the trees in that part of the yard are about 10-15' tall now.