History of my Garden

Gardening is something that has been part of about my whole life. But it wasn't until the spring of 2020 when the world went nuts that I got very serious about it. Way back in 2004 when we moved into our newly built house, we had no landscaping whatsoever. A blank slate. There was a row of little pine trees with a couple of blue spruce in a line down our road. And some scraggly Chinese elms. And that was it. I'll try to find a picture.

Our oldest garden here. Photo taken today.

That summer, I went to our local greenhouse the day it closed in my husband's pickup. Why did I do that? I still don't remember because we had agreed that this was not the year to start a garden. I remember that I didn't know it was the last day they were open for the season. Greenhouses here in our town close in the middle of June. And for us in zone 5b, that is really early. Because late frosts can take us all the way to June to even get started planting. That was the case this year. But I digress.

When I went to our garden center, the man who owned the greenhouse, Dan, loaded my pickup completely with everything he had left in stock and sent me on my merry way. Todd my husband was beside himself. What were we going to do with all of it? 

The tiny trees that were here and the pickup that Dan loaded with plants.

 

We ended up planting everything right outside our dining room windows. And to this day, some of it is still there. There were four Rose of Sharons. Oh they were beautiful. Two pink and two white. In the early part of 2021 we had a huge freeze that was -34 and the last one nearly didn't make it. We had to cut it back almost to the ground. Over the years two others died and we cut one down because it was in the way of something or other. It seems stupid now.

This garden in 2005, a year after planting.

 

There was a viburnum that to this day I am not sure of the variety. It has maple looking leaves which are usually snowball viburnums but the white flowers are flat. It is now gigantic. Little birds love to sit on its branches and the other day I saw a tiny nest deep inside with three little eggs. This viburnum is having a few issues this summer. We discovered termites this past spring right outside our dining room. Oh what a terrible, anxious day that was. The pest control people couldn't find any damage in the house thankfully and they treated around all our structures here. Did I say we live on a little farm? The guy told me the colony had to be very close so we are estimating it is under this garden. Although the treatment would have killed them by now, termites can happily live on roots for a long time and I'm wondering if this has damaged the viburnum.

Can all this damage be from fertilizer?

 

There were also lots of little carpet rosebushes, red and pink. They were pretty for lots of years but the two that are left, one red and one pink, are VERY sickly now. And were somewhat sickly last summer as well. I have been wondering what to do and think I might just cut them back to the ground and see what happens. Of course I have treated everything over and over. Fertilizers, fungicides, for mites, etc. Some of the flowers do appear to be very mite infested but strong water sprays, Dawn dish soap sprays, Neem oil, Mite-X (which is cottonseed oil and nutmeg), and even one late night scary treatment of malthion have not seemed to help. The viburnum leaves look like mites as well. But just a few of the leaves on the east side.

Then there was a Prairiefire Crabapple tree that was beautiful for years. Gorgeously beautiful. With dark red flowers in the spring and dark green-purple foliage all summer. It started looking stressed about three years ago and I am guessing that it took the brunt of the termites. I worried over that tree all this time and tried my remedies. But a few days ago we decided if it has a disease, it might spread to other trees and we certainly don't want that. So it got cut down and hauled to the dump. I was so sad.

The Prairiefire this past June.

 Finally, he threw in lots of periwinkle vinca. That creeping stuff has been an outstanding groundcover here. Boy you really can't pull it or control it but it fights it out with the catmint at the bottom of the bed. And they both seem to hold their ground. Speaking of catmint, it probably came in the pickup load too. It is currently huge but now too flowery. I read once that you can take your trimmer and cut it back pretty good so that you get the dark purple flowers again. I might try that. I moved four plants of it last year and this year to new locations because it fills in so well here.

 I threw some Ultimate Fertilizer on everything about a month ago. And then it turned yellow. It turns out it was grass fertilizer and why didn't I look at it first?!? Even the periwinkle is a little yellow. I think this could possibly be the problem with the viburnum also. But the crabapple and roses definitely were no good before the fertilizer.

The catmint that might get a haircut.

As to anything else, I truly don't remember but rounding out this bed are some cone flowers that have been there for a long time, some black eyed susans, one heliopsis that I've been able to grow more of from its seeds, and some assorted lilies and daylilies. Some of these need moved due to the viburnum growing right over the top of them.

If it seems like a sad story, in a way it is. But life is definitely about changes. That crabapple tree was inside the front cover of a book I wrote once upon a time. 

Photo of the crabapple, viburnum, and Rose of Sharon hibiscus from my book.

 

If you didn't read the "about" section of the blog, we are in zone 5b for cold and 7 for heat. The -34 was way outside of 5b but it happened. Most everyone here lost their boxwoods and Rose of Sharons but the one boxwood we have lived. There's a really nifty climate map for western states but it ends not too far west of here in Colorado. When I studied it, I think we are climate zone 3. I don't think there's such a thing as a wind map but if there was we would be the worst. This past spring we had days with 70 and 80 mph wind and tons of days over 25mph. When it was under that it seemed still and strange. This summer has been less windy but very, very hot with many days over 100, and some over 105, even a 108. We have been in a drought since the beginning of last July. There has been a very small amount of rain here and there and almost no snow last winter. So gardening here is very challenging. 

More later, Melissa

A little look at the garden March 2020.