Mistakes happen

About 10 years ago a former neighbor decided to build a privacy fence around their backyard, which was fine with us.  However, he constructed it with the business-side out so we didn't see the lovely fence, we were looking at about 40 feet of the "wrong side" of the fence.  The obvious solution was to grow my own privacy hedge to hide it.  At the time, the easiest and fastest hedge for me to plant was nandina.  It was free and grew fast.  I knew nandina could be invasive but I figured I could manage it.

In just a few years, I knew I had made a horrible mistake.  Of course, I could "manage" the nandina.  Each spring, I just have to pull up thousands of seedlings!   After the first year of full "management" I knew that the nandina hedge was going to have go. 

The question has just been "with what should I replace it."  I've been carefully listening to landscaping experts and researching their suggestions for creating natural privacy barriers.  They suggest everything from the mundane to the exotic. 

Because I am incredibly frugal (some people call me "cheap") the "newest" landscape plants are too expensive for me but neither do I want the standard "landscaper's favorites." 

While strolling through one of my favorite garden centers this past week, I noticed some fabulous Norway Spruce trees, balled and probably left over from Christmas.  Being from Minnesota, I love spruces but I know better than to plant one in Alabama.  The nurseryman pointed out that he had not one, but two full grown Norway spruces right there.  I was immediately hooked. 

It took a full day to dig up the 12 feet of nandina and two large barberry shrubs to make room for my Christmas tree.   But when I went back to purchase the tree,  it proved to be too heavy to slide into the back seat of my car.  The owner of Cedar Creek Nursery offered to deliver it to my house at no charge. 

I am now the proud owner of this fabulous Norway Spruce.  When it grows up, it will completely hide this section of the fence. 

My three blueberry bushes grace the other end of the fence.  Although they are deciduous,   their bare branches seem to "work" to keep our minds distracted from the fence background.

There is still about 12 feet of nandina in the ground.  I'm still hunting for just the right evergreen shrubs to correct my landscaping error. 

A walk in the woods

Spring is the season for a deciduous forest garden to glow.  All the ground cover plants and shrubs enjoy the spring sunshine and warmer soils that are shaded over when the canopy leafs out in a few weeks.  Now, all sorts of plants burst forth from the rich leaf litter but it takes a quiet walk deep into the forest to see many of these plants--modern landscaping and invasives such as privet and honeysuckle have choked many of them out.

I have a miniature decidous landscape in my backyard.  It is framed by some volunteer water oaks that grew up on the border of my property before it was mine.  When I first moved here the area was overrun with privet and wild blackberry vines.  After clearing the invasives it didn't take me long to discover that only natives were going to thrive in that environment. 

Through the gracious kindness of many friends who gave me cuttings, small plants, and the privilege of being able to rescue plants from horse pastures and some private wild areas, my 500 square foot woodland garden is becoming a delightful wonderland.

Spring is my favorite season in the woods, but as spring heats up into summer and summer cools into fall, there are always new surprises in the woods.

Many woodland natives are difficult to acquire from retail outlets because their growing season is extremely short.  Whenever possible I try to use shared plants from other woodland gardeners (and I'm willing to share as well). 

Collecting plants from  a wild forest is highly frowned upon and I agree that we need to preserve our woodlands.  I have some very strict rules when collecting plants. 
1.  If there are only one or two plants in a natural setting, I enjoy it where it is; for example,   I NEVER take a native azalea out of the woods.  There are not enough of them and these shrubs are easily attainable in retail setting.
2.  My first choice for collecting is a plant that is at risk--usually in the middle of a horse or deer trail or on the edge of a power line easement.

3.  If there is a significant population of my desired plant, I never take primary plants, only marginal "babies." 

My atamasco lilies came from a deer/horse trail and would have died from being trampled.  My windflowers came from the edge of a huge natural planting of hundreds of windflowers.  The liverworts, little brown jugs, may apples and trout lilies were single baby plants on the edge of groupings of 30+ plants.

This is what my woodland garden looks like today.  I can't wait to see what it will look like tomorrow.

Hog heaven

Wilbur has endured his first Alabama backyard winter.  It was a tough one, a tree nearly crushed him, and it was especially gloomy and wet.  But spring has arrived and he is surrounded by blooming euphorbia.  He looks quite pleased with himself.

Awakening

Sometimes spring arrives with an explosion of color.  Everywhere I look would be a kaleidoscope of bright, ever-changing colors, sounds and fragrance vigorously taking over the landscape.

This year, spring is arriving quietly, tip toeing up through the soil, greeting me with a flower or two on each blooming shrub, birds softly trilling high in the trees whose buds and blooms slowly swell.  I can almost feel the stems and leaves stretching toward the sky while we all wait for the sun to shine again.

Hush, listen to the gardens awaken.

"Sunshine" for a rainy day

The forecast for this week is rain, rain and a little more rain.  We have only seen the sun a handful of times in last few weeks so a forecast with more clouds and rain is rather depressing. 

Between rainfalls, I managed a walk through my gardens, looking for hints of spring.  The windflowers are blooming, a few of the spring perennials are poking their heads through the soil and the poor daffodils are trying to keep their heads up in spite of the pounding rain. 

My blue crocus's are the "sunshine" in the garden this week.  They are bright and beautiful even in the rain and gloom.  They look fabulous this year.  I looked up the photo I took of them last year to compare; there are twice as many blooms!  God just knew we would need cheering up this week.

So sad

Being a Minnesota girl, I feel like winter is not complete without at least a little snow.  I no longer desire blizzards but I long for a day or two of fluffy white frosting on the trees and dazzling white lawns the sparkle in the sunlight. 

Each winter I display a plaque in my kitchen reminding my family to "pray for snow" and I loving set out a sled and snow shovel by the front steps to prepare for a snow day.

Several times this winter, the forecast seemed hopeful but every time the snow fell in someone else's backyard.  We didn't see one single snowflake this year.

Now that March is here, it is time to put away my plaque and snow toys . . . maybe next year.

One warm day

After a week of unseasonably cold and dreary weather, we finally warmed up for just one day.   It wasn't a "nice" day; it was overcast with random rain showers and a blustery south wind, but compared to the previous week of sub-freezing temperatures and the constant threat of snow and sleet, it was wonderful.

As soon as the temperatures rose beyond 45 degrees, I headed out.  The first project was to free the garage containers and the orange tree from their blankets.  It was warm enough to drag the orange back outdoors.  Then, I pulled all the mulch back from the seed beds in the veggie garden.  It was good that I had strung some string over the planting lines or I wouldn't had had a clue as to where those seeds were located.

My family was pleased to send the plants back to the cold frame; they missed the kitchen table. 

The seeds that I had germinated indoors needed to be individually potted up so I moved to the potting table to separate and pot up baby plants.  This turned out to be a bit of a challenge.  When the wind is blowing at 15-20 mph, those little seedlings tended to blow right off the table before I could get them into their new containers. 

After lunch, I rewarded myself with some horse time.  By then, it was beginning to rain periodically but I scraped a little mud from Lily's coat and we rode around the pasture twice before the wind and rain sent us scurrying back to the barn. 

Last night the rain began in earnest and the forecast for this coming week is for rain and colder than normal temperatures.   I enjoyed my one, warm day.