Backyard garden plan 2010-revised

Updated my garden plan over the weekend. Changes are below:

• Corrected the hard landscape layout; I didn't include the stairs of the patio last time.
• Updated the border. After few rainstorms, it became obvious that grass is thinner in some area than others. Reduce the size of the flower bed on the left but expand it around the cherry tree on the right accordingly.
• Give up the purple leaf sandcherries; now in favor of Proven Winner hydrangeas (maybe Invinsible Spirit?).
• Plan to divide and reuse more perennials from other areas.

I am hoping to divide and transplant as many plants as possible not just to save money. The growing condition at the back is not too bad; a bit of gentle morning sun but scorching afternoon sun. Some shrubs (e.g. dogwoods) also suck up a lot of water and leave little for smaller plants. So it's time to turn to those trial-and-true survivors in our garden.

For the past few years the shady garden right behind our house is a testimony of Darwin's theory - Survival of the fittest. TripleQ has had enough of the "mess"; I think he lost it after seeing all the forget-me-not growing out of the shady garden boundaries and into the lawn. We will wipe out the whole shady garden and leave only 1 or 3 (in a roll) specimen plant(s). Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the shady garden in previous years. I think our shady garden was kind of cool though; the garden was ALWAYS full from late spring to fall. If I didn't like a plant, I just snipped it. But I agree that it could look messy when you are up and close.

There are snow-in-summer, forget-me-not and catmint (Nepeta mussinii) in the front garden and they all try to take over the garden. It gets a lot more crowded than the picture taken about half month ago, especially after the peony and herbs are back. Time to move big chunks of snow-in-summer, forget-me-not and catmint to the back so they can "run" wild. :-) Hopefully I can create a relaxed, low-maintenance pretty garden.

Backyard garden plan 2010

I am kind of proud of myself that I created this garden plan. It took me hours to design and draw, hopefully it works out as planned. (Will need TQ to help on execution.) TQ always teases me on going all out on planning. When I shopped for patio furniture, I cut out circles and squares in proportion to map out the arrangement and find out proper size of each piece of furniture. But hey! It works!! No money was wasted.

The lawn slopes away from the house at the back (6"-12"). In the ideal world, I would like to have a low retaining wall to hold the land and flatten the back. Replant the trees because the mistake from "the early years"(see note 1) is so evident. HOWEVER, we have NO budget for hard-landscape. And the little we spend on everything else, the better. So here's the plan. I want to move the spireas from the area close to the house (that's another problematic area; we'll have to clean up the patch and leave minimal plants). We have a lot of forget-me-nots, lamb's ears and catmint from the front that we can transplant good chunks of them and let them run wild at the back. The growing conditions at the back are not the best but hopefully they are hardy enough that they can be "unleashed". Actually we have A LOT of forget-me-nots growing among the grass or through the gravel in the backyard already; I am sure they will thrive. Yes, I know lamb's ears are taller than forget-me-not. The reason I plan this way is because forget-me-not tends to bloom while new lamb's ears are still small. Once it finishes blooming, its leaves are not particularly inspiring. So lamb's ears can block them.

I have been wanting to have purpleleaf sand cherry but I am not sure if they will be too big for the space. Still need some time before making the final decision. But hopefully they will be the only items we need to buy, in addition to dirt and mulch.

Note 1: mistake from "the early years": dogwoods and one snowberry are within the same border (why we did so really puzzles me, considering they are not even at the center). Two lilacs are next to dogwoods, another two are on the left hand side (and the adjacent ones don't even have the same color of blooms). WHY~~

Ice stick tulips

Ice stick tulips are one of pricier plants in our garden; pricey compared with a bag of tulip bulbs from Costco, or plants native to Southern Ontario (such as columbine, bleeding heart, etc) from my mother-in-law's garden (FREE!). The bulbs of ice stick tulips were ordered from The Breck's.

Back at the beginning of April I wasn't sure if we would see any bloom this year; the center stems got nibbled by some naughty critters. Photo was taken on April 3, 2010.


But time proves that the tiny damage will not impede its performance. See this picture taken in mid-April, 2010.

Here's a close-up (fuzzy) shot of ice stick tulip.

You can see so many colors in one flower: white, yellow, pink/deep pink, blue/green. Another great thing about ice stick tulips is that they bloom in early spring. When other's gardens are slow to recover from the winter/snow, they make your garden instantly stand out. ;-)

Spring April-May 2010

Many things remain the same from last spring except:

• Moss phlox is missing in action. I trimmed them all the way back last year in the fear that once dried, the needle leaves might be sharp and hurt Baby Martini. Its spot is currently occupied by a succulent recently transplanted from the deck planter (to make room for more herbs next to the kitchen this year.
• Cranesbill geranium kind of died last year. I planted an annual afterward but its spot is taken over by forget-me-not this spring.
• Mistake from "the early years"; we followed the instruction on the bag to space the bulbs but didn't realize this type (Darwin?) of tulips don't multiply much and they stay tall. I managed to move some along the border to group next to the forget-me-not. They look less awkward this year.
• This brings up another issue. Popsicle tulips (around the Japanese maple, bloom is gone) multiply every year so it gets really crowded around the J maple. Have to thin them out this year or next.

See full picture here.

Lamb's Ears

Photo date: April 2, 2010

For those who don't have a green thumb, I'll recommend to try planting Lamb's Ears. They are indestructible! Just keep coming back! The first year I planted one lamb's ear, I was really concern because it didn't grow much. Just when I wonder if it would come back the next year, it came back STRONG, lots of them! The bees LOVE their pinkish purple flowers.

I don't mind having lots of Lamb's Ears, as long as they don't take over my tiny front garden. I really enjoy stroking the silvery green leaves. They are so soft, it's really like patting a baby animal.

By the way, the picture was taken when the lamb's ears just started to grow after the long winter. That's why they look so tiny. With so many new plants tightly packed, I really don't know what to do with them once they grow bigger. Maybe I can divide them when I have chance. They are so hardy under full sun or part shade, I probably don't need to worry when will be a good time to separate them. :-p

Mysterious purple flowers

Picture was taken on April 2, 2010.

I was scratching my head when I saw this plant. Don't remember when I planted it but it for sure looks too pretty to be weed. It took me a while to realize that it's one of the mums I planted last fall. Why does it bloom now (early spring)?

Spring May 2009

Picture was taken last May.

• Light purple at front are moss phlox.
• Next to moss phlox are cat mints, super invasive!
• Blue are forget-me-not.
• The big bushy perennial at the back is bleeding heart.
• Purple on the right are grape hyacinths.

This is the most lively time of the year for our front garden. All the blooms after this are of "quieter" colors - white, muted purple and pink (hydrangeas).