Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Better bring a pickax

Oh man, you guys. This summer. It feels like it will never end and I want it very badly to just go away. Between The Fling, many house guests, multiple parties, and a lot of work and non-work trips, I spent the least amount of time working in my garden since I bought this house. It shows, too. There are weeds everywhere and for the first time in my life I just couldn't bring myself to care. People would come over and I'd be like, "That's where we keep the dandelions. Over there, too." There's red oxalis everywhere, weaving itself especially tenaciously around anything with a spike or a poker.

I visited a lot of open gardens this summer, far more than I usually do, all of which made me hate my back garden even more than I normally do. Instead of inspiring me they mostly filled me with frustration. Greg and I are still arm-wrestling over hardscaping and the placement of a deck, which puts any garden expansion on hold. I swing wildly from wanting it to look better NOW to feeling like this is all an experiment and I don't have cancer (yet) so what's the rush? I'm not a landscape designer, I have nothing to prove. But I want better.

The front yard remains in my good graces, mostly because it doesn't require much watering and it's always full of bees. The color scheme is a little whacked out but I like it.


But. The meadow has been driving me crazy, mostly because I placed the plants all wrong initially. At first I put all the Schizachyrium scoparium 'Blue Heaven' in the front and they got so tall that they blocked everything else behind them.


So I moved them to the back of the meadow even though I knew they wouldn't get enough sun there. But I was like, "Let's see what happens!" And what happened was they didn't get enough sun so they stayed tiny and they didn't bloom. It was shocking. Luckily I also planted Sedum 'Matrona' all along the front of the bed to give it some structure, which I think actually worked. One step forward, two steps back.

After getting a week of rain recently I went out with my pickax and started moving things around. The Pennisetum macrcorum 'White Lancer' (with the tall white seedheads) got moved closer together, since it seems more interested in running than bulking up.


Then I had room to move the Blue Heaven back into a sunny spot, seen here on the right-hand side. I also put in three of the tall Liatris spicata, which is common as dirt but I love it. I had hopes to incorporate some redder hues in the form of Centaurea atropupurea but I just learned from Grace that they get a lot taller than the tag says. But you know what? This is all an experiment and I can tell you about moving them next fall! It will be great.

I'm also moving one of my most beloved agaves out of the gravel berm and into the mulched hinterlands.


This is my second largest agave and it's pretty big for the Pacific Northwest, so I'm keeping everything crossed (I caught myself calling it "baby" while I moved it because I love it so much). I've been wanting something in this area that is evergreen with visual heft and I thought it might do the trick. He has two smaller companions nearby. The good news is that I have something to worry about obsessively this winter! Are my babies rotting out? Should I wander into my front yard wearing the yoga pants with the ripped out butt to check on them?


Let's see what happens.

23 comments:

  1. Ooo, sounds like a good plan, Heather. Where is the agave going? What kind is it? And you know, moving things around is part of the requirement of being a gardener. There are plants I have (no kidding) moved 8 times. I will never be done and it will never be right, but love the process. Besides, your garden looks great!

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  2. You're hiliarious.

    Also your garden is gamazing (gorgeous + amazing) :)

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  3. "Let's see what happens" is a good motto for gardening. Mine is just a big experiment too. I am planning to spend the late winter moving all kinds of plants around. I prefer to do it then rather than now. I like your front garden very much, I'm a sucker for a whacked-out color scheme.

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  4. I move stuff around all the time too. It's the best way to redesign without spending money! The agave is where it is now--before it was in the gravel berm toward the front door.

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  5. Your garden looks freaking amazing, so "let's see what happens" is clearly working for you. My favorite time to move stuff is when I'm putting in bulbs, that way everything gets REALLY confusing. I just had to do something to scratch the itch though, you know?

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  6. You're awesome and I'm totally stealing that phrase.

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  7. Even though you haven't had much time to tend to the garden this summer it doesn't show it at all, it looks fab! Maybe a layer of frost fleece or two during the colder periods will suffice to keep the Agave alive and looking good during the winter.

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  8. Sounds like it's going to be an exciting winter. I look forward to reading about your yoga pant garden dash adventures. :)

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  9. Hey, I have a couple of 'Blue Heaven' that were sited poorly too! Since moving them requires a planned new bed that doesn't exist yet, I'm not sure that I'll get to it this fall. It is still fall right? It hasn't passed as quickly as summer has?

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  10. Just when I was feeling like a douche for not ever having a plan (which every garden book says you MUST HAVE before starting), I read this and remind myself it's okay. Weeding is overrated. They always come back anyway.

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  11. I am so jealous of your ability to grow agave plants! Here in Massachusetts, that definitely wouldn't fly. Although I will say, I have a prickly pear cactus that i got from my neighbor last fall and that thing is insane. I thought sure it died over the winter, but it's growing like a weed this year.

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  12. For all the neglect you said it's received, it doesn't show, and it looks great. Good luck with your agaves, I hope they survive! Also I wanted to comment on another post of yours recently where you mentioned you'd been watching Real Housewives but for some reason I couldn't get the comment box to show - basically it was just to confess that my guilty pleasure lately is to binge watch RH No thinking required, you just veg out and feel the stresses of the day melt away...until they fight. It's the best/worst

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  13. Holy fucking crap I LOVE all the colors in the front yard!!!!!!

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  14. Your front garden looks fabulous ! Plants love to be moved around …I think ?

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  15. Your garden looks great Heather! Oh well, there's always next summer to do the things you wanted to do this summer. Gardens are pretty forgiving that way!

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  16. I've been lamenting the state of my garden too. I vacillate between wanting to fix it immediately by just piling in the largest plants I can find - or giving up entirely and whining endlessly about how hard it is to garden in a horrible drought. So, right now, I'll just tell you what people have told me and what your commentators are telling you: your garden looks good. For the end of summer with everything else you've had going on, it's looking great but enjoy the renovation process anyway.

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  17. Heather aka Scarlett: think about it tomorrow, but always look good doing it (guess that rules out the yoga pants). Unless, my dear, you frankly don't give a damn.

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  18. I missed you! Thanks for the post it made me forget my athletes foot itch for a couple of minutes!

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  19. Oh no! I'm so sorry you have AF, that's the worst.

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  20. I don't know what to say... If your garden looks like that when you don't work on it...! Well, holy cow! I really do love your front yard - it is stunning and has tons of personality. And I mean that in the best of ways!

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  21. Thank you! I just wish the backyard looked half as good. It's a mess.

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  22. Well, whenever you go into a panic, feel free to wander down here and spend some time in the ongoing chaos that is my backyard. That ought to settle your nerves, and when you return home, you will have a deeper understanding of the notion that all is relative! Suddenly, your backyard will feel like an oasis! :)

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  23. I love your colorful front garden, Heather. Purples and reds and that big ole yucca -- fabulous! http://www.penick.net/digging

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