Flowerbeds Part 2

I love my 2 Saucer Magnolia tress.  The early Spring flowers are gorgeous.  But they walk a dangerous line with the weather.  One cold night, and all the emerging flowers die!  If I had it to do again, I would have planted Star Magnolias.  They open their flowers a week later.  So, they bloom more reliably.  

They are lesser in showy flowers but more reliable.  But I chose the Saucer Magnolia because there was a small park across the street from my office and I was awed by their beauty.  And the trees have pleasingly twisted branchs and nice green leaves the rest of the year. But they were in the center of Washington DC and city-centers are warmer.  

This year seemed promising.  Lots of buds, and the weather forecast was for wees of above-freeze temperatures.  Alas, a 22F night snuck in and killed are the blooms.

I was lucky to get this one, starting to open just before the freeze.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes you get frozen blooms!  At least the cold temps don't kill the tree.  And I have some backups for the future.  2 years ago, I planted 2 korean dogwoods and 2 Sourwoods in the far backyard.  The Dogwoods will bloom a couple weeks later in Spring and the Sourwoods don't exactly bloom, but the leaves turn bright red in Fall.

It has actually been a hard couple of years for trees here.  The drought 2 years ago was harsh.  A Beech tree in the front yard died outright.  I have 2 Golden Rain trees at the street on either side of my driveway.  I died and the other is barely alive (just several small branches with leaves emerging).  I may try to clip some small shoots and root them.  

A huge Sweetgum tree has been falling apart slowly for years.  I don't really mind that (it shades the garden).  But the trunk is going to fall on my fence eventually.  And it has shady siblings.  I hope they die too (I can use the light).  I can't have them cut down because they are actually (barely) on the neighbor's property and they don't care about my garden.  But I can hope they die natural deaths like the falling one.

When I moved here, the backyard was filled with junky trees.  I cut down some and a couple fell over on their own.  Wild blackberries and English Ivy took over.  They are hard to remove.  My hope is that the 4 new specimen trees (2 Dogwoods and 2 Sourwoods) will shade them out between chainsaw and brush-cutting efforts, but it will take a few years.  

I'll get the backyard cleaned of problem-plants eventually (and as the new trees grow).  Then I can try to remake the 10' pond and get the place looking as good as it did 10 years ago!

Catching Up With The Yard, Part 2

I mentioned that grasses were taking over some areas of the yard.  And those were flowerbeds.   Well, I "got behind" this year.  I wasn't healed from the ladder fall until about June (and will never be fully, but let's say I might be about 80%).  I can do most things OK.

But I have catching up to do.  I slacked last year a bit and then couldn't do much until June this year (and I have done a LOT of cutting-to-ground-level and digging this year.  So I'm doing basic stuff this late Summer and Fall.

Two losses were the meadow bed and the pollinator bed.  The meadow bed wasn't all THAT bad.  Lot's of Queen Anne's Lace, some Black-Eyed Susans and a few surviving wildflowers.  But both failed, so it is time to start again.

I cut all the tall plants near ground level with a hedge-trimmer (worked great) and then used the mower at the lowest level.  There is probably enough fallen plant material to smother the grasses.  Or maybe not.  But as they decay, it will sure be good for the soil.

But I have a plan.  The Meadow Bed will become a mix of native and adapted flowers that do well here.  Mostly Black-Eyed Susans, Purple Coneflowers, Queen Anne's Lace, 

And some various self-sowing flowers (Tithonia, Calendula, and Butterfly Weed) that seem to attract pollinators.  

The pollinator garden will become more of a source of beneficial insect growth area.  A plastic tub will serve to host milkweed for monarch butterflies and others will help other beneficial insects.  I'll be deciding next month about what to plant for them.  There are lists on the net.

But the first thing to do is try to smother the more wild grasses that invaded the beds in the first place.  I've collected enough permeab;e black weed-smothering fabric to cover everything.  I tried solid black plactic over the Spring Bulb bed, but THAT did was create pools of rainwater for the mosquitoes.  Some pereamble it must be.  It WILL smother the grasses eventually.

I made a mistake trying to plant the specialty beds several years ago.  I SHOULD have covered them first for a year to kill the grasses that survived the rototillering.  But I was impatient.

Had I done that then, I would have 3 year old mature meadow and pollinator beds now.  You live and learn.  And such beds were new to me.

I have all THOSE above flowers growing now around the yard and in a nursery bed.  I'll be collecting the seedheads as they mature and dry to spread around in the 2 beds.  I think I will spread all the various seeds around about equally.  Some may grow better than others, and I would rather see a general spread of flowers adapted to my area all over than have barespots.  I can always diversify in a future year.