2014 Garden

Off to an OK start.  Harsh winter killed a few perennials. Especially butterfly weed and butterfly bush. But everything silver or purple (blue in plant world) survived.

And I finished my herb wheel.

Another weekend of digging.... they go too fast.

I was almost done I think but when I was so tired I accidentally dumped the wheelbarrow on it's side twice and half of the shovels of dirt didn't even land in it I decided I was done. I have so little dirt left too move though.

Here's my plan more or less done in growveg.com which is more for edible gardens but still worked.
http://www.growveg.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=529843

My Plan for My Mom's Yard... It all started with Hugulkultur

This is the collage of proposed plan.

Azaleas, Hostas, Aureolo Hakone Grass, Incrediball Hydrangea, Weeping Norway Spruce and Ferns along with a Rock Edging.

I thought I already posted the state it was in after we moved a bunch of dirt from the pool dig over to regraded and make perimeter beds but maybe not.

It started after I saw a show on Hugulkultur. They talked about re-creating the same environment that happens on the woodland forest to make a wonderful loamy soil. That made me think of my mom's yard which has  two big oak trees with tons of fallen sticks, leaves and such. What better way to make raised perimeter beds! So you can later cardboard, junk mail, garbage (same stuff that goes in compost, but the most important part is the wood. The deader the better.

So I put down cardboard first along back fence. Then covered with sticks and twigs. 

I collected wood all over the yard and they had these great piles of wood and sticks that were already partly decomposed.

More sticks over the leaves again.

More sticks and leaves and branches.

Then the dirt came over from pool excavation.

First pile...

A lot of dirt.

I regraded along the house to 4 feet or more away.

Built up box that protects crawlspace another 4 inches.

Hacked down the bulk of the lilac bushes and stray weed trees.

Old dog kennel is great place for leaf compost.

Landscape Quilts and Painting Trees

After painting this tree and being pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out. Or at least I really like it. I'm not saying it's Art Institute material. I thought I'd look through pictures for more trees. 

The inspiration for this painting was a photograph taken by Heather Lockwood below that I when I printed it on a printer that was running low on blue ink came out much more yellow.

Well apparently, I have a tree fetish  because I sure take a lot of pictures of trees. This is just a sample.

I think this one came from somewhere on the web. I didn't take this one.

 Working on the one below right now. 

This one also came from web.

And so did next one.

This one below is from an art exhibit.

Probably from the web.

But I really think after the one I'm currently working on I have to try this one next!!!!

Here's some from last time I walked around Muir Woods.

My first photo I shot looking up at a tree after seeing Heather's.

I need to figure out how to rotate here.

One more Muir Woods.

Front of our house.

Wow this one would be awesome (from web).

This Picture Inspired Me

I thought we need that in our front yard. It could continue the theme of the dry stream bed from the shady side yard. Plus this old plan for the future used to include an addition that Pat nixed but now that Joe's here he might not be so quick to dismiss. So here's the quick sketch. It's getting late and I can't stop pinning. Pinterest is my crack.....

Late Frost but Early Snow! More Beautiful Fall Pictures First

Tuesday it snowed and it's still on the ground in some places. Wow. Seems awfully early for this. My new leaf blower-vac-shredder has been great for chopping up leaves for leaf mold and compost and overwinter mulch. The tree in the front yard across the street at my mom's has mostly fell but the two in the backyard haven't even started.

Speaking of beautiful fall foliage, I took these pictures along the Woodland trail behind our church on Sunday. I had never even realized there was this little trail back there but the woods were calling me so I wandered out into the woods and found this path.

Peoria is just full of beautiful bluffs and ravines like this.

This one makes me think of the saying, no more perfect view than the one above your head!

Late Frost This Year October 25 vs October 12 or 19

First day I've seen any frost on the plants so I had to snap some pictures. The burgundy glow is always a favorite of mine with frost. The first frost here average date is up for debate. I have seen tables saying anywhere from 12th to 19th for Peoria. The tables that haven't updated to the new hardiness zoning typically say 12 or 14th for Peoria, whereas the sites that changed our hardiness zone from 6a to 5b also changed our average first frost date to 19th. Now one year does not a study make, so this year's 25th date certainly doesn't prove anything by itself but as I have been gardening is it 4 or 5 years now the trend has been 19th or later.

 So many of the perennials are beautiful when they are dusted with frost.