Gardening Thoughts

I wasn't nearly as productive today as I wanted to be. I just can't seem to shake this cold. I finally broke down and bought some Loratidine (Claritin) as I'm beginning to think I might be developing seasonal allergies. Yuck! On top of that, I've got a wicked case of poison ivy. Have I mentioned that nearly all vines are evil and should be destroyed? I hate vines and the damage they cause trees. I approach vines with a vehemence usually reserved for a very select, very few co-workers. ; ) About the only vine I can tolerate is the English Ivy growing on the hillside outside my door. It seems to know its place and limits itself to the woody areas. Oh, or maybe that's just because of my incessantly trampling on it as I manically garden.

I did manage to get my "giant, old, hollow stump" bed planted. This was such an eyesore when I moved in a few years ago. My first full spring/summer here, I sawed, chopped and chiseled out most of the remaining center of the stump, filled it in with rocks (of which there is quite an abundance here in Pennsylvania!), play sand and marvelous garden soil. My impatiens did fabulously. My caladium did not. Not enough sun, I believe. This year I've once again opted for impatiens (hey, they're easy!) but with coleus (hopefully a little more shade-tolerant) and a lovely torenia, a favorite flower.


Here's the finished product, which I'll show you again in the full bloom of summer.




I also pulled the weeds from my cut-flower bed, raked the rock garden area and lugged the big rocks near it. Only another couple or few days. Hopefully, I'll be all done by the time of the big complex garden contest.

When I moved here in August of 2003, I brought my piddly couple of flower boxes, which hadn't fared well during my summer vacation, and settled in. The sewer runs directly behind my end of my building...don't worry, it's not as grizzly as it sounds. To my left, outside my door, runs Stony Creek, which lives up to its name. I can listen to it babble along as I fall asleep, if I choose. To the right is a hillside of about a 60-65 degree incline rising two full stories above me. My (second story) bathroom window is still below the crest of the hill. Sadie loves it up there when I let her go off-lead. Sometimes too much!

There was a sewer issue before I moved in that August which meant the heavy brush I'd seen when I viewed the apartment had been knocked down to allow heavy machinery and trucks access to the sewer line, which runs in a direct line from my 'front' steps. It sounds terrible but, really, it was a blessing! With the amount of labor that would have been involved for me to clear the way, even with a Ditch Witch, I probably never would have. A moldy basement apartment a month or so later meant all the foundation on my half of the building was exposed and waterproofed. (I dare not consider what horrible chemicals might have been used and are presently leaching into the soil!) This meant the jungle of scrubby undergrowth to the right of my steps was also cleared out. They didn't do nearly as good a job moving the soil back in place and didn't even pretend to grade it. No, I got to do all that, with hand tools, the following spring.

The removal of the screening greenery exposed a scene I never would have imagined. That spring, I discovered a marvel. Daffodils in clumps, trees naturally downed at the most appealing angles. Thickets of boxwood, hosta, a small, medium-green plant which likes moist areas (it completely blankets the opposite (much lower) stream bank) and has small, yellow, buttercup-like flowers. I was told it was a marshmallow plant but that seems not to be the case as I've searched for it and it's nowhere to be found on the internet under that name. Hey, if anybody knows what this flower might be, please let me know? That first spring, I started naturalizing plants into that hillside...azaleas, hydrangea, hosta, astilbe, daffodils of different varieties.


I continue working on the hillside; planting ferns, carnations and more azalea to come this year. I would love nothing better than to see a surprising carpet of color when one turns the corner to my apartment. It will continue all spring, starting with the daffodils, the muscari, lily of the valley, azalea, ferns, hydrangea...blanketing the entire hillside. Maybe I'll get see it eventually. ::happy sigh::

You'll be happy to know these are the rocks I moved from this asthetically challenged placement in preparation for a partial interment in the rock garden. I guess I was in a particularly kitschy when I decided on this arrangement.

I need more azaleas. I'd like some unusual colors...deep reds and oranges...but will probably settle for whatever they have on sale for 50% off following Mother's Day. Hey, I'm probably only going to be here another two or three years and azaleas aren't cheap! Tomorrow is the rock garden, maybe touch up a few containers that could use a little more spice. Some dahlias. Some gerber daisies. It's also time to plant my cut-flower garden. I have the seeds all ready to go...zinnias, Mexican sunflower, Texas bluebonnet, nasturtium, poppy, Four O'Clocks, larkspur, cosmos. I will not be planting sweet peas in that bed this year. They took over everything last year and didn't produce a single flower! I think I'll just throw the leftover seeds down the creek bank and let God gorw them if She wants to.

I'll certainly keep you posted, whether you like it or not. A new grandmother with a garden. It doesn't get any worse.