Deer Bed Done

On Friday nite, Jeff used a borrowed 50 year old rototiller to till up the Deer bed. It was an old machine and he wouldn't use the stabilizer bar and it took him hours. He was wet with sweat from head to toe when he finally came in around 8:00pm. 

Saturday I was ready to go. The morning was hot and thickly humid. Normal, for August in the midwest. I checked the radar and the rain was still in Iowa, I had a few hours to get this done!

9:24am

The digging begins!

9:44am 

The very first tree planted.

Laid down a layer of unfinished compost. 

Nick working on the 3rd hole. 

Nick

10:15am

sun is still shining, but the clouds are closing in to the west and there was no breeze at all

The border's bones are in and I'm alone, Nick left for haircut.

11:07am

less sun now. Thunder rumbles to the north and every now and again, a cool breeze that smelled like rain could be felt 

Dug out the Winterberry hollies that were way too close to the evergreens and placed them in the Deer bed, along with the Ninebark, and two hunks of 'Hamlen' that were growing under the climbing rose. 

11:37am

No sun now. Humidity is soaring. Thunder is constant, in the background.

The last of the trees and shrubs are in. 

The puppy comes to visit and interrupts my progress!

That is not blue sky behind the girls, it is storm clouds!!

The rain began soon after this was taken.

Big fat drops plopped on us. 

Big fat soft rain drops fell heavy on my newly planted border for an hour. 

25 "rescued" plants from the garden center + 5 transplanted from my existing borders= 28 plants in 3 hours.

Not a bad day's work for a morning!

Plant list for Deer Bed:

1 Honey Locust 'Sunburst'

3 Potentilla 'McKay's White'

Pennisetum 'Fountain Grass'

Miscanthus sinensis 'Flame Grass'

Miscanthus sinensis 'Silberfeder'

2 Lilac, 'Miss Kim' standards

2  Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Penstemon, 'Pina Colada'

2 Artemesia 'Silver Brocade'

3 Salvia 'Sensation Rose'

Russian Sage (no variety listed)

Catmint 'Blue Wonder'

Lamb's Ears 'Helen von Stein'

Coreopsis, 'American Dream'

3 Blue Fescue 'Elijah Blue'

Hardy Geranium, 'Karmina'

2 Lupine, 'Popsicle Mix'

2 Winterberry holly, 'Red Sprite'

Ninebark, 'Coppertina'

Pennisetum, 'Hameln'

Salvia, 'Purple Rain' (a little iffy on this guy, I am pushing the zone limits on this one, but if it works, it is spectacular in the garden! Different than the typical salvia, so I am hoping it works)

Plants that I have and need to divide and add to Deer Bed:

Iris siberica, 'Caesar's Brother'

Bee balm- Raspberry Wine and Blue Stockings

Corepsis 'Zagreb'

Shasta daisy no variety known

anemone robustissima

Plants (bulbs) I plan to purchase

Allium moly

grape hyacinth

crocus

This has been quite a project. I got almost the entire family involved. Cass didn't really help, but that's ok, she kept the kitchen clean.

The heavens have opened up and rain is pouring all over our new deer bed, driving the fertilizer into the ground and giving my plants the best shot to survive the harsh winter and the late planting. 

All that's left is the picture taking (easy, I got that one), and the mulching, (a little more difficult since we don't have the pick-up truck any longer)...

Visitors and Julie

This morning in the yard, the tree swallows were absolutely swarming by the dozens. They fly in formation, then suddenly split up and gobble mosquitoes. Thank you, winged citizens of my yard.
We have hawks and sparrows and goldfinches and robins and bluebirds and purple finches. I want wrens and cardinals and titmouse and other song birds. I also want straight hair that isn't frizzy, as long as we're wishing.
The good news is, this morning I heard a wren in my yard! I grabbed the camera and learned a lesson.

Wrens are fast. I had my fast lens on, but it was no match for this guy.

Photo is blurry, but I was so thrilled with the sighting, I had to post it!

We have several families of robins. These moms are so busy, constantly bringing worms to a nest full of squawking babies.

everybody in the pool!!

One of the pairs of purple finch that we see.

 The other mama robin.

This is a bad guy. European house sparrow

Well, guess what?? I called Julie, the number you call to have the utilities marked in the yard before you dig. The utilities run right thru where I want my deer bed. So, now what? I have to figure out if I can still plant here, just not put a tree where the lines are. I remember the day they put these lines in. They wanted to go right down the middle of the yard, but the neighbor guy came out and said, you better make them move those to the side, you might want to plant there.
Great. Thanks, neighbor.
But you can see the progress the RoundUp is making. I will not be stopped! I will figure this out!

Hard work, today, ya'll!!

Nobody says ya'll, around here. 'Cept me. I still like it and it sounds darn friendly. More so than the "you guys" we normally use.
Anyways....Today I got to work on the bed.

 I never could decide-shape the bed along the eye of sight or across?? So, I compromised. The bed is at an angle, with the far end extending away, at a 45* angle. I dragged all the big components out there in my yard cart circa 1867. I placed them in the area, without any direction or boundary. Starting with the Honey Locust 'Sunburst', to anchor the whole thing. Looks far away, doesn't it?
Another purpose of this bed is to be another "stepping stone" for the cardinals to come into my yard. I can hear them, back in those trees, but they are small and skittish and without tree cover, they won't risk the trip to my yard, because of the hawks. Planting another shade tree out there increases the chances we'll see song birds at our feeder, this winter.
I moved things around until I liked where they where. I consulted with Laurrie about the Miss Kim standards. My first reaction to these weirdo trees was yuck. Another addition to the Impervious Pile of Grass, but Laurrie suggested I try them, underplanting them with full shrubs, to try to take away the formal feel of the standard form. The formality of a standard pruned lilac felt out of place in my rural landscape, but since they were free and they were here, she suggested I plant them and forget about the design clashes.
I just love sensible bloggers like her!
After much moving and schlepping, this is what I liked:

The fountain grass says 5-6 feet tall, I bookmarked the bed with tall grass on either side. 

The Potentilla is McKay's White, and I will keep this guy pruned down to a pillow shape that stays 2' tall.

Another reason I angled the bed away from the house is to mind the shade the tree will eventually cast. Positioning it this way, the shade will fall to the east, but the plants are to the northeast.

 Anyways, the Honey Locust doesn't cast a dense shade because the leaves are so small. 

Once I was happy with the way things looked, I got out the 100' extension cord and laid it out around the plants. I was careful to make a simple shape, one that could easily be mowed around with the rider.   I brought all the shrubs and trees back up to the storage area, (the deck), and I was ready to start killing. 

note: organically minded souls should look away now.

Information about my enemy:

from the University of Minnesota Extension site: Rhizomes (underground stems) are yellow to white, 1/8" in diameter, with distinct joints or nodes every inch or so. Each node is capable of producing fibrous roots, and sending a new blade of grass through the soil. The creeping rhizomes are so tough they can grow through a potato tuber, or push up through asphalt pavement. If left to grow, they will form a dense mat 4" thick in the upper part of the soil. One plant can produce 300 feet of rhizomes each year. Never use a rototiller where quackgrass is growing, because it amounts to propagating thousands of new plants from the chopped up rhizomes.  The most effective way to eradicate quackgrass is by using a herbicide that contains glyphosate (Monsanto Roundup). It should be applied when there is no wind and when there will be no rain for 48 hours. The plant must be green and actively growing for best results. Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide that will kill almost any green plant it contacts, and also can injure or kill woody plants. It is important to apply glyphosate only to the plants you want to eradicate. One problem with using glyphosate on quackgrass is that up to 95% of the lateral buds on the rhizomes are dormant even though the plant is actively growing. Since herbicides are translocated from the leaves to actively growing plant tissue, after about 7 days the glyphosate degrades and the dormant lateral buds will start to grow new shoots. It may take more than one application to completely eradicate quackgrass.

I purchased the RoundUp concentrate and carefully mixed it in a gallon sprayer and went to battle. Today was a hot day with zero wind, perfect for using the grass killer. I carefully sprayed the entire area inside the extension cord that marked my bed to be. Tomorrow, I will do it again, ensuring that I got it all.
I also dragged the awful Norway Maples to the burn pile, pulled a 5 gal bucket of quackgrass out of the split rail fence bed.
In the end, it was 4 hours of work and right now, there's almost nothing to show for it!
I did plant things, today!
Pink Champagne Clematis:

planted on the split rail fence, Type 2 pruning class

Daylily, Edge Ahead

These were more "rescued" plants. After 2 weeks in my care, they looked alot better than when I pulled them out of the garden center. 

Time to go in, Gracie. Looks like you need a drink. I KNOW I do, ya'll!!

New 'puter

hard to be patient...waiting for Best Buy to email me and tell me it's arrived, my anniversary present. 

If you saw the way I have to upload photos for a post now, you'd laugh, I'm sure. It's pretty prehistoric as the current work computer has no memory card slot. Sheesh. 

My husband has helped so much, this season.

Another garbage can of manure arrived, along with a pile of chopped and dried corn stalks and a bag of peat and composted rice hulls. He took those out to the Impervious Pile of Grass yesterday and began the tremendously awful job of turning it, incorporating the greens with the browns. I have to return the manure bucket to Ronda, hopefully she'll bring it back full again! 

Soon, I will have a lot of compost for my deer resistant bed. 

**side note: I am still torn as to where to plant this new border. I am now thinking of creating a false corner bed, bringing the back of the yard visually closer?? **

This is the Double Decker, viewed from the top. Looks like a mum. 

The plans for the Deer bed are still trying to move ahead, but with 100* heat forecasted, I didn't want to try to do it while I still have garden centers open. With much research, I decided to go with blue and scented plants. Blue fescue, upright sedum, Yarrow, 'Moonshine', artemesia, 'Lace Brocade', Salvia plumosa, Lupinus 'Russell Hybrids', Penstemon, 'Hidcote Pink', Flame Grass, and other ornamental grasses. If you have any doubts about the deer resistance of any of those, I would very much like to hear your experience! I will also be moving some threadleaf corepsis, shasta daisies, and some monarda. I also have a Ninebark and 2 winterberry hollies, and 2 Ivory Halo dogwood that need to be moved from their current places. I also have a Blue Boy and Blue Girl holly, but every winter they struggle to survive, so I might just pitch them. I will be ordering the allium Moly that I fell in love with on Zoey's blog: Check the second photo in this post!

There is a tremendous heat wave coming! They are all over the news, just like the snowstorms, they warn of imminent doom!  One thing I know for sure, we are going to burn up the well pump, if we don't get some rain, soon! Every day, I am walking the yard, noticing signs of stress, especially in the new trees we've planted. I just set the hose near the newly planted tree, set at a trickle. After a few hours, the ground is soaking and the tree is sitting up straight again and I move on to the next one. I don't hear the pump running, but I know it must be, although well water is sorta new to us, having always been city folks. 

Have you been watching the USA Women's soccer?? Hubby is an avid sports fan and watches whatever sport is on and has now got me hooked on this women's soccer team. I have never watched soccer in my life, other than the handful of games Little Darling played in elementary school. The USA women play Japan on Sunday for the championship. These women are in tremendous shape and the dedication is admirable. If you get the opportunity, check in on them on Sunday. Even the announcers have a deep respect for these women, and they are funny to listen to!

New Border, Deer

I am having quite a time trying to decide where to place the new deer resistant bed. I have a long stretch of unoccupied land, uninterrupted, back to the tree line that separates us from our friendly neighbors. I got out the orange utility extension cord and started moving it around the yard. I am sure the neighbors next door think I am nuts, but I really don't care.
I looked at pictures of gardens online that I love and have become a fan of Gertrude Jekyll. Her philosophy says to place flower borders perpendicular to the line of site.

{Photographs: © Country Life Picture Library, from Gertrude Jekyll and the Country House Garden by 

Judith B. Tankard, Rizzoli New York, 2011 }

That goes against my instinct, so it's probably correct. I have already broken that rule once, right off the back porch, so I will try to adjust it, doing things correctly from now on.