Sometimes it sure feels like half of what we plant dies. It's probably not 50%, but we sure do have a hard time getting things to stay alive. The weird one is planting 2 of something and one does great and the other dies.
I took a walk around the yard the other morning when I was adding some Miracle Grow to a few plants.
I can't remember what this shrub is called. We planted one on each end of the patio 2 or 3 years ago. One side is doing great, the other is about half the size and not near as full.
the good side: full and lots of leaves
The bad side - sparse leaves and smaller
On the other hand I'm having good luck with daylilies. Planted several 2 years ago and they have grown and are doing great. I have them in several areas of the yard:
These daylilies along the front fence line were just planted this summer, but so far so good. It will be nice when they get big like the one above
This forsythia is new, planted to replace an azalea that died. So far so good
The azalea on the other side of the front patio (which I missed getting a picture of) has been doing great...until the past week or so and now I'm noticing one side of it is brown. It's so frustrating! and these shrubs aren't cheap (but it's been over a year since I planted it)
This whiskey barrel planter really filled out with the petunias! You can't even see the whiskey barrel. Wish I could get hanging baskets to look like that.
I can't remember what this one is called either...barberry? something? It kind of got smashed with dh piling the walkway snow over it, but for the most part has rebounded. It doesn't seem to be liking the 100 degree days too well, but I've been giving it extra water (in addition to what is set up to auto drip from drip lines) and it's perking up a bit now.
This is called "Stairway to Heaven" and it was planted later last summer after the first plant we put in (with first pups ashes) didn't make it. It looked great all spring, had some small flowers, and early summer, but lately the top half has looked dead, yet underneath is still green and seems to be growing. This weekend I trimmed off quite a bit of the dead top part to see if that will help it any. Maybe that's what you are supposed to do? I tried to read up on care of the plant, but couldn't really find anything that said to do that.
This is the 2nd try at a liliac bush. Dh accidentally killed the first one. This one, planted late last summer, is doing well and growing and the trunk is getting big and thick. I'm hoping someday it fills up that whole area.
Just a picture of the river as I was walking into the backyard:
The birdbath dd got me for Mother's Day to replace the one that broke. Having it down here in the backyard, rather than up on our back patio really has seemed to cut down on the number of birds hitting our big windows. Though I really miss being able to look out and watch all the birds in the birdbath. They don't use this one as much, either.
I have lost track of how many trees we have tried planting. The only 2 that have really done well are a couple aspen up near the house. They are huge. I also have a little evergreen tree of some sort that I dug up out in the forest the first summer we lived here, and it’s now about 8 feet tall. A few lilacs are surviving and growing slowly. The ones that were here when we moved here are big now, but it took 20 years.One winter we lost 2 established trees that were here when we bought the house. It got really cold that year for several days and I guess -45 was too much for them lol. One came back from the roots and is now a great big crab apple bush, loaded with crab apples. I have tried replacing the other tree for years with no luck, so this year I went with a dogwood bush. We’ll see if it survives the winter. The growing season is just so short-we have had frost twice in the last week. The soil is bad and doesn’t hold moisture, and these ridiculously hot windy days we have don’t help. We don’t get any rain after June, and no amount of water replaces rain. It’s just a tough place to grow anything.
ReplyDeleteDiane
what area do you live in? Frost already?! The last few mornings it was down to 45, but 100 by afternoon. We have a short growing season here too, I tend to forget that things grow a lot slower here. I planted a dahlia a couple summers ago. I guess they are considered annual in this growing zone. I have no idea what has grown in it's place, LOL. I'll have to post a picture of it.
DeleteI’m southeast of you, at about 5700 ft elevation. We rarely have a frost free month, but we didn’t get frost in July this year! It’s not like this 5 miles away in town, but we are hotter during the day and colder at night.The nights we had frost recently we had been in the 90’s during the day. We moved here over a July 4th weekend and my Dh left the sprinklers running all nite and the yard and sprinklers were frozen. He had me look out the window when I got up and couldn’t even process what I was seeing at first. Once I did I looked at him and said where the f have you moved us to?? I’m used to it now, but it was an adjustment coming from Billings, where it’s not like this at all lol.
Deleteomg - that's funny! Yes, that would be a huge change from Billings, LOL.
DeleteOh, as for what to plant, I try to stick to zone 2. I was looking at stuff this spring and Walmart had nothing hardy in our zone, so I went to Ace. I also make sure stuff is drought tolerant because basically where I am is a high mountain desert. We get very hot in the summer, but very cold in the winter, which makes it tricky. You have much milder winters where you are, and probably more rain (we had 5.14 inches total in 2021, which is less than half of average). This year so far we’ve had just over 6 inches so we have some catching up to to do to reach our 12 inch average, but it’s better than last year at least. We have a weather station which tracks all the quirky things about the weather in this place we call home lol.
DeleteI know two things. Trees should be planted in the fall. And, sometimes fertilizer causes more green than flowers. Of course, all this knowledge could be wrong. The county agent can give you more insight. Mine came to my house and gave me advice. Call the courthouse.
ReplyDeleteWe did plant the 2 maple trees in the fall, but maybe with our harsh winters, winter came too early for the roots to establish. who knows! I told dh for big trees we just need to hire a landscaper or someone from a tree nursery to oversee it.
DeleteTrees planted in the fall don’t do well here, for the exact reason you mentioned. The landscape place we bought a bunch from told us plant as early as you can in the spring, and give them practically nonstop water til the ground freezes-and hope for the best. He also told us to stick to what is native to the area, which here is basically just quaking aspen, cottonwood, and pine. Russian olive also but they have thorns I think.Others might grow, but those give you the best chance of survival.
DeleteThe county agent knows more than all of us. And, he is free for information.
DeleteCrab apple trees and ornamental plum trees would probably do well in your area. They grow well here, but don’t seem to handle anything colder than about -30. The year our plumb tree died, every plum tree out here also died, but at -45 why wouldn’t they lol. That was an awful winter!
ReplyDeleteI'm no help as I have less than 50% success rate. We are losing 30 year old trees now and need a whole overhaul. Your yard/ grounds are lovely.
ReplyDeletethank you :) - that would be devastating to lose 30 year old trees. I just noticed Mrs Neighbor planted some Iris bulbs next to our mailboxes. That will look nice next year.
DeleteI see you have a dry creek bed along the front of your yard. It's very nice! Is it just for decoration or does it handle water run-off from your driveway? Your place is nicely landscaped. I don't have any advice about plants. I've lost a lot of various types of flowers and shrubs over the years even though I closely followed the planting instructions. I did plant 5 Crabapple trees three years ago and they seem to be doing good. Knock on wood.
ReplyDeleteThe dry creek is just for decoration. I'll have to look into crabapple trees. I'm not sure I even know what one looks like!
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