Don't be fooled. Inside this thin coating of sweetness is a fiery core of total insanity.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

First Things

The first thing I did with the new garden was take pictures of the shrubs to try to identify them. I think I have now got IDs on all the shrubs in the foundation bed.

 On the far left is Escallonia, which should have pink flowers in the spring. The shrub on the right is Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Blue Feathers'.


In this picture,  on the left is a tiny prostrate shrub called Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety,' next is a Helianthemum nummularia which flowers pink, and in back of those two is a dwarf blue spruce and another Euonymus fortunei called 'Monce.' At the far back, and very overgrown, is a low-growing Cotoneaster.


The bed needed a good weeding, it was overrun with ornamental strawberries. I also gave the bed a trench edging, to try to keep weeds from the grass from traveling into the bed. At the same time I pruned the Helianthemum and the Escallonia, as well as the Cotoneaster, to get the branches away from the siding on the house.


Some time this fall, I'd like to remove the large Euonymus, and the Cotoneaster. I'd like to replace the Cotoneaster with a Weigela 'Wine & Roses' and the Euonymus with a Forsythia 'Fiesta.' I'd also like to add a Hibiscus x 'Fireball' to the bed, and move the small Euonymus to a different spot. Oh, I also want to take the dwarf spruce out completely, it will undoubtedly get too big very quickly for the spot it's in, so close to the house. I think a Berberis 'Helmond Pillar' will look much better there. One thing all the new shrubs offer is interesting foliage colors, the Berberis and Weigela have reddish foliage, and the Forsythia is variegated green and yellow.