The oldest section of our garden has gotten old and ratty-looking.
This is from August of 2009 where it is somewhat controlled:
This is from July of 2010 and everything is taking over
Dwayne says everything is going. I told him not to touch my fern peonies, clematis or trillium.
I have two different clematis climbing two different areas. One is on our metal globe structure and includes my Pope John Paul II clematis that I love (the light one in the photo).
I need to find out if I can find more to plant along the fenceline, since I don’t know how successful a transplant would be. It is really too late to transplant them now since they are starting to grow. And I’m not sure we would get enough root structure since these have been in this spot for several years and may have roots down to four feet deep. We aren’t moving everything just yet, so we can’t dig that far down.
The other area of clematis has already had one change.
The arbor took one too many wind storms so we took that down last year and moved our butterfly house and pole to the spot. We also put up a metal trellis, but the whole set up doesn’t really work for us, so we will probably be trying to move these next year, too. I like the way these two colors work together, too.
Last week Dwayne started the transformation.
He left my fern peonies along with his sedum (I think it is Autumn Blaze) as well as the yuccas. The little green growth by the stump is a stokes aster and Dwayne seems content to leave it and it’s sibling in place. They are pretty nice plants and the butterflies and bees love them, so I am happy to hear that.
My Knock-out rose didn’t have any rootball to it so it didn’t make it. I’ll have to find another one to add to my already-too-large rose collection! The goldenrod gets dug up along with the (not so) obedient plant. And an old aster that isn’t doing so well is getting the heave-ho, too.
That is all that got dug up last week. Dwayne has his eye on more digging this week, although Mother Nature may keep him out of the garden with some showers and storms on his days off. Although, I am getting into the restructuring, too. I am digging up a bunch of irises this week to take to the Benton County Master Gardener’s Extravaganza in Belle Plaine this weekend. (It’s at the First Lutheran Church on Saturday from 8 to Noon-ish if you want to head out there). At least they will be going to some good homes, since I don’t have a good place to move them. I’ll hit other places plant sales next year!
Dig it!