Tuesday, June 10, 2014

After 5 years - SUCCESS!

Back in 2009, I hankered after a couple of curved beds about 10 feet off the driveway turnaround.

Here's pics of that ongoing project for the 1st 5 years:

2009 - original lasagna bed development
2010 - 2 Robinson crabapple trees, lavenders, agastache, catmint & annuals
2011 - agastache, salvia, catmint and annuals in pots
2012 - ravaging deer so only agastache, catmint
2013 - pretty much the same as 2012, but add a drought to that, sparse foliage on trees and my debilitating illness


Then we were hit with the hardest, longest, coldest winter that started before Thanksgiving and went well into April.  There was a lot of winter kill.  No agastache, lavender, butterfly bush or mum made it out alive.  The crab bed sported only catmint (what a trooper!), sedum, turf lily and a lone pink perennial salvia.  Oh, and the 2 crabapples.

But the crabapples turned trumps for sure.  Lots (and I mean LOTS) of rain in April & May (and now June).  Both trees bloomed beautifully!  And the canopies filled in at last.  Full, dense and gorgeously colored dark green and bronze.  And you know what else they grew?

SHADE!  Lots of SHADE!  At last!!  What I'd originally envisioned for that bed has been realized.

Here it is, readers.  The 2014 crabapple SHADE bed:  (Click to ENLARGE)


Instead of annuals, the bed now sports hostas, ferns, daylillis, hucheras, columbine and burgandy ajuga as well as the existing turf lily border (back), Walker's Low catmint, perennial pink salvia and autumn joy sedums.  There's some room left for a couple of small astilbe yet, too.  There are a few annuals in the front pots and about a dozen various coleus for a bit of shady color. 

I can't tell you how pleased I am at how this has turned out.  I'm really going to enjoy watching this fill in over the season. The trees are lush and laden with crabapples, the catmint is taking the increased shade well and (*knock wood*) so far the dear haven't bothered anything.  Well, luck AND the 'salad dressing' I've been spraying on the plants. *heh*

====== P.S.  update:

The deer really seem to LIKE the salad dressing.  :-(


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6 comments:

  1. Bag End Gardener6/10/2014 5:44 PM

    Aren't those trees just a picture? No wonder you are pleased :}

    Love the way you have shown the progression with the photo montage (one day I might 'borrow' that device).

    Fingers crossed the vermin continue to dislike chilli dressing.

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    1. Kris6/12/2014 10:17 AM

      Hey dear, I certainly didn't invent montage. It's finding all the old pics that's the real bear. It keeps raining and washing off the spray. :-(

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  2. Sue6/11/2014 6:37 PM

    Just love the progression of the beds! It's spectacular. You should be very proud!
    :)

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    Replies
    1. Kris6/12/2014 10:18 AM

      Proud? You bet. Tired? Oh my lordy yes..... Loving the view - priceless. It's easy to grow flowers. You can have instant gratification. But growing SHADE. Now that's some commitment! :-D

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  3. gld6/13/2014 8:05 AM

    Great success! I love the finished (almost) bed. Like the new header pics too.

    We are still getting almost daily showers here.

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    Replies
    1. Kris6/13/2014 2:56 PM

      Thanks, Glenda. And thanks for noticing my new banner. It's been up for months, but you're the first to comment. I like swapping out the pics and you can see things progress even without a pertinent post. We're getting rain - but just enough to keep things wet, not measurable in the rain gauge.

      Delete

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