Hi all, We just had a 50' hemlock tree removed from behind our house. We hated to see it go, but it was WAY too close to the house. So.....this has opened up a 30 X 40 foot area to be landscaped. I think I want to remove the numerous saplings and plant with woodland bushes: deciduous azaleas, ??? Maybe some ferns, hakonechloa grass. Who knows? Here are some pix of the area. I know I'll have to improve the soil. Come spring, I'll start dumping coffee grounds & compost on the area.
Sounds lovely! How about some Hosta, Columbine, and Astilbe to go along with those Azaleas and ferns? I can't wait to see what you do with that area!
Thanks Netty. Yes, astilbe & columbine sound good. Maybe some tough leaved hostas. I am trying to stay away from the more tender-leaved ones as they are just food for the deer here. I like the idea of spring ephemerals that will bloom before the trees leaf out, then disappear.
Some lovely little things to plant down this coming oct-nov would be winter aconites, crocuses and Tulipa turkestanica....and of course one of the Galanthus sorts. You may also want to try some wood anemones--they come in some really pleasant colours. Meid, whatever you choose, I just know you will be over the moon with the early colour. Buena suerte.
Thank you Sjoerd! Great suggestions. I am indeed looking forward to this project. The window at my kitchen sink looks out over this area. While doing dishes I am getting lost in gardening ideas.
I have a friend who has a choice hosta dessert bar laid out for all the deers perusal. I think she planted them for herself but the deer are in control... they start on the lightest colored ones first working their way through until only the dark green ones are left. then and only then do they eat those.
Interesting Carolyn. I have noticed they don't seem to bother with the blue tinted ones. I thought it was the toughness of the leaves. They shear off the guacamole colored ones pretty quickly as well as the plain green ones. The green ones wind up looking like a boy with a butch cut, all stems, no leaves.
In our neck of the woods, grass lawns are pretty standard. Only recently are people beginning to question how much energy it takes to keep them up: mowing, watering, fertilizing, raking etc. We have reduced the size of ours. We don't water or feed it. Just mow over the leaves in fall.
The deer here don’t like the quilted hostas grey green color. Mainly because to get that grey green color the leaves have lil tingly hairs covering the whole leaf , prickly in the mouths of a deer. Also I plant hostas with onions and mayapple.. toxic to deer. And in other areas Plantskyyd granuals does it every time. Put it down around the flowers and they never ate any thing….the olfactory receptor in deer is very sensitive and there is a horticultural peppermint spray that works great on ground critters , spiders.. I sprayed all the doors and windows this fall to descourage any creepy crawlers from sneakin in the warmer areas of the house. It works great.
