Editing.

First, there's a poll on the sidebar. I'd like to know how many people are reading my blog. It's just a curiosity thing, certainly not scientific at all.
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On the north side of the house, I planted 18 Carolina Cherry Laurel seedlings last fall. Surprisingly, in little sun and frozen ground, they've all survived, I think. I spaced them 18" apart, knowing that was too close at the time. I'll need to remove every other one soon and replant them elsewhere in the yard. As an evergreen, they'll work nicely around the borders of the backyard eventually reaching the height of small trees if I let them. Instead, I'll pinch and snip and force them to branch out into shorter, stockier plants.



A few feet away, I planted cuttings that were rooted from Carrie's Elaeagnus. They're in the Neighbor's corner. The plants I took cuttings from were easily 12' tall and possibly just as wide. They were huge. They're too large for the space I have them in for sure. They'll also be moved to the edges of the backyard, possibly in front of the dead oak tree as suggested by Tim from Atlanta.



The silvery foliage should play nicely with the vitex I recently installed. That particular plant has now been moved to three different locations since I purchased it last spring. It now has a full sun site and should bloom profusely for years.



Also in the Corner, I have another Leyland Cypress that will find a home around the edges of the backyard. It was originally installed in an attempt to block the view of a bomb shelter and garage that belongs to my peering neighbor, Cat. She was best friends with the woman that gardened here for 40 years. She's got mixed feelings over what I've done to the yard so far.



There's a pyracantha near the upper meadow that needs a new home too.



I've already moved two of these from shady spots along the top edge of the gully. I will probably transplant it soon into the same area near the dead oak tree.



Several rooted gardenias need a new home. I'm currently thinking about the hill along the street between the ancient oak tree and the dying red dogwood. I think a hedge of gardenia would be a nice way to block some street noise while providing for a more private front yard. It's a shady area in summer, with very little direct sun.

Two pampas grasses need to find a permanent home somewhere in the yard. One is currently behind the swing, just in front of the dead oak tree. I'm not crazy about these grasses, but I do love the plumes. Both have been moved multiple times and have never put down enough roots to make transplanting a problem. I was worried they wouldn't survive, but sure enough, there's new growth on both. As they grow very large and continue to spread, I need to give them a lot of room.



Along the end of the driveway, there are three cuttings of Snowball viburnum that survived the winter. I'll have to find new homes for them.



I've already moved the one that was along the edge of the gully, the parent plant for these three cuttings. Again, lots of space will be needed for these large shrubs.



I keep finding myself drawn to shrubs and plants that mature into large specimens. I blame the towering trees in the backyard. Trying to place a miniature shrub into a space that's currently framed by 100' tall oaks is not the easiest thing to do. Many plants will be overwhelmed by the scale of these trees. And yet, I still need space to plant the flowers I'm growing from seed.

One image I keep returning to for inspiration can be found on a blog header from my sidebar. I'm not unrealistic. I know that it will take years to achieve the look I want in my backyard. It's a waiting game. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

It's 45 degrees. Rain will be coming again this afternoon, sometimes heavy. On Sunday morning, I'll start moving the plants I listed above.

A Good Morning.

It's been raining now for more than 36 hours. It's just a light drizzle mostly so there hasn't been much in the way of accumulation. It's in the low 70s and cloudy, of course. Tomorrow, we should see some sun.

In the "meadow", I tossed out lots of chaff from various collected seeds. The red clover I scattered a couple days ago is starting to germinate.



I started the morning by having a cup of coffee. Then I headed to the north side of the house. I dug out three of the Leyland Cypress trees I had planted last year. They'll get way too large for this area. I moved them to behind the future patio space. I want to block a few yard lights that shine into my bedroom windows.



When I move established plants, I use my Dad's method. He taught me how to plant tomatoes this way. Dig a hole. Fill it with water. Dig another hole. Fill it with water, repeat and refill all the holes with water at least twice. Even though we've had two days of rain, the soil is dry a couple inches down. I did the same thing when I planted the 16 Carolina cherry laurels along the wall. I staggered them a bit and didn't get a straight line. They'll need a good bit of pruning in a couple years to keep them in check, but they bloom in spring and provide food for birds. Plus, they're evergreen. Hopefully they'll block the nosy bitty and the duplex next door.



You can barely see them. I wintersowed the seeds last October.



Next, I worked on some of the things at the end of the driveway, including more $1 clearance plants. Most of this was planted in the perennial bed. I'm more interested in collecting seeds than what they look like this year.



I dug up three knockout roses from the shrub island. I planted them on the slope behind the tomato patch, just in front of my new blueberry bushes. I cut them back hard and will not be disappointed if they don't make it. Consider this my ode to freeway on-ramps.



I gathered 3 butterfly bushes from the edges of the woods, mainly those that had blooms I really liked, and put them where I had the roses. They got cut back hard too. Next spring, I'll cut them all back to the ground to regrow at the same rate.



Around the other side of the fig, I planted several Turn of the Century hibiscus cuttings that were rooted several months ago. A couple of white ones were tossed into the mix as well. I can't wait for next spring.



I planted out three rooted vitex cuttings too. A couple went into the crape myrtle bed where lots of tiny echinacea seedlings have popped up. Another went on the slope just down from the blueberries.



Yesterday, I cleaned the cloning machine and refilled it. It was back up to the right temperature this morning, so I made 7 cuttings of pineapple salvia. Over the winter, I'll turn those 7 cuttings into about 35 more. I have a plan.



I dumped the soil from the sweet potato vine planter by the basement door. Not a bad harvest. I'll dry and store these tubers to create new plants next year. The white ones are from the black plants. The red ones are from the green plants. It's the opposite of what I would expect.



Yesterday on my way back from the library, I collected a few seed pods from the datura I got my original seeds from. They're drying in the basement too.



And finally. Yes, finally...the laminate for the kitchen counters arrived. Kim called me yesterday to let me know I could pick it up as soon as they checked it in. I brought it home at lunch and laid it face down on the dining room floor. I know my cat, but more importantly, I don't want to ruin the surprise.



Wednesday and Thursday are my days off this week. I'm planning to work in the kitchen, mostly. The plan is to finish the beadboard and as much of the molding as possible. I'd like to be ready to install the laminate by the weekend. If the rain continues overnight, I'll probably plant a few more things from the end of the driveway. I really need to get the snowball viburnums in the ground this week if I expect them to survive the winter.

I almost forgot the white crape myrtle I planted too. It's very close to the fig, but I have an idea to move the fig in the spring. I think it would do better with more sun.

In case you haven't figured it out, the leg is doing fine these days. It's a little stiff in the mornings, and late at night if I've been on it for a while. I'd say it's at least 97%.

Random bits

It drizzled most of the day yesterday. More rain in the forecast for today. It's 70 degrees and cloudy. The mosquitoes think they own the whole yard. We got less than 1/16" total precipitation. The soil is still dry in many parts of the yard.



I really like this variegated lantana. It finally started performing a week ago. Guess it does like the heat. I'll take cuttings this fall in case it doesn't return next spring.



Purple Althea.



White Althea. I need to remember to tag these. I plan to move the white ones to the white bed this fall.



I'm very disappointed with the white bed. It's not what I had envisioned at all. Very dry, hot, and needs constant attention. That'll change next year.



Gomphocarpus, aka Hairy Balls, is budding. I might get a few seeds. I think it's too late though.



The lavender crepe myrtle is budding too. I didn't expect blooms this year after moving it just a month or so ago.



Red Texas Star hibiscus is about a week away from blooming too. These were wintersown. I moved them into the shrub island in the back yard. They get more sun here.



What am I going to do with 16 Carolina Cherry Laurel seedlings? These things get up to 30' tall. Anyone want some? They make a great privacy hedge blocking out small skyscrapers.



Butterfly bushes, white crepe myrtles, figs, sweetshrub, and Confederate Rose. All were wintersown or grown from cuttings (figs). I'm giving away most of these to people around here. I can't use them. I'll take more fig cuttings this winter for next year's plant sale. The forsythia will be planted around the edge of the backyard this fall. I just need to clear out more of the periwinkle first.



Got plans for today. We'll see if I manage to get it all done.

Things Change

First off, let me thank FlowerLady for the new quote that I am using in my profile. It struck a nerve when I read it over at her blog a few days ago. I really thought it was quite poignant.

Originally I had planned a trip to Virgina today to help a friend with some work. Those plans changed early this morning so I was left wandering around the yard looking for something to do. I had asked advice on GardenWeb earlier in the week about my backyard. With the new arbor being constructed, I found that I had inadvertently created an axis from the street terminating at the Belle of Georgia peach tree I planted this spring. I wasn't too happy with the look.



I got lots of feedback and some great ideas. People love to give you suggestions when they don't have to lift a finger to dig a hole. Speaking of holes, I began transplanting some shrubs from various parts of the yard. They're all small, but they grow fast, especially given more sun than they were getting in their previous locations.

When I dig here, I hit stone a few inches down. I use all this stone to create my borders around the beds. This one will be no different.



Even a small hole 12" deep and 24" wide will turn up a lot of rock.



I've already started laying these stones along the back side of the driveway bed I built in March.



With a can of orange paint from my model making days, I laid out what I thought to be a nice shape. I'll be filling it with shrubs to provide some privacy through the arbor into the backyard. Today, I transplanted a white spirea, two loropetalum shrubs that were in poor sun exposure spots, two cherry laurels I started from seed this winter, and 5 rooted rose cuttings. These cuttings were broken from various roses when we received our first shipment in March. I brought them home instead of throwing them away. Almost a dozen cuttings were stuck. These 5 survived and rooted easily. They weren't planted when I took this photo, but I've since sprayed the grass with RoundUp and dug up several more rocks for the edge. I'm only using chemicals here because of the centipede and bermuda grass in the lawn. It's nearly impossible to kill using my normal half-baked lasagna method.



I'll get some cardboard from the store on Wednesday, pick up some leaf mulch from the landfill, and finalize the shape. Overnight, I should see some results from the spray.

While walking around this morning, there were several things I noticed.

I have a foxglove that's sending up a stalk.


Coreopsis Full Moon is about to bloom.


Lemon Mint Bee Balm is coming back nicely from the hack job I did on it a few weeks ago.


Four O'Clocks and KnockOut roses are the same color.


A brugmansia has several flower buds.


The Green Zebra tomato was picked and eaten with cucumbers my parents brought.


Butternut squash gets big.


Yellow squash gets even bigger.


Cucumbers in my own garden are coming on nicely.


The first mammoth sunflower has bloomed. Castor beans and cherry tomatoes in front.


The morning glory at the chimney is starting to climb the new trellis.


The lavender crape myrtle is happy again.


Wintersown Sea Holly is blooming, a year ahead of schedule.


So is the Queen Anne's lace.


I spent some time early this morning pulling weeds in the perennial bed. In the bare spots, I planted more squash with nasturtiums. I sowed some beans and cucumbers in various areas, too. I'd like to get two harvests this year. If we don't get some rain soon, I'll have to water the potager. Right now, only the perennial bed has needed water. I gave it an hour with the sprinkler on Saturday, and another hour today. It's 84 and sunny with no rain in the forecast until Friday evening.

It's been a long day. I'm about ready to call it quits and cook some squash and corn for dinner. Silver Queen from my parents' garden is in the crisper drawer. It's gonna be delicious.