The renovation on the Middle Gate placed some emphasis on the need to rethink the hallway and Bonsai Gallery.
The two large Spirea that had been in this location for many years were in need of some care.
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| 2024 |
Both had lost their globe like shape, a characteristic that is common to Spirea within their first few of years. However, I have learned that over time they tend to be come a bit thinned out with very little growth at the core. Unfortunately, the one on the left was in really bad shape after I trimmed it out. Once bucketed, I gave it to a neighbor.
The one on the right has much more potential. It thinned out considerably since last year, but with more sun and some time to develop new growth from the core, it might rejuvenate itself in a couple years.
I then began to remove all of the peastone from the plant bed with the intention of adding mulch at the end of this project.
This will prove more beneficial for all of the shrubs and help with water/soil management. I will eventually wash clean all the peastone removed and spread it throughout the hallway at a later date.
The Golden Globe Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Gold Globe') in the middle was planted in this location in 2017. It has actually done well and finally has a nice globe shape. However, when it was planted, there were already two spirea here, so it was planted between them, but not necessarily in the middle of the hallway.
Moving it slightly to the right placed it in the center of the new bed.
I then planted two new Compact Korean Azalea (Azalea yedoense var. poukhanese 'Compata') on either side to complete the plantings along the bed.
These two shrubs should grow to 3' tall and wide, perfect for the narrow hall bed. The colors of the leaves are also darker than the Arborvitae, adding some differentiation to the plantings. They will also produce a lilac-purple flower mid spring.
I also relocated the two center bonsai stands to equally distribute all four along the bed. Together with the shrubs there now exists a more balanced placement of these features.
The conner by the garage door and a space near the gate entrance needed something to hide the open view of the foundation, so I planted Astilbe 'Vision in Pink" (Astilbe chinensis) at each end. The pinkish flowers of these Astilbe will add some color differentiation to the bed.
The final touch was adding a lay-flat border guard to keep peastone out of the bed.
With the mulch added, the new bonsai gallery looks wonderful. It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort.
