"The Litynski”

I bought this Icebreaker Korean Fir (Abies koreana 'Ice Breaker') last week, a very unusual dwarf evergreen.

It has two-toned needles that curve up and around their stems to expose a bright white, waxy underside of the needle.

I had never seen a plant like it and it immediately caught my attention (as did it’s steep price). I liked that it is a slow grower and will keep a found shape until it becomes a mature cone shape. However, that will take at least 10 or more years, and I will probably be long dead and composted into the garden by the time it reaches that point.

It likes a sun-shade mix, so it's being placed on the sunny side of the Zen Garden. Hopefully the light it receives in the morning and late afternoon will suffice. It will only grow 2-4 inches a year and reach a height of 3' H x 3’ W, but that will take many years.

To make room for the Fir, I moved the Coral Bells (Heuchera Hybrid 'Fire Alarm') I recently planted. It didn't look quite right where I planted it, so I moved it close to the Yukimi Lantern at the other end of the garden. Originally I had a Hosta next to the lantern, but the damage from rabbits this year was substantial, so it was time for something new in this location.

Once transplanted, the Coral Bells looked more upright and added some new color to this area of the garden. So far, I am happy with the change.

In the meantime, the Icebreaker Korean Fir looks fantastic in the spot where the Coral Bells had once been and will add some new interest to the garden.

The tree was so special, I decided it needed a name. I decided to name it after a friend and colleague from work. Needless to say, it was a difficult school year, and having someone who could make those difficulties easier to manage helped immensely. An invite was sent and accepted to help plant the tree and with my friend's approval, I named the tree in her honor. We now call it “The Litynski.” 

Being a garden nerd, I figured naming the tree after my friend was a good way to show my appreciation and gratitude. I also thought it would be therapeutic for both of us to welcome a new spring and summer season by bringing a bit more beauty into our lives.

Planting it together was a wonderful experience. When we finished, “The Litynski” looked fantastic.

The late afternoon light really accentuated the appearance and brought out the bright color of the needles.

It is without a doubt one of the most interesting plants in the garden.

I am so glad I made the purchase, and that I had the opportunity to welcome a friend into my garden world and show my thanks.

The garden, and I, will never be the same again.

Little Touches

I added some new additions and little touches with new plants this week.  

First, I started with a Bleeding Hearts (Heliopsis hellianthoides var. scabra "Bleeding Hearts') just to the right of Guanyin. 

I like the color of this plant, a dark green almost brown leaf, but the plant should bloom some nice yellow flowers. The size seemed right at 3-4' in hight and 12-18" wide, perfect for the gap near the Gaunyin statue. I am hoping this plant will help fill in that gap and hide the foundation from view. The plant colors also match the color of the statue and some of the existing plants. 

I also bought two small Tiarella 'Fingerpaint' Foamflower plants. 

I placed these in the narrow long bed at the east end of the garden. I have struggled to find plants for this area for many years. 

 

Given that these like shade, I am hopeful they will do well. Critters don't seem to like eating the ones I have elsewhere. However, this is a slug area within the garden and I will have to see how well they hold up to a slug assault. I really like the color scheme, the dark brown within the green looks fantastic.

I added an inexpensive annual Purple Fountain Grass to fill in a space where a previous perennial grass was looking sparse. 

I liked the color and it fills in the space nicely. I did something similar last year and it really added some interest to the garden. Unfortunately, as an annual I will need to replace it next year.

I decided to rework the bed  along the right side of the Dwarf Korean Fir (Abies koreana 'Cis') I planted back in 2015. I used to plant some small Daylily here, but they became too big over time. I have left it empty ever since, but now that the Fir has become large, the bed seemed to be in need of reshaping with some new stones. Doing so allowed my to make a new space for a different plant. I am trying an Orchid Frost Deadnettle (Lamium maculatum 'Orchid Frost'). 

It likes partial shade and will spread, but I should be able to keep it under control and within its new bed. It has a nice little pink flower, but I have to watch that slugs don't devour it - they like flowing plants like these.

I do like that it is a low lying groundcover, hence its placement near the top of the bed.

I also wanted to fill the two red pots I bought last year. I decided on a Catching Fire Foamy Bells (Heucherella x "Catching Fire") for the large pot. 

The light green color and the inner brown/red veins on the leaves will go well with the bright red of the pot. For the smaller pot I bought a simple Dahlia ('Dahlietta' Candy). 

I like the dark green leaves, and the flower colors of bright yellow and red should look good with this bright red pot. 

Both pots look great. I will keep them both near the gazebo post.

Finally, I purchased two large Hameln Fountain Grasses (Pennisetum alopecuriodes 'Hemeln') for each of the large red pots along the zen garden wall. 

 

I planted a similar, but smaller type of fountain grass in these pots last year, and I really liked the look. They should suffer minimal slug damage and at the end of the season I can transplant them to permanent locations within the new stroll garden area. They need full sun, so I will have to keep an eye on them, but if I eventually move them to the stroll garden, they will get plenty of sun.

In Honor of Edna

After waiting a month, the new tree I purchased arrived. I bought a Royal Raindrops Crabapple tree, but rather than buying a young tree from a a big-box store, I decided to spend some money to purchase a more established tree. 

Given its size and weight, I decided to pay to have it delivered and installed. I decided to place it close to an existing Spirea and near the center point of the new fence (which is still under construction).

The purpose of the tree was to alter the view of the garden area along the side of the garage. There are in fact two separate gardens in this location. Along the driveway is the viewing garden, while along the garage wall is the stroll garden. The tree is being placed near the center of the two gardens and will help differentiate the transition from one garden area to the other.

 

Once the tree was in, it looked great. It actually changes appearance as you view it from different angles. 

I also clipped some of the branches so that one can walk along the stepping stones without bumping into low hanging branches. In time, the tree will continue to grow upwards and I will keep clipping once its gets established and over the shock of the transplant.

To celebrate the new tree, my wife and I decided to name the tree in honor of Edna Krabappel, Bart Simpson's elementary school teacher. Given our background as educators, it seemed most appropriate.

In the meantime, I am so happy with the tree. The canopy is not yet full, but it already takes one's eyes away from the ugly house next door, another intent of placing the tree in this location. 

Once I finish the fence, re-mulching, and other landscape changes, it will look fantastic.

April Showers, Bring May Flowers

Actually, we are near the end of May, but regardless, some of the plants in the garden are in full bloom.

The Delaware Valley White Azalea (Azalea Evergreen 'Delaware Valley White') looks great with its bright white flowers. The plant has been getting bigger these last two years, but so far, no need to move it.

The Azalea (Rhododendron 'Farrow') has been located in the central part of the garden since 2016 and is still doing well. It remains a bit sparse and thin, most probably due to the lack of sunlight, but keeps coming back every year. The bright red flowers were really beautiful this season.

The Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans) I planted in front of Buddha as far back as 2014, filled in really well this year. Last year it was sparse and thin. This year it was dense and packed with many purple flowers. I was thinking of reworking this bed, but now that I see the bloom, I plan to leave it alone. Great color!

Much remains to do to get the garden ready for the summer. I have to finish the fence, plant a new tree, weed, weed, weed, trim out the Cyprus and Pines, and so much more. I am only just getting started, but for now, I am enjoying the colors.

Chips Ahoy!

The rabbits seemed to have moved on now that the newly emerging shoots of my Hosta are no longer fresh and yummy. They did a lot of damage this spring and I am going to have to dig up dead plants and replace them with new ones. Small shrubs and evergreens will probably be best to beat the Rabbits.

Meanwhile, there are chipmunks everywhere. I don't mind them so much, but they do dig lots of holes. look closely at the top of the tree. Do you see Chippy?

He likes this perch, the entire garden is his to behold.

Chippy also like to take in the view through he Moon Window. 

Oh, the life of a chipmunk.

The Great Wall

I finally got around to starting the big project for this season - the fence extension along the stroll and viewing garden.

The goal is to hide the neighbor's ugly white plastic fence - it ruins the esthetic I have been aiming for. Additionally, he rarely, if ever, cuts his lawn and I just can't stand to look at it. This fence extension should help hide those unwanted views and help to draw ones eyes towards the plants in the garden instead of the awful view behind it.

I prepped the beds last fall in anticipation of the project. 

 

Getting the wood was very difficult. The Covid pandemic has left construction materials in short supply, and the prices are easily twice what they normally would have been. Eventually I came across a very good supply of cedar to work with, especially the 4 x 4 x 8 posts which were hard to find. Once found, I purchased everything I needed and stored it in the garage. I then had to wait until the weather cooperated.

I started with the posts. Needless to say, I am getting old and post hole digging is not as easy as it used to be. Digging through sandy soil wasn't too bad, but on at least three of the holes I encountered old tree roots that had to be cut out - no easy task.

Once the posts were in, I installed the top rails. I kept them level with the same top rails that are on the existing fence. The plan will be to connect them later in the project.

After the top rails, I moved on to the bottom rails. I am not using rolled bamboo on these panels. Instead, I will be using solid cedar panels (similar to the ones on the gate). Often, you can see through the gaps in the bamboo. Using solid panels should solve that problem. However, the weight will require additional support to stop sagging. So, I am using two 2 x 4s, one vertical, and the other horizontal. This process worked well on the Moon Window in the garden and I am hopeful it will work here as well.

I did eventually run into a major problem. I did not realize that the ground actually changes in elevation as I moved from the garden fence towards the street. It never looked as if it did, so I was caught off guard. As seen in the picture below, I had to start removing soil so that the bottom rail was not sitting on solid ground. I want at least a couple inch gap. However, after the first three panels slowly changed elevation, It now appears that the change is going to be more dramatic as I continue to move towards the street end.

The image below shows where I have left off. I can make adjustments to this portion of the stroll garden, but the remaining three panels will require a major alteration.

I want to keep the top rails level, so my plan is to raise the lower rails up in height about 5 inches. Instead of 36 inch panels, I will have to shorten them to 31 inches. I think most people will not notice since that change is at the bottom only. Once plants are well established, it should help to hide the change. Over the next few days I will tackle this adjustment. Overall, it feels good to get this far in one day.

Fire Alarm

I purchased and planted my first new plant of the season, a Coral Bells (Heuchera Hybrid 'Fire Alarm'). 

I have attempted to grow these type of Coral Bells in the past without much luck. They usually only last the season and then die off over the winter. I thought I would try once more.

The red color of the leaves is fantastic and should add some diverse interest to the garden this season. I hope it will last at least one summer. Only time will tell.

Blooming Blue

Plants have been starting to bloom after a warm April, but now cold May. The Heartleaf Brunnera (Brunnera macrophylla "Jack Frost') plants in the garden have a wonderful blue this spring.

I have several of these throughout the garden. So far the rabbits are leaving them alone.

Unfortunately, the rabbits are eating away and many of my Hosta, especially the more unique ones I have in the garden. I have been spraying a mixture of dead animal blood and urine on them that stinks, but the rain keeps washing them off. It has helped, but it may be time to rethink plants in the garden this year so I don't have to deal with this issue next year.

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the blooming blue I see everywhere.

Trench Warfare

We are almost at the start of Spring, and I am not really ready to do much with the garden, but I have been forced to alter the walkway area. 

I have had to update the electrical box in the garage. To do so, I have had to dig a trench between the house and the garage. It runs just outside of the electrical panel box on the house to the garage. In that path there was one Japanese Forest Grass plant, and on the other side, a large Spirea.

The grass plant came up easily and I covered its roots with dirt to protect it from the cold. The Spirea is another story. Although the ground wasn't frozen for most of the trench, the area directly below the Spirea, where its root ball is located, was frozen solid. As a result, I dug underneath, like a tunnel, where the sandy soil was not frozen.

Unfortunately, the area behind the shrub, and up against the wall of the garage, is like cement. I can't break trough to the tunnel. Since I dug the trench it has returned back to frozen temperatures, so it looks like it will be a while before I can finish the trench and place the new electrical pipe.

Once spring does get here, I am going to have some serious cleanup work to do to restore the walkway. I wasn't planning on any of this work, so it will eat into some of my other plans. In the meantime, I await warmer weather.