Part II:

New front road bed and slope. About 14 tulips blooming out of the 400 or so I planted.

Oh, how the deer had quite the buffet! LOL!

An azalea that the deer actually leave alone. Wonders will never cease.

OK, so I'm officially in love with this groundcover. I bought 3 about 20 years ago and they hardly did anything. In the last few years it has just spreadh throughout the whole border.

It's ligonberry. No berries, but love the tiny, dark green foliage. Now growing through astilbes and other plants, so will be interesting to see if I can dissect it out of the plants.

I said I wasn't a fan of ajuga, but this chocolate chip ajuga is about he only groundcover that comes back on my stone staircase. Everything I have tried has failed.

My husband has been very hard at work edging the entire backyard. 2 really long edges and then 4 floating beds in middle. It's a lot, a lot, a lot. He is amazing and always so helpful int he garden.

Glaucidium never ceases to amaze how it wants to bloom just as soon as the leaves start coming up. It starts a bit slow but then jumps out of the ground. The leaves get very big as the season goes on.

Can't wait to see some other pictures coming in!!!

Thyme2dig - The front of your house looks gorgeous!

The deer ate all those tulips?! wow.

No berries on the Ligonberry? Maybe put a little in more sun? Pretty plant, I love ground covers, instead of mulch or weeds.

I love Ajuga. I had about 4 different varieties and only one of them took. The others didn’t keep coming back. I thought that was a riot, because they are supposed to get so out of control. I tried Chocolate chip, but the only one that comes back for me, is ‘Black Scallop’. But it’s really nowhere near being invasive. It is the same size this year as the year I planted it. I almost lost it last year.

I love the new edging on your beds. DH did a great job, that is not our favorite job here. It’s laborious and feels like it will never end..lol, but when it is done, it makes such a big difference. Didn’t you have a set of pavers that you made from glass pieces, like a mosiac? Where are those in relation to this photo #5 of the newly edged bed?

LOL That is going to be a lot of mulch. But you do have a LOT of leaves! We chop ours with the lawn mower, I’ll have to take a photo of our pile. [g]

How do you like our pile of branches? It was a very windy winter and we had a lot of fallen branches. We worked on it for an hour and a half today and barely made a dent in it. I'm using them as a base for a lasagna bed or two.

That’s pretty surprising the Hostas winter over under your deck. I didn’t know Hostas were that hardy. That’s Fire Island? Nice.

Thanks for the offer of Fire Island. If I remember right it does better in your garden than it did in mine. And I have discovered, that I dug up a division of ‘June’ and moved it to under the Japanese Maple and it comes up looking similar to the color of Fire Island in that position. Odd.

I’ve been potting up extras this year.

Andromeda? I don’t think I am familiar. Fragrant? I’m going to have to look for that one.

Yes, please do a separate thread on Epimedium.

One of the new fence panels. the old fence had a wide board and they were falling apart. And it was 4ft tall in this position. I had them make the new panel 5ft tall, so it would screen out the meter and wires on the side of the house. I used to have this sign on this same section but now it is more noticeable at the 5ft height. It has weathered very well. It's made of concrete, I think, with some sort of paint over it.

PM2, i love the concrete panel. That is soooo pretty. That is A LOT of branches from your yard. Glad you will be able to put them to use.

I've been wanting to do many perennials in pots. You should be able to overwinter anything 2 zones colder in pots (but i think prob Z4 would be OK here under my deck), but i've always worried about ceramic pots cracking with snow, rain, freeze, thaw. It's happened one too many times. This winter I tried a handful of them under the deck and it worked well. Now I'm thinking up what else I can pot up for overwintering. I have to check zone of ligularia which reseeds a lot for me. Wouldn't mind spotting that purple/red color in some of the shade beds in the back. That might be my next batch of pots.

I'm all about the shade beds/plants right now. The sunny stuff is doing great, but the cottage garden comes into its own in June/July. RIght now it's the pretty shade stuff. Buckle up, I took a lot of photos (now that I found an easy way to shoot/post to GW).

THis is upright wild ginger. I thought I lost it but it has returned. I can't say I'm in love with this one, but it's different and not readily available, so it'll stay.

I think this is anemone ranunculoides.

Love all the textures/colors in the big shade bed.

This is what the Jeffersonia looks like now. The leaves will continue to get bigger and it will get a bit more leggy/spread out as the season progresses. Love how all the lenten rose are still going while the epimediums are joining the show.

Random shot of a section of the shade garden.

The glaucidium is really starting to open and unfurl leaves and flowers. The bleeding heart behind it has moved itself underneath my deck. I find that utterly amazing that the root ball has moved over 15 years or so. It will fill the entire empty area in front of it.

More shade........

V. cayuga getting ready to pop. I have lots of viburnum varieties and really enjoy each one of them.

My dwarf larch grows a little bit each year. So soft and fuzzy.

White epimedium with a couple lenten rose and a white quince.

Oh my dear. I don't even remember what this is, but I do know that when I planted it I knew it would get huge leaves and take over a large area, but it liked wet soil.

I planted it in the driest place I had on the property just for some interest. Well, it adapted and now it's getting a bit scary. I think i'm going to dig a bunch up and just move it way back in the border where it can do whatever it wants. I do love it, but it's creeping into the lawn now.

After being eaten by deer for years, and planted in too much shade, Magnolia Jane finally has some flowers.

Double Kerria japonica. Runs quite a bit but pretty easy to keep in check.

Shade bed filling in.

From above. All of the bare spaces will be filled in with hostas and all the plants just getting their full season foliage.

Mukdenia took a very long time to do anything for me but it's finally putting out some good flowers. The violets give me palpitations......I've been going through my cottage beds getting rid of all of them. That's my main task these days is weeding out violets.

Perennial sweet pea. I find it grows in shade and reseeds just as readily as in the sun (which maybe isn't so great but easy to weed out. I have a pink one in the cottage garden in full sun. So they can tolerate either.

There is so much variety in the shade bed that I always like finding nice combinations when looknig from different angles.

And the best for last......my double trillium. Spent a FORTUNE for a 2-stemmed plant. It grew to a nice big clump. A few years ago I thought it was dead (thought voles were getting to it) so I dug it all up, realized it was perfect, just normal summer dieback (which i had not remembered it ever doing before) so I took the opportunity to divide it. Now I have it in multiple places. Such a gorgeous flower. Well worth the investment even though I choked on the price at the time! LOL!!

PM2, Andromeda = Pieris. I have a bunch of them and some are really fragrant. Very subtle sweet smell. Not cloying at all. I planted a few dwarf in middle of my slope to mimic the other larger ones i have in front. They seem to do well in sun or shade.

My mosaics are uncovered (YAY! SPRING!) and on the back deck where they've been and will stay. I tried to put them into the grass back in the garden for some art, but they got lost so now they lean on the deck. Pictures are so easy for me now I just ran out and shot a couple!

These are not placed yet for the season. They're 24" x 24" and weigh about 70 lbs each so not fun to move them, but easier to tarp when they're together. They'll be amongst some pots on the back deck.

So strange June looks like Fire Island? Is it possible a little root from Fire Island actually did survive and is now just coming up?

Yes, deer ate all the tulips. They eat everything. I'm going to apply Liquid Fence again tomorrow. They have stayed away since the last time I sprayed it. I want to keep ahead of them. You know, for all those pots of hosta that they'll come to eat! LOL!

Thyme - I was going to ask you if andromeda was the same as Pieris. I LOVE Pieris. I’ve tried it twice and it never prospered here for some reason. M&U have one large nice one in their yard and it is in bloom right now but I don’t think it is fragrant. I should try getting one again.

THERE are your mosaics….wow, I forgot how colorful they are! I really like them on the deck rather than in the lawn. Much more accessible. They are real garden art! 70 pounds each?! Lol that’s wild. Well, then I guess you need to get them somewhere where you don’t have to move them all season. [g]

I’ll take a photo of the June Hosta that looks like Fire Island…not exactly, just a much lighter shade that looks almost as light as the yellow of Fire Island.

Edit: I got the photo - 1st one is the division of June under my Bloodgood and in more shade I thought it was much lighter than the original. But I just took a photo of the original June and I guess it looks pretty much alike. It is as close to yellow as I have in the garden I guess.

Yes, liquid fence for your deer. I can imagine how horrible you felt after putting in 400 tulip bulbs that they ate most of them. Crazy. They don’t eat Daffodils, right?

That reminds me I’m still covering a lot of my hostas and Epimedium at night just in case the rabbits get in the yard. So I need to get out there soon and do that for the night.

Photo # 3 - Is that a Hellebore on the Right? It’s huge! You really have some unusual plants in that shade area.

Violets? What color are they? I have white in my lawn which I’m not that crazy about, but purple violets, I LOVE. I’d take some off your hands if they are purple. :-) I bought Queen Charlotte? Viola and it is purple and fragrant. It disappeared for the most part. I have maybe one left. I also had Viola Labradorica and that has dark foliage and is purple and that seeded around for awhile, but two years ago, most of those died.

Perennial Sweet Pea? I never heard of that. Such a pretty purple color and is it fragrant? And the double Trillium is amazing! Well worth having.

Viburnum looks like it’s going to open with some big flowers….are they pink? Almost looks like a V.caressi flower?

What is that plant that is moving into your lawn?

A Magnolia ‘Jane’? Gee, the deer eat everything! Just think how many plants you would have if they didn’t. Lol

GW

I have been so busy and absent. The last 3-4 weeks have been taken up with my oldest’s wedding, then college visits with one child, and finally traveling with my brother to help my mom finish out some of her business. I still have to be in the office, which means much is neglected. The garden may be on auto pilot this year.

Periodically I check in on these threads but have not posted. Thyme, I’ve never noticed your panels before. I love color, so of course I love them! PM, your concrete panel is beautiful, for sure.

I love shade gardening more and more. Thyme, you’ve got beautiful Really nice. Dicentra Gold Heart is by far my favorite spring flower. Yours give me hope for when mine will be larger in a couple of weeks. One of mine is reverting to green, my biggest one.

PM, I still think about your berm and how I’m hoping to make one in the future in a particular place. Your sticks reminded me of it.

We’ve got some things happening. First, the 1000 bulbs I bought are blooming. I know I lost some squill because of the plow man. They need to get bigger and more abundant, so clearly 250 was not enough (that’s so crazy). I bought a mini daffodil (Tete-a-tete) and they bloomed first in the grass at our office, followed by the big daffodils, Ice Follies (thanks, PM) and Carlton. I’ve got some alliums swelling with bulbs.

My favorite azalea is about to bloom. It’s a small tree form and I think it might be part of the “Lights” series from MN.

I planted these tulips in 2017, I think. A few of them have hung on, maybe because they’re in a raised bed.

Last year forsythia buds froze so we got no flowers. They’re making up for it this year!

Wall rock cress is another spring favorite. It likes this spot, and looks so nice in front of the forsythia.

This pic is from April, but it’s the cuties teeniest sempervivums pushing through elfin time!

With the mild winter, I think I’m going to get great hydrangea blooming this year. Winter usually does damage.

Deanna, your head must be spinning with all that going on, but a lot of it sounds very satisfying. To have one child getting married and another just starting college, are very happy circumstances to be in. And you get to spend time traveling with your brother, that must have been fun! Is the college bound child going in the Fall?

There are years when the garden has to fend for itself as much as possible and looks like this is one of those years for you.

Your daffodils are fabulous! That is an amazing amount of bulbs to have planted. Remind me, did you have help putting them in? I love it when someone adds enough daffodils bulbs to really make a visual statement And that definitely is. Wow. So you did get Flower Record, I think you will be happy that they do dependably come back and increase from year to year.

Now will you have any perennials come up to disguise the dying foliage? And will you be able to leave the grass without mowing until the foliage on the daffodils in the lawn cure?

Very pretty tulips! I like that color combination and 7 years seems like a long time to have tulips coming back. I thought you had deer? For me this year, it was a very good year for bulbs. My daffodils were bursting with blooms and they increased their footprint. And all the bulbs lasted a good long time. At least that is one benefit of all this cool spring weather! They are just now starting to fade, but I am surprised that a few Daffodils just opened about a week ago and I now have a longer season with the different varieties.

It must have been a warm winter, because I also had very little winter die back. All the hydrangea and the roses had new growth right to the tips of the branches. Very unusual for me. And all the rain we’ve had, this is the best start to the growing season I’ve had in a long time.

I’m going to have to take a photo of the layered bed I started with that pile of branches. I also have four overflowing piles of compost that I am layering with them. I ran out of places to make a berm so I started one in an unused veggie bed. My wooden raised beds are 10 years old and this year are falling apart and I am going to have to dismantle them.

I love your 3rd Forsythia photo with the Rockcress in front of it. So cheerful and colorful!

That really is a very cute Sempervivum and Elfin Thyme is a great ground cover. You must have the conditions for it.

I’ve gone back and opened your first photo about 3x…lol. It really is a very successful planting of daffodils. You did a wonderful job of placing them. I think it was the perfect place for them, with that slope and the curve of the bed and the evergreen tree in the background. This is exactly what a planting of daffodils should look like. Sometimes I go by someone’s house and they have stuck 2 daffodil bulbs here and another 2 there. So sad, in comparison to this. Great job Deanna!!

SW CT zone 7A. It’s so nice to see colors popping up! Your gardens are all gorgeous. I got an early start moving and dividing perennials to hold in other areas while these short rock retaining walls were built on sides of our driveway. Some were in these beds with sad boxwoods around. The slope was just enough that dirt and mulch slid onto sidewalk and passing dogs couldn’t resist the boxwoods. Instead of a lush evergreen border a few died every year. We love the new look and have added a lot of natives (Golden Alexander, Wild Pink, Columbine, VA bluebells, Kinnikinnick, rattle snake master, foxglove beardtongue and other favorites: bleeding heart, hellebore, hydrangea). The outer sides are planted with purple love grass plugs for a fluffy border. Hopefully my vision works out!

The front garden with a more wild look is springing to life. I leave the old stems in place until late May.

Wild Pinks - new to me this year from a fantastic native nursery Earthtones in Woodbury CT

This pieris was almost dead 20 years ago (planted between driveway and ac unit. It has gotten very large.

I also think it will be a good hydrangea year. A lot of buds. I went out early to survey but the rain came in fast.

Brderl, Those are very pretty rock walls and I think that was the smart thing to do. Why are the boxwood sad? I love boxwood, and had about a half dozen but they are all gone due to that Boxwood blight that I tried to manage for a good 5 years. So, we moved on to a different vision. [g]

It sounds like you are going to have a lot to look at in the garden all seasons. Something for every season. And a lot for pollinators. The purple love grass edge sounds inspired. I hope you post more photos when your garden is further along too.

I leave everything intact for the winter too. It is my front bed and I’m lucky that my neighbors don’t complain. They enjoy the garden the other 3 seasons, so that might be why they are so tolerant.

Your Pieris is a very good specimen. I like the shape of it, it’s very graceful. Is it a certain variety? It looks like the one that Thyme2dig posted a photo of. Is yours fragrant too? Looks very healthy, why was it half dead 20 years ago?

The boxwoods just kept turning brown and little or no new growth each year so I called them sad. I don’t know what variety the Pieris is - it came with the house. It is fragrant but only if you lean in. It was planted in a small area with driveway and walkway on 3 sides and the ac unit blowing on it (it was almost touching). I will post the progress. This is purple love grass matured

Thank you for the daffodil compliments, PM. I did not have help putting them in but I did use an auger. And, by the end, I was basically drilling and shoving. I'm sure I lost many because I did not plant them very carefully. I used very creative language while I shoved and stuffed.

As for the tulips, I do have deer, but these are in a raised rock bed by the house and all I can imagine is the deer don't walk on the driveway to get to them really. So far they are surviving. I am surprised, as well.

Brdrl, your house and garden landscaping look really lovely. I can't wait to see the results of your vision. As for monarch, how many do you think you had last year? I have milkweed, but my monarch visits have definitely decreased since we had that one banner year a few years ago. I know the overwintering in Mexico this year was even smaller. I do feel very very concerned. I hope all the gardeners getting involved with milkweeds starts to create a good turnaround for the monarchs.

The pieris looks beautiful. I love how bees are always buzzing around mine. And I see your Solomon seal blooms underneath it. I have none of those in my garden. Do they behave well or do they spread aggressively?

I had a very exciting gardening event today. I bought several small saplings and planted them in 2018 and then left them to fend for themselves. Almost all of the other saplings I planted have not survived. I'm not very gifted with bushes and trees, it seems. One didn't die until last year, and I have no idea why. But, this little Amelanchier is putting out its very first blooms of this little life this year. I am so excited! It was less than 2 feet when I got it. Of all the red buds I ordered, only one survived, and it is doing well but has never bloomed. I hope it blooms as well. Here is a photo of some blooms.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, this sulky and spoiled Cherry Cheesecake rhododendron, also planted in 2017 or 2018, who has a choice location protected from wind, etc., against the house, with good sun till just before noon, has barely bloomed and looks like this every year. We had the mildest winter. Seriously, what could these leaves be complaining about now?! Shovel pruning is being considered.

Deanna, You did a good job planting all those bulbs, creative language expected…lol… and barring any unusual circumstances, you should have those daffodils for decades!

Glad you have a spot that the deer are hesitant to eat your tulips.

So, the saplings you bought…an Arbor Day selection? You have more patience than I do, I don’t know that I could start out with the saplings. I hope they work out for you and you see a nice growth spurt this year.

Don’t know what to think of your rhododendron, except that for some odd reason, I haven’t had good luck with them, if that makes you feel any better. [g] I have to have tried at least a half dozen and for one reason or another I have only ONE that I bought last Fall. Here in New England, it should be a given that you can grow rhododendron with ease. It must be me.

I bought them small because (1) they’re cheaper and (2) a small hole is much easier to dig. I have a two big trees, Donald Wyman crabappale and tree form Japanese Willow, to plant at the new office, and I DREAD digging the holes. My one remaining teen will help, but even with him I am NOT encouraged.

PM, I would miss my rhododendrons, so you make me grateful I have only one sulky one.

I don't usually mind digging a hole. The keys to the job for me... a comfortable shovel with a handle that is the right height for me/a 5 gallon bucket or multiples to put the dirt in so it's out of the way and easy to put back without making a mess/taking your time, even if you need to leave it and come back later and that also means not filling your shovel so much it is a struggle/If you have help, take turns digging and resting. And I keep putting the potted plant into the hole to figure out when it is the right depth. If there are a lot of rocks I put those in their own container and they get dumped in our 'rock pile' to be used for something else. That's it. Not so bad. And when you are done, and the tree or shrub is well planted right where you want it and watered in well, what a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment!

I LOVE crabapple trees! I didn't remember you were at a new office. Is that where the daffodil display is? VERY nice looking property if that is the case!