Eight Years -Showing Warts and All

It has been a couple years since I did a yearly review of the gardens. Some garden areas have been successful and others have gotten quite overgrown.  Last year was not the year for tending to the garden and it is obvious to my eye. Below are comparison photos from 2017 and 2018. If you would like to see earlier years you can see 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

In the photo below it is great to see how much the Japanese maple, Acer palmatum 'Glowing Embers' has grown. It is in the left side of the garden. 

2017

This past spring I added a garden along the wall, post on it later. The wall and the new garden seem to point to the 'Glowing Embers'.
It is funny how much the white Caladiums stand out along the pathway in the woods. I need to put more in next year.

2018

A little more of the center of the garden. The burgundy tree in the center is a Japanese maple- Acer palmatum dissectum 'Garnet'. The shape is finally coming back, a November 1 snowfall a few years ago took a third of the crown.

2018

Along side the house is always in a state of 'maybe it will be better next year'. The deer had found the hydrangeas last year and ate them to a nub. Around the propane tank is a very healthy stand of  Sweet Flag grass, Acorus gramineus 'Ogon'...home to many of my snakes and a favorite place for our little Liebling to "hide". In between the hose spigot and the propane tank is the A/C condensation pipe outlet. During the summer it is a constantly moist area. I like to use the downhill side of it to have my plant nursery. Any time I am pruning I will stick a few branches in the soil in that nursery area. I have had some success with a few Hydrangeas and Camellias and boxwood.

2017

This year you can see more growth on the Hydrangea macrophylla 'Madam Emile Mouillere', a white blooming mophead. Downhill from this hydrangea is a variegated one- it was also in the photo above, barely. Apparently variegated hydrangea are especially tasty to those pesky deer. Last year the hosta in front of the variegated hydrangea looked like celery stalks sticking up through the Sweet flag grass. Uphill from the Sweet Flag grass is a substantial stand of Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko', a deer resistant low growing shrub. In the spring it is very attractive if a late frost doesn't kill the blooms. The rest of the year it is a space filler.
You can see we have had to patch the turf again this spring. Slowly but surely it is filling in. We have eliminated more of the turf in the front yard.

2018

From the front door you see more Sweet Flag grass on the right side of the walkway. To the left there is a Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls', one side is always "pruned" by the deer and the other creeps across the walkway. A Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Daruma' is in front of the front window. In some of the next photos you can see how much it has grown.

2017

This year's view shows some of the mulched front. With the dogs running out front, the trees creating more and more shade, and winter moisture killing the grass, we finally figured out that we needed to take a different tack.  So far I have added two more Japanese maples, 'Red Dragon' and 'Butterfly', a Camellia sasanqua 'Leslie Ann', and a small Cryptomeria. There is a lot more room to plant. Oh. the possibilities!

2018

Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem' has grown!  A few winters ago we had a pine tree hit it during an ice storm, spurring it to fill out and grow taller!

2018

Another view of the front yard, here in 2017, I have help from Liebling, our German Shepherd puppy. She will be 2 this August. See the large Loropetalum by the front by window? It was only supposed to get four to six feet tall. Each year it is cut back to the bottom of the window.

2017

Similar view this year, you can see the edge of the mulched area. See how much the Loropetalum is now? Yikes.  At the corner of the house is a Coral Bark Maple, Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'. It really has been a show stopper in the fall and winter with its leaf color and the coral bark.

2018

This spot is the uphill part of the front yard next to the driveway, planted with a few roses, lavender, irises, and a flowering apricot, Prunus mume 'Hokkai Bungo'. I enjoy the fragrance of the cinnamon scented blooms in the winter.

2017

This year you can see some of the lavender is missing. A peony or two have been added and a Calla lily, Zanteschia aethiopia. Some of the iris were uprooted by the marauding Armadillo. We have deer, rabbits, Armadillo, chipmunks, and voles to battle.

2018

A bright spot in the woods as you continue to walk up the driveway is an anise shrub, Illicium parviflorum 'Florida Sunshine'. I liked how it glowed in the woods so much that I bought three more, working my way up the driveway, three on the left and one on the right.

2018

A semi-new garden up at the street is shaping up. I do not have irrigation there, so the plants need to be drought tolerant and resistant to the deer that graze through. A few of the plants include Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard', Hesperaloe parviflora, Lagerstroemia -a Red variety of the Black Diamond Crape Myrtle series, Amsonia x 'Seaford Skies', and lots of Nassella tenuissima - Ponytail Grass.

2018

Walking to the backyard from the bottom of the front hill. Viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet' on the left and Morella cerifera, Wax Myrtle, on the right. Not pleased with the Viburnum, going to cut them back a good bit and see if they shape up any better.

2018

In the lower part of the yard, last year's photo shows the dry creek bed we put in the year before. What a good asset to the landscape! It channels the rain water through the gardens and empties into the grassy flat land before going into the lake. The flat land has River Oats and other grasses that filter the water and slows it down....works like a charm!

2017

A little bit of a different angle in this year's photo. The elephant ears aren't making the showing they have in past years. I know I should have dug them up and divided them a few years ago. Oops.

2018

Here are the warts- last year's photo from the boat dock....lots of weeds on the right side. Almost no visible planted material to be seen.

2017

This year, even worse. Will be tackling it in the near future.  I just hate to get into that mess in the heat....and remember, there are snakes.

2018

Finally another view of the large mulched area in the front yard. My pitcher plant needs to be transplanted into a larger container, thinking it might become part of the garden. See my chicken? He is a water feature- trying to find the best place for it.

2018

Thanks for joining me on the yearly update, hard to believe we have been in South Carolina for eight years! I am glad I have been taking photos at the same time of year, year after year, to see the changes.



©Copyright 2018 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

My, How You've Changed- Annual Review 2015

Five years ago this week we moved from Seaford to our present location in South Carolina. For those who are new here, we built our home on a lake in Upstate SC. We started from a blank slate, each year offered its own challenges--deer, voles, rabbits, dry conditions, wet conditions and my own fickleness, changing things up just because. Some of the changes will be addressed in later posts. Each year I take photos of the various parts of the gardens. You can see previous years' posts here- 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and when we were building in 2010.
So from the very beginning we looked like this--

We had some big changes this winter with the ice storm and an early snowfall-- November 1st! The ice storm will be talked about in my next post.  Last year's photos are posted to compare with this year. Follow the links above to see yearly progress. 

View from the front door...notice the size of the Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem' in the middle of the yard.

2014

 And the Magnolia now...ice storm damage.

2015

The driveway garden has had more added to it. I do like having a container near the Crape Myrtle to add some color.

2014

2015

 The front gardens are filling in, in most spots. 

2014

 The winter was hard on the Gardenia 'Frostproof'.  I was going to cut it back, but never got around to it. Now that it has bloomed, perhaps I will get out there and cut it back a good bit.  The Japanese Maple is certainly happy. Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku'

2015

The backyard is ever evolving.  Left side as you look from the deck.

2014

2015

Right side as you look from the deck.

2014

 The Japanese Maple near the white container in the photo above had severe damage from snowfall, a third of its crown broke off.

2015

The backyard, looking back to the house from the lower right corner. 

2014

 Same shot, this year. Included the patio on the right and the slope to the lake. 

2015

 Out on the dock, looking back at the house, far enough away to not see all the weeds.

2014

 One of the major changes this year - we bought the lot next door to us on the left. Too many folks were looking at it with plans to build...soon. Since it was a bargain price, we swooped it up. The only plans right now for us it to have it bush-hogged. There are a lot of blackberry brambles, honeysuckle vines, and scrubby trees that need to be thinned. After bush-hogging I am not sure what we will do with this lot, though my husband says he sees a Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum, in its future.

2015

We got solar panels this past year and are really loving it! Also planted some Rudbeckia varieties near our well. It adds a nice punch of color.

There is also a new blank spot in the front yard. Grass was thin, so we added some mulch on top of a lot of cardboard. It is now waiting for me to choose some plant material. 

2015

The shed got a new plant-- for Mother's Day I received a Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Rosea', a climbing Japanese hydrangea vine. It will climb on the old iron railing on the right of the door. The blue cypress to the left of the shed along the prior property line really took a hit from the February ice storm. My pruning skills came into practice to keep them shaped nicely. 

2015

More of the Fling posts will be coming. I wanted to get this post done as our anniversary as South Carolinians is this week. If you haven't done this, think about taking a photo each year on a given date. It is amazing to see tree growth and foliage filling in. Some changes are subtle and others are significant.

©Copyright 2015 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Starting the Fifth on the Fifth

I know I have been MIA for a while on the blogging front---time flies!  I noticed while checking the blog for info on one of my tree posts that it has been four months since posting. Facebook has allowed me to post just bloom pictures every day and many of my non-blogging friends seem to really enjoy it. It is time to update the blog with this year's garden progress report.

Without further ado- let's see how the gardens have changed over the past few years.  We moved here in 2010 - so we are starting our fifth year living on Lake Greenwood and enjoying retirement. With phone in hand to take photos that match last year's post, I set out in the yard.

The photo below is a side by side of the left hand side of the backyard from 2010 and then one year later 2011.  Besides plants being added, weeds, deer, voles and chipmunks help change the landscape. Many plants are lost to the elements...never to be seen again. Just a good reason to buy more, right?

2010 & 2011

 Here is the jungle of today. The trees have certainly filled in a good bit.  While it looks like a lot of plant material, at ground level there are a lot of open spots that may or may not be able to support something planted. With the mature trees taking up most of the water, the shade area is really dry.  I have two trellises in the garden, one has the Carolina Jasmine and the other has a Coral Honeysuckle growing on it.

The right side of the backyard was originally sunnier than it is now. As the mature trees filled out each year, my window of sunshine has gotten smaller and smaller.

2010 & 2011

The beautiful Japanese maple 'Garnet', almost invisible in the picture from today, has filled in nicely.

2014

Apparently last year I did a panoramic shot of the whole back garden. What I find interesting is the later blooms this year. It was a hard winter, many plants didn't bloom. Some plants died back to the ground and took a long time to show signs of life.  Many of my hydrangeas didn't bloom this year as we had another cold snap after buds were starting to emerge.

2013 Panorama view

From the water the views early on were pretty stark. 

2010 & 2011

A step to the left corner, the view back up to the house across the yard shows the lower gardens.

2013

The amazing change this year is how slow the elephant ears are filling in. The garden bed with the elephant ears is filled with daylilies-- many of which had the buds eaten by Bambi and her momma. I have bamboo stakes posted through the garden and fishing line wound around like a spider web...to deter the deer. Some puppy dog went through the lines and broke many of them....now I have to restring them. The deer found the open spots-- and tasted many daylily buds.

2014

Walking down to the water and checking out the bank....another blank palette a few years ago.

2010 & 2011

Add a few colorful chairs and more elephant ears, some grasses (ignore the weeds!!) and the bank is colorful and filling in nicely.

2013

This year, again, check out the difference with the elephant ears from last year to this year. The shrubs along the steps are really getting big!

2014

The front was raw when we first moved in...lots of construction destruction, compaction and lots of gravel.

2010 & 2011

The Chinese Fringe tree, Chionanthus retusus is getting really tall. In 2013 it didn't bloom, it did this year, but at the upper reaches of the branches....hard to photograph.  Last year the Lantana took a long time to bloom.

2013

This year the Lantana is blooming! Now if the Daylilies, Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell' the Lantana AND the new Tiger lilies would all bloom at the same time..... I would have a nice show of color..all hot colors.

2014

The grasses along the driveway and the Crepe myrtle are doing surprisingly well, considering this is a seldom watered area.

2013

This year I added some Sun Coleus in a large container...adding some color along the drive. 

2014

The front garden is still a work in progress-- some of the Gardenias are doing very well, and some, not so much.

2013

The Loropetalum 'Daruma' are very happy under the bay window.  One perennial that I  was very happy to find is Japanese Aster, Kalimeris pinnatifida, it is a nice pop of white sprinkled through the garden.

2014

 Check out the difference in size of the Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls'  from last year 

2013

To this year....what a beauty!

2014

Another shot of the Japanese Asters, Becky daisies, and Coral Bark maple.

2014

The side yard is mostly shade. It is the 'Green and White Garden' 

2010 & 2011

This garden is Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko' blooming white tiny flowers in the spring, a couple variegated Hydrangeas (which are not going to bloom as all the buds from last year froze) and this year I added the white and green Caladiums. It is an easy garden bed to tend to.

2014

The favored plant in February and March, Edgeworthia chrysantha was quite full last year. 

2013

The winter took its toll on it this winter. As it is a zone 8 plant and we had single digit temperatures, I am lucky there was only a little dieback.

2014

Another area that took a hit with the freeze was this Hydrangea area.....

2013

Only one of the hydrangeas is blooming now- it is one of the Endless Summer series. The Callicarpa dichotoma 'Issai' is huge. I am thinking about taking them out as they are reseeding everywhere.

2014

The lower side is slowly getting swallowed up with honeysuckle vine, blackberry brambles, and other wild things from the woods.

2013

This winter I am getting in there and cutting it back.... not now, too many bugs.

2014

 So now we are back to the front -- my view from the front door.

2013

And this year's view....and no, the shutters aren't painted and put on the shed yet. 

2014

I will be back on a regular basis....I promise. Can't wait for our Portland Fling. Hope to see you there!

©Copyright 2014 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.