Twelve Trees Fourteen Shrubs and Almost 200 Bulbs

December was THE month for planting in South Carolina.  Yes, I planted a dozen trees and 14 shrubs.  The bulbs were plants in January.   The shrubs were a great purchase from the Abbeville Cooperative Extension Tree Sale.  Last year I bought three dogwoods and three redbuds and a couple pecans.  Sadly the pecans did not make it through the winter.

This year I bought only shrubs through this sale.  Nine of the shrubs are Spirea vanhouttei.  Six were planted along the very long driveway.  I thought I was staggering the plantings but after I was done it appears they are paired, across the driveway from one another.  The other three were planted on the side of my playhouse/shed that faces the ajoining property.   All these shrubs have ample room to grow to full size.  The nice thing about this spirea is that it can be planted in full sun to part shade.   This picture below is the nine, bundled together, each having a nice baseball-ish rootball.   

In the top photo are three red flowering quince, Chaenomeles sp. .  All of them are nice sized, the order form said they would be 2-3 feet and I wasn't sure how much shrub was going to be there.   These three  are planted up along the street in front of the woods on the left side of the driveway as you walk up the drive.  These are spring blooming and will be a nice pop of red early in spring.  A couple buds are already leafing out.







I also bought a  snowball Viburnum, probably a Viburnum opulus, though I didn't get a botanical name to go along with this one.  It is planted in the lowest part of the backyard.  Finally, the last one I bought and probably the one I wanted most-- Oakleaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia.  I have some small ones in the back garden but really wanted one to fill a space along the driveway.  Knowing this shrub can get to be the size of a small pickup truck,  I am giving it all the room in the world.  Right now it is a straight stem, abou 3 feet long.   Come on spring!!!

The trees were purchased/received through the Arbor Day Foundation.  I got the ten 'free' flowering trees when I joined.   I wanted a Sassafras tree and received a free Red Maple....so twelve trees to plant.  Two of each of the following were planted- dogwood- Cornus florida, redbud- Cercis canadensis, Flowering Crab Apple- Malus sargentii, Goldenrain Tree- Koelreuteria paniculata, Washington Hawthorn- Crataegus phaenopyrum.  These darling dozen were all about the size of a watercolor paintbrush.  In order to know where these little babies are located, I tied a little piece of green ribbon around each.  It has helped in locating them when I water and will help in the spring when I check to see if they survived the winter.

Redbud next to soaker hose

Crabapple -- so small it needed a stick next to it and some rocks to mark the spot

This photo below shows the red Maple.  It was wrapped with a sticky label...the little white dot the arrow is pointing to. 

 Here is a blowup.

We will see if these tiny trees make it, I worry about animals walking over them and snapping them off.

This is my notebook, I have marked every single plant I either brought with us from Virginia, was given by friends, and the hundreds I purchased and planted since moving here a year ago July.  I also write down where bulbs are planted, it helps when looking for them or knowing where NOT to plant more bulbs. 

The bulbs planted last weekend were two large bags of 50 double bulb daffodils, Narcissus 'Dutch Master', one bag of 50 Paperwhites, yellow Paperwhites, Narcissus 'Grand Soleil d'Or' and a bag of ten tulips,  hybrid greigii tulip.  
Spring is going to be spectacular in South Carolina....stay tuned!!!




©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Multiple updates- prunings, transplants and blooms

Back in February I posted a dilemma as to whether I should prune my rose bush/ Clematis/ Passion Flower combination that is growing on the swing set. In this post I lamented about the birds having a place to perch and hide near the feeders. I was made aware of the Gulf Fritillary butterflies needing the Passiflora incarnata. Well, I trimmed down all the Passiflora but didn't Round up the cut ends. I will probably be sorry later in the season. I have nowhere else to put the vine that wouldn't get into the waterways.
So after many rose thorns and lots of tug-of-war struggles with the vines I went from this---



to this-




I didn't stop there- I have a Carolina Jasmine, Gelsemium sempervirens. I first put it on the side of the house, behind the elephant ears, Colocasia ssp. that grow very happily. The vine wanted more sunlight. As you can see, it moved around the corner of the house to reach for more light. Since it was going into the gutter, I needed to move it.





After looking around the yard, I found a great place for it to grow as large as it wants.





So now I will have more seasonal color on the wooden swing set.

Additional updates-- I bought seeds and some bulbs at the Maymont Home and Garden Show.. The lettuces are growing and the hyacinths and tulips are finally blooming. Here is the container I did of the tulips, hyacinth, crocus, and a Veronica repens. The tulip is Tulip "New Design" and is variegated and the hyacinth is Hyacinth "Chestnut Flower". Both flower colors are pinkish and quite sweet.


Last but not least is the lettuce crop-- Red Romaine and Red Sails. I have them in windowbox planters. For convience sake they are on the deck, also away from the bunnies as I have them perched on an upside down planter. I will thin them some more-- hard to do sometimes as I am happy for such germination.