Monday, January 9, 2017

CORNER FLOWER BED

Here is another project I've been working on, took a couple of weekends of sporadic working over the last month whenever we would have good weather, but it's done...until Spring anyway...


So here is the back story.  

I wish I had a before photo but last Spring I put cardboard down in this corner flower bed.  Then on top of that, I put all the plants in containers that we brought from the house after it sold. They sat there through the monsoon rains and oppressive heat of the Summer.  I watered them regularly when it was dry but that was it.  Well, about two months ago, I decided to clean it out because it was a jungle of mess.  Many of them had grown roots down through their containers into the ground.  Oops!  Most I could easily pull up, careful to save the roots of course but a few had, unfortunately, died.  

Standing tall in the corner was this this, the Texas Lilac (Vitex) and its roots had grown VERY large and VERY deep...AND it was blooming.  The funny thing is that it was sort of already in the perfect spot where I might have planted it on purpose!  So I carefully cut away the plastic container and left the root ball in place.  I dug out around it and settled it down into the ground a bit deeper and then mounded additional soil around it.
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That left me with needing to add a bit more soil to make it all more level so I added one more landscape timber to the height and watered it all down. 

We had a blank canvas to work with so I got busy the following weekend. 


We have a birdbath!!!

OK, so it's nothing fancy, but we're excited. "Ma" left it behind when she moved (too heavy to move) and so it's been in two pieces behind the house, with weeds growing up around it.  It's concrete and does indeed weigh a lot, but I cleaned it up as best I could, moved it, and put it in place.  

We think it's the perfect spot to be able to enjoy it.

Flowerbed
Then I watered it down again (it was a week between steps, ha), and planted some of the plants we already had in containers.  For future color, I started with blue plumbago between the purple vitex and birdbath.  Next I planted two lavender plants (yay!).  Lastly, on the other side, I put in a Texas lantana, a variety with wonderful red, orange, and yellow flowers.  These should all give us a lot of color right on the porch corner by the front door.  

All of these plants are favorable to our climate, especially the plumbago and lantana. Even the lavender is a variety for more tropical, humid climates but we are, of course, uniquely wet and humid so we shall see!  Now we have had the freeze this past weekend so we'll have to see what survived. The vitex and lantana should be good but not sure how the lavender and plumbago will do.  We shall see.  All this work might be for nothing, well, actually, even if we lose the lavender and plumbago, that just gives us space for more flowers, right? 

So, after several "Inspiration Thursday" posts featuring birdbaths surrounded by flowers, we are hopefully on our way to recreating those into one of our own. We want to watch them fill in and then figure out some annuals to plant around them in the Spring.

Let the color begin!


21 comments:

  1. I planted purple vitex on each side of my front steps. They grew so tall (way above the roof of the house) I had to pull them up. They bloomed twice/year and the bumble bees, honey bees & humming birds loved them. I am sure if I had pruned them way back each spring, I could have controlled their growth. A lot of the older homes in my town have them in their yards and even in vacant lots where older homes have been torn down. They are really beautiful in the Spring!!

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    1. I know these can get big, I'm definitely going to have to keep this trimmed but it should be easy where it is. And yes, this summer it was COVERED in bumblebees. We planted several down the driveway a couple years back and they are growing but slooooowly in our clay soil. But they bloomed, that's most important!

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  2. I bought a tree from a nursery. When they lifted the pot, the taproot was growing in the ground. It actually lived after being ripped out and broken.

    That spot will be lovely. When my neighbor moved and put her house on the market, she allowed me to have her birdbath, making two in my yard. I love a free birdbath.

    I'm not sure if this will apply to your situation, but it happened to me. I would go out and plant where I had a lovely view from my swing. All this was on the side of the house I can see out my kitchen window. Well, I could see no flowers when I was inside and looking out the window as I worked and cooked! I do like a view from windows, even if only a glimpse through my lace curtains in the rest of the house. The view from the swing was great!

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    1. We can't see this from the house but we have a few areas we can and I'd like to definitely see some flowers.

      Plants can be determined can't they? HA!

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  3. this area is going to be so nice. i can't wait to see it filled in!

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    1. Fingers crossed it all makes it though the freezing. If now, we'll, I'll just plant more, right?

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  4. Very pretty. Good job well done.
    xx

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  5. It looks fabulous! It will make a lovely picture when it is mature. I wonder, has Ma seen the changes you have made? Does she visit?

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    1. We hope so! Fingers and toes crossed, ha. No, sadly Ma doesn't visit, she's in her late 80's and stays in Florida. Her son lives across the street (she's still on her own in her own house). She does ask about the house oh occasion but, sadly, gets it mixed up with another house she owned by a lake (I wish we were by a lake!).

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  6. Replies
    1. Thank you so much, we'll see how it comes out!

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  7. The bed is very visually appealing. I like the different textures in it. Great Job!

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    1. Thanks, it's always so hard to leave so much empty space while waiting to fill in, ha.

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  8. Great job! It's going to fill out well. Your plumbago should survive - my mom had it along one side of the house for 50 years! The bird bath looks really good there. I saw an idea a few years ago - they had planted ice plant in a bird bath. It looked so pretty, cascading down a bit on the sides.

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    1. I thought about a plant I the bath, but I think for now we'll have it as a birdbath and we'll see how it goes. Good to hear about the plumbago. The Vitex should survive too. If the lavender doesn't, I'll be a bit sad but will plant something else in the Spring. Space for flowers is always good.

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  9. That will be so very pretty once it's all in bloom. You could even plant some Moss Roses for a low growing plant and adding beautiful color as well; plus they will spread to cover the bare spots

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    1. OOH. moss roses, those are pretty and low growing. Thanks! We'll see how it all shakes out come Spring, ha.

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  10. Aww, how sweet of you to say that. You just made OUR day!! Thank you! Oh, Austin is SO gorgeous I bet you have a beautiful piece of land. Hill Country is so nice. Glad to hear about the plants, thanks for the info. Fingers crossed they made it through the freeze, we'll see this weekend. Stay tuned!!

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  11. Dear farmerboys!!
    Once I really believed I could create a garden, but the odds, the odds... I do as much as I can figure out, and leave the creative and fantastic to the neighbours. Now I have your blog to relish in, I don't know if I should feel bad about being such a terrible gardener or enjoy the fact that you are such great gardeners and sharing it as well!!! Thank you, 1st and 2nd Man for this inspiring blog. Hopefully the weather will now turn into normal and you can soon see things grow. I've seen the fat buds on the rodhodendron and the willow. Blessings to you!! Oh and I am not at all supersticious...and certainly not on friday the 13th, mondays however.......

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    1. Oh, you are so sweet. Hey, it's not always good. Don't worry about your gardens you do what make you happy and that's all that matters. Thank you for being such a great friend of the blog.

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