Madonna being caught on tape saying “I absolutely loathe hydrangeas” is apparently big news. I say let’s not waste these beauties on the Material Girl.
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TweetThe Garden Designers Roundtable invited the Lawn Reform Coalition to be their guest blogger(s) this month, combining forces to publish 18 articles about Lawn Replacement on the same day, and linking to each other. Great idea, designers! Scroll down for the links to those 17 other blog posts, including one by me on GardenRant. There I report on the disaster I made of my back-yard lawn replacement project – now bare earth fast eroding down the hillside.
I loved the colorful and tidy little mosaic of low groundcovers here in my front yard, all criss-crossed by brick pavers that repeat the brick in the sidewalk and porch floor. I loved it all, that is, until the Thymes started dying off, and the Creeping Cinquefoil overtook the Creeping Jenny – a story of plant failures I chronicled here. (Details about the thymes and other plants from Stepables that I tested in this garden are listed here.)
The goal was and is to find plants that stay low, are evergreen (more or less) and require nothing at all – no watering, no feeding, obviously no mowing, and as little weeding as possible. Also, they have to behave well with each other, not overtake their neighbors. Keeping them all short helps – 3″ and shorter – and also avoiding plants that climb on top of each other, like the cinquefoil did.
So I got rid of the bullying Cinquefoil, and seeded some Alyssym over the remaining Creeping Jenny, which I’m keeping an eye on, hoping it thrives on the shadier side of this little plot. I removed all the (dying or at least not thriving) thyme from the sunnier side and planted 8 new creeping Sedums that I’m trying out for general vigor, rate of spread – important in a groundcover unless you have a large enough budget to accomplish instant coverage – and appearance throughout the year. My tentative conclusion is that creeping Sedums could be a beautiful and nearly maintenance-free alternative to lawns on sunny spots – assuming good drainage for these dry-loving plants. They sure do all that on green roofs. They tolerate little to no foot traffic, of course. Thus the criss-crossing pavers. And no tag football or kids running through sprinklers. Thanks to Sandy McDougall and Ed Snodgrass for all the plants!
Above, from left: S. spurium possibly ‘Dragon’s Blood‘ or ‘Fuldaglut‘ that was a passalong from a neighbor. Next is a patch of S. reflexum ‘Blue Spruce,’ which is beautiful but grows VERY slowly; and above it, the much more vigorous S. rupestre ‘Angelina’. Far right: another chartreuse Sedum - S. makinoi ‘Limelight,’ which has been a slow-grower for me. In the foreground, lots of Alyssum.
Closer looks at (in foreground) S. spurium ‘Dragon’s Blood’ or ‘Fuldaglot”. I’ll be getting rid of this because – sorry – its coloring is too similar to soil. It has very little impact here, and doesn’t fill in thick enough to prevent weeds, anyway. Above it is the wonderful ‘Angelina’, which everyone seems to love – for good reason. Just don’t step on it – it’s more breakable than most Sedums.
Above foreground, what’s left of the Creeping Jenny, with Alyssum in bloom.
Bottom left: S. makinoi ‘Limelight’ - gorgeous but slow-growing. Top left: S. floriferum ‘Weihnstephaner Gold,’ which really does have gold blooms and is a moderate spreader. On the right is an Ice Plant doing a bit of reblooming in August. I love Ice Plant but it hasn’t spread much in its first year and it looks pretty bad in the winter.
Above left, some of the S. takesimemese that Ed Snodgrass gave me a big ‘ole flat of, which quickly proved to be the most vigorous Sedum I’ve ever green. Great gold flowers, seen here having having turned brown by August but still looking fine by me. I’ll be using LOTS of this Sedum. On the right is S. album ‘Coral Carpet’ (I think), which is spreading awfully slowly.
It’s funny how these two Sedums look exactly alike except for the color, but are actually two different species. Plus, they perform so differently. Left: S. reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’; right: S. rupestre ‘Angelina’.
I’ve compiled info about all the Sedums I’m growing here on my website – that link includes Ed Snodgrass’s suggestions for covering ground in a variety of situations. He’s the Green Roof Plants guy right here in Maryland, so he trials plants in the same climate as me. Also on my website are links to blog stories about my lawn replacement journey, front yard and back.
Now check out posts about lawn replacement from these Lawn Reform Coalition members:
- Evelyn Hadden in Saint Paul, MN
- Saxon Holt in Novato, CA
- Ginny Stibolt in Green Cove Springs, FL
- Susan Morrison in East Bay, CA
- Shirley Bovshow in Los Angeles, CA
- Susan Harris in Takoma Park, MD – yes, it’s me again on GardenRant in a post about my back yard lawn replacement project, titled “From lawn to Sedum, clover, bare soil and erosion!”
And these members of the Garden Designers Roundtable:
- Scott Hokunson in Granby, CT
- Rochelle Greayer in Boston, MA
- Rebecca Sweet in Los Altos, CA
- Pam Penick in Austin, TX
- Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber in Bristol, UK
- Laura Liven Good Schaub in San Jose, CA
- Jocelyn Chilvers in Denver, CO
- Ivette Soler in Los Angeles, CA
- Genevieve Schmidt in Arcata, CA
- Douglas Owens-Pike in Minneapolis, MN
- Debbie Roberts in Stamford, CT
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TweetSeen today in just one block of town, just around the corner from me.
See how nicely tied-up these sunflowers are? Pedestrians can just enjoy them, not have to fight their way through them.
Look how much gorgeousness and food for pollinators these neighbors pack into a planting strip along their driveway!
Next, a whole lotta impact in a small but prominent spot.
And every year, neighbors enjoy the long-lasting blooms of crape myrtle in front of this perfectly matched house.
Thank you, gardeners of Takoma Park.
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I spotted this familiar image while perusing Timber Press’s latest catalog, and proceeded to shriek and run around like an excited 8-year-old. (Just ask the 60+ other gardenbloggers I was with in Seattle – they witnessed the scene and won’t be forgetting it soon.) The book is by Evelyn Hadden of Minnesota with photos by Saxon Holt of California, both of whom are my co-conspirators in the Lawn Reform Coalition. Here’s more about the book, which will be available in February.
I sure wish that back yard looked as good NOW. Horrible summer, ya know.
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TweetThis guy’s great at making the Lawn Reform Coalition’s point. Thanks!
Click here to read the 4,500+ comments on YouTube.
*Unless they’re needed to play on.
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See the cherry laurel shrub on the left in the photo above? There used to be one more to the right of it, the last in a hedge, until I chopped it down today because it was hiding this gorgeous Cryptomeria. For years my neighbors have had a better view of it – until I got the chopping-down urge. Earlier this week I similarly dispatched with a hybrid dogwood that was in front of the cherry laurel – waaaay too many plants in a tight spot.
But what’s so impressive is how full and perfect the Cryptomeria looks, despite having been in total shade from the big, full cherry laurel. How many conifers could do that? Notice I now have a clear view to some of my neighbor’s Bottlebrush Buckeyes, too. Love ‘em.
Here are two more views of this awesome tree – on the left at just three years old along the north side of a neighbor’s house, where it gets good light but no direct sun. And on the right is a clos
e-up of one (spotted on a garden tour in D.C.) that shows how pretty and SOFT its needles are. Nothing like the prickliness of this Deodar cedar on the other side of my back garden. I love it, too, but I go out of my way to avoid being stabbed by it.
Notice a pattern here – adding conifers to my garden. In addition to these two cedars, I’ve planted six ‘Green Giant’ Arborvitae, five Canadian Hemlocks (and checking for that horrible wooly adelgid that’s wiping them out), a Hinoki Cypress, a Dwarf White Pine and and several small Junipers.
Though I will admit to having some failures in this plant group – a Hollywood Juniper that the deer destroyed, and a Dwarf Albert Spruce that apparently really hates our climate. At least they were both cheap.
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TweetTrouble in Youtubeland
This short video of my on-deck container garden seemed to load itself from my Flip camera onto my computer and then onto Youtube. Trouble is, since Google bought Youtube I’ve been locked out of my Youtube account, so I can’t do anything TO the video. Can’t rename it or write a description. Can’t even answer the comments people are nice enough to write there! My account – GardenerSusan - is still there, but after struggling for two hours to fix the access problem, which stems from the new requirement that Youtube accounts to be sync’ed with Google accounts, I’ve given up. Despite finding other people in the same boat, and trying Youtube’s suggested fixes. Sigh.
The deckful of color
On a happier note, I’m loving my colorful summer vegetables, hot petunias, sweet potato vines and other assorted annuals. Last year my veg attempts were total failures but this year I’m avoiding crops destroyed by cabbage loopers and sticking with my best performers so far – cherry tomatoes, squash, eggplant and a few herbs. (Zucchini did well for me, too. Not that that’s any accomplishment.)
The “self-watering containers” are from Gardeners Supply. Much better looking than Earthboxes, and with rollers, they’re easy to move around as needed.
These annuals came from Hort Couture: ‘Black Jack’ and ‘Smallwood Driveway’ Coleus; three ‘Panache’ Petunias; ‘Deep Navy’ Lobelia; ‘Paper Doll’ Scaevola, Ipomoea ‘Blackie’ and ‘Margarita’, and Euphorbia ‘Hip Hop’. And from C. Raker & Sons: ‘Wave Purple Improved Spreading’ and ‘Shock Coral Crush’ Petunias.
The vine you see on the privacy screen is Hardy Kiwi, which grows like Kudzu but in its 15 years here, hasn’t yet produced any fruit.
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Spotted in Washington, near the National Cathedral. The perfect cottagey look of this humongous but tasteful home caused me to stop the car and snap this shot – actually two shots, stitched (badly) together. I bet the back garden is just as nice.
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TweetI recently I stopped by my absolute favorite public garden - Chanticleer – on my way to a Meet the Author event at the Rodale Institute (after repeatedly cursing the signage around Philly and needing the garden’s receptionist to talk me in over the phone). Here are a few of my favorite scenes there, starting with the Tennis Court Garden because of its history as just that.
Below is an example of how just a little bit of mowing can make a short meadow look cared for, and inviting to walk through.
Below, Primula popping up through a bed of Horsetail, which one of the gardeners warned me about. You know how it goes – once you have it, you’ll never get rid of it.
Finally, the kitchen garden, which gardener Doug Croft surrounds with red clover because the rabbits will eat it instead of the vegetables. Looks pretty, too.
Click here for more of my favorite scenes at Chanticleer and here to meet some of Chanticleer’s expert staff. All photos taken May 13, 2011.
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They're always better when they're free.
The other day I came home to find two boxes on my front porch, which thankfully I opened right away because they contained precious cargo – free plants! The perks of garden-writing are modest, but always appreciated. So thanks to C. Raker & Sons in Michigan for this unexpected treat.
What’s (very well) packed in these yellow shipping cells? 6 Petunias ‘Wave Purple Improved Spreading’; 6 Petunias ‘Shock Coral Crush’; 6 Marigold ‘Bonanza Deep Orange’; 6 Angelonia ‘Serena Blue’; 6 Begonia ‘Gryphon’; and 6 ‘Angelwing’ Begonia.
More cool packing was revealed – each plant is growing in one of these SoilWrap Plantable Pots, which go right in the soil. Hope they work because I hate bringing home black plastic containers that I then have to figure out how to dispose of responsibly. Ugh.
They’re almost all planted now, most of them in containers, and I’ll post photos when they’re a little larger. But they’re also in borders, where I’m hoping they’ll fill in newly enlarged perennial borders that aren’t full yet. You know how it is with perennials – first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap? So until they leap, supplementing the borders with annuals is worth a try, especially when most of them were free.
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