OT: Terracing our Backyard

OOOoooo, don't let the birds have *all* the berries! These are also known as juneberries and are really tasty fresh from the bush and also make *great* pies! Or, you could send them to me! Our soil is too alkaline to grow juneberries. :(

Joan

Hooray- someone else with a Serviceberry. Ours has really deep colored flowers. Our regular guy at the nursery convinced us to buy this really expensive one - they'd had a shipment of 6 gorgeous ones - that were so much fuller than typical. We have one that is like a tree with many, many small trunks (they come either very multi-trunked, or just a smaller split similar to crepe myrtle). Anyhow - along with the birds loving the berries - which are actually good to make jam with for humans - if you get them first - the japanese beetles liked it. But, we got it sprayed in time, and I'm happy it's actually budding out now.

We also have a flowering plum, and changed the particular hybrid type because of the virus thing that hit it - to one that is hardier than at our previous house. We've been deciding about a cherry - there are some varieties that have a better hardiness after some of the viruses that hit here. But, I do remember all the dogwoods from my time in Atlanta & NC.

Our strangest little tree - which we call "Saku Koivu" - after a hockey player - is actually a "Sangu Kaku" little maple -very scarlet trunk, with bright yellow-green leaves. Gets more crimson in winter with the cold.

Ah, I want to go play in the dirt this weekend. And we have to figure out which of the containerized (couldn't plant due to the builder working in the area these were to go) hydrangeas. I think that of the 6 in containers, 4 are okay, 1 dead, and 1 questionable. So, we're adding it onto the builder "oews" us bill.

Ellice

I really, really, want to put up some wisteria around the trellis thing on the deck (there's a small overhead arbor with nothing hanging yet) - but I'm a bit worried about bees. Thoughts?

ellice

Don't you get too much winter for them as well? Last year we got some of the berries - before the birds. This year, I'm planning to be more timely before the birds get them. Of course, it doesn't help that the bird bath is right near the tree, but that might move, as I'm planning to put a hydrangea bed along there (kind of right angles bordering the tree which is in front of the deck - it screens us from the neighbors a bit).

ellice

And I'm going to get snowed on again!

Cheryl

I've never had a problem with the bees -- I stay out of their way and they seem to stay out of my way -- mostly. I do have wasps and I am going to put out some of those upside bottle type thingies to trap them whenever we are outside. We have all sorts of bees around most of the time and never seem to have a problem. Poor little Guiseppi (the new dwarf Japanese maple) isn't looking too good after the three consecutive nights of near freezing temps we had over the weekend! He was in the ground only for two days before we had the first nasty night. He had a good drink of special planting water and has a nice layer of mulch but I'm not sure how he's going to look! It's beginning to warm up a bit now so I'll give him another drink of the special transplant water to see if that will help. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

The whole thing looks wonderful, Tia Mary. Congratulations. The view will (I hope) last much longer than the aches and pains.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Problem for me with bees is serious. But, there was the most gorgeous wisteria on the porches of houses in the area of France where I lived, and I've always wanted to have some. So, I think we're going to brave it.

I'm convinced that having planted our trees with really good soil and some special organic Master Gardener amendment, and feeding them when they went in, etc., allowed them to survive their first tough years. The Bloodgood Japanese Maple - which we haven't named yet - actually has grown a bit - we can notice it. Gorgeous shape, and I can see the leave buds coming.

This weekend the plan is to feed them all, get the weeds out of the beds, re-mulch, and get the bulbs in the cutting garden plot (~ 4' X 12'). Also, even though we had the milky spore applied on the yard last fall, I'm going to do the Bayer preventive solution that the plants take up through their roots. And figure out what to do with those poor rhodies.

And then if I'm really lucky, someone will send me some daylillies as the time approaches (tee hee).

ellice

Because we have so much clay in the soil here I add lots of stuff when I plant anything. I put all sorts of soil amendments in when I planted Guiseppi but I doubt if *any* of that will help fight the effects of the drop in temps. I wasn't even aware the temps were supposed to drop so precipitously and DH is perpetually in his little self aware bubble that neither of us thought to cover the tree! I wonder who the patron saint of plants or gardens is -- I should say a few prayers for our poor little tree. Now, about this stuff we laughingly call soil -- I would have to say that at least half the plants are planted in soil that is so heavy in clay that I could have made pots out of the stuff just as it comes out of the ground. I probably used two 50# bags of garden soil amendment stuff on just the small plants. That doesn't include what I used on Guiseppi or the two plants in the barrels! And about those two barrels -- they are genuine old Jack Daniels barrels! I had DH drill the bottom full of holes -- there's only enough wood in the bottom now to hold the whole thing together. DH said that after having his head stuck in those barrels for all that time he might have to join the local Temperance Movement :-))! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

I understand completely. We have a lot of clay, and an amazing amount of rocks/boulders. We actually have 3 nice size (2' diameter) boulders in the back that came up doing the patio. In the front, I used the largish rocks - kind of on the 10" - 1' size for some effect in the front beds.

When we planted the weeping peach tree, which was the first "tree" we put in

- it's way in the front of the yard - the base element - (we're going to continue the front bed around down the drive to this tree) I was worried. We took out tons of rocks, and then there was just clay. When I was planting it back, I almost totally replaced the all the soil. But then I talked with the nursery guy, and he said that we should actually put a lot of the original stuff with clay and rocks back in, and that the plant would do fine. That changing all the soil wasn't a good idea. Nonetheless, we've had to add tons of amendment and it seems to be working.