Yesterday marked my first official jump into the garden makeover realm. I’ve helped out friends and family before, but that was more “advice” than anything else. This makeover was on a small scale but enough that it required full planning and a full day’s work.

Here’s the rub – it was for a very tough client who I know from past experience can be very demanding and rule with an iron fist. This client is rough around the edges and we’ve had a number of issues in the past. If this job fails, it will haunt me for years to come. This client is … my parents … and it is at the home I grew up in. Alright so maybe I built some false drama, but if this “job” is done wrong it will make for awkward family dinners for years to come; not to mention a big hit to my inheritance.           

Some quick background on the “project” (like making it sound professional):

• Scope – Garden bed wrapping around the front of a 1950’s Cape Cod. All existing plants have been pulled  from the bed due to overgrowth and general “blah-ness”.   
• Zone – Northern NJ – zone 6
• Exposure – partial sun
• Soil – rich and loamy like I’ve never seen before (beyond jealous)
• Budget – there is no budget – we’re talking carte blanche here
• Time frame – one day 
• Client is looking to move within 2 years (side note: due to retirement and to be closer to their children/grandchildren down my way)

ONG was on the road by 6:00 AM Sunday and at the site by 7:15. After downing a bagel (and after New York City, there is no better place to get a bagel – it’s the water, seriously, google it and you’ll see) we surveyed the yard for measurements and potential transplants.    

So here are the “before” photos:

Here were my thoughts upon inspection:

• Railroad ties are to be removed 
• Bed shape needs to be more of a swooping (technical term) curve along the front
• Need a few large evergreens to anchor it all
• Need color and varying textures/leaf shape/color
• Low maintenance (not that my p’s couldn’t handle it – they are in incredible shape at their age)

We headed out to the nursery right at opening and filled up three carts in no time. I gave my parents the low down on each and every tree, shrub or perennial we passed by and I think, just maybe, I impressed them a little. When I am in that mode, I have a definite jump in my step and I feel like this is what I am supposed to do. I’m not quite sure if that means landscape design, horticulture, nursery owner or maybe goofy home gardener who writes too much about it in his blog. Either way, we found each other and it feels real good.

Well, I now give you the results. While they may not be overwhelmingly breath-taking, I think we were all very happy by the end of the day. Either that or my parents didn’t want to knock me off my pedestal. Here they are:

Here you can see the curve in the bed line. We lined the front with a mix of Heuchera and variegated Liriope. I tried to sell them on the Blackout Heucheras, but no dice. The Hosta was a transplant from the backyard. to the right are three Ilex ‘Compacta’.
     

The three taller shrubs are Baptisia Twilite ‘Prairie Blues’ that have real interesting blooms and great leaf shape.
   

A view as the bed wraps around the front. Those are Salvia ‘May Night’. Behind these is an Ilex ‘Blue Prince’ that we dished out some major cash for but it really anchors that area.
 

Three Knockout roses in front of three Boxwoods. The addition of the birdbath made all the difference adding hardscape and more height to the area.

 

My Dad and I at the conclusion of the day. Dirty, sweaty and feeling good about things. You can also see we added another Ilex ‘Blue Prince’ in the background to mirror the other one.

Now, today’s job is a start and I hope to tackle my sister’s yard next. I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the day and most importantly, enjoyed the quality time with my parents. I won’t forget the day and know I will look back fondly on it for many years to come. It feels good to give back after everything they’ve done for me my entire life.

Love you Mick and John 

Ciao   

“If you’ve got the time we’ve got the beer”

Quick, name the beer commercial … tick tick … Jeopardy theme playing … tick tick … give up? That would be Miller High Life. See the 1979 commercial here. This commercial just makes me feel good for some reason.

Anyway, I definitely have the beer (garage is stocked with Sierra Nevada, Magic Hat and Sam Adams) but the “time” is a different story.

Let me preface first by saying, I wouldn’t change a thing in my life right now. A beautiful wife/best friend/ partner in crime, two fantastic and healthy children, best dog known to man and a kick ass house/property out in the country in small town NJ (yes that is possible you haters). But …. time for personal enjoyments (i.e. gardening) is extremely limited. You know that going in so it’s hard to really complain – it’s just reality.

Now I know I tend to lean a tad bit negative (maybe cynical is a better term) but this post is now going to switch paths and go all positive on your ass.

This morning the alarm went off at 5:45 AM and rather than spoon my wife and force her to stay in bed until 6:30 AM, I immediately got up, put on the appropriate gear (which looked very criminal-like this morning – black hoodie and black Adidas pants) and headed outside. I was determined to get in a good 45 minutes of gardening tasks before our morning truly started.

To add to the drama, there was a steady rain and it was in the high 40’s. Did that impede me at all? Can I get a “hell no”? It may not seem like much but I:

• Planted a recently purchased Yucca (where have you been all my life you structural minx?).

• Removed and discarded two Ilex Glabra, along the front foundation, that redefine the term “leggy”.

• Trekked through the mud and determined my new layout where the Ilex were located (lots of shrubs in pots moved around until I found the right look). 

I set foot back in the house at 6:29 AM and felt INVIGORATED (my absolute favorite term right now). It’s amazing how much can get done in a short period of time. I am super determined to do this same thing every morning. It will be tough – my wife and I are night owls and usually are not asleep until around midnight each night (me a little later after watching P Allen Smith re-reruns) but I can’t pass up this new found “time”. I’ll let you all know how successful I am as the days pass.

So crack me open a cold Miller my beer swilling buddies … cause I now have the time and I got the beer.

Cheers!                           

I tried.

I really did.

I wasn’t going to post yet again today (my sincerest apologies).

But as you can figure out by now, that didn’t happen.

I know, yay it’s Friday, TGIF, woo-hoo weekend. Well before I could join you with that sentiment, I needed to get a few things off my chest (always found that saying odd as I really don’t think I carry things on my chest).     

Not to sound too dramatic, but on this morning’s garden walkabout, I found nothing but negatives. It’s as if the plants had a secret meeting and decided to knock me down a few pegs. I imagine it going something like this – “He’s a little too content lately. He needs to remember this isn’t that easy. I want you all to put your worst bud or worst petal forward and make a bad impression.” Well, consider it a success. And to prove it to you, I got photos. Warning – this isn’t pretty but it’s my therapy so I really don’t care how you feel: 

Hold on a sec, just puked in my mouth a bit. OK … here goes. This Siberian Iris should be used as an educational tool on when you know your Iris needs to be divided. It’s got that big old open hole in the middle that screams “cut me already you dope”. Well, I will do just that after they bloom and will be sure to document each step along the way.    

The Iris are blooming but the foliage is no taller than a foot or so. I think I also made the mistake of leaving all of the spent blooms on the plants all year thinking it would provide some level of winter interest. Well, that was way overrated.

Ain’t she a beauty? The cold snap we had has done just this to all my hydrangeas so we got some pruning to do in order to recover. I am finding this very hy-draining.

Even my precious Eupatorium ‘Chocoloate’ seems affected by the near freezing temps. Seriously, if these do not recover fully I am going to put a beat-down on something. This is one of my faves and it looks phenomenal behind a bunch of white blooming Echinacea ‘Fragrant Angel’.         

Knockout roses have none of the problems regular roses do. Oh really … is that so. This crap look good to you? The blooms seem unaffected (so far) but damn I need nice clean foliage too. I see no signs of aphids or any other critters that are causing this damage. I am going to camp out with a flashlight one of these nights and find out who is causing such a ruckus.  

Joke for you. How can you tell if someone is a novice gardener? Answer – they plant mint in a raised bed with great soil and then ignore it. I planted one of these 2 years ago and they come back as often as Brett Favre. You can see here it has grown under the raised bed planter and is about to suffocate it to death. Nice job John.     

One last one for you. These two shots show Catmint planted along my front bed. They are doing real well and I love them. The problem is the spacing. I originally had 8 of these planted along the front but had them planted way to close together. As if I were solving a riddle, I tried to move as few as possible in order to improve the spacing. Smashing success (sarcastic wink). So now here’s my new thought and need your opinion. For this year at least, I was going to plant annuals between each of these. Will that look too checkerboard like? If you think it will work, which annuals would you suggest?

Well thank you for allowing me the opportunity to visually vent. It is truly like therapy and I feel better already.

Thank you … and stay thirsty my friends.

ONG         

And you need it after my “unusual” and “wordy” post from yesterday.Apologies to those who said “Um … dude you’ve flipped your lid” after reading that post. Onwards and upwords:

Iris ‘Ruffled Velvet’

 Iris ‘Ruffled Velvet’

Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’

Malus ‘Prairie Fire’

Hypericum “Albury People’

 
By now you all know the story of Eat, Pray, Love (because I know you all watch Oprah or at least keep an eye on the New York Times top seller list). It was a world wide sensation and tells the story of one woman’s journey from one day crying in a heap on her bathroom floor to eventually making her way to places like Italy and India where she “found herself”. It is now a soon to be major motion picture starring Julia Roberts and that dude from No Country for Old Men who maybe had the best hair ever seen in a film.

Well, the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, may have written a sequel about her subsequent marriage at the conclusion of the first book, but I am here today to suggest, not a sequel, but the same style story, but from a new perspective. Our central character will be male and he will discover his inner horticultural-ness through a different type journey.

I present you today with the official manuscript/preview/mini-screenplay of my new vision:

This is the story of one man, who one day found himself face down in the mud (was actually more like acidic wet clay) seemingly having hit rock bottom only to bounce back and pull himself up by the boot straps and complete a long journey of much needed self awakening. This is:

DIG, PLANT, GROW

Today, I will present you with the introduction. Be on the look out for parts 1-3 in the very near future:

Our main character, we’ll call him Joe, seemingly had the perfect life. A loving wife (although she had a strange obsession with Tim McGraw), a cute little dog his wife kept in an oversized purse (he always really wanted a Lab) and two cats (Joe really never “got” cats). He worked as an accountant at a large corporation and made what his wife called “OK money”. Every morning Joe put on the corporate uniform – button down shirt, nicely pressed khakis and the same dress shoes he has been wearing since his college graduation. Joe also ate the same breakfast every morning – a bowl of Kashi cereal (his wife said it was healthy according to the Internet) and an apple. Joe didn’t like coffee so he drank a Mountain Dew each morning to get a nice “rush”.

Joe drove to work each morning in a carpool with three other guys that lived in neighboring towns. While the other three talked about their Fantasy Baseball teams or the state of the economy, Joe quietly read his collection of Fine Gardening magazines. He kept a highlighter in his pocket and highlighted all of the tips he wanted to eventually compile in a huge database. The other dudes quietly laughed at Joe and his gardening thing but for the most part left him alone. After all, he paid a larger share of the gas costs because he was the furthest away from the office (or so they told him).

Each night, after a sensible dinner usually consisting of a meat, a vegetable and a starch, Joe would venture outside and tend to his gardens. They were very understated but nice. He dreamed of owning a large property where he could become more creative and increase the number of plants he owned.

One night, as it was becoming almost too dark to see anything, Joe pushed his shovel into the ground as he was attempting to transplant a Hydrangea to an area that received more shade. As he shook the shovel up and down trying to get as much of the root ball as possible, Joe felt dizzy and began to collapse. He tried like hell to fight through it but it was useless – he was going down hard.

Joe eventually came to and managed to open his eyes but there was a blinding light shining on him and he could not focus clearly. It appeared as if there was a giant Farmer guy, wearing really cool overalls, speaking to him. Joe tried to make sense of the scene, as bizarre as it was, and all he could make out were the words “Come with me Joe, we have some digging to do.” As terrifying as the scene was, Joe felt himself invigorated and he gave in to the request. He got up and followed the Farmer into the light, but not forgetting to grab his indestructible gloves and stuck them in his back pockets. It was on like Donkey Kong!

Next time – Part I – DIG

Until then …

This was a super busy weekend (Communion practice, baseball games, birthday parties, charity walk) so there wasn’t a lot of time to spend outside. Although with the temperatures in the low 90’s on Saturday and Sunday and a huge rain storm on Sunday night, this wasn’t really the weekend to hang with the plants.

But, that doesn’t stop me from my daily trips around the yard to check in on my little buddies to see how they are coming along. Here is some of what I found:         

The Viburnum Plicatum ‘Shoshoni’ is in full bloom and smells phenomenal. While my attempts to relocate the other one that was right next to this one failed miserably (RIP), I must admit that these look much better as a specimen shrub in a foundation planting.
 

You know by now that I can’t get enough of peonies so you will have to put up with yet another shot of them. As usual and as expected (cause they’re tough as nails) here come the numerous blooms. I think one of these years I am going to start a peony blooming party where we all drink to our hearts content and just stare at the buds until they bloom.
 

OK one more … couldn’t resist with the rain drops on them. 

The Campanula ‘Joan Elliot’ (isn’t that the lead singer of Def Leppard … never mind) is blooming profusely although here they are weighed down a bit from all the rain. Still … gotta love that color!

The Ninebark ‘Summer Wine’ is filled with buds and should be in full bloom by the end of the week. While the blooms are beautiful, I really like the shape of this shrub and the way the branches cascade to the ground. It has become a true focal point in the bed next to the deck.

The Crabapple ‘Prairie Fire’ has finally stopped blooming but I love the color of the new foliage early in the season. Soon come the berries.  

Wow John it’s a …. a …. leaves growing on a shrub … how stimulating. Well, this just happens to be the final plant to show signs of new growth so to me “oh cynical one” this symbolizes that the garden has fully arrived. By the way, if you still care, it is a Clethra ‘Hummingbird’.   

And now the bad. This hydrangea has numerous leaves that have turned brown and look like they are crisping (my technical term) and dying. It is definitely not from a lack of water as we’ve had plenty of rain. It does get a bit more sun than is typically recommended, but that has not been a problem in the past. Help!!  

More dead-ness. Could it possibly be the close to freezing temps we had about a week ago? I did not see any signs of critters either. 

Now we are getting personal and I’m ready to go all Rambo on whatever is messing with my Knockout roses. I saw no signs of anything underneath the leaf and it hasn’t completely taken over … yet. It’s bad enough with the Japanese Beetles later in the season. Can’t I enjoy these with nice foliage like everyone else does?    

And finally today, this is what you see at the entrance to the house from my back deck. Do the words make sense? Not really. Does it effectively keep the monsters out of our house? Like a charm. My four year old daughter is on to something. Maybe we should patent it now. Seeing things like this while outside and fretting over plants makes it all a lot easier to take.

Another busy week ahead and the goal outside is a very simple one. Remove every weed by hand and get the beds in tip top shape.

Until next time my friends.