Pics of the garden

[Captainobvious]

Well, we finally got our shrubs/plants in the ground

Heres what it looks like before (with after the plants came home) and then after much digging and planting...(as well as some pics of the planter pot and the front garden bed which I need to do a little work on as well (remove border and redo)


Looking at the red hydrangea in the front garden bed, there are some dried portions of a couple leaves. Should these leaves be completely removed or just the dead portion clipped?

The plants in the rear include :
Hydrangea "Endless Summer"
Hydrangea M Glory Blue mophead
Purpleleaf Sand Cherry "Prunus Cistena"
Japanese Spirea Goldflame "spirea japonica"
(2) Golden Vicary Privet Ligustrum
Butterfly bush
Azalea

In the front garden bed we have several lillies, a rose bush, a red hydrangea macrophylla, crocosmia, and some mystery bulbs which look like tulip leaves now that they are springing up Also, we transplanted some other bulbs to another section of the front and my fiance seems to think they are Hyacinth. Guess we'll find out when they sprout

The (thinner tall) azalea was the remains of a withered plant in the front that I removed. It was about 1/2 that size a month ago before transplanting it and getting it settled in. I really expected it to die, but its doing pretty well now.

 

[Captainobvious]

 

[Captainobvious]

Just a couple more...For some reason photobucket didnt take these in the mass upload.

 

[Spider_Lily]

Love your pretty blue pot Captain.I have never seen a red Hydrangea.your Azalea should do fine their easy to transplant.Nice coneflower love the color.You got a few gladiolus I love to see them in bloom.I have to stake mine to keep from falling over.What kind of Lily's do you have ther I love lilies too.

 

[sunflower3]

Very nicely done. I love that coneflower, would love to know name of it so I can get some seeds from cataloge. It's so bright.

 

[Crabbergirl]

Looking very good! Coneflowers are one of my favs as well as the Hydrangea!

 

[Captainobvious]

Thanks for the compliments. The Echincea is the "Hot Lava" coneflower. The color is even more impressive when they are 100% happy Unbelievable fiery orange/red that looks almost neon. If you cant get the Hot Lava, both of these were also very impressive looking at the nursery-
"Flame Thrower" http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/28460-product.html
I wanna say the other was "Fatal Attraction" as it looked just like this: http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/28477-product.html

The red hydrangea is a Proven Winners "Forever & Ever Red Hydrangea" also called 'Red Sensation'. Description says "A sport of the original Pink Forever and Ever Hydrangea, this beauty features large, brilliant red flowers on top of burgundy stems. The flowers mature to wonderful shades of purple. Compact in shape.Blooms on old and new wood."

Also, one of the other shrubs in the back (you'll see it barely in my first post of the thread near the bottom, all the way on the left) that I didnt mention is a Proven Winners "Wine & Roses" Weigela. I love the foliage of this thing, it looks great. Cant wait until it eventually blooms as the lighter pink/magenta flowers will look stunning with those leaves. I'll try to get a decent picture of it for you guys.

 

[Maggie]

I have a forever and ever red hydrangea and it has never had a red bloom. I have have had it for several years and it this is only the 3rd year it has bloomed and low and behold they are blue. The only reason I bought it was for the red blooms but have been sadly disappointed. I have a varigated hydrangea and it's at least 10 years old and this is the first year for blooms and you guessed it the blooms are showing colors of blue. I have to admit tho' that I moved it 3 times in the first 2 years and it was tiny when I got it. Good luck with your garden Captain very impressive.

 

[Captainobvious]

I have a forever and ever red hydrangea and it has never had a red bloom. I have have had it for several years and it this is only the 3rd year it has bloomed and low and behold they are blue. The only reason I bought it was for the red blooms but have been sadly disappointed.

Bummer on the "red" hydrangea Hopefully mine will retain the color they have now. Time will tell...

Good luck with your garden Captain very impressive.

Thanks !!
Its a start. This is our first year planting so I wanted to start with a base of some shrubs in the back yard to sort of enclose it a bit and give the yard some boundaries instead of being open to the sidewalk and side street there. Once these start filling in and growing up, well very likely start in with more perennials flanking these shrubs. Also, Maria and I are already talking about building a cedar planter box (something like 8' x 2.5') to go up against the garage wall where you currently see the pile of logs. There was a Walnut tree growing up into the garage there when we moved in and we were forced to cut it down. Since there is still plenty of root system in the ground there a planter just seems like the best way to go. Plus, I think it would look great regardless.

 

[Captainobvious]

In the back of this picture you'll notice a vine type weed growing up and out around the window right behind the plants. This stuff is coming up all over in various spots of the front garden bed. It basically overtook an old azalea that was previously in the front (which I dug up and moved) and I thought I had gotten rid of the majority of this stuff. Apparently its quite a survivor. ANYWAY...my question is this:
Can I use some layered newspaper or other opaque material to cover the entire bed (except for cutouts for the existing plants I want to survive) and kill this stuff off by starving it of sunlight?

 

[RonsGarden]

Cutting off the sunlight wont stop this particular invasive vine!
It is in the morning glory family (Field Bindweed) and it's a perennial!
You will need to pull it and dig out the roots! You will eventually eradicate it but you will need to keep at it since they do drop seeds which will germinate! It may take a few years of diligence!
Here's a good article to help you to know your enemy: http://www.pesticide.org/bindweed.html

 

[Captainobvious]

bummer! Thanks for the post Ron.
After looking at this site ( http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nursery-weeds/feature_articles/vines/vine_weeds.html#Hedge_bindweed ) I figured it might be some Wild Buckwheat or Hedge Bindweed. I was thinking Wild Buckwheat as I havent seen any flowers on this stuff.

Would painting on some Roundup help kill this stuff off? Im thinking about clipping it down, then painting on some roundup, and then covering with plastic sheet/thick newspaper layers and mulch again on top... That might be a good start to removing it.
Your link suggested that light deprivation is effective, so combining a few methods like this might do the trick...

 

[Jade]

Bindweed is a total pain in the rear, about on the same scale as my roundleaf greenbriar that I have been spraying with double strength Roundup for the past 3 years. Hubby also mowed it down twice. We are attempting to starve it to death. I sprayed it 2 weekends ago and the day was really, really hot, I thought I would see almost immediate death, but it has taken over a week for me to notice that it has killed off the tops. I have been waiting to develop this new garden for 2 years, but don't want to start planting until the greenbriar is in check.
We had bindweed in our bluerug junipers in Ontario, never did get control of it even after painting it with roundup.
These weeds and insects seem to be a problem at times.

 

[Botann]

It's a weed sometimes called Morning Glory or Bindweed. (Convolvulus sepium) Not the garden variety which is Ipomoea. Big difference! Pull it up whenever you see it or spray with a broad leaf weed killer. Round-up only wounds it.
Mike

 

[Captainobvious]

Yup its back up in droves...time to do some pulling...ugh. On the bright side, my rose bush has easily doubled in size and some of the shrubs are looking better. I'll get some pics after my next bout of yard work.