Finishing the Fence Gardens April 29, 2019 @goldenoakfarm

Yesterday my husband had to make a road trip up to White River Junction in Vermont. I wanted to go too, because I was missing winter so much and wanted to see more! Well, you can guess that’s not true.

I don’t get off the farm a lot and thought it would be a nice day out. It was to be cloudy and not such a good day. So I got up, went to the gym and really worked out because I planned to be sitting all day in the car. And on the way home the sun came out and it obviously was going to be a nicer day than we thought.

As it was forecast to be the best day of the week, I stayed home. It was going to be hard, as I’d done too much at the gym, for working in the gardens. It took a while to warm up enough to get outside, but by 10AM it nudged over into the 50’s and the wind had died down. I had rested for a couple hours and I planned to get the last 3 fence gardens cleaned out and amended.

5th Fence garden – 1st Fence forsythia branch, creeping veronica, white phlox, 2nd Fence forsythia

The first one tackled was the 5th Fence. It doesn’t have bulbs or distinctive plants, just ground covers. There’s a little thyme by the first forsythia and some creeping phlox. Mostly it is creeping veronica and white phlox with a few black eyed susans.

The 2nd of the Fence forsythias

We didn’t get a lot of flowers on any of the forsythias this year. I must have pruned late last year, because they don’t need pruning.

6th Fence – 2nd Fence forsythia, artemisia, creeping veronica, white phlox, lilac

This garden has ground cover too. I had planted artemisia as dusty miller decades ago, but it had died out. This one appeared last year, under the forsythia.

6th Fence garden’s lilac

There used to be 2 lilacs on the fences, but I gave away the one in the 5th fence because I intended to plant something else there. But that never happened.

6th Fence garden – creeping phlox

I’d planted these here years ago, and it migrated out and into the verge of the driveway. A couple years ago, I cleared this area for it and moved it back in. The central area had been overrun with weeds last year, when I couldn’t weed for all the rain.

I got it dug out and took some of the plants still growing in the verge and moved them in. There was rain forecast overnight and through the day Tuesday, so they have a good chance of taking.

Fence forsythias, the 3rd one

7th Fence garden – daffodils, with Sweet William, a daisy, and verbascum

I made it down both sides of all these gardens and these beauties greeted me. If I can get the organic BulbTone amendment on them in a timely fashion each year, then the following year I get this lovely show. I also put down FlowerTone for the plants.

7th Fence garden – from bottom: daisy, verbascums and bearded iris up the right side

Behind the daffodils is an iris bed. It had been invaded by hybrid spiderwort last year. I had not been able to weed it out, and it had spread over a 3’ area. I think I got it all; I’ll find out later on.

This bed in particular had been badly affected by the dying Big spruce. It shed its needles and small branches all over it. That acidified the soil and things didn’t do as well. This garden should be much happier now.

I have to move a forsythia for the septic system work and hope to put it at the end of this garden. There’s not going to be a lot of room for another garden (like I need more with 37….) so maybe I will let this moved one reach out and make a hedge in front of the mound with the one on the corner. I may have to plant transplants or maybe I’ll find a new one of the brilliant yellow color… Hmmmmm, there’s an idea….

North Corner garden – Dutchman’s breeches, with white lily of the valley behind

I had a few photos I wanted to take of the downed trees and found a few nice flowers on the way.

New North garden – hellebore with fiddleheads behind

New North garden – red trillium, snowdrops in front, sweet woodruff on left

And no, that’s not a snake on the right! It’s muddy hellebore leaves.

I’d taken a photo of my Kousa dogwood but it was against the woods and you can’t really see it. I’ll have to try for another if the rain ever stops this week….

So now I have 13 of the 37 flower gardens done, one third!

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