Porch Planter 2015

Last post, I mentioned that I had gotten the porch planter re-planted. This job has also been checked off my pre-surgery "to do" list utilizing my daughter's excellent digging assistance. This stone planter is an annual challenge to beautify, because #1 it is so obvious at the front of the house and #2 it gets variable light. See last year's post here http://dustoffurthinkin.blogspot.com/2014/06/difficult-plantings.html to get a run down of those challenges. I have seriously considered simply filling this blasted planter with rock and calling it a zen garden!

Anyway, the Celadine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) that is planted at the shady end of the planter is doing quite well. This year it had lots of yellow flowers and it has doubled in size... it took a bit of research, but when a plant is placed in the right spot, meaning light and soil requirements, it really pays off.  Last years caladiums were a terrific color boost, so I definitely wanted to repeat them. While I liked the leafy Gryphon begonias planted last year, there were none available at my local plant stores this season.

Since the Celadine Poppy is a perennial, I thought I would like the convenience of repeat performers throughout this site. I chose Coral Bells (Heuchera) to experiment with, since they tolerate partial to full sun, and maintain a tidy mounding culture producing tiny pink or red bell shaped flowers on delicate stalks. This is truly an experiment as I have killed at least four in the yard gardens in past years. A perfect example of disregarding light and soil requirements, resulting in plant sacrifices, never a pretty outcome. So fingers crossed this will be a good fit.

I have never fully explored to the bottom of this planter, it is stone/cement and about 2-1/2 feet deep. I suspect it drains from the bottom because it never becomes a pool after rainstorms. I think the voles can access it as well, from the top or ?underground, because there are tunnels/holes after the winter. Occasionally, there are massive tiny brown ant colonies, as well as a healthy pill bug population. Last year, I turned over the soil and added compost and I think disturbing the soil reduced the ant population and the extra nutrients really benefited the plants. So going on last season's success, I added I bag of compost along with one bag of topsoil, and Juli dug it in.

The final two feet of this planter are in full sun by mid summer, so last year I stuck a mini gnome statue there. Juli loves lilies and since she did the digging, she got a this piece of garden. I have been reluctant to incorporate Asiatic lilies into the yard gardens as they are virus carriers, but this spot is certainly separate and contained. She planted a lovely Stargazer Lily whose blooms are a fragrant delight while sitting on the porch. Altogether, this planter project has turned out even better than last year! Thanks to my kids for their generous help and creative gardening suggestions!!

New Rose Arbor

I am anxiously trying to complete an extensive "to do" list before I am off my feet, post-op ankle surgery. The raised beds are planted with this years veg, the porch planter bed is done, all the balloon flowers are in the ground and I got a bag of gladiola bulbs planted. The irises are blooming and smell wonderful especially at night. On Mother's Day weekend I spotted an early female hummingbird, so I hung up 3 feeders with homemade syrup. The finch feeder sock of thistle seed is up and the Red-Headed finch pairs have been frequent visitors. Today, I saw the first Goldfinch of the season, snacking upside-down on the sock too!

One big project I wanted to complete was to clear out the weedy and crowded plant space in front of the porch planter. Two rogue butterfly bushes had started to grow there, and the one mugo pine was the main vole refuge, as well as having a sawfly infestation; all were slated for removal. My daughter dug and hacked out the medium sized butterfly bushes, but my son's brawn and skills with a pick axe were necessary to remove the pine.

Once those view obstructing shrubs were gone, I could address the climbing red rose I had "temporarily" planted there. This site was initially an interim location, because the poor rose wilted in the bare-root plastic packaging when I forgot to plant it promptly. Several years later (oops), I really had to either move it or give it an adequate support system. Laziness wins and I decided to create an arbor from two 10 ft.-1/2 inch  PVC pipes, 4-36inch pieces of re-bar, and some leftover plastic coated dog fence 36x14 inches. The easiest arbor ever!

I pushed the re-bar into the ground and bent the PVC as I placed the pipe over the foot and a half of exposed re-bar. I hand bent the dog fencing over the top of the curved PVC pipes and attached it with zip-ties. Then I pruned, coerced and forced the rose branches over the arbor and onto the dog fencing; I used zip-ties to affix the rose to the arbor. It took a couple weeks for the rose to recover, but WOW, look at the buds and blooms!

My son wanted a rock and creeping thyme garden, so that is in the works at the base of the arbor. I have to admit the rose looks much happier supported than it did loose. The hummingbirds are also enjoying the feeder I hung from the middle of the arbor. I have one stray branch to secure but it is still a tender new shoot, so I'll wait to zip-tie it to the PVC. The garden tidying continues, but this quick and satisfying chore is done & checked off the "to do" list. 

Happy, happy and Balloons

The last essay of the semester has been submitted!!! I was singing the "happy, happy" song at that moment. My youngest drove me to the local big grocery and we picked up some celebratory sushi for a late lunch. I can't actually dance with joy because of my bum ankle, but I'm dancing on the inside!

We've had two days of heavy rain here, no thunder and no tornadoes. It really has been lovely, I like rain. Grey skies and green foliage, as the garden is loving all this water after a week of sticky 80F/26C temps. The rain barrels are full again too.

I have further celebrated the end of school with a few trips to Lowe's & Home Depot's garden departments. This year Lowe's seems to have the better selection and healthier plants. Kudos to them for stocking Balloon Flowers (Platycodon grandiflorum) at the super reasonable price of $3.98 per six inch pot. I went nuts and bought five! About two or maybe three years ago the voles spent the winter eating the roots of my well established plants, killing them and I have been unable to find any replacements. Plants seem to go out of popularity and with fewer local nurseries, I am stuck shopping at big box stores for the same agri-farm produced selections. Spotting these hearty looking balloon flower plants, was a terrific find. Certainly, when they set those marvelous puffy, blue blooms, they will be immediately snapped up. This photo is from several years ago, when this plant was about three feet tall and loaded with balloons and blooms, pre- vole attack.

Home Depot's garden dept. earns praise for re-ordering the excellent six inch pots of gorgeous caladiums that I have purchased last year and again this year for the front porch planter.  See last years posting here: http://dustoffurthinkin.blogspot.com/2014/06/difficult-plantings.html I brought home several plants for the $3.98 price and plan to combine them with three perennial 2.5 QT pots of Coral Bells (Heuchera) in the planter. The Begonias I companion planted with the caladiums last year don't seem to be available anywhere now. The Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum), a Missouri native plant, that is at the shaded end of the planter box has done beautifully, so I am going to try another perennial with the Coral Bells. It is much simpler to fill in the gaps with caladiums than redesign the planter box every year. So tomorrow, I will be having a dirt & fun-filled Mother's Day digging in the yard. Happy Mother's Day to all!

Passing May Day

The semester is almost over! Final exams are this week and I am more than ready to chuck the whole school thing. I won't. This has been such a difficult semester! It is just my frustration from working so hard, and  enduring lots of homework for the "maybe" of a career, on this long, s l o w - p o k e to a degree.


My ankle surgery date is getting closer. I am busy limping around the house and yard trying to get chores done, so there will be an auto-pilot interlude while I am down and out. I am excited that Handyman Todd has gotten the bathroom back together again! Grab bars and hanging a shelf are all that is left to complete the remodel. I am totally loving the bead board, the new vanity, and the delicious paint colors. I kept the old etched glass medicine cabinet that was original to the house, but updated the light fixture to utilize LED bulbs. This new bathroom is a monumental improvement over the original one. It's amazing how spacious this room has become from moving a wall out 12"/30cm!


The garden is starting to green up and set flower buds with the mid 70's heat (24C). This year my columbines are blooming with vigor. I planted a few near the rotting stump under our new gnome a few years ago, but only one survived. I have been shaking seed pods around the gardens for a couple of seasons and this year I discovered a purple and yellow columbine bloom behind the Kerria bush. These columbines seem picky about light, but I think they have started to naturalize. My Nana had a columbine garden that stretched the length of the back of her house, completely filled with these colorful perennials. My few plants are a nod to her memory. I do hope they continue to grow, bloom and adapt to the yard. Simply amazing flowers!

I suspect it's Spring

The weather is suddenly sunny and delightful 74F/23C. The garden is still mostly buried under leaf mulch but the daffodils are blooming and so are the star magnolias. Ah, the sweet perfume of Spring! A garden gnome has been installed over the rotting stump in the front garden, since the old wooden chair I placed there crumbled apart this winter. Perhaps some gnome-y blessings will spread about the yard.

School has been challenging this semester. I feel like I have been writing essays forever! At the end of this semester I will be having surgery on my ankle. I will not be able to walk or do any gardening, but I have recruited interim gardeners (my kids) to hopefully prevent any city citations for weeds. Without attention, even the prettiest gardens become wild, reverting to their natural messy state and become visual irritants to the neighbors. I am trying to simplify the gardening chores early this season by ripping out some undefined areas and redesigning them with a focal purpose. Fingers crossed, we'll see how that goes...

Gangs & radicalization

    It continues to amaze me how out of touch our government is with the people. Bureaucrats seem completely freaked out that US teens are "becoming radicalized" and attempting to join ISIS. Why are they surprised? So many young adults are disenfranchised, certainly racism and discrimination are not dead.  Although it seems significant that immigrant children like Hamza Naj Ahmed are attempting to join ISIS, aren't they the most disenfranchised of all? Many young immigrants struggle, straddling the line of trying to fit in and be "American" at school, then splitting their reality by living a foreign culture at home with their parents.Wouldn't it be easier for them to adopt one reality? And that is what ISIS offers... the only requirement is Islam, and a desire to fight for a cause.

    For the non-immigrant youth, what is their motivation? Perhaps, because there are NO JOBS they have a lot of empty time... everyone desires meaningful experiences in their lives. I think instead of creating a new crisis perspective, our bureaucrats and those who have influential positions working with youth should think of ISIS as the newest inner city gang trying to recruit members... it's no different. These kids are just richer; they can afford a passport and plane ticket. This trend among our youth is about finding purpose; not continuing to feel like a failure living at home with their parents or unemployed. Kids who have gone to school, followed the social dictum and then, end up with nothing are not content citizens. ISIS recruits because they reach out online to youth who are searching for themselves, for a chance, an adventure... the opportunity to be someone who is needed, not the nameless kid who is forced to wait for their turn in life.

Quiet times

Well, it has been a bit... School, work and other busyness has kept me from posting. The "outhouse" bathroom now has walls, so it is an actual room again! No fixtures currently, but the plumbing has been corrected and new electric lines are installed. Progress however slow...

I've been hanging out mostly in my bedroom/office, attached to the laptop doing homework. I have created a contemplative ambiance with some flickering votive candles. Two were my Mom's, but the rest are thrift store and estate sale finds for only pocket change. The reflected colors on the wall remind me of the Northern Lights I saw on a trip to Iceland. Add in a nature sounds or piano concerto CD and I have created a writer's sanctuary.

School-wise, I am finding the PR class on effective crisis communication very interesting. Corporate as well as natural disasters evolve differently, but many of the same principles apply across the board making a critical impact upon public perception and resolution of the event. Fascinating stuff!

Right now, there is only a tiny knitting project on the needles, an Easy Cabled Headband. It is a free Ravelry download here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easy-cabled-headband-2 . As I mentioned before, it is for my sister in the same Mochi Plus yarn, color #560 using #8 circulars, that I had  previously made her gifted hat. The pattern is easy peasy and although I am not a seed stitch fan, I can handle the three seed stitches on either side of the cable. It should be done soon.