Digging into the new garden
After two weeks in the new house and a few rain showers, it’s become evident that we need to do some hardscaping work: a new fence to replace a section that’s falling down; a new path from the driveway to the side yard and a place to stow the garbage cans; correction for poor drainage areas, possibly via a French drain along the front of the house and a wet-weather stream in the back yard; and a roof over the deck to provide protection from sun and rain. All it takes is money or muscle, right?
I would like to start with the hardscaping changes before I do anything else, including creating any new planting beds. However, money doesn’t grow on trees and I need to save up for these things. Plus I have all these plants that I brought from the old garden, and I need to get the agaves into the ground before it gets cold.
So last weekend I decided to clear out the raised beds in the back yard. My daughter wanted to help, so I found a short shovel for her, and we got dirty. This is how it looked when we started: a neglected, mostly empty bed with a few vincas, dusty miller, nutgrass, and Bermuda grass, with a healthy yellow lantana and rosemary along the lower edge and a labeled rose called ‘Citrus Splash’ in the middle. We ripped everything out, tossing it in a heap and saving only the rose, which I potted up.
It had obviously been recently planted and was easy to move.
And it rewarded me with a rosebud today.
Despite the terracing of the stone wall that makes this raised bed, there’s a pretty good slope to the soil in it, which seems to have eroded over time. I’m going to use rock from elsewhere in the yard to build up a terracing line in the middle, dividing this bed in half with two levels. I’ll plant the big agave in the upper middle of the bed in order to keep it well away from the pool area. This bed receives a half day of sun from late morning to late afternoon, which should be adequate for the ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave and Mexican oregano combo I loved so much in the old garden.
Across the steps that lead down to the pool, another raised bed required grubbing out too. Native lantana, some cannas, more nutgrass and weeds bit the dust.
My daughter took the pruners and, at my instruction, gleefully pruned hard a mystery rose (I will likely transplant it later) and cut to the ground an overgrown elaeagnus shrub. Its crime? Obnoxious canes that were growing up into a nearby crepe myrtle and Texas persimmon and distracting me from the beauty of their sinuous trunks.
Yesterday I followed up with selective pruning of the Texas persimmon to open it up and accentuate its white, leaning trunks.
Whew, that’s better.
The white-shining, peeling, muscular trunks made the persimmon too beautiful to remove, though I’d initially considered doing so in order to open up the space under the crepe myrtle and get the persimmon off the house.
This lonely looking climbing rose on a homemade cedar trellis remains in the raised bed for now as I ponder whether to keep it. It seems to have been pruned hard not long ago, and it has a threadbare, stubby look, with not a rose in sight to judge it by.
It is, however, festooned with dozens of orange rose hips.
If its spring and summer display of flowers is as pretty as its fall display of hips, I will gladly keep it. Only time will tell.
All material © 2006-2008 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I do envy you your coming adventure of putting your own creative stamp on this garden and I look forward to reading reports of your progress in the coming months. BTW, that rose full of hips looks mightily like my old ‘Dortmund.’
If it does turn out to be ‘Dortmund,’ it’s going to need more room, I fear. This is a tricky bed for any rose, situated as it is smack up against the house with limited direct sunlight, but especially for a large, thorny rose like ‘Dortmund,’ which needs room to climb and spread. Food for thought. Thanks for your comment, Dorothy. —Pam
Yaaaaaaaaaay! It’s begun and I get to watch it all happen. I wish I was there to help, I’m free labor when it comes to gardening. I’m very excited about this, I get to watch an expert in action!
Wow, thanks for your enthusiasm, Randy! But I must back away from that “expert” label. I make as many mistakes as the next person, and I take inspiration where I find it, including from your own lovely garden and blog. I put the mistakes and successes I’ve made to work for me when I help other people with their gardens. Expert, no. Experienced, yes. 🙂 —Pam
You’re off to a good start! Having started from bare dirt scraped clean by construction equipment in 2005, my advice is to pace yourself. There are times when I went too fast and have had quite a few “do overs” on my hands! Getting your hardscape done will help so much with the visualization of your new gardens. Best wishes! Your garden will be fabulous! Cameron
I started with a fairly blank slate in my last garden too, Cameron. In many ways, it’s easier that way because you can impose your own vision, limited only by your budget of course. Pacing myself is a good idea. Actually, my other responsibilities (family, work, and setting up the new house) are making me pace myself in the garden, which is probably for the best. It gives me time to second-guess hasty impulses like taking that persimmon out. —Pam
What fun to have so much to play with but I know it can also become rather daunting as well. If the climbing rose was mine, I would prune it back really hard to encourage it to shoot from the bottom.
Thanks, PG. Perhaps I will. I am hoping the previous owner can tell me which variety it is so I can decide now whether I want to keep it there. —Pam
Love those hips! Looks like you are having a ball…….hope so anyway.
Oh yeah, and if I had the budget for the hardscaping I want, I’d be in hog heaven. It’s hard to wait! —Pam
How exciting to be starting in on a new garden! The white bark on the Persimmon tree is very beautiful, and its shape is lovely too. Good choice to keep that one.
And love the pictures of the rose hips – very autumnal indeed.
Chloe M.
Hi, Chloe. The rose hips ARE autumnal, and we just got a breath of fall again today as a cold front has come through. Yippee! —Pam
The persimmon trunks would have made me hesitate, too! What a good idea to divide the bed with a second tier of rock – the slope is probably too steep for such a wide bed. In the photo the Whale’s Tongue appears to be watching the progress so it can jump in!
I hope you feel more at home now that you’ve gotten some Digging done, Pam.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I know—the Whale seems impatient to me too. It wants a new pool to swim in. —Pam
And now the garden begins to become your garden! It sounds like you made good progress and lucky you, you have a budding gardener to help you out. Looking forward to seeing more signs of digging and planting.
Yes, I’m so pleased to have a budding gardener helping me. She really seems to enjoy it. More digging to come soon—and rock hauling and stacking, and dirt moving, and THEN planting. —Pam
Glad you are finally getting to call home “home” by being able to dig in. Does the Persimmon make fruit? Those rose hips look beautiful & it makes it look more like Fall. Great little helper there. They sure are a pleasure.
Yes, Diospyros texana makes a small black fruit. I’ll have to go look to see if any are coming along on my trees. —Pam
Hi Pam! I learned the hard way to put your hardscape in first! I wouldn’t know where to begin but you seem to have a plan and a design already in mind! The rose hip shot is wonderful! Gail
Hi, Gail. Well, you may have learned the hard way, but it sure paid off for you. Your hardscaping around your screened porch is gorgeous. As for me, I don’t really have an overall design in mind. I’m exploring ideas for certain sections, and the hardscaping that is needed is purely practical, though of course I’d like it to be beautiful as well. After the practical hardscaping, I’ll begin to think about making new beds or revising the existing ones. And then it will be time to really plant a garden. For now I’m just tinkering. —Pam
Sounds like you will soon have the garden whipped into shape with your trusty helper. The homeowner was obviously not a gardener but it does look as though you have soil which is half the battle. Those rose hips are pretty. When my husband was young, living on a farm, the children were paid for collecting rose hips, which were made into rose hip syrup, which was very high in vitamin C. I think they were from the wild Rosa rugosa which is abundant in England.
Oh, not soon, but we are having fun with the first tinkerings. Yes! I do have soil in the raised beds, and there may be some in pockets around the yard where they planted a few things. As you say, the previous owner was not into creating a “garden,” but she did enjoy planting and making the yard look nice, and I’m quite appreciative of some of her selections. That’s interesting about making rose hip syrup. I’d never heard of that. —Pam
Whew Pam, you have so much to do. I am proud of you for jumping in and getting started. It will be so much fun to see how and what you do to this new garden. The whales tongue will look great sitting up in that raised bed. Those rose hips are a promise of good things to come. The bark on the persimmon is gorgeous. It reminds me of sycamore trees that grow here.
The fun thing about having the ‘Whale’s Tongue’ in that raised bed is that it’ll be visible from above, on the patio, and from below, by the pool. As it’s beautiful from any angle, that’s a bonus. I need to get it in the ground so another anole lizard can make its home there. —Pam
Pam — Wow – that’s a lot of work accomplished in a short time. So nice you had a helper, too. It’s so fun to nurture little ones to appreciate nature and learn to garden. I love your idea of splitting the raised bed into two levels and highlighting the Whale’s tongue in the top. Having a great view of it will make you happy and having it tucked safely back into the earth will also let you breathe a sigh of relief, I suspect. Good luck with the hardscape challenges. Your beds are already looking so much better and calling out for your natural touch with planting.
Thanks for the encouragement, Diana. I feel that I’ve made a very small start, but it’s a start. And yes, once I get that agave in the ground, I’ll breathe a sigh of relief. It was a lot of work to get it here, and I don’t want it to croak now. —Pam
You’re off to a great start! I bet it’s hard to be patient, but exciting at the same time to be able to create something new.
I have a question about rose hips–I noticed several rose bushes at the Arboretum had them, and several did not. Not knowing a thing about roses I don’t know why. Can you help? 🙂
Happy Gardening,
Linda
Dee the rose expert would be the person to ask, Linda, but I was curious too and Googled the question. According to this source, all roses make hips, but if a rose is deadheaded through the end of the season, there won’t be many and you may not notice them. Leaving on the last flush of roses allows the plant to set seed in the fruit—the hip! —Pam
As sooon as I saw the title of this post, I started smiling. I love work; I could watch it all day! Great to hear your thought processes too.
Hee, hee—I love work in that way too, Chookie. Actually, gardening work can be pretty fun. I’m not looking forward to the rock moving bit, but I do like to dig. —Pam
I think one of the best times in a gardener’s life is when she makes a new beginning. Perhaps, that’s why we continually make new beds and borders. All that fresh palette with which to work. I’m loving your new beginnings. It was nice of you to save that poor rose ‘Citrus Splash’. I’ve never heard of it, so I can’t tell you much. It is diminutive right now, but that may be because it is young. Love the white trunks of the Texas Persimmon.~~Dee
Starting a new garden does let the creativity urge loose. You’re right—gardeners are always wanting to add beds or redo old ones. We like to rethink spaces and try to improve them. ‘Citrus Splash,’ according to the handy-dandy tag, was introduced in 2008, so it’s a brand-new rose. I read online that it can get four-and-a-half feet tall. The color looks pretty intense online. Hmmm. I may need to find it a new home. Coming for a visit any time soon, Dee? 😉 —Pam
I wondered about your agave and how it made the trip, and if you’d planted it yet. That looks like a great spot for it. You’ve certainly been busy digging!
It made the trip of a couple of miles in the back of a rental van. My husband helped load and unload it, and despite my warnings to be vigilant, he suffered a stab wound. Minor, though it bled. I am hoping to get through the next phase—planting it—without suffering blood loss myself. Fingers crossed! —Pam
Now I’m motivated to do some cleaning out in my gardens. They look just terrible right now, but my git-up-and-go has usually gotten-up-and-went by fall. Thanks for the inspiration to keep my hands dirty!
This is my favorite gardening time of year because in summer in Texas you don’t plant anything except cactus. All that pent-up gardening energy must be released. I hope your clean-up goes well. —Pam
Pam, I cannot wait to see what your beds look like next spring – I am jealous of all the hips on your roses!
I look forward to seeing what spring brings to life in the garden too, Mary Beth. But the shady gardens that I will have at this house will never be as showy as the sun gardens at the old house. I will miss my vibrant sun lovers until I can make a new bed out front one of these days. —Pam
It’s nice to come upon a few unexpected treasures as the roses you find while cleaning out the beds. That’s what makes changing an existing garden fun. Looking forward to see the much improved garden in the not too distant future.
BTW now your daughter digs digging, perhaps she will dig blogging too one day? 😉
Oh, she would like to already, YE. But I think that will need to wait until she’s older. I’m thrilled to have a helper in the garden (most of the time). 😉 —Pam
I’m excited about seeing your progress. It looks like your daughter did a good job with the rose pruning.
Stay tuned, Phillip. And yes, she’s not afraid to prune hard, is she? —Pam
You certainly have your work cut out for you Pam. Looking forward to the future installments as you make this garden your own.
Future installments are guaranteed, Stuart. Thanks for following along. —Pam
Oh, while I am in the throes of the early order season and work, you are working hard cleaning beds. Very gratifying. I hope the ‘Scissorhand Sisters’ are having fun!
She wants to be let loose on other unsuspecting plants, but I’m hiding the pruners from her for now. 🙂 —Pam
I didn’t even know what rosehips looked like still on the plant! Can’t wait to see that agave in the ground. There’s a house not far from mine in the next neighborhood over that has the nicest-looking dry bed creek. I really like the way it looks. Might consider that if the going gets tough.
Brenda
I love dry creeks too. They aren’t that hard to add either. —Pam