May 11, 2014 – We had planned on a motorcycle ride today, but then the dry-waller came early this morning, and by the time he left I was feeling fuzzy and that’s never a good way to ride. So, instead, we opted to get some projects worked on in the afternoon.
Kirk finished the shed, and I attacked the yard again.
I’ve always loved Pasque flowers, but I’ve been unsuccessful the one or two times I tried them down at the condo. The new garden really has a spot where just about anything can grow – full sun, part shade, light shade, deep shade, moist areas, dry areas, etc. So I decided to try again. This plant has made it through flowering and is now producing the coolest looking seed heads. Fingers crossed it has found a happy home.
I am still somewhat overwhelmed at the size of the yard we ended up with. Nineteen years with the little garden I carved out of the space at the condo got me used to a small garden that needed little more than some hand tools. We had an irrigation system we’d installed, and the whole thing just didn’t require much thought anymore. Weeding was almost nonexistent since it was so well and strongly planted, and all it really needed was a couple of heavy prunings a couple of times a year. Clean up the leaves in the fall, prune back the wisteria and the clematis, and things were pretty much done.
But this place!
To start with, there wasn’t a lot in the garden. I think the previous owner let her friends plunder what little there was. A few peonies, a few hostas, what looks like an astilbe, and a couple of epimedium plants came up. The yew trees had been badly butchered last summer before we bought, and so I had to buy a pair of heavy duty loppers to clean them up. They are looking better, and starting to grow in and hide the mess someone made of them. Seriously, I think someone pruned them with a chainsaw!
So I had a LOT of space to try and decide how to fill. I couldn’t ever grow hostas at the condo, not enough room… I think I have overcompensated for that fact… I now have close to thirty! And I love them all. But even with all those hostas, the space looked empty. So I’ve been planting tons of things.
In past years I used to attend both the VanDusen and UBC plant sales, but I haven’t gone in years mainly because I had no space left in which I could plant anything at the condo. So when these two plant sales came along this year, we were off to find treasures. The UBC plant sale was yesterday and started at 10am. I’d planned to be there by 9am, but we ended up arriving at 9:30 instead. There was already a significant line up. The hard core gardeners come early. The UBC plant sale is to plants what the Army and Navy shoe sale is to shoes. An event that is anticipated by the collectors, and not for the faint of heart of the the timid.
The Botanical Garden publishes a list of plants that they anticipate will be offered, it comes out a week before the sale…. it’s 19 pages long and the font is tiny. I spent the week poring over that list, researching plants, and highlighting those that I wanted. Yesterday morning I got up early and went through my highlighted wishes again, and typed them out on a single sheet, ordered by priority. I printed one out for Kirk and had one for myself. We had our garden cart, as did most of the other people ahead of us. Kirk’s orders were to start at the bottom of the top priority list, but to start with the two that were starred. I was starting at the top, and I also had two starred items. Everything is organized alphabetically by Latin species name.
When the gates opened we shot off in different directions. One of my two starred items didn’t make it to the offerings, but the other one was there. There were three Cypripedium formosanum plants and I snatched up one and went off to find Kirk and put it in the cart. Then it was off to find other treasures, and there were many.
When I say that the plant sale is akin to the Army and Navy shoe sale, I do mean it. The early arriving gardeners are vicious and push their way in to find what they want, and I wouldn’t put it past some to snatch a treasure out of someone else’s collection. As Kirk was looking around a man came up to him and pointed at the Cyprepedium and asked where he got it, Kirk pointed off in my general direction and said “My wife go it over there.” Presumably the other two had been snapped up, because apparently the man came back and asked Kirk if he was going to buy it. Kirk replied that he thought I intended to. And he came back again and asked again if I was still planning on buying it… Kirk told him it was in the cart, and yes, it was staying there. And he STILL came back, this time with someone else, and pointed it out, and asked again!
This afternoon was taken up with finding spots for everything. Doing a bit of research, finding a spot with the appropriate amount of sun, enough room, etc. So yesterday’s treasures have mostly all found homes in the soil and I am looking forward to seeing what they all turn into. One was a bit of a surprise when I came home and did some extra reading – I’d picked up one pot containing a Darmera peltata and had been under the impression that they reached a maximum of 4 feet spread. So..big, but not massive. Then I picked up my Western Gardening book to read that they can achieve sizes of up to six feet high and eight feet across!
And I’d grabbed a second one for some crazy reason!
This required a bit of thought!
After placing everything where I think they will hopefully do well, I spent the rest of the day digging big concrete stepping stones into a path from the gate and around through the back of the property, and then looping back around to the back deck. I got most of them set, but it involved pulling up some sod, moving a ton of gravel and soil, and lugging those heavy things around to get them set and placed evenly.
And then I think I fell into a coma when I went to bed. I planned to ride the scooter to work this coming week, but I’m going to be so stiff and sore tomorrow that I think that’s out of the question.
I didn’t want a garden of any magnitude… at least I said I didn’t, but I think I’m happy I did end up with one, Kirk’s right, I need dirt to play in 🙂
4 comments
Are we going to see photos???
I’m such an idiot in that I didn’t take any “before” photos, except there really wasn’t much there to speak of.
The lawn is still a disaster from where the oil tank was removed, and we will need to put down a layer of turf soil and seed the entire area again, but not until after we’ve finished the renovation and had the outside of the building painted. Not much point in trying to build a lawn until we can stay off it for a good stretch.
But yes, I’ll take photos eventually 😉