Sometimes it's best to just jump in

There are a lot of projects in the garden that I never seem to get to, even these days when there's arguably more time available to focus on such tasks.  Recently, I launched two such projects without any forethought about what I was getting myself into, and my husband initiated another one.  Once again, I didn't take "before" photos, although I scoured my digital files to come up with what I could.

The first project involved clearing an area that was infested with asparagus ferns and their nasty bulbous roots.  I inherited this problem with the garden and had previously only chipped away at the ever-expanding ferns.  Some prior owner apparently decided that asparagus ferns were a good way to cover a lot of ground fast - and added dozens of the plants throughout this garden.  Admittedly, they're evergreen, produce berries for the birds, and can tolerate dry conditions that even succulents can't handle.  However, the berries are toxic to cats and dogs, and birds spread the plants everywhere.  They also produce masses of bulbous roots, which mingle with the roots of more desirous plants, making them difficult to remove.  I previously removed large masses of them in front of our mimosa tree to make room for other plants, a process that took days.  (It felt like weeks.)  I personally feel that real estate sales should be required to list asparagus ferns as hazardous substances.

This is the best "before" photo I can offer.  There were tree separate masses of asparagus fern here (one behind the blue trug).  What you see above ground belies the extent of the roots below ground.  The roots were also mingled with ivy that's crept up from the back slope (another species planted en masse by a prior owner) as well as the roots of other surrounding plants (probably including that strawberry tree).

Removal is a long, slow process.  Experts recommend removing all bulbous roots, as well as any berries.

Here's the cleared area.  I planted a variegated Lycianthes rantonnettii (blue potato bush) purchased by mail order, as well as transplanting Agapanthus bulbs obtained in the process of another project.  I'll have to remain vigilant about pulling asparagus fern seedlings as there's no way I got all of them.

While I was working on that project, my husband started one of his own, into which I got sucked.  You may recall that, after years watching it decline, we removed our mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) late last year.  After negotiation, my husband agreed to replacing the mimosa with a Ginkgo tree but, with the mimosa's massive trunk still in place, we needed to clear a spot for it.

The tree service cut the mimosa tree's stump as close to flush with the surface of the soil as they could manage without damaging the hedge behind it or destabilizing the slope that plummets down just beyond that hedge 

My husband decided to cut back the remaining trunk further so we could relocate a nearby mass of Agapanthus to clear a space for the new tree.

He dug out soil surrounding the stump and used a chainsaw to slice it up

After repairing the chainsaw mid-way through the process, this was what the area looked like when he finished cutting back the stump

His next step was to remove the boards originally placed on diagonals around the mimosa tree, replacing them with new boards to level that area for planting.

When that was done, he added 9 cubic feet of top soil purchased from a big box store

Then he proceeded to remove the large clumps of Agapanthus you can see on the left in the previous photo.  That's when I got involved.

Having previously done this myself, I know there's no way to dig up well-established Agapanthus clumps without damaging a lot of the bulbs.  Many of these went straight into the green bins but I put aside a lot of them to see what I could save.

Like asparagus fern, Agapanthus produces huge masses of roots.  In addition, this area had asparagus fern roots mingling with the Agapanthus roots.  I pulled out the screening system we used when we cleared our property of lawn and used it to separate roots from soil.

It works well but it's still time-consuming

One of many trugs filled with roots

When I'd removed what I could, my husband added three more cubic feet of top soil and yesterday I dug in planting mix and compost, removing more asparagus fern roots as I went.  Our native soil is very sandy so I'm hoping that the additives, well mixed, will provide a good foundation for the new tree.

This is what the area currently looks like.  I replanted some of the Agapanthus bulbs I'd cleaned up here and in the area I showed earlier. 

I've got eight or nine more bulbs but, unless I find a spot for them somewhere else in the garden today, I'm going to put them on the street as another of my giveaways

Until the Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold' (ordered yesterday!) arrives, further action is on hold on this project.  Yet, still in garden clean-up mode, on the fly I decided to tear out an overgrown mass of peppermint geranium (Pelargonium tomentosum) I'd managed to ignore for a long time.

This photo from April 2020 is the best "before" picture I could find.  The peppermint geranium was planted below and around the pineapple guava (Acca sellowiana) in the background on the right.

This photo shows the area after the Pelargonium was removed.  I also cut back a large clump of asparagus fern here but I still need to get in there with a trowel to see how much of the fern's roots I can remove without damaging the tree.  (Can you hear my sigh?)

I took sixteen small cuttings of the Pelargonium to root should I be unable to find anything more interesting to plant below the pineapple guava

Now, the main issue is finding plants to fill the vacant spots.  I made my first trip in over two months to my local garden center yesterday, mainly to pick up planting mix but I took a spin to see what plants are available.  There were a lot of the usual early spring options but I didn't get excited about much other than a Banksia spinulosa.  In another month I should be immunized and expect I'll feel better about wandering further afield in search of plants.

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

 

Tell the Truth Tuesday Follow-up

On Tuesday December 18th, following the lead of Alison at Bonney Lassie, I shared some of the ugly truths about my garden.  The first item I showed was the mass of asparagus fern, Santa Barbara daisy, and other weeds growing in front of the mimosa tree that had been cut back by half due to a losing battle with the shot hole borer.

I'd already cut the largest stems of the asparagus fern, some of which were easily 6 feet in length, when I took this photo

One of my new year's resolutions was to address each of my problem areas and, somewhat to my own surprise, cutting back the rampant Asparagus densiflorus 'Sprengeri' led me to try digging it up.  I say "try" as getting rid of a plant like this that has had years, or more probably decades, to spread is difficult to say the least.  (You can find guidance on the steps required to eradicate it here.)  I didn't plant this one, or any of the others spread throughout our property.  They came with the house.  I spent several days digging, a couple hours at a time.

I dug down about a foot, working small sections one at a time

The photo on the left is a close-up of the tuber-like nodules attached to the plant's roots.  I filled about 10 large trugs like the one on the right.  Each trug was so heavy I could barely carry it to the trash.

I dug out an area about 10 feet long and 2 to 3 feet wide.  In addition to removing the tuber-like nodules attached to the roots, I tried to pick up all the berries I saw as each one is capable of forming a new plant.

After I cleared the area, I added topsoil I had on hand from an earlier project and dug in planting mix

I've no illusions that I got all of it.  For one thing, the roots have reached under the paving stones into a succulent bed beyond, as well as underneath the pots positioned below the Ceanothus hedge.  They also may have mingled with the similar tuber-like roots of the Agapanthus planted in the same border.  They even wrapped themselves around the irrigation pipes and I found some attached to the base of the mimosa tree.  Ugh!

This succulent bed is a mess in itself, especially as it was stomped on during the recent tree-trimming exercise.  I may end up digging it up too sometime this year, in which case I'll have another go in battling the asparagus fern.

All I can hope is that I've slowed the fern's progress.  Whenever the plants pop up, which they do regularly in nearly every corner of the garden, I pull up the foliage and as much of the roots as I can get without damaging nearby plants.  My next question is what to plant in the empty space.  As there's a good chance the mimosa tree towering above won't last more than a few more years, I don't want to plant anything too precious as taking down the tree will damage anything in the surrounding area.  I'm leaning toward a low-growing groundcover of some kind but I'd like something tall enough to obscure the mimosa's "wound."  I could put another large pot there I suppose.  Any ideas?

Lest you think I spent the rest of the holiday period eating bon-bons, here's a photo of another project I tackled as the year was coming to an end.

This is an "after" shot of the Pelargonium peltatum (ivy geranium) that chose to climb up a Pandorea jasminoides vine on the north side of our house.  It had grown ratty.  I got carried away pruning it.  It looks a little sad now but I'm hoping the geranium will come roaring back.

In the course of my rabid pruning, I inadvertently disturbed this little fellow, who appeared to have been hibernating peacefully under the cover of the geranium's dead foliage.  He was curled up and I thought he was a snake at first until he moved around a bit.  I left some debris behind the vine and I hope he managed adequate cover to return to hibernating.  

This is what the 2 vines and the Trachelospermum on the right looked like last June.  With any luck, they'll look as good in the summer of 2019.

There's plenty more ugliness to tackle!  However, we've got family in town so I'm going to take a short break.  I need it - every muscle I've got is aching at the moment.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: The Old & the New

This week I actually had a floral feature in mind in advance for the vase prepared in connection with the celebration sponsored each Monday by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  Mid-month, just after Bloom Day (of course), I noticed that my Senna bicapsularis 'Worley's Butter Cream' had begun blooming.  There are only blooms on a few branches but I was glad to see them.  I initially thought I'd accent them with Tagetes lemmonii but I didn't like the mix so round and round the garden I went, searching for appropriate plants to complement the pale yellow Senna.  Once again, I ended up with more than I'd expected.

Back view

While the Senna makes its first appearance this year, most of the other elements have shown up earlier in one vase or another.  In addition to the Senna, there is:

• Abelia x grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope'
• Asparagus densiflorus 'Spengeri' (at least that's what I think it is)
• Gomphrena haageana
• Grevillea 'Superb'
• Nandina domestica (berries)
• Rusellia equisetiformis

Senna bicapsularis is also know as Christmas Senna for its habit of blooming late in the year

The asparagus fern has suddenly produced zillions of tiny white flowers

The unidentified Gomphrena I picked up a few weeks ago was definitely worth the purchase - the flowers have a long vase life (I briefly considered reusing the blooms I picked for my vase 2 weeks ago but these are freshly cut)

Grevillea 'Superb' has more blooms than ever before - it appears to like our cooler temperatures

The Nandina berries pick up the oranges tones of the variegated Abelia 'Kaleidoscope'

The yellow form of Russelia equisetiformis was a last minute addition - the coral form also would have worked

I think it turned out rather well.  It took its place opposite the front door, where it provides a cheery welcome.

My post was delayed a bit this morning as my husband and I discovered that our cat, Pipig, was missing, throwing me, if not him, into a panic.  She's recently taken to streaking out of the house but she's never stealthy about it so she's quickly collected and tucked back inside but, last night, she apparently managed an undetected escape when I stepped outside around 9pm to water a plant just outside the door.  Much to her surprise - as well as mine - she ended up spending the night outside.  After a frantic search outside early this morning, I finally heard mewing and found her perched on the top of the grape arbor, looking nearly as upset as I was.  It took both my husband and I to get her down.  Luckily for both of us, she managed to avoid being eaten by one of the neighborhood coyotes or squirted by one of the skunks that wandered the garden last night.  After a hearty breakfast and a good wash, she's fast asleep in her own bed.

Pipig having a good rest after her great escape and eventual recapture

Please visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what she's got in her vase this week.  You'll also find links to other gardeners' creations.


All material © 2012-2014 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Stargazer Lilies

I have only 2 varieties of lilies in my garden, one is an unnamed light pink variety that bloomed exceptionally early this year and the other is Lilium 'Stargazer,' which I planted from bulbs the first year we lived in our current house.  In the border, the plants have a very formal appearance that make them look a bit out of place, which may explain why I'm not particularly hesitant about cutting them for a vase.  I'd hoped that their bloom period would coincide with the appearance of white roses or white Lisianthus, but this didn't happen so I had to look further afield for suitable companions.

Here's what I used this week:

• 2 stems of Lilium 'Stargazer'
• 3 stems of Asparagus 'Sprengeri' (at least I think that's what it is)
• 3 stems of Cuphea ignea 'Starfire Pink'
• 2 stems of Pentas lanceolata 'Nova'
• 2 stems of Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum'
• 1 stem of Solenostemon scutellarioides 'Kong Jr. Green Halo'

The 'Stargazer' lilies are smaller this year than last - too little water perhaps

The asparagus fern I inherited with the house works well in bouquets if you can put up with its tiny thorns

Cuphea ignea 'Starfire Pink' has proven to be drought tolerant as well as pretty

Pentas 'Nova' grows taller than other varieties, although I think it wants more water than it has been getting

'Kong Jr. Green Halo' coleus is doing well in a pot in partial shade

My bouquet ended up on the dining room table this week, as part of a possibly fruitless effort to keep my cat from chewing on the asparagus fern.  She doesn't jump on the dining room table (at least I've never seen her do so) but she does like to hang about in the foyer.

I had some floral rejects again this week, which ended up in my small pink glass vase.  I cut more of the Amaranth I featured last week and, while it linked with the color of the lilies, it added a somber note to the combination that I didn't care for.  The Amaranth was paired with 3 more stems of the Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit' and the 'Inky Fingers' coleus from last week, which was still in good condition.  I placed it on the foyer table even though it's small in scale.

These are my contributions to Cathy's "In a Vase on Monday" meme at Rambling in the Garden.  Visit her webpage to see what she's put together this week (while traveling) and to find links to other floral concoctions.