Garden Variety Insanity

We decided to get a jump on the Memorial Day weekend gardening tradition by spending Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night planting perennials and attempting to repair some bald spots in our lawn. We got in three more rounds of gardening on Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon.

You might be wondering, "How slow can you possibly be, if you haven't completed that shade garden yet?!" but I am happy to report we are not slow, just insane. We (and by "we" I mean "I") bought more plants today. OK, I admit, I had a partner in crime, but it was not the Mister. Our dear friend Janette visited from Madison (yay!) and as usually happens in the non-winter months, we ended up at a garden center after brunch. This time, the scene of our undoing was Hawks Nursery, which was surprisingly not mobbed, considering it was a non-rainy Sunday on Memorial Day weekend.

Since I had already finished planting the shade garden...

(See how shady?)



(It's not much to look at at the moment, but give it time...)




...I decided to take up the (hopefully not foolhardy) challenge of creating a little garden in the spot my next door neighbors and I affectionately refer to as "The Dead Zone." It is a patch of land in the shadow of two black walnut trees, which are toxic to most other plants - including dandelions, astonishingly enough. (Perhaps we could spray some black walnut extract on the rest of my lawn and get some better results than we've had with the weed and feed.)

Anyhoo, nothing but tiny clovers and pea gravel seem to thrive under these trees, but I wouldn't let that deter me from finding some more attractive alternatives at Hawks. Outfitted with a wheelie cart and an informational flyer titled "Plants That Can Grow Next to Those Nefarious, Resource-Hogging Black Walnut Trees" (I may be paraphrasing), Janette and I set off to select some more perennials!

(Here's the "After" shot of the garden formerly known as "The Dead Zone"; the "Before" photo was too depressing to post...)



(Close up on the Lamb's Ear...)



(...the Hosta Marginata...)



(...and Astilbe Fanal...)



I'll give these plants a few weeks - if they don't die, I'll go buy them some friends.

Tomorrow's project: Poppies, Hens and Chicks, and Stonecrop Sedum for the front of the house.