shadesofmauve (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shadesofmauve) wrote2012-05-14 02:22 pm
shadesofmauve) wrote2012-05-14 02:22 pm
Entry tags:
Yardening with a (a)vengeance
My weekend was shorter than normal (I went in to work Friday to play music for a retirement party) but I made up for it by spending the ENTIRE THING outside (except for two hours watching The Avengers).
Outside of human-made enclosures, anyhow -- I spent a large part of Saturday inside a rhododendron.
This 'rhody' may actually be a giant azalea. The branches are smaller and grow more densely than you'd expect. It had been sheared* more than once before I bought it, so it was an almost impenetrable giant pom-pom. That bloomed hot-pink.
My housemate and I both hate the color, but it's a big healthy plant that gives the front bedrooms a lot more privacy, so I decided to do something about the shape instead. Last year I spent two brutally hot, sticky days crawling underneath and managed to create about a foot of space between the lowest branches and the ground, transforming it from a hot pink pom-pom to a hot pink giant mushroom. This winter we had heavy snows and an ice storm, and the weight pushed it right back down and clove it in twain. It looked like someone had taken a giant sky-cleaver to it, and it didn't bounce all the way back when the snow melted. My main goal was to lighten it up enough that it could spring back and repair the chasm, but that meant removing a LOT of material, so I reminded myself that I prefer arborized rhodies and commenced shrub butchery.
At one point neighbors (whom I don't know) were walking a dog by my yard while I crawled out from under the Rhody, clutching a reciprocating saw and absolutely covered in rhododendron guts.** The look on their face when a monster crawled out from under the bright pink shrubbery clutching a reciprocating saw was pretty fantastic. I'm pretty sure they hadn't realized I was IN there.
Anyway, now you can see the trunks a bit, the cleft is partially closed, and my front lawn is covered in dying rhododendron bones.
On Sunday, I bought NEW plants!and left the rhododendron bones as a warning to others.
Well, first E and I bought yummy pastries from the Bread Peddler and melon, prosciutto, and cheese (Tomme de Savoie and St. Nectare, I think), and brought the whole lot to mom's for her mother's day work break. See, we asked what she wanted to do for mother's day, and she said "Keep pouring the patio", so she and dad slaved over wet cement all day (We mentioned this to the lady at the bread peddler and she said "Wow. I wouldn't want to get in a fight with your mom").
Then we hit the farmer's market, and Erik patiently followed me around while I bought various edible plants (garlic chives, bloody dock, and cilantro), making occasional comments to amuse the vendors and serving as plant-choice consultant (he doesn't know anything about plants, but knows a lot about cooking, so the consulting was basically "If I grow this, will you use it? Y/N").
We picked up![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
madalchemist, dropped off plants, and went to the Avengers. The movie put the guys in such a good mood that they happily agreed when I pointed out the big nursery is really near the movie theater and I really needed more potting soil. They didn't even complain when I stopped halfway down the second row of perennials, holding two pots, and said "What did I come here for?" Though madalchemist did suggest hitting me with a tazer when I got distracted. They actually got into it a little bit (the plants, NOT the tazer) madalchemist helped me comb through daylily tags and Erik surprised me with little moss ("This one! I like this one!") which is amazing, since he never expresses interest one way or another. I bought a Rocket City daylily, lithodora difusa 'Grace Ward', and the teeny spikemoss for Erik (plus the soil we'd come for). Thence home, already 4 o'clock with a huge amount of things to do.
It was 9:30 before we ate, but for once I actually planted everything I bought that day PLUS three others that had been languishing in pots. That doesn't mean I'm caught up -- I still have two snowberries, a red osier dogwood, and golden currants if-they're-not-dead, but it's still a first.
*If you do this to your shrubs or trees I hope bindweed crawls into your home and holds you down while death-weasels eat your nose and a squirrel nests in your sock drawer.
**They're sticky, and all the old leaves and park and petals and stamens and CRAP that falls out of the top when you bump the bush ends up glued to your skin.
Outside of human-made enclosures, anyhow -- I spent a large part of Saturday inside a rhododendron.
This 'rhody' may actually be a giant azalea. The branches are smaller and grow more densely than you'd expect. It had been sheared* more than once before I bought it, so it was an almost impenetrable giant pom-pom. That bloomed hot-pink.
My housemate and I both hate the color, but it's a big healthy plant that gives the front bedrooms a lot more privacy, so I decided to do something about the shape instead. Last year I spent two brutally hot, sticky days crawling underneath and managed to create about a foot of space between the lowest branches and the ground, transforming it from a hot pink pom-pom to a hot pink giant mushroom. This winter we had heavy snows and an ice storm, and the weight pushed it right back down and clove it in twain. It looked like someone had taken a giant sky-cleaver to it, and it didn't bounce all the way back when the snow melted. My main goal was to lighten it up enough that it could spring back and repair the chasm, but that meant removing a LOT of material, so I reminded myself that I prefer arborized rhodies and commenced shrub butchery.
At one point neighbors (whom I don't know) were walking a dog by my yard while I crawled out from under the Rhody, clutching a reciprocating saw and absolutely covered in rhododendron guts.** The look on their face when a monster crawled out from under the bright pink shrubbery clutching a reciprocating saw was pretty fantastic. I'm pretty sure they hadn't realized I was IN there.
Anyway, now you can see the trunks a bit, the cleft is partially closed, and my front lawn is covered in dying rhododendron bones.
On Sunday, I bought NEW plants!
Well, first E and I bought yummy pastries from the Bread Peddler and melon, prosciutto, and cheese (Tomme de Savoie and St. Nectare, I think), and brought the whole lot to mom's for her mother's day work break. See, we asked what she wanted to do for mother's day, and she said "Keep pouring the patio", so she and dad slaved over wet cement all day (We mentioned this to the lady at the bread peddler and she said "Wow. I wouldn't want to get in a fight with your mom").
Then we hit the farmer's market, and Erik patiently followed me around while I bought various edible plants (garlic chives, bloody dock, and cilantro), making occasional comments to amuse the vendors and serving as plant-choice consultant (he doesn't know anything about plants, but knows a lot about cooking, so the consulting was basically "If I grow this, will you use it? Y/N").
We picked up
madalchemist, dropped off plants, and went to the Avengers. The movie put the guys in such a good mood that they happily agreed when I pointed out the big nursery is really near the movie theater and I really needed more potting soil. They didn't even complain when I stopped halfway down the second row of perennials, holding two pots, and said "What did I come here for?" Though madalchemist did suggest hitting me with a tazer when I got distracted. They actually got into it a little bit (the plants, NOT the tazer) madalchemist helped me comb through daylily tags and Erik surprised me with little moss ("This one! I like this one!") which is amazing, since he never expresses interest one way or another. I bought a Rocket City daylily, lithodora difusa 'Grace Ward', and the teeny spikemoss for Erik (plus the soil we'd come for). Thence home, already 4 o'clock with a huge amount of things to do.It was 9:30 before we ate, but for once I actually planted everything I bought that day PLUS three others that had been languishing in pots. That doesn't mean I'm caught up -- I still have two snowberries, a red osier dogwood, and golden currants if-they're-not-dead, but it's still a first.
*If you do this to your shrubs or trees I hope bindweed crawls into your home and holds you down while death-weasels eat your nose and a squirrel nests in your sock drawer.
**They're sticky, and all the old leaves and park and petals and stamens and CRAP that falls out of the top when you bump the bush ends up glued to your skin.
no subject
In 2010 $Wife & I visited London, and $wife ensured we went out to Scratchwood so she could wander again around the Rhodys she had played amongst pre-1958 (when her family had emigrated to Adelaide.au). They were still basically unchanged. As she has repeated the procedure several times over the years it has become almost a family tradition to visit Scratchwood whenever we're in London.
For those who are wondering, these rhodys are those on the hillside overlooking the Scratchwood layby on the M1.
no subject
I suspect I'm too heavy to run along the branches, though.
no subject
"And" what? Inquiring minds want to know!
no subject
Probably "commenced to shrub butchery."
no subject