Garden Over-Haul

Fern Gully with Fairy

Hello all I'd like to catch up on the last few weeks.

I apologize for not keeping up with my blogging. I have been very distracted these last two weeks. Once I returned from my rafting vacation with Sean things have really taken off.

He still had a week's vacation left the the kids really missed us. So, we spent a great week at home, "Stay-Cationing" as they say. That sounds like no work was done, but we did a lot of yard work, which we both enjoy.

I planted a ton of flowers and finished planting my veggie garden. I have neglected my flower beds since having kids, but determined to spruce things up this year. I have two perennial flower beds that I love. One is all shade, which I have dubbed "Fern-Gully" in honor of the bountiful ferns in it. The other is a part-sun garden on a hillside by my driveway. Strangely, I haven't named it yet.

Sunny Driveway Garden

I realized that my sunny driveway garden (see, isn't that ackward?) is very dry. We haul water, so I don't like to water it more than once a week or so. I had thought that the sunlight was the limiting factor, but this year I have decided that it may be the lack of water. I noticed that the native plants (Wild Alaskan Iris) and the plants that thrive in a rock garden (Dianthus) are flourishing while the regular plants (columbine) seem to suffer. So, I am trying out some new perennials this year.

 

Catmint

I love perennials! I am trying some drought-resistant perennials. I have added some catmint and some foxglove. I got two different kinds of catmint to try. One is more compact and known to be Very Hardy here in Fairbanks. The other is larger and has already bloomed, but the experts say that it may not survive as well. So I will watch and wait to see what flourishes.



In my Fern Gully I've bought 3 more perennials to add. I have used them before, but they didn't survive a crazy winter we had two years ago. It was an unusual winter of freeze/thaw that we ended up with no snow cover for insulation during January and Feburary... Some of our coldest months. So, these are simply replacement plants rather than new ones. This year I'm trying out a fushia to see if it will live in the 100% shade. We are going to add a water fountain this year too. Our old one seems to have died. I love the sound of running water softly burbling along!

New Porch Garden

I also added a new flower bed by the back porch. It is a mix of annuals and perennials. I think it will do well. However, I planted 65 bulbs there and only 9 came up. That is a disastrous quantity! What could have happened? I dug up a few, and they were still hard without any sprouts after 3 weeks. Weird! I'd love to hear any ideas about what may have caused this... Strange.

Dianthis -- A Survivor

Iris

 

 

 

 

 

In conclusion, I'd like to say welcome back and I will be more faithful in blogging now.
I'd love to hear about your garden or summer time hobby. Please feel free to respond!