Planting and Mulch
2005.10.01
This morning I drove out to a nursery called Farmington Gardens, southwest of Beaverton and Aloha. It’s a pretty large nursery, with quite a collection. I got one of the little red wagons they provide, and headed out to the “shade house” to see what kind of plants I could buy for my shady planting bed. The front part of the bed gets morning sun, so partial-shade plants would work there, but the long part is on the north side of my house, and is full shade.
A couple months ago, I had purchased a book on shade gardening, and from there had put together a list of potential plants that I liked. I didn’t find all of those at the nursery, but I did find some, as well as other plants not listed in the book.
I filled up the little red wagon, and after checking out, headed to my car. I filled up the trunk with plants, then decided to go back for more. So I made a second round, and then put those plants on the floor at the back seat (I spread out an old blanket first).
I headed home and put the plants in the garage before taking a lunch break. While I was eating lunch, I looked up the plants I’d purchased, and checked on how big they would eventually become. At this point, I realized that I probably bought too many plants. While it will look a little sparse now, once these things mature, it will be very crowded. Oh well, a number of these plants are slow-growing, so it could be many years before that happens.
After lunch was over, there was a break in the clouds, and I had sunshine for most of the afternoon. So it was a perfect time to get out there and plant. I made several trips with the wheelbarrow, moving the plants from the garage to the bed. Then I arranged the plants on the bed (still in their containers), moving some around until I was happy with their approximate locations. Then I started digging holes and planting.
Starting at the back end (on the north side), this is what I have:
Skimmia japonica Japanese Skimmia "Dwarf Female" (left) and Dryopteris erythrosora Autumn Fern (right). Hosta Hosta "Lakeside Coal Miner".
Helleborus x hybridus Lenten Rose "Sunshine Selections" (left) and Tellima grandiflora Fringe Cups "Forest Frost" (right). Skimmia japonica Japanese Skimmia "Dwarf Female".
Dryopteris erythrosora Autumn Fern (left) and Sarcococca ruscifolia Fragrant Sweetbox (right). Hosta Hosta "Mr Big".
Skimmia reevesiana Reeves Skimmia. Hydrangea bailmer Hydrangea "Endless Summer" (left) and Cornus canadensis Bunchberry (right).
Hosta Hosta "June" (on the left). Kirengeshoma palmata Yellow Wax Bells.
Cornus canadensis Bunchberry (on the left). Hydrangea bailmer Hydrangea 'Endless Summer'.
So, a pretty good selection of plants, I hope. We’ll see how they do over the next year… some of those plants on the full shade side are really meant for partial shade, I think. Otherwise, everything should at least survive, if not thrive.
I still need to put some mulch around the plants, but I ran out of sunshine, daylight, and free time (had to do some office work this weekend), so maybe next weekend.
2005.10.08
Today I bought some western red cedar mulch for the front planting bed. Of course I didn’t buy quite enough, so I had to make a second run to Home Depot. At any rate, it didn’t take too long to spread the mulch around, and I think it looks nice. So, that’s it for the front planting bed this year.
Filling Soil and Gravel