Monday, July 7, 2008

The East Side Bed


This past weekend Jamie and I stumbled on a gold mine of savings at a couple of the nurseries we visited. I would have to say it was perfect timing all the way around. When we went out looking it wasn’t our intention to be buying plants, we were just browsing for the fall or next spring. It’s just been too hot to set anything out and I feel like it just puts too much stress on the plants. We visited seven different nurseries Saturday. We started our running around at eight AM and made it back home at sundown with 30 pots of plants in the truck and two wonderful concrete lions. Below is a list of our haul this trip and we didn’t even spend a hundred dollars.

2 – “Elaine” Agapanthus
3 – “Hinag” Summer Gold Agapanthus (Variegated foliage w/dark blue bloom!)
1 – “Yellow Lollipop” Daylily
1 – “Orange Flurry” Daylily
1 – “Sea Gold” Daylily
3 – Tree-Formed “Pee Gee” Hydrangea (these were regular $40.00 each we paid $3.00)
1 – “Crimson Queen” Japanese Maple ($12.00 same exact same tree was $109.00 at one of our favorite nurseries. Carol snagged this one for us)
3 – “Flore-Pleno” Double Tiger Lily
1 – “Sun Ray” Asiatic Hybrid Lily
1 – “Acapulco” Oriental Lily
1 – “Lovely Girl” Oriental Lily
1 – “Coral Queen” Oriental Lily
1 – “Lucifer” Crocosmia
1 – “George Davidson” Crocosmia
1 – “Peacock Orchid” Gladiolus
1 – Unknown Giant Yellow Daisy (gasp!)
1 – Brazilian Bog Sage
2 – “Floristan White” Liatris
1 – Sweet Flag (Variegated)
1 – “Tangerine Beauty” Cross Vine
1 – Scarlet Butterfly Milkweed
1 – “Rosado” Pink Crepe Myrtle

We had just purchased four Encore Azaleas for the east side of the house at 75% off and planted them about two weeks earlier. It wasn’t our intention to create the bed on the end of the house until sometime next year. All those plants had to go some where so we decided to start to work on it. Below is the process captured in photos.

These are photos of the east end of the house at about 8:00AM Sunday morning.

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These were taken a couple of hours later after removing all the grass and doing some planting.

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Here is our new bed seven hours later, completed with the irrigation system also installed. Jamie and I work very well together. We are just about an un-beatable duo.

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! You all did that in one day? It looks great. There is just no stopping you two when you decide to do something. I have the Elaine agapanthus, and it is wonderful, small and gorgegous color. I can't believe the price of the hydrangeas - you stole those shrubs. Maybe that tornado turned out to be a good thing. You have a wonderful garden now.

Jan
Always Growing

Phillip Oliver said...

You have been busy. I'm so glad you posted some wide views of your garden. It looks like you have lots of room for plants!

Cosmo said...

Hi--It seems I discovered your blog about the same time you discovered mine! I love your new bed, and I LOVE plant sales--there are a lot here after the 4th, so I'm planning on shopping later today. Like Jan, I'm amazed you all did that in one day--it really looks great. How much do you have to amend the soil when you take the grass up? I look forward to reading more!

tina said...

Wow! What a super awesome change! I look forward to seeing it as it matures.

Randy said...

Cosmo,
The compost I use has alot of sand in it and so does the top soil. We added 400lbs of of composted manure and 400lbs of topsoil to the bed before we plated everything. We don't have a tiller so we have to hand turn everthing with a shovel. It alot of extra work for us, but I think it makes appreciate the complete job more.

Tina, when we planted the Peegee hydrangeas we had no idea they get as large as they do so we are going to have to move them out a little futher from the wall, but other than that we're really happy with the way things turned out.

tina said...

They do get large-and ever so beautiful. I would go at least 7-9 feet if you want to walk between it and the house maybe even more. I have one that grows by my chainlink and it is a bother each year when it drapes in front of the gate, but I love the charm. They take pruning well.;)

Eve said...

That is going to be a great bed. Isn't it so neat looking?

I am the worst about planting something in one place and then realizing it is going to be way too big for that place. I put banana plants in the back of my lantana bed this year and now I have to take them out. It is a raised bed, with wooden boards around it, so I should have planned it out first.

Randy said...

Eve, welcome to Our Eden! We are so glad to have you here! It use to reallllllllly bug me when I would misplace something like that (I tend to obsess), but I've come to realize that's all part of gardening. So, I'm starting to handle it better. At least after you comment I know we aren't alone. LOL

Annie in Austin said...

Hi Randy & Jamie,
While it's true that many plants become even more attractive when they're on sale, the stuff you bought sounds good even at the regular price. And the speed at which you work is impressive!

Nice catch on the Japanese Maple....your friend Carol is a good enabler for your plant addiction ;-]

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Wayne said...

OMG! You are a couple of busy boys!
It looks great!
And you got some really good prices!

Randy said...

"Nice catch on the Japanese Maple....your friend Carol is a good enabler for your plant addiction ;-]"

Annie, no truer statement has ever been made about Carol. She is a bad, bad, bad influence on Jamie and I when it comes to buying plants. BUT, at least she is teaching us to bargain shop.

Wayne, we stay busy, allllllllllll the time. We need to start taking more time to relax like you guys do.

Robin's Nesting Place said...

You really add a lot of amendments to your soil before planting! It looks great!

Randy said...

Robin our soil has alot of red, almost clay soil with little or no nutritional value as far as I can tell. So we really try to richen it up some for the years to come. Because as we get older it will become harder and harder for us to do things like that. In another 20 years when I'm 61 all I will have to do is stick the plant in the ground... then Jamie can help me get back up. :-)