A Decade of Gardening Part III - a Look Back, Lessons Learned, What's Ahead?

So ... will past landscape decisions be repeated this next decade, including the bad ones?  In two words, "hopefully not." I'm not too proud to talk, write and show photos of my past landscape mistakes, perhaps they'll remind me not to do them again or give you food for thought of what's ahead in your garden. Here goes ...

2010 Let me make this perfectly clear, this is not my dead grafted rose. But it could have happened to me or anyone who isn't in the know that grafted roses (mostly the hybrid types) in our Zone 5 and colder areas need their grafted section, (think of it like a fist) to be buried two to four inches below the soil line. Grafted you say and a fist? 

Dead Hybrid Tea Rose-the graft needs to be buried at planting

This is the area on the rose where the super hardy root stock is grafted or attached to a different upper rose plant (the fist comparison is where the two plants are grafted). The purpose is to grow favorable characteristics in these rose types like repeat bloom, fragrance, various colors and more. Often these roses are used in the florist industry, you know the red bloomers that go out the door by the gazillions around Valentine's Day.

This particular rose was planted in a friend's garden by some landscapers who obviously were not in the know about the graft. In just one year the exposed graft was taken out by the most likely culprit - our cold weather. If, and this isn't always a guarantee, if the graft had been mulched in the fall with soil or a mulch/soil combination then it might have made it through and lived. For much more helpful rose growing and care information, please check out the Denver Rose Society's webpage and click on the Growing Roses tab.

Poor Sprinkler Head Coverage - need Adjusting!

Also in 2010, our south lawn (before our new landscape was planted two years later), I wasn't monitoring the sprinkler heads very well and as you can see, there are dead grass areas. To be honest, I didn't really care that much because we knew it would all be removed soon for the new landscape project. 

If not one hundred percent certain the sprinkler heads were askew, these dead patches might be mistaken for lawn mite damage, which is commonly seen in the spring on south and west lawns that are close to buildings, driveways and sidewalks. Read all about these tiny lawn mites and how to keep them at bay in this fun read from the CSU Horticulture Blog.

Aster Yellows on Coneflower

2013 - when will I ever learn that our landscape location for some odd reason is a magnet for the migratory aster leaf hopper can which transmits a bacterial disorder (aster yellows) to ornamental plants including coneflower, marigold, aster, petunia, zinnia, beet, carrot, lettuce and more. I grow the three vegetables, but have not seen aster yellows occur (fingers crossed).

I grew coneflower (echinacea) in our former landscape with the same result. Once infected, the damage is very obvious with twisted, stunted odd growth and loss of green pigment in veins of leaves. The plants and blooms look so depressed. There's no cure, just digging and tossing the plant (don't compost). No more coneflower plants for us, plus Japanese beetles like coneflower too, so no need to put in another plant for their voracious appetites. 

Just an FYI ...

My favorite posts since 2014 when I started blogging -

Moms are Special May 4, 2016 

My Mom December 7, 2017

Smart Pots Deliver August 6, 2016

Goodbye Gardening Season 2015 December 28, 2015

For the Love of Basil August 11, 2014

In closing ...

2019 I jumped a few years, if I keep writing about my garden missteps, I'll be writing for the next ten years! Let me end this three parter on a good note. The absolutely best landscape move I did in the past ten years was making the decision in 2016 to re-do a small, but very visible planting bed next to the patio. Initially it had been planted with ornamental and culinary herbs surrounding a birch tree. Without any need to justify this very poor decision (hey, at least the birch was on its own drip schedule), I realized the herbs would never be happy with less sun being shaded by the birch as it grew larger and larger. The herbs certainly showed me, they just sat there for four years and sulked. 

Spring into summer of 2016 was hot, often I worked in the cool of the evening. One large lavender clump was kept in place, but the remaining struggling herbs were composted. In went some lovely, low maintenance, pollinator perennials, Plant Select® plants and a small, bareroot zone 4 hardy magnolia (still on its own drip). The result was awesome, at least in our minds. My husband and I couldn't be happier with the way it looks now. My favorite time waste is to watch butterflies, bees and birds do their flitting and feeding just twenty feet from my vantage. Birds are still visiting for the free seeds left on the winter plants.

I wrote about this project back in '16, so feel free to click here and here to see the project from beginning to end. 

The bed is still evolving and I'm experimenting with earlier blooming plants to attract spring migrating hummingbirds and keep all the bees and other beneficial insects happy with nectar and pollen all summer and well into fall. Below are the most recent photos of this work in progress. I still have some open areas for more plants and who knows how it will look ten years from now. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted as we and our plants both grow older together.