I am the first to admit that I was not born with a green thumb. Once in college, a friend gave me a little cactus for my apartment. I know, a cactus is pretty much impossible to kill, right? Not so much. That cactus shriveled up in a matter of weeks. So needless to say, my yard and front walk have been pretty boring and a bit weedy. Justin and I tried planting tulips and other plants when we first moved into our house. However, no one told us about the "bunny problem." The first time a tulip sprouted and bloomed, it was gnawed down to a tiny little stump in the yard. This continued throughout the spring and summer, and after many failed attempts to deter these little critters, we finally gave up on the yard. However, last year I just couldn't stand to look at the spot in the back yard where there was once a flower garden. It had been overtaken by weeds and thistles, so I decided this year I was going to do something about it!
So, I took a picture of this sad little area in my backyard and headed to
"Contrary Mary's Specialty Plants" with camera and Kaylie in tow.
I know, what a mess, right?! Honestly, I am a little embarrassed that I let it stay like this for as long as I did, especially when my neighbors have a yard that is overflowing with beautiful plants and yard ornaments. Oh, and birds, but that is an entirely different discussion. You can see a glimpse of a small portion of their yard on the right in the above picture. I am sure they have been rather embarrassed by my mess as well.
While at "Contrary Mary's," a nice lady, who I can only imagine must be Mary, came over to help me and I promptly showed her the above picture and informed her that I needed something to spruce it up, and that I would be getting rid of the smaller shrub/bush thing. After looking at several plants/flowers, we decided on the following: Echinacea (Coneflower) "Solar Flare," Catmint "Little Trudy," & Calamintha "Montrose White." I had also explained to the nice lady that my front yard was also in need of a lot of work. I had told her about these hideous brittle shrubs in the front of our house that we would like to get rid of, but she informed me that we should keep some type of shrubbery in the front before planting any other type of plants. She recommended a bright orange and red flower called Gaillardia "Lucky Wheeler" for the front yard. I purchased three of these, but then realized when I got home that my flower garden in the back was larger than I thought, and therefore I placed the Gaillardia in front of the Catmint and therefore it became the front row. Let's hope it all works!
Echinacea (Coneflower) "Solar Flare"
Catmint "Little Trudy"
Calamintha "Montrose White"
Gaillardia "Lucky Wheeler"
Next, I headed to Home Depot to purchase a digging shovel since we only own a snow shovel, as well as something to deter those pesky rabbits! I was also going to buy mulch, but quickly realized that this was too much of a task to complete by myself with a toddler especially since last time we used mulch we needed approximately 12 bags. While at Home Depot, I noticed that they had hanging baskets of petunias on sale and thought this would be a nice and bright addition to my little flower garden especially since the Shepherd's Hook that is there now is being used as a resting place for the neighbor's bird obsession. After checking out, we were on our way home to get started!
Once we arrived home, Kaylie had her lunch and was down for a nap and it was time for me to get to work! If I haven't mentioned this already, I do not own a tiller and therefore everything had to be done by hand. I put my new digging shovel to work and quickly removed the smaller shrub, and then began digging up as much of the dirt as possible to help weed out all of the thistles and other weeds. Also, the people who lived here before us planted Stachys byzantina, also known as "Lamb's Ear." Note to gardeners: If you ever think you may want to plant this, I strongly suggest you rethink it. It is considered an
invasive plant because it takes over and has a network of roots that is almost impossible to remove! Here is a picture of it:
Stachys byzantina "Lamb's Ear"
The cute fuzzy leaves look so inviting, but beware! This plant was nearly the death of me yesterday!
After spending two hours digging, I still couldn't remove all of the roots to this evil dweller. So, I am hoping that I uprooted enough of them to kill it or at least slow its growth for a while. After all of the digging, I thought that the large shrub needed a little trimming since it was beginning to look more like a tree. Next, it was time to start planting all of my new plants! This took far less time than the digging. After planting everything, I placed all of the tags to label each plant (in case I forgot what was there), added my hanging basket and watered everything!
I know there are still some weeds that will have to be pulled, dug up, or sprayed, but I just couldn't do any more digging at this point. And, I will be adding mulch this weekend if the weather permits and with the help of my husband. After the plants had dried off from the watering, I added my rabbit repellent to each plant!
The lady from "Contrary Mary's" recommended Liquid Fence Rabbit Repellent which I found at Home Depot. I have tried everything in the last two years to deter these rabbits including moth balls, cayenne pepper, Deer Off Repellent, and cut hair and nothing has worked. I even splurged and bought the dual action repellent, which means that not only does it smell terrible but tastes terrible as well. These bunnies are costing me a lot of money, and I'm beginning to think they are some type of mutant bunny. So, I sprayed all of the plants and it smelled terrible. I should have known not to let the dog out because he immediately wanted to roll in it. Ugh...disgusting. After a big thunderstorm last night, I thought for sure that the repellent would be washed off and my precious little plants would be eaten, but they were all still there this morning! This Liquid Fence may just work!
Now, let's just pray that my flowers grow and bloom, and that I didn't waste my money or spend an entire day planting for nothing! However, Justin and I noticed that a Knock-Out Rose Bush that we planted two years ago finally started blooming. This is seriously the first time it has bloomed in two years! Last year, I wanted to rip it out, but now I am glad that I left it alone. Maybe this is a sign of good luck for my flower garden this year! I hope so!
A couple of the blooms on the rose bush.
More buds that should bloom soon!
Well, let's hope that the rabbit repellent and Mother Nature work together so that these flowers start growing and blooming! This is going to be quite a challenge for me and my not-so-green thumb! I'll keep you updated on any progress. This week we should be adding mulch to at least make it look better. The next outdoor projects are: landscaping the front of the house and restaining the fence. It's going to be a busy summer!
