A Fall Garden Project

 

The picture is from 2008- the tree is bigger now.

I have this big square flower bed around a pole that holds a security light that no longer works.  It was the only flower bed here when we moved in and it contained a multiflora rose and some common daylilies.  The security lamp was on an old electric pole the former owner persuaded Edison to leave up when they moved and replaced poles.  It worked for a couple years then the lamp burned out and we have no way to replace it other than hiring a cherry picker.   We just decided to do without it.

 The flower bed is outlined with huge old railroad ties.  The first thing we did with that garden was to get rid of the multiflora rose and try to put a little pond/fountain there.  My husband tapped into the electric wire on the pole that had powered the light so we had an outside outlet there to run the pump.  It was ok for a season but we had to constantly clean the pump of debris and it got old fast.

 

We planted a collection of bearded iris there and lots of daffodil bulbs.  A bit later I planted a rose of Sharon tree and a sweet autumn clematis I hoped would climb the pole.  A catalpa tree came up on its own and now occupies the northeast corner.  However the common daylilies came back with a vengeance as well as some ostrich fern.  The daffodil bulbs multiplied with great success.   And the iris faded away.  Eventually the bed just looked like a tangled mess.

 

After the daylilies bloom and the ferns brown in the summer heat the sweet autumn clematis sprawls over them and climbs the rose of Sharon, at least for a while in the fall the bed is covered with a pretty white lacy blanket.  But this year, now jobless and with more time I decided to tackle the big mess and do something with that bed.

 I started in the northwest corner last evening with the intention of clearing everything out to start fresh.  I worked for at least 2 hours until it got too dark to see and maybe cleared a 2 x2 foot area. The ground was so thick with roots and bulbs a hand shovel could barely get in there.  I haven’t counted them but there must be 100 daffodil bulbs that I took from that area.   I am storing them for re-planting.  Most are small, probably from the crowding.  All the daylily bulbs and clumps of fern roots are going to the compost pile.

 I am trying to avoid the south side for a while as that is where the majority of the sweet autumn clematis is at.  But at the slow rate this is progressing it will probably have finished blooming before I get there.   My plans for the bed are still a little vague.  Some of the daffodils will be replanted.  I have some perennials in pots that will probably go there and maybe some things I can move from other beds.  I am going to prune and thin the catalpa but leave it on one side.  I want to put up some sort of arbor or trellis for the clematis.

 It will be an exercise in what one can do with a garden when you have no money to spend on it.  I am fortunate that I have some plant resources here.