New owners and gardens, was Composts
Jane McGary (Sun, 23 May 2010 13:25:10 PDT)

Rodger wrote about leaving one's garden,
What I can imagine is wifey turning to hubby and saying, "dear, why don't you

It is a worse mess than it was, because I already partially leveled
the rock garden thinking it would be a liability in selling the
place. I intend to recommend either total leveling of the remaining
disrocked berms, or using them for a fruit orchard as the area is
well protected from quick morning thaw in winter. There is, however,
a great deal of space elsewhere for a paddock, barn, greenhouses, or
whatever else anybody would want in addition to a garden, the
property being 10 acres. Around here, that probably means a Christmas
tree farm -- groan.

I don't really expect the garden to stay the same but it would be
nice if some of the trees could be preserved, as they are not only
beautiful but valuable. However, even this element of a garden always
changes. A few days ago a large Laburnum x watereri 'Vossii' keeled
over in a storm, in full bloom. Its roots are still in the ground but
as soon as it finishes flowering and I get over a dire case of viral
bronchitis, I will saw it up and haul it off. It wouldn't have fallen
had it not become crowded by adjacent trees and started leaning
toward the light. I've taken out several trees in recent years to
alleviate crowding or just because they were not as successful as
some of the others.

On the other hand having the trees grow up lets one learn how to grow
bulbs under them! I spread a lot of discarded bulb potting soil under
a large red oak (Quercus rubra) a couple of years ago, then mulched
it, and it's delightful to see what actually can come up and thrive
in deciduous shade with a heavy leaf drop in autumn. I took a lot of
little Arum tubers of various species and planted them on a steep
slope in the shade of this tree, and most of them seem to be
flourishing there, as one sometimes sees them in nature.

Rodger complained about people buying houses and cutting down the big
rhododendrons. I confess that that's part of my plan for my new
house: it has every kind of cheap rhododendron/azalea you can
imagine, especially those awful magenta Kurume azaleas that infest
Portland. Goodbye Hardy Hybrids, hello Rhododendron yakusimanum! And
does anybody want a whole row of little ball-shaped boxwoods? You dig
the little stinkers.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA