Gone Feral In Idaho

 I got some of the holes planted today, all are perennial except the spiky grass. 10 more plants to go.  Hardy agave in the foreground. We'll see how hardy it is. The rest are known to be hardy in Boise.

I spent the better part of today playing concrete block tetris. My arms and abs are getting a great workout. I always thought that gardening counting toward real exercise wasn't possible. Boy was I wrong. All I need is to construction adhesive landscape fabric to the bottoms of the holes and plant it up. There are 12 open spaces yet that I can add to. Cool  thing is most of these are perennials.

Our entryway "garden" got some attention last year with the bicycle planter. This year I really wanted to redo the entire thing, so I dug out all of the lava rock mulch that was black and looking ratty. We pass by this spot at least twice a day, every day of the year and it seemed to me that we could make it more inviting and interesting. The house faces south so we get blasted with 90-100 degree heat and full sun. We also plan to repaint the house a warmer brown-grey. The current color is what I refer to as gross light greenish grey. So with a warmer background, I thought some cooler colors would serve us well. In came pinterest- just look up "cinder block planter" or "concrete block planter". I know it's a bit of a fad, but it isn't permanent, but at least a few years should be nice as I regularly like to make changes. I don't think anyone has ever heard me say " that's perfect, I'm never going to change that". This...

 Double Take ™ Orange Storm Flowering Quince  Helleborus 'Merlin' Hosta 'Blue Angel'

 This entryway bed was pretty much just like this, but with dark lava rock that was getting shabby looking. I dug up the lava rock and screened it since there was a good 3 inches of sand underneath-score!This bed is about 6 feet wide under the  octagonal window and about 12 feet long. It was a dead space where I had the bicycle planter. We plan on painting the house a darker, warmer color and both like the look of "Mexican" beach pebbles. It gets 6 hours direct sunlight in the beginning of the day. I plan to lay down some square concrete pavers and fill in the rest with the pebbles. On top of that will go a concrete block planter with various drought tolerant sun loving plants. The little hardy agave will go in there with hens and chicks and some annuals for yearly change. New soil and compost were turned into the bed with amendments. Peas go in tomorrow and the irrigation will get put back in.  Kyle did an expert job pruning the clematis plants and they are thr...

 The Forsythia is in full bloom. I'm not a big fan of yellow flowers, I'm not sure why, but the forsythias the harbinger of spring in the inland northwest,so I do love the plant this time of year.  This is the completed rhododendron bed.I added the creeping plant that was very happy near this site to soften the stone wall. We got drip irrigation running to the bed to keep them happy. Our soil is alkaline here, so the bed needed to be raised and was fortified with pine needles and rhodi fertilizer.   More yellow flowers. Who can't love daffodils? I actually had to tune down the yellowness of the photo because it was too intense.  Lastly, I picked up a hardy agave from one of the local nurseries a few days ago. I've been so envious of several garden bloggers having these. These little guys are hanging out on my desk until I build our new concrete block planter wall next to our front door. I'll post progress soon. Our theme is going to be Voodoo gard...

I have committed the same crime every gardener in history has probably done. I chose a plant and put it in a place where it doesn't belong. I fell in love with a rhododendron from the local farm and barn store. I bought two at $35 a piece, that is very spendy for me. I like to grow my own plants from seed., or get them on sale. We planted the lovely Percy Wiseman rhodys in front of our living groom windows, facing south. in Boise. That equates to planting them in the middle of the Gobi Dessert. What was I thinking? We shaded them last summer and they lived. Rohdys need acidic soil- we have alkaline soils. So I dutifully built raised beds and put a bunch of pine mulch as well. That is probably why I didn't kill them outright. This weekend we put them under our pine tree out back. We built a new raised bed of what I like to call "the devil's puzzle pieces" Horrible stuff to used in a smaller curved bed. We spent two days figuring out how to place them. Just before ...