TODAY I planted two apple trees - a Golden Delicious semi-dwarf, and a HoneyCrisp - also semi-dwarf. I planted them in the fenced in Vegetable Garden area in a place that G and I are hoping is not too shady. Might be. The fruit trees are safe from deer once they reach 8 - 10 feet tall, though these are safe in the enclosure anyway, I hope. Then I planted 3 blueberry bushes - two Dukes and a Bluecrop - and a gooseberry. All of these were bought from Al, who has sold plants at the Plant Exchange the last two years. (My idea in opening the exchange up to vendors, was to make it possible for people who don't have plants to bring to participate. They can also "buy" exchange plants with a donation to the child care center (where we hold the exchange).
This year, though, the day for Plant Exchange was drizzly and cold (April 17th), and turnout was poor. So I'm thinking maybe we need to skip a year or change to a spot visible from Highway 101. I don't think the child care center folks care at all - they don't say thank you or anything. The best "customer" all day - although everyone was pleasant and supportive - was the grade school age daughter of our local pastor. She was so excited to be getting plants!! Her mom is a great gardener, too.
Today I also planted a lilac (one of the 4 or 5 we potted up as 'divisions' when we moved the bush that was here when we moved in, but which was being shaded out by the cedar tree by our house). I put it and a mystery shrub in on the outside of the fence that surrounds the blueberry patch, to the east, facing the old chicken house/new tractor shed.
The mystery shrub has a flowering habit much like a delicate hydrangea, but I think I remember being warned by its donor that it is not a hydrangea. NOT. Both the lilac and other shrub have been in large pots by our back stoop for several years, being decorative.
I'm cleaning up that back of the house space, planning on using all our garage sale handsome planters and any plants that will look stunning in them this summer. This summer our son and his wife come to the US, and we will be hosting my husband's family's reunion here. We want everything to look really nice. One plant I have is a purple ninebark, a gift from my friend L, or maybe a cutting I took from her gift shrub. I'm loath to plant this ninebark out in the yard - where I won't be able to baby it - as I can't find the other one I had and think it might need to get quite large to survive out there.
I'm loving containers with purple and yellow leaves together, purple flowers, pink or orange. Many of my gardening friends are much more sophisticated gardeners than I am, and they prefer white flowers. I think white flowers are a waste of flowerdom. I'm in love with the washed-out purple fading to orange (orange!) of the Erysimum with varigated leaves. The flower looks like something your grandmother wore (and which embarrassed you terribly at the time, but now you are nostalgic . . .)!!
So, I planted eight trees or shrubs today. And, although the purist in me thinks these should count less than the native trees I plant in natural areas, I have to remember we are converting this house and pasture into gardens and adding many leaves to the 'canopy'. And the holes are as hard to dig.
I'll figure out and post the numbers next time. I know I'm way behind, but I'm not giving up.
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