Fall Prep

I haven't been up to a whole lot these last few weeks, other than some yard maintenance. And by yard maintenance, I mean vigorously pulling Mexican heather from my rain garden. Those babies have a tendency to take over! And they're obscuring shorter, more attractive plants like my Cahaba lilies and ginger lilies.

After removing 90% of the Mexican Heather

We've had a dry summer which has damaged the woodland ferns in the rain garden. Lucky me! I also plan to dig those out as soon as I'm done with the Mexican heather. Hopefully that will enable my canna lilies to progress as it seems their growth has been stunted the last few years.

Totally Overgrown!

On the hillside, I am going to replace a small island filled with irises and daylilies with another fruit tree. I have my eye on a dwarf pear tree that will fit the space perfectly.

Its a long to-do list with very little time. Hopefully I can get most of this done before we have another cold snap which forces me into hibernation.

Fern-o-rama

Like any good, southern lady [or in my case a lady learning to be southern), I enjoy ferns. Bostons, Kimberly, asparagus, turkey, woodland, bird's nest...I have yet to meet a fern I don't like. Last fall however, I realized I don't like them in my flowerbeds.

 

 

THEY. TAKE. OVER.

A few years ago, I transplanted a few woodland ferns in my rain garden from a vacant lot on my street. They were slow to start but began multiplying rapidly last fall. When the garden went dormant, I dug up as many as I could, only to find they came back this Spring with a vengeance.

I am dutifully digging them up as I don't want them to smother the Crinums, Cahaba Lily, hostas, elephant ears and Louisiana irises. No easy feat as it seems like whenever I pull one up, three others take its place.

As far as ornamentation for my front porch and even my desk at work, they are still the apple of my eye. Pictured below is a bird nest fern in my office.

It seems the moral of this story is that my ferns are best potted.

Ana-White.com

Every so often I come across pretty useful and interesting websites. One such website is http://ana-white.com/ . A homemaker in Alaska, Ana blogs about do-it-yourself wood projects and provides free plans. Awesome.

One plan that caught my eye is for raised beds:

http://ana-white.com/2010/05/hack-natural-rustic-cedar-raised-beds.html

Just off my rain garden is an area that holds water, rendering it useless for most things. I figured I'd try a raised garden bed and see if I can get some use from it. Ana found clearance cedar and was able to build hers for less than $10 each. If we could all be so lucky... :)

Rain Gardens

Like I friend of mine said, 'I installed a rain garden in my yard before I even know what a rain garden was'. Essentially, I had an area on the top of my driveway that collected and held water after it rained. One option was to install a French Drain which would have run about $500. That was a definite no-go. The other was to find plants whose roots love to get and stay wet (and tolerate shade) and create a new garden. Bingo! In my search, I acquired Elephant Ears, Black-Stemmed Elephant Ears, perennialized Ferns and Louisiana Iris, all from friends happy to get rid of them.

Subsequently I heard about the ACES' interest in installing a rain garden at the Pioneer Museum of Alabama (PMAL), where I also volunteer. I decided this would be a great opportunity to learn exactly what a rain garden is, what it does and how to correctly install one.

Very simply put, a rain garden is a depressed flower bed (about two feet in the ground), placed at least ten feet from a building structure, to collect rain water runoff, thereby:

1. preventing the runoff from contaminating nearby water sources
2. enabling the water to reabsorbed into the ground, which acts as a natural filtration system
3. preventing erosion

It must be filled with native plants because these are pre-conditioned to deal with very wet and very dry conditions. The bed should be heavily composted (during) and mulched (immediately after) to provide nutrients and preserve moisture.

After an extensive calculation to determine the ideal spot and size, a 250 sq/ft rain garden was installed at the PMAL on a rainy and very cold morning. It is filled with Coreopsis, Agarista, Stokes' Aster and Echinacea. It needs some time to grow in, but should be promising in the spring.

Obviously I unknowingly skipped a few steps in my personal installation, particularly the two-feet excavation, but mine does just about the same thing. Bear in mind, this isn't anywhere close to 250 sq/ft. Of course, most of it has now died back with the frost. But I'm looking forward to enjoying it in spring.