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gaoyuqing

New homeowner/gardener

gaoyuqing
16 years ago

Ok, so I just bought a house this past fall and actually have a yard of sorts to grow things. So I go crazy with the order catalogues and such and now while I wait for them all to arrive I start getting second thoughts and paranoia. Here's a list of what I've gotten/ordered/planning on doing and maybe someone can cry "Abort!" if I've made a major gardening faux pas. Know I might be asking a lot, but with as many forum areas as there are, it'd be a nightmare to try and divide everything up between them all and follow them. So here it is *takes deep breath* (live in southwest MI, soil runs to basic btw)

+laid down first layer of milky spore to get rid of countless grubs and moles.

+ordered Zoyzia grass plugs to get rid of dealing with barespots/shaded areas, all the things the sellers advertise about

+Allready planted from signing up with arbor tree foundation"

2 white dogwoods

1 eastern redbud (on partially shady side of big old maple tree, which some sites reccomended)

1 golden rain tree (full sun)

1 crepe myrtle (full sun)

On the way in and where I plan on planting them:

Trees:

+tree wisteria (full to partial sun)

+golden chain tree (full sun)

+royal japanese cherry (full sun)

+2 pink smoke trees (full sun by side of house)

+fruit cocktail tree (full sun...dwarf tree has 5 different types of fruit growing on it)

+yellow french style lilac (full sun)

Everything else:

+fern collections (not too worried about these)

+creeping red sedum (to be planted in area around where planted dogwoods, in area is another huge maple and big white pine)

+3 trumpet vines orange and yellow (I've heard the horror stories but planning on training the yellow and orange to spiral up a monstrously old maple on right of way section of yard away from house and on other side of sidewalk)

+irish moss (for stony walkway area behind house where gets plenty of sun)

+walk on me (same area)

+hen & chicks (same)

+festuca (same)

+japanese bloodgrass (same)

+2 climbing roses (to be trained to grow on old cute but useless arched gate door)

+2 thornless raspberries

+2 silver lace vine (one for back fence, 1 for part sunny side of little enclosed porch front entryway)

+clematis (for back fence area too)

+japanese lilys

+blooming heath for dead acidic areas under pines

Have i done something stupid or bitten off more than i can chew? I know it's a lot to ask, but figured it's best all put in one place.

Comments (11)

  • thorngrower sw. ont. z5
    16 years ago

    What kind of climbing roses did you order.. They may or may not be hardy for your area..The rest sounds like pretty standard stuff.Good luck planting, suppose to be a nice weekend.......mark

  • gaoyuqing
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    The ones I got are suppossed to be hardy for my area. Got the Climbing Angel Face from direct garden and a bargain one which I'll be getting at random. Also picking up two from work friend who has had them in her yard for years and can't seem to kill them and she wants them gone.

  • thorngrower sw. ont. z5
    16 years ago

    Angel face cl. Its a sport of angel face floribunda, tender to zone 6..As a climber i don't think you can expect to much, as to to the kill back from winter..Might be good for a really short climber.You have to be really carefull with climbers in Z5 and lower..Not too many are really hardy even though they say they are.. do to cane die back from winter..Any way thats half the fun finding stuff, sounds like you really got a handle on things there.. i'm sure it will be the envy of the neighbourhood.. I'm digging things out myself got an order coming any day now..Good luck and enjoy...

  • gaoyuqing
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks, but I'm just winging it lol. they tell me the angels are good to zone 3, but I'm starting to question everything these companies tell me :P Until couple days ago, I never knew you had to do special things to roses over winter. Still will need to look up more specific instructiosn come fall to make sure I don't screw up.

  • scapeartist
    16 years ago

    Wow! Good luck, sounds like you have a lot of room to grow so many trees. I'm jealous : )

    Did you have to cut back anything previously growing there? You may be surprised at what pops up this summer!

  • gaoyuqing
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Heh, my actual real yard is rather small, especially compared to what I had growing up. However, living on a corner plot, I have a very long section of "right-of-way." to play with. Plus the yard is so scraggly I'm turning big chunks of it into garden plots rather than deal with lawncare. I've pulled up some flowers, neccessary evil as they were growing haphazardly and I want to make some order out of it. I'll try and transplant as much as I can though. I also took down a crabapple tree that was growing smack-dab in the middle of my little yard because it was creating a big dead shade zone behind it, I want a clear stretch of land to allow my daughter to get a swingset, etc, plus I have a thing against crabapple trees :P Those and hostas...*eyes the sprouting monsters in his yard* grrr

  • kterlep
    16 years ago

    hehe I live in a parsonage and there are entire flowerbeds of hostas. Are you sure you don't want any? You can have mine...

  • gaoyuqing
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    ick :P
    but yay! found out I have white trillium growing in my yard! :) like finding treasure. especially as I think its a protected species in MI. Plus discovered I'm going to have a crazy bumper crop of ostrich ferns this year, finding fiddleheads everywhere. I love ferns :)
    *does happy dance*

  • diggerb2
    16 years ago

    so far you don't seem to have made any mistakes. after 2 or 3 years you will see more that needs to be done and know more of what you want to do, like and dislike.

    think about how you want to use your yard and what areas are good for which functions. where you have sun/shade. where people make a path, etc.

    while you wait, always improve the soil and decide how much time you want to spend working in the yard to garden.

    good luck
    diggerb

  • growgirl
    16 years ago

    2 problems I can tell you about so far.....

    First - to control grubs, forget the milky spore and put down Merit (Chloronicotinyl) between July 1st to the 21st to control your grub problem. This is when the grubs are reporoducing and you will have better control of them by applying it at this time. Apply at a any other time and you are just wasting money.

    Second - Zoysiagrass = bad idea. Zoysia is a warm season grass that does better in the warmer climate states. It will take a while for it to establish since it is slow growing. The main thing though is that it goes dormant during cold weather so it will brown out on you when the temps get cool in fall and it is late to green up in the spring. It also has bad wear tolerance during its dormant period as well. I would recommend seeding your bare spots with seed. Go to www.yarddoctor.com to learn what grass seed to use as well as what you need to do to establish it.

    Good luck! After all those plantings your hands and back will be aching! (but it will be worth it).

  • thorngrower sw. ont. z5
    16 years ago

    Wow haven't been on this site till today. Sounds like you have found all kinds of treasures growing in your yard. Thats great man. Enjoy your yard.....mark

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