I have this hill of rocks that I threw wildflowers seeds all over when the snow finally stopped late Spring. Now I have a bunch of things growing, but I don't know if it's weeds or flowers. What seemed like a great idea is not turning out to be such a smart plan. However, I do have a few flowers starting to bloom.
Cute, huh? They are pink, purple and white. I have several patches now in bloom. Fun!Although, this is how most of the yard looks.
And that's after pulling what I know are weeds. (My mom informed me what I thought were poppies were actually weeds, sad.)Here's my biggest problem. We planted 4 rose bushes. Two are looking good and two look like this
Help. This rose is called the Ingrid Bergman rose and is a beautiful deep red. I don't know why the leaves are turning brown. Do I need to water more? less? fertilize? pesticide?This is our other problem area
It's very sandy soil that is eroding away from the rocks. (One rock actually fell and rolled into our house- it may stay there and be landscaped around, as it is extremely heavy.) I heard that day lilies do well in sand and may help with the erosion. Any other ideas?This is my favorite part of the backyard. This tree was overgrown when we bought the house. (It was a rental and the yard was in bad shape). We trimmed it up and now it hangs perfectly over the lawn to provide a little shaded area. I planted some bright orange flowers beneath it that have done very well.
This is another tree that we have pruned. It had branches growing along the ground and huge thorns on it. Rick and I were scraped up for weeks (worth it). We still have a little pruning to do on it, but it may wait until next year. We now have to figure out what to do with the hillside. I'm thinking a hardy ground-cover.
So there it is. I'm up for any advice/ideas.
4 comments:
I can comment on the wildflowers slash weeds. Wildflowers ARE weeds. Pretty weeds, but still weeds. What I would do is let them run their course for an entire year and see what you think. There will always be a time when the wildflowers are pretty and always a time where they look weedy. You will just have to decide if it's a look you can live with. Some of the wildflowers might be perennials and this might be their first year where they don't bloom. So you might want to wait longer to see what comes next summer. Those perennials will bloom year after year. The other wildflowers will be annuals and if you let them get dried out and weedy looking, they will drop seed and new flowers will grow each year. One thing you can do is mow or weed whack the dry stalks in September just to get a cleaned up look for fall.
After a while you will be able to see what plants you want to keep and which are the obnoxious weeds you want to get rid of and you can pull them out.
Wildflowers have a very wild, unorganized look. Some will be short and some will grow tall and gangly. If you are going for a more formal look, wildflowers are probably not for you.
The blue flowers in your picture look like bachelor buttons. They do well as cut flowers (not all wildflowers do--poppies for example tend to drop their petals if they are cut) and keep their color well when dried.
love having a wildflower expert on hand. Does that kill-the-grass-save-the-wildflower stuff work from your dad's website?
yes, it works. I think it kills anything with a thin leaf as opposed to a broad leaf.
Wow I had a lot of catching up to do on your blog/world. You by the way look fantastic. I am glad the married/mom life is treating you very well. I on the other hand need a day at the spa. I'm kidding life is treating me well too. You just look better then me.
I'm glad I could say "hi" Check you later.
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