The steep bank along the new road cut has been sprigged with Periwinkle, Vinca minor. The hope is that come spring it will be settled in enough to get a good start on covering and holding this slope. Tough situations can limit viable options. An abundant source of free starts on a similar bank next door made the choice easier too. A short evergreen creeping vine could look good on this slope with a few accents. Periwinkle is not recommended for full sun. This slope does get a good amount of full sun in late spring through early fall, but as the resident gardeners here have said many times, full sun up here ain't like full sun else where. Many shade plants do better in more sun up here. Time will tell.
I could do nothing and that slope would get covered by something.
Then you just select what to keep and eliminate the rest, like along the split rail fence out by the scenic byway. See I couldn't weed whack the white aster, Symphyotrichum pilosum perhaps?
The ever changing meadow in the upper sunny utility valley is in constant motion. Its smaller inhabitants move about regularly. That notion will have to be part of my gardening up here.
Partly because I am likely to move things I have already planted as the garden progresses to places where they may look better or places that may suit them better. Mostly it is because that is what nature will be doing around me on an annual basis. That free abundance is something to be enjoyed and encouraged, not squashed and subdued. We'll call it organized chaos.
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8 comments:
Tidy is nice, too. That last picture gets a gold star.
Hi Christopher, your whackin' did make it look like it is a garden. I have the vinca minor also. Lots of things can grow among it successfully, like hellebores, and I like that mix, they both bloom at the same time. Sheffie could go there too. ;->
Yes, neat and tidy is a winner here.
I like your organized chaos! That vinca minor hillside will sure look different next year.
It's looking good, tidy or not. As for the slope, some sun, some shade, slope - what about hosta? They'll hold a 45 degree slope (I've got some holding an even steeper one). Though if you get or inherit Undulata univitatta, which is what I have and which breeds faster than rabbits, you will be awash in hosta before you can blink and might be rueing the day you ever let it into your garden.
When plants grow in such colors on their own, editing must be so hard, Christopher!
Your resident gardeners' advice to plant shade plants in some sun is the exact opposite of what we do here - putting plants that take full sun elsewhere where they'll get shade in afternoon.
Oh, that scene with the split rail fence is so lovely!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Looking great Christopher. I go along with a little tidy. I love that split rail fence. I had one when I lived up there. Mine was different than yours. That slope next yr. will be so pretty. You won't even know that the soil was disturbed. Flowers are still looking great.
Chuck the gold star goes to Bulbarella and her capable assistant. It is a process of some planting, seed flinging, elimination and ignoring it completely.
Frances a solid green backdrop of the Vinca could be good for some inventive accents. I think Kim's idea of Hosta might be good. I could draw a line or pattern with a big leaved variegated Hosta. And theys plenty of Hosta up here for dividing.
Lisa sometimes you just have to have neat and tidy.
Siria I sure hope I can have that slope pretty well covered by next fall. In my spare moments I can keep adding more sprigs into the hill.
Kim, Hosta would make a great accent on that vinca slope.
Annie the hardest part is learning what to edit while they are still small, connecting the seedling and baby plants to what they turn into.
Lola someday I hope to have a fancier split rail fence.
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