More New bedlines

Ok! This will sound complicated.

Last year we started the landscaping on the West side which continued into the North side for half the distance. This year the same bedline was extended from that point covering the entire North border of the backyard & extending into the East side and covering almost three quarters of the yard.

The corners were highlighted with the two tone color shrub " Red twigged Dogwood". This plant has wonderful bright red color branches in the winter which adds nice contrast to the snow landscape. Cleveland Pears are the tall features of this area. " Cranberry Cotoneaster" covers the bottom area of the Pears. This shrub has a nice cascading growth habit which has bright red berries in fall. In front of them are pink coreopsis & then shasta daisy followed by some daylilies on either sides.

"Fat Albert Spruce" is the only evergreen tree for this area. This tree has a nice bluish color needles. Following the fence is "Annabelle Hydrangeas" which have beautiful white blooms in summer. To the front there are "Veronica speedwell". River Birch is the focal point of this area. At the very front sedums are used as groundcover.

Some new additions

New additions were made to some of our previously designed bedlines. Last year, we had too much of landscaping to take care of...So, we minimized some of the work by cutting some areas on some bedlines. This year we decided to complete it. Everything worked out fine.

The Berm area

According to the plan, the berm area had some extended portions on both sides with some spring blooming shrubs and some summer blooming flowers. The shrubs used were Forsythias. Forsythias have excellent yellow blooms in the early spring. After the long winter & plain white snow landscape, our eyes eagerly wait to see some burst of colors. This will follow with some spring blooming iris & then with geraniums.

The Lamp post area

The garden in the Lamp post area was the most beautiful one this year. Since the plants in this area were already into the second year they had nicer growth . The white coneflowers were very much taller & much fuller with lots of flowers. These coneflowers had junipers on the outline of the bedline & "Moonbeam" coreopsis on the inside of the bedline. The space felt little incomplete missing some tall feature in the center of the whole bed. So, a small addition was made by planting a small tree " Tina" crabapple. This tree is of great attraction all throughout the season.

The Pear area

The bedlines from the front yard flows into the backyard crossing the fence which comes in between. Last year, we finished the bedline upto a certain distance which continues to have same type of plant (Boxwoods) crossing the fence. This year, the curve was extended in such a way that it frames the corner of the patio. "Minuet" Weigela was planted on the outline of the curve. This plant has a reddish color foliage & has dark pink trumpet shaped blooms in late spring. The space between the weigela outline & the patio was filled with "Zagreb" coreopsis which was moved from the berm area. The focal point of this area is the beautiful graceful tree called "Cleaveland" Pear. The transition space between Boxwoods & Weigelas are planted with a shrub called "Snowstorm" spirea. This one has a beautiful fall color.

Flowers in our backyard

Almost all the areas of the backyard were planted last year. All the plants made up successfully after the harsh winter. Only the birdfeeder area bedline is 2 years old. There is an enormous collection of flowers over the vast area. It was pretty excting to see all of them blooming at different times.

Bird Feeder area Northwest Corner of the yard

Side view of the yard

Flowers in our frontyard

Our frontyard garden has flourished well from the last year. This is the second year for some of the areas . It is said that the garden requires a minimum of three years for the plants to get completely settled and give the maximum visual appeal. This year definitely the perennials have become fuller in size.

Pruning: a Skillful Art

Pruning is the practice of removing dead, diseased or otherwise unwanted portions from a plant . The purpose of pruning is to shape the plant by controlling or directing plant growth, to maintain the health of the plant, or to increase the yield or quality of flowers and fruits.

Proper pruning is as much a skill as it is an art, since badly pruned plants can become diseased or grow in undesirable ways.

Timing is also very important when pruning a plant. Especially the early spring blooming plants should be pruned immediately after they have finished flowering. This is because the plant sets its flower buds in the current growing season to bloom next year in spring. So it you prune such a plant late in season, it will fail to bloom the following spring.

Every plant has a different style of pruning too. So before to take the plunge to chop the plant, just make sure you know how exactly it should be done. I am making this a point just because I messed up with my Lilacs once last year.

With Lilacs it is said you should prune only 1/3rd of the flower stem immediately after the bloom period. And it seems I pruned the entire flower stems. The plant grew very nicely in spring, but it failed to bloom which made me realize I did wrong pruning.

After a lengthy winter, spring brings the eagerness of blooms in the garden. But, even a small wrong step could put you on a long wait.

View of the plant, immediately after planting....
The first blooms of the lilac, following spring...
Due to the wrong pruning, there were no blooms this spring....

Spring shrubs in bloom

Spring brings a lot of excitement and activity in the garden. With trees like crabapples & flowering pear blooming early in spring, there are couple of shrubs too that bloom in the same period in our garden. Lilacs & Weigelas are among these. Both the shrubs have totally different personalities and characters.

"Miss Kim" lilac has soft delicate lavender color blooms. The blooms are so fragrant that the whole patio lingers with the sweet fragrance.

"Red prince" Weigela has bold trumpet shaped blooms. The color really appeals the eye and the blooms drooping down in clusters looks very attractive.