Trying New Heucheras

One of my favorite colors in the garden is purple. I have grown heucheras before, mostly "Palace Purple", and was looking for something that was a more bright purple.

                                                                          'Palace Purple'

 

 

I picked up several new varieties to try but they still didn't seem vibrant enough

 

 

'Amethyst Mist'

 

 

 

'Encore'

 

Still not satisfied with the color so I decided to try a specialty nursery in town. Bingo!!

 

 

I love this one! It's 'Forever Purple'. It's not only brighter but also bigger than the others.

 

I paid $3-$4 for the others and this one cost $7 for a 4" pot. Well worth the price!! You get what you pay for I guess:) Looking forward to seeing it in the spring.

 

 

 

 

Hurricane Matthew

Hurricane Matthew passed us yesterday. We are usually far enough inland that we don't get too much damage from hurricanes. It rained ALL DAY. Fortunately we didn't have too much wind. The video really doesn't show the rain that much but you get the idea.

 

 

 

I took the picture about 5pm and we got another .25" after that

 

People think we have this large rain gauge because we're blind! Actually, I like to be able to read it from inside the house. No sense walking out in the rain to read it!!

 

 

I took this video this morning and what a beautiful day it has been. It's actually more windy today that it was yesterday. We are thankful to be safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creepy!

Apparently nature prepares for Halloween too!  I've learned to always check before walking around the bushes on this side of the house. Good thing!!

Sunset

The house we just moved from had a beautiful view of the sunset, something I miss in this house. I guess that's the minus of having trees. We are blessed to have a beautiful view of the sunrise out the kitchen door though. Last night I looked out my bedroom window and the whole sky was glowing. I grabbed my iphone and ran outside. Despite not being able to get a view of the western sky, this was the sky to the east. Just
amazing!

2 Things Found

It's always nice to see plants volunteer in the garden. The azalea we moved yesterday was 4 feet across so when I got under it to clean out the dead leaves I discovered this iris. There were no other iris on the property when we bought it so it will be a surprise what color it blooms. In the picture it looks bigger but it's only about 3 inches tall. Being so small I'm not sure if it will bloom but I will keep my eye on it for sure.

 

Remember I said we had our hands down there cleaning out under the branches? Once we got the azalea over to the other side of the yard we found this under the branches!! I guess those gloves won't do me any good sitting in the shed!!!

 

 

Moving Day for the Azalea

When we bought this property there were very few plantings. These two azaleas are in the front yard and both will eventually be moved. I think they are cora bells but time will tell. If they are they will match the ones we put in the front flower bed. Mr P and I woke up to a cloudy drizzly day so it was perfect!

 

It took a LOT of work, more than I expected. We finally discovered the root we were battling belonged to the oak tree and not the azalea. We were finally able to get it in the wheelbarrow. The bush measured 4 feet wide.

 

 

 

 

It's new home is at the left corner of the house. I had prepared the hole but the rootball was kind of lopsided so it was a pain the get back in the ground but we finally got it done. Can wait to see it bloom in the spring.

 

 

 

Well there ya go! Now I need to finish this bed.

 

 

 

Nature's smile

We worked our fannies off in the yard today. Found this as we were moving things around. I hope it's a good sign!

There is always 2 sides to a pancake

While we were in escrow on this house we had a survey done and much to our surprise discovered that there was another oak tree on our property. I was in love!! The second is on the right side of what was a gravel driveway and I envisioned someday having a circular driveway going around this second tree. After consulting an arborist, we took his advise and poured the driveway between the drip lines of the 2 trees, giving plenty of room for rain to reach the roots.

I think it's Dr Phil that says, "There are always 2 sides to a pancake". The same is true of the oak trees! As much as I love them I NEVER envisioned what a mess all the acorns would make all over the driveway. They are constantly falling and when I am in the yard watering my new flowerbeds I am reminded of the movie Castaway where Tom Hanks hears something behind him and eventually discovers coconuts falling behind him.

 

I've heard that for an acorn to grow from bud to completed acorn take 2 years! Maybe we'll get a break next year:)

In Pursuit of Shade

Being a home buyer on a budget I have often found that when we are house hunting we generally have to compromise something on our list of wants when we purchase a home. With this one it is certainly the garage. That said, look what we DID get!

 

 

Shade!

 

 

The last house we bought 16 years ago was brand new. Although we loved the house and I was able to have a beautiful yard, I was never able to keep trees growing long enough to get the shade I really wanted in order to grow shade tolerant plants. Like hostas! Not to mention the beating sun on our July and August days here in NC. 

 

This is a white oak in our front yard. I will share some of the history of the tree in a later post but for now I am thankful to have this tree on our property and hope that we can be good caretakers of such a beautiful piece of history.