Hellstrip Redemption

Redemption:  The act or process of redeeming

Redeem:

1. To reform, change (for the better)
2. To save, rescue, or recover.
3. To reclaim (to return land to a suitable condition for use).

My hellstrip has been redeemed!  It has been reformed, transformed, and changed for the better.   It has been rescued from a mundane life of Bermuda and weeds needing to be mowed on a weekly basis.  I have reclaimed that long hellstrip of lawn and returned the land to a suitable condition for growing beautiful blooming perennials that attract visitors of the pollinator and people kind.

Here is how the area looked in January right after having the utilities marked.

The transformation began in March by having the Bermuda grass removed.  As the Bermuda attempted a comeback, and as soon as temperatures allowed, I followed up with Roundup applications to make sure the Bermuda was killed to the root, leaving me with a clean slate. 

Then in late May the day I had been waiting for arrived.  

    

3 cubic yards of compost, 2 tons of cobblestone, and 1800 pounds of moss rock boulders were delivered first thing in the morning, and I got right to work.

Since phone cables run the length of the area literally just inches below the surface, and sometimes on top of the ground, I could not till the soil, so I opted to mound the bed with compost. 

Then with the help of my husband, the largest boulders were placed in random spots throughout the bed.    I  also added several pieces of flagstone along the front edge of the bed to make an area for visitors to have something to step on instead of flowers.  Then I began adding cobblestones along the edges to hold the mounded compost.

On Day 2 I finished adding the cobblestones along the edges of the bed.

 

On Day 3 I added the plants, and on Day 4 I mulched the bed.

And here's the finished product!

Notice the heart-shaped boulder :-)   

I love how the new bed turned out!!

You can see the taller plantings in the bed on the other side of the sidewalk.   All of the plants I chose for the hellstrip plantings are lower growing.

 (See detailed plant list below)

Elfin Thyme was added between the flagstones.  I am not sure if it can take this much heat, but I will replace it with sedum acre if it does not do well.  A variety of sedums and thymes were added along the cobblestone edges to soften the look over time as they creep between the rocks.

Before and After

Here's a list of the plants I used:

Catmint 'Walker's Low'

Zexmenia hispida

Lamb's Ear 'Helen Von Stein'

Pink Skullcap, Scutellaria suffrutescens

Dianthus 'Bath's Pink'

Blackfoot Daisy, Melampodium leucanthum

Salvia nemerosa 'Snow Hill' and 'May Night'

Four Nerve Daisy, Hymenoxys

Creeping Phlox, Phlox subulata

Dwarf Mexican Petunia, Ruellia 'Katie's'

Daylily 'Little Missy,' 'Little Zinger,' 'Little Trooper,' 'Dutch Art,' 'Sissy'

Pine Muhly, Muhlenbergia dubia

Germander

Gray Creeping Germander

Santolina (gray)

Thyme:  Thymus vulgaris Lavendar, Elfin, Silver Posie, Lemon, Woolly

Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce,' 'Lemon Ball'

Sedum kamtschaticum

Sedum potosinum

Sedum sarmentosum

Sedum mexicanum

Sedum acre

Daffodils:  'Golden Dawn,' 'Tete a Tete,' 'Erlicheer,' 'Carlton,' 'Ice Follies'

'Wise Blue' Starflower

I also added some 'Cora' Periwinkles and 'Sundial' Moss Rose just for some annual color this year until the perennials grow and fill in the extra spaces.   

Yes, my hellstrip has been redeemed!    In fact, I'd say it's downright heavenly now.

Do you have a piece of ground that needs rescuing?

Happy Gardening!

Toni :-)

My Garden is Growing

Spring is well under way here in North Texas, and my garden is growing.

The wildflowers and ornamental grasses are growing, 

and more perennials are emerging every day.

Buds are turning into leaves.

Ferns are unfurling.

The lawn has gotten its annual topdressing of compost,
so it is growing and greening.

 My veggie garden is growing like gangbusters, and I've already had my first harvest of carrots and asparagus :-)

But my garden is growing in another way.   The front perennial bed is expanding.  That patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street, commonly known among gardeners as the "hellstrip," is on its way to becoming a heavenly patch of perennials.

I have been wanting to rip out this section of lawn for a couple years now, but with other projects going on and having my garden on tour last spring, I put my plans on hold.

In January of this year we had a drain repaired in another part of the front yard, so the underground utilities were marked across the whole front yard, including the hellstrip area. I thought, as long as the utilities are marked so that we can see where we need to be careful, now sure seems like a great time to start the hellstrip project.

Unfortunately, some of those utilities are just inches below the surface, so the grass removal could not be as thorough as I would have liked.  I am going to have to resort to spraying with Roundup to kill any remaining grass because I am not going to battle Bermuda for the rest of my life.   I consider myself an organic gardener, but I do have my limitations.  If there were ever a reason to cross over the line for a bit, it is for the eradication of Bermuda.  Believe me, if I could dig without either cutting phone service to the neighborhood, electrocuting myself, or causing a gas explosion, I would be digging to my heart's content, but that is just not an option.  So, my fellow organic gardening friends, please forgive me, but I will be nuking the Bermuda as soon as it starts to rear its invasive little head.

I got online to look for inspiration and ideas for designing my hellstrip plantings, and I came across a blog called the Art of Gardening.  Jim's post called Living Hellstrips shows a collection of beautiful hellstrip planting designs.

When I came upon this picture, I knew I had found what I was looking for.   Adding the cobblestones will hopefully allow me to raise the planting areas enough to be out of the zone of the utility lines.    My plan is to use low-growing perennials (no taller than 1 foot tall) so that the perennials in the beds on the other side of the sidewalk can still be seen from the street. 

So at this point the initial grass removal has been done.

Complete eradication of the Bermuda roots now lurking below the surface will just take some time, so I am trying to be patient.  I need to wait until the temperatures are warm enough and the Bermuda is actively growing in order for the glyphosate applications to be effective.

Here's the list of plant options I'm considering:

Lamb's Ear - Stachys byzantina 'Helen von Stein'
Pink Skullcap - Scuttellaria suffrutescens
Sedum (various)
Katie's Ruellia - Dwarf Mexican Petunia
'Azure Skies' Heliotrope
Thyme
Creeping Phlox - Phlox subulata
'Bath's Pink' Dianthus
Scabiosa
'May Night' Salvia - Salvia nemorosa
Four-Nerve Daisy - Tetraneuris scaposa
Catmint 'Walker's Low' - Nepeta
'Hameln' Fountaingrass or Mexican Feathergrass

Stay tuned for further updates on my latest garden project; I can't wait to get it growing!

Toni :-)

P.S. Check out Rhone Street Gardens to see the beautiful transformation of the parking strip in front of Scott's Portland home.

Of Moss and Men

Moss...

my mind wanders and I imagine a cool, damp garden 

draped in an emerald carpet. 

I am fascinated by moss.  Maybe it is because I don't have much of it in my garden, except on some rocks by my pond.

When we were in Georgia on vacation this summer, I visited Callaway Gardens.  The moss growing along the sides of the paths caught my attention.  This would be a rare sight during a Texas summer.

 

At our vacation cabin (which was on 8 acres surrounded by a river on 3 sides of the property) I saw lots of beautiful moss.

 

I took these mossy pictures as I went exploring the property. 

Note to self:  

Do not go exploring in the Georgia mountains again 

without putting on chigger repellent!!!

Don't these pictures make you just want to reach out and pet the moss :-)

I came across a wonderful website recently when I was on Blotanical looking for new blogs to visit.

David Spain and Ken Gergle are landscapers in the Piedmont region of North Carolina.  According to their website, they operate the only moss nursery in the United States.   They have the cutest little product called Moss Rocks!   Check out their website and blog to learn some interesting information about moss and see the beautiful moss gardens they have designed.

   Moss & Stone Gardens 

(Note:  I have no affiliation with this company or these men; I just was so impressed with their website and landscape designs in moss that I just wanted to share their site with you.)

I corresponded with David through email recently; and he assures me that I can, indeed, grow moss in Texas.

I am on a mission to grow moss; but I fear that come August, that cool, damp, emerald-carpeted garden of my imagination will be just that -- my imagination.

Cool, mossy dreams to you....

Toni :-)

P. S. Also, visit Deb at Deb's Garden to read a very informational post on how she has grown beautiful moss paths in her woodland garden.

The Bare Bones

Bare bones:   

"the basic elements or the essential structure of something"

I just did some winter clean-up of my garden to tidy things up a bit after recent freezes.   I cut most of the perennials to the ground, but left some for winter interest.   Basically my rule of thumb is, if it looks bad, I cut it to the ground.   If it still looks good (such as the ornamental grasses) or maybe has some benefit for wildlife (such as seed heads for the birds), I leave them until mid-February.

I leave some fallen leaves in the shrub/flower beds, but rake or blow any excess leaves onto the lawn and they are mulched with the mower and added to the compost pile.   

In my pond, anything that has turned to mush and has fallen down into the water is cut back and cleaned out of the pond.   The parrots feather that has grown out into the middle of the pond is raked back toward the sides to keep the water flow through the middle wide open.

And what is left behind after all of my trimming, raking, and mulching?  

Why, it's the basic elements and the essential structure of my garden. 

The bare bones.  

For the most part, the only blooms in I have in my garden right now are the pansies and violas in containers.  But I'm okay with that.  I think the garden (and the gardener) deserves a rest now and then :-)   I love this time of year to re-evaluate the bones of my garden to see where it needs tweaking.  Thankfully it just needs a little toe bone added here and there and it isn't in need of hip replacement or spine surgery :-)

Here is my garden all cleaned up...
                                            ...and down to the bare bones 

The backyard:

 

 

The front yard:

Here are a few specifics on my clean-up list:

Perennials cut to the ground:

Mealy Cup Sage/'Henry Duelberg' Salvia (Salvia farinacea)

Mexican Bush Sage (tender perennial -- mulch well)

Summer Phlox

Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)

Loosestrife

Katie's Ruellia

Zexmenia

Mexican Mint Marigold

Turk's Cap

Salvia madrensis (Forsythia Sage)

Chrysanthemum

Lantana

Purple Heart

Canna

Wood Fern and Japanese Painted Fern

Hostas

Tropical Giant Spider Lily

Just gave these a "haircut":

Salvia greggii

Skullcap

Pond Plants:

Umbrella grass, Lizzard Tail - cut down to water level

Pickerel Rush, Water Lily - pulled out mushy stems, but left roots down in water

Iris - cut or pulled browned leaves

Left these alone (for winter interest)

(will prune in February, if necessary):

Ornamental grasses

Daylilies (I will pull dried foliage in the spring)

Roses

Oxalis

Columbine

Leopard Plant (Ligularia/Farfugium)

May Night Salvia

Russian Sage

Dianthus

Calylophus

4-nerve Daisy

'Powis Castle' Artemisia

American Beautyberry

Liriope

Hydrangeas

Pulled up annuals:

Periwinkles

Melampodium (saved seeds)

Holy Basil (saved seeds)

African Blue Basil

Salvia coccinea (scattered seeds back in garden)

Cosmos

Penta

Angelonia

Dragonwing Begonias

Caladiums

Blue Daze

Sweet Potato Vine

You can also check out my Fall "Diggin' in the Dirt" Newsletter for tips on how to care for specific perennials after a freeze.

For a fun look at garden bones, visit Casa Mariposa 

and find out how bony your garden is :-)

Toni :-)