Also, a sneak peek at the cedar and copper trellis Joe and I created (but still have to complete)!
I transplanted three of the soft touch hollies from the main sun garden to the Bismarck Palm bed that I recently extended. I didn’t want to purchase six more hollies since now I’m wondering if they will even do well in my heat zone. For the life of me, I don’t know why local nurseries sell plants that don’t thrive in this area. I hope I’m wrong. Anyway, I figured I only had to purchase three more to complete the holly border if I “stole” the three I planted across the field.
It is such a major improvement! Now I’m a tad concerned that the surinam cherry my stepfather planted will outgrow the space and block the Bermuda Spice rose I planted. Hopefully we can keep it on the smaller side. However, the momma plant is at least seven feet tall… so I may have to relocate the rose bush… and potentially extend the hollies out further. But that’s sometime in the future.
Then, I moved on to finishing up three other projects.
I posted a blog on planting bare root bald cypress trees. I just had to mulch them up to finish that project.
Then, Joe and I have just a little more to go to complete the cedar and copper trellis for the Hurricane Katrina roses. Since I wasn’t going to show that until they were both done, you get a special sneak peek. I dug out an undulating bed and had to complete it today with, you guessed it, more pine bark nugget mulch!
And, for the final project loose end, I finished the property line privacy screening by planting four blue point junipers. Since I had the landscape fabric down already (from when I planted the oakleaf hollies), I started this project today by laying out the trees and cutting Xs in the fabric every five feet.
Then I dug holes, not without complications from beautyberry roots. Nothing a sawz-all couldn’t cure.
Then, I planted the junipers and slipped them through the slits. Once all four were in, I had to dig out some of the weeds close to the fence line so I could lay the fabric flat. Finished up by using up all the rest of the mulch. This not only makes it look impressive, it helps hold the fabric down, suppresses the weeds, provides protection to the roots, holds in moisture, and ultimately breaks down and provides nourishment to the plants.
I lifted two yards of mulch today (I suppose twice… once to put in the wheelbarrow, and once to take it out and spread it around), and it was not fun. But it was a big accomplishment, and I think it made a massive improvement.
