Garden Bed #13

Original bed #13 was consumed with evolution of bed #5 a couple of years ago.

The first of June '05 a dump-truck load of dirt was delivered to create new bed #13. It had to happen! I had no space for all my new Breck bulbs or my cannas or those castor bean seeds I'd ordered. And I sure didn't have anywhere to plant more hostas. It was a crisis situation! Action had to be taken. One more planting area had to be born. I don't know why people have grass in their yards anyway.

Bed #13 - August 2, 2005

Progressing nicely in less than 60 days. Pulling weeds is good exercise. Oh, my aching back!

Progress Report August 2006

This lovely cream-colored hosta was donated for the 05 summer fund raising auction of the Russ O'Hara Hosta Society by the new owner-operators of Stark Gardens, Eric & Sheila Kinman. I was the lucky winner of this uncommon (not in tc) plant. The thick substance, heart shape leaves are one-of-a-kind in my gardens. Even the name of the plant describes the flowing beauty of this specimen.

Oh, my gosh, I had so much fun with this new flower bed - 05. Everything grew like crazy with all that wonderful “From the Forest Floor” fine pine bark mulch we used to amend that truck load of dirt. And then there was those 10 huge bales of peat moss that we tilled in too.

The castor beans got so huge they blew over from big winds in such loose soil. So I systematically removed them as they toppled down.

Read about the solo Castor Bean of 2006 on the Annuals page.

The cannas were marvelous. I couldn’t have been any happier with my new Bengal Tiger cannas that my garden friend, Eve shared with me.

Read more about cannas on the Canna page.

Zinnia seed from Burpee took off like gang-busters & put on a fabulous late summer / fall showing.

Read more about zinnias on the Autumn 2005 and Annuals pages.

Red 4 o’clock whose seed was given to me by our friend Corky, grew great in the still-poor soil section.

Celosia Flamingo Feathers got so tall Ron had to stake them up. They were so fun!

Read more about the Celosia Flamingo Feathers on the Autumn 2005 page.

Bronze Fennel plants from my friend, Jan were so pretty & fun. They grew great & were swarmed with butterflies.

Words can barely describe how striking the glads from Breck’s were. I had never grown gladiolas before. I was impressed. Some of them are suppose to be the new winter hardy bulbs. I didn’t mark which was which so had to dig them all for winter storage. Maybe next year I’ll get them marked & see if they really survive freezing. There’s always next year.

Caladium grew here too & just a very few new hostas in the shaded spots.

Read more about caladiums on the Caladium page.

The hardy cyclamen I experimented with, actually grew & even bloomed before the snow came. It was really interesting to learn about them.

Hardy Cyclamen

Learn more about Hardy Cyclamen.

And I had a Red Hot Poker plant that almost bloomed, but then didn’t. Disappointed again by this plant. The last one also died over the previous winter. The blue-gray foliage was interesting though.

A new ‘Rosy Returns’ Stella d’Oro daylily flourished. I’m anxious to see it bloom next year.

My blue spiderwort (Tradescantia) I had to move from a very crowded bed was coming back nicely in its new home.

As you may have guessed by now, Bed #13 became the catch-all planting area.

Trudy promptly brought over Dart’s Dash Rose as a new bed welcome gift. She’s such a generous garden friend & good neighbor. She left it right in the center of the then barren mound of dirt. The plant actually lived & bloomed the most wonderfully fragrant blossoms. (I don’t do roses) Trudy grows roses that are so perfect they don’t even look real. She has challenged me over the years to grow roses. She swears this one is no-care at all. I think this plant is from cuttings she starts. We’ll see if it survives for me. It’s doubtful. I think I have a rose-jinx on me.

Learn more about Dart’s Dash Rose.

I moved Stella d’Oro daylilies ‘Happy Returns’ (it’s the little soft yellow one) to form a border along one edge plus had space for a couple of new daylilies that I had been wanting.

I threw an assortment of seeds down to pop up next spring. Columbine self-seedlings were all ready popping up.

I had no idea where on earth, or in my gardens I was going to find room for all the new hostas & heucheras & other plants that followed me home over the summer. Hey, this was a serious situation. I was laying awake, nights worrying about all my new babies still stuck in their purchase pots. Finally I knew something (plants) had to go.

I began looking for adoptive parents. One young gal from garden club was moving to a new place & wanted hostas. I gave her a station wagon full of ordinary hostas plus a few named plants that I just wasn’t impressed with over the years. Every time a gardener visited I made sure they took hostas home with them. I had all ready given lots of plants away to garden club members that toured our gardens in late August. And I sent free hostas to a few fellow members of the Hallson’s Hosta internet forum. All of that seemed to just clear out congestion in the gardens & shade house.

I was still facing a planting dilemma! I knew too sunny or not, the greater percentage of all my new shade plants had to go into new Bed #13. There they would be safe for the winter. Spring will come & I’ll began stressing worrying about too much sunshine for the young hostas. Hostas appreciate morning sunshine but most need protection from scorching afternoon sun. They really love high dappled shade which parts of my gardens do provide.

I added bright red tulip bulbs for the coming spring in early November. Hopefully the deer & the rabbits won’t eat them all next spring.

I know there is more, like the baby Globe Thistle Eve gave me & the tiny scented geranium that was in the same pot. They both lived & grew well. Also a white balloon flower which was a gift from my daughter. And sedums, of course. No sun garden is complete without a little sedum stuck in.

So goes the saga of new Bed #13. It’s covered with over a foot of snow now in December. I hope all that moisture will help it settle well. I have allot of plans for this area next year again! Only I think it is full all ready. I will have to make sure to plant lots of cannas to make shade for the hotstas.

Hosta 'El Capitan'

Allium Karativiense

For more on Allium Karativiense see the Bulb page.

Hosta 'Opipara Koriyama'

The Hosta Library - lists this plant under Koriyama & states there may be more than one plant circulating with this name. The plant is NR (not registered) & from Japan. The HL database states the plant is stoloniferous & fertile. All that being said; I just saw this little plant & liked it right off. So I bought it. I shy away from plants who's names I can't pronounce or remember easily so I just think of this one as Koriyama (a little boy called Kory). I'm sure that is not the correct Japanese interpretation. Remember it's just for fun!

Hosta 'Stealth'

My friend, Connie loves "streakers". She gave me an eye of streaker, Stealth with only one streak on one leaf. It grew vigorously. I divided off the solid eyes which were beautiful on their own. This year I was rewarded with an multi-eye, all streaked plant. Now I see one leaf is changing to the stable form of this streak of H. 'Minuteman' that appeared in tissue culture. Stealth is a fertile plant that sets lots of seeds. It is not registered. Introducer - Jim Anderson / Winterberry Farms

Hosta 'Stealth' - 2007

Hosta 'Heartsong'