My Perennial Garden

                            

We had a gorgeous rock wall and perennial garden put in about 4 years ago by our very dear friend who is a landscaper. Its been wonderful. But little by little the garden has been deteriorating and I haven't known exactly why or how to fix it. I tried planting some new things to replace plants that were dying off.
                               

But of course I allowed ragweed to grow thinking it was something else and that killed a few of my beloveds. 

And then there were the violets.

I didn't know about their destructive properties until some damage was already done. I tackled that big chore of wedding and weeding and weeding them out, and have been keeping it under surveillance. But really, its the VOLES and their increasing population in my garden that has been utterly destroying and eating away at everything. I'm scared!! Sometimes I see a perennial in someone else's yard that I used to have growing in my garden, only to realize that its no longer growing in mine. Grrrr.  And I've been finding plant after plant dying, because its roots are being munched on regularly.

Sooooo... I bought some traps online a few daze ago and they came in today. Hah HAAAA! Those suckers at going down!!!

Got one within the first 12 hours. Yesssssss!

If any of you reading this feel's sickened that I am not using "animal friendly traps" give me your address and I'll capture the voles in a friendly way and bring them to YOUR yard to live.

Violets

Aren't they pretty? I even like the name Violet. But...

I made the mistake of allowing a beautiful small batch to grow in my perennial garden last year. Guess what? They took over several plants by the mid summer and now, this early spring they are everywhere!!!

Dang.

I've read that they are edible and the flowers are rather sweet. The leaves can go in a salad or be thrown in a pasta dish. No, I think I'll pass. They will also take over the lawn very easily, choking out the grass.

I'm such a great gardener... still dealing with the ragweed I allowed to grow up last spring until I realized what it was. I need to grab up all the mile-a-minute weeds just beyond our fence again too. So much work to having a nice yard. Maybe we should have left it all scraggly woods with lots of ticks. Now we have a pool to open and clean and gardens to tend and outdoor furniture to wash up for the season. (Isn't this what Adrienne means by #firstworldproblems)?

BJ came home from work last night in a rush to run over to a client's house before dark to rescue the perennials that were doomed to destruction in less than 24 hours. He brought back at least $250 worth a plants. Hooray!!!

 ...some peonies--not sure what color, but I love peonies.

 ...astilbe which are some of my favorites and we were finally able to fill in some of the front yard garden beds with lots and lots of them. Don't know what color they will be. Isn't this exciting?

...a nice big Rhododendron which works very well in our climate. Not my favorite but we had a great spot for it.

...some grasses which look very much like what I weed out of the hostas, so I'm a little skeptical, but BJ swears they are something that will have a bloom at some point. We'll see.

My daylilies are getting a little out of hand, if anyone wants some...

I've noticed a lot more cardinals visiting lately. They are my favorite bird.

So, all is well in our outdoor Kool Daze world, and so far I haven't lost any sleep worrying about the garden or weeds taking over or whatever other panic I may wake up to in the middle of the night. The deer better stay out! No munching allowed.

I Am a Conqueror

Not only did I discover that I was growing ragweed in my perennial garden, I also did some research on this vine-like noxious weed that took over all the native shrubs and trees in my back yard last summer. The poor mountain laurels have suffered greatly. I wanted to take care of the situation last summer, but was at a disadvantage with the Lyme's Disease and just didn't have the motivation to tackle it, nor did anyone else, apparently.

Well, after realizing these past few weeks that the situation has become about 100 times worse since last year, I figured I had better check online to see what I was dealing with. This weed is called Mile-a-Minute Weed. It can grow up to 6 inches a day and it destroys native vegetation and habitats. 

photo courtesy of College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

This is not my back yard, THANK GOD!!

No. This picture below is my back yard near the fence. I pulled a lot of the weeds already before taking this photo, but there are some Mile-a-Minute seedlings evident there, and a lot evident on the other side of the fence. Greaaaaaaaat!!!

And really the only way to deal with this weed is to pull the seedlings out of the ground by hand, every last bit of it. It has shallow roots, so its easy to pull, but the seedlings are EVERYWHERE!!!! 

And... So are these!

I found myself in a tick infested spot. Deer ticks, no less. Greaaaaaaaat! These little buggers were all over my shoes and legs. I probably collected about 25 of them by the time I was finished. And you can't really tell from this picture because I didn't use a coin to be able to get the perspective, but they are all about the size of the head of a pin. Teeny tiny!! I sprayed myself up good with deep woods and then took a hot, hot shower after I finished the job. Clothes in the wash. What else can ya do?  We will hope and pray that I won't go through anymore tick-borne illnesses. EVER!!!

I pulled as much of the dead vines from the Laurels as I could, and can show you my scratched up arms to prove that they have little prickers everywhere. I AM A WARRIOR!

I had better not find any poison ivy rash over the next few days!!!!

The Laurels will hopefully recover now that they've been freed. I love mountain laurels when they are full and healthy and thriving, but I think they look like complete crap when they've been attacked by choking weeds.

I collected two 13-gallon garbage bags full of these lovely weeds.

This is how it grows! It's like ground cover in the beginning, and it creeps along, more and more every day, twisting its way around the all the good stuff, choking it out from the sun. I read that the Mile-a-Minute weed is the new Kuzdu of the North East. If you happen to see it in your yard or near your yard, get some gloves and start pulling it out right away. Don't let it stay there or mature to the point of having its little berries during the summer, cuz then you'll be screwed for the next year.

With a lot of labor and toil and enflamed scratches and all the eeby jeebies from the ticks, I think I pulled out most of this Devil's Tail Tear Thumb (its the other common name). However, I need to tackle the weeds on other side of the fence, probably tomorrow! Cuz it'll just keep on creeping over.

The perennial garden is coming to life. YAY!!

There is still so much work to be done. But let us rejoice in the fact that I actually DID something today.