The dogs cross this area on the way to find the perfect spot to do their business. It is along the southwest property edge and is blessed with rich, dark soil.
I started the garden by taking the bow rake that I recently upgraded with a new handle and raking out a serpentine path through the space.
I stepped off the path and it comes to roughly twenty-six feet long and just over a foot wide, with beds of various widths on each side of the path.
There is a large Cercis canadensis, or Eastern Redbud on the outer edge of the garden that has started leaning toward the car shed. It is obvious that it has become top-heavy and the roots are rising from the ground as the lean increases. It will be pulled back upright and anchored to a much sturdier neighboring tulip poplar in the near future. It could really cause some damage if it's not corrected soon.
I've started lining the path with short lengths of limbs from a couple of trees that had to be removed because last summer's Hurricane Florence made them lean toward the power lines. Randolph EMC took care of that problem.
Most of the area has now been raked out and I've started locating the plants that will occupy the garden close by to make it more convenient come planting time.
I relocated a small concrete bench to a spot along the path, picked up five 97¢ solar lamps to add some dim light for the night, then drove a fence post to attach a six-foot tall impact sprinkler for the dry times, which will be back next year.
I heeled in the clump of Asarum canadense (Canadian Ginger) that I dug last week at the rescue. It may actually be sunk a bit deeper and become a permanent resident there.
In addition to the plants that I mentioned in my installment about the plant rescue I've brought in some native Sedum ternatum, or Woodland Stonecrop that I started from small cuttings about 16 months ago. I'm using these as stock plants and have already propagated a couple of flats of four-inch pots from them. If they do well in the garden I should be able to add to the numbers considerably. I hope to begin offering them for sale during the 2020 season.
Another shade lover that I'm adding will be Tiarella cordifolia, or Foamflower. I purchased these natives at a plant sale fundraiser last June and have not yet put them in the ground. They'll make a nice addition.
I also bought several varieties of wild geranium, also called cranesbill, that might fill in some of the brighter spots.
A rescued plant that I failed to mention in the earlier post is Arisaema triphyllum, or Jack in the Pulpit. I discovered that I had dug a few of these after I wrote that particular blog.
As the garden develops I'll be sharing photos of the progress.
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