The two front rock berms are finally done. There’s a total of 25 tons of black and red granite on each berm: 12.5 tons of large boulders, and approximately 12.5 tons of 6-12″ rip rap. Jester and I worked on these berms for an entire week. We set each stone so that you can walk on it and it will not move. When I’m weeding or tending the plants on the berms I can walk from rock to rock without worrying about it moving out from under my foot and possibly turning an ankle.
I bought a variety of dwarf evergreen shrubs and xeric roses to go on he berm, and snaked the irrigation lines down in between the rocks, out of sight. It took me 18 months, shopping at sales and getting lucky at the nursery to get all the shrubs I needed. The tree in front of the berm is a brilliant fushia crab apple. the catalpas that we planted (the most expensive trees we have purchased to date) died in this springs early freezing temps. I called the nursery where we purchased them and they said that 100’s of Catalpas had died that winter. Apparently they pulled their sap up into their branches during a warm spell in February, and then when it went down below free double digit temps, the sap froze and burst in their veins. So sad.
Fall 2010: Hot pink Mums.
This isn’t the best picture, but take a look at how much the privet hedges have grown! they are about 24″ in this pic. And we put a rock edging in front of the lily bed too.
So I am gingerly stepping through the day lilly garden, pulling our the dead flower stalks. This one is not quite ready to pull free from the bulb so I bend over and get a little closer and . . . . OMG! Sweet Jesus save me! i come face to face with this beauty!
Look at the size of that spinneret!
She was only about 3″ from my nose. I teetered on the back of my tennis shoes and backed up.
What in the hell kind of spider is that!?! I hope it’s not poisonous.
I run inside and look it up on the computer: it’s a St. Anthony’s Cross spider. (“Cross” because they keep two legs close together so their legs form an x shape, or a cross.) Non-poisonous. Whew! They eat lots of bugs and flies. Yea! But yikes, she is HUGE.
St. Anthony’s Cross spider
As I turn look slowly around me, trying to refocus my eyes into the thick tangle of lily leaves, I can see 2 more of these beauties. I tip toe my way outta there and decide the dead flower stalks can stay up a little longer. Besides, the spiders are using them to anchor their webs. Wouldn’t be right to mess up all that hard work.
She’s about 3 1/2″ long. Her abdomen is as big as my thumb.
I’m sorry, but when I look at this picture it reminds me of one of those cheesy poses that Martha Stewart does: you gotta hold the bowl just right so the cherries show, make sure you’re wearing a colorful gardening hat, smile a cheesy smile, stand straight, and have something interesting in the background of the photo. LOL!
Red Maples do not do well in clay soil. Red Oaks, or for that matter, hardly any oaks, do well in clay soil. Birches, Lindens and sugar gums do not do well in clay soil. Yet, as you drive around in Denver you’ll see many beautiful, fully mature red maple and oak trees. They are simply stunning in the fall. But the soil in Denver, is very different than the soil 30 miles north in Brighton. Parts of Brighton is deep sand and the water soaks through like a sieve; and other parts are clay, like my property.
There’s something about clay soil that captures the iron and binds it within the soil, making it unavailable for the plant/tree. I didn’t know that when we bought our first round of trees for the property: 3 red maples, 3 sugar gums, 3 white birches, 2 lindens, and 4 oaks (2 northern red, 1 Shingle and one burr). By the 3rd year (2009) 11 of those first 16 trees were dead or dying from a serious case of iron chlorosis, iron deficiency.
Red maple with iron chlorosis
By fall of 2010 the tree south side maples were dead. We pulled them out and planted three more red maples. I REALLY wanted that red on the south berm. We added iron to the soil when they were planted and added iron twice a year in the deep root fertilization. By 2012 they were fading, so we added iron liquid fertilizer to the area around the tree every other month. By 2014, all three were dead, along all the oaks but the Red Northern on the north berm, 1 of the birch trees, and 1 of the sweet gums (however, the sweet gum is alive, but has not grown a single inch in 5 years).
I had to admit defeat. This was a costly lesson. Don’t fight the Mother. She has her ways, and the ways are set.
Tulips under the catalpa. I hung colored eggs, with blessings in them, on the catalpa tree to welcome in the spring.
My good friend Panayoti Kelaidis gifted me 3 of these beautiful African Sages 20 years ago, for my Aurora Colorado garden. I divided them and took them with me to our new home in Brighton. They are growing well, even in this crappy soil.
North patio African sage gardenNatural, un-irrigated grass over the leach field.
We amended the soil and added drought resistant, natural prairie grasses over the leach field. This area gets no extra water other than what leaches out into the field.
Willow tree
I
LOVE
this
big
Willow. I have always wanted a willow tree, they are so romantic. There are only a couple varieties that grow well in Colorado in not planted b a body of water. I bought this one from Home Depot. The tag said that it would do well in drought conditions so I thought I would give it a try. So far, soo lovely!
The herb garden
There’s still color and lots of green growth in the wild flower garden (top left), the green in the leach field is grass (center), all the rest of it is mowed weeds! We’ve got a long way to go.
2-5-2019: The orchard is almost always in need of one thing or another: fertilizer, weeding, oil spray, bird distraction, netting, picking, checking and/or treating for blight or other diseases, and pruning. Late winter is the time to prune.
Apple tree before pruning
Last year we had a bumper crop of fruit. It took me 2 solid months to get it all canned. But we left fruit on the top branches of the Big apple tree and the tallest pear tree. These are two of the original trees in the orchard that have made it through snap freezes, irrigation failures and rabbit feasting. They have both been pruned back once before, and then there was an attack of fire blight. After pruning out the blighted branches I left the trees to recover. That was 2016. Then they put on quite a bit of height and fruited in 2018. Time for another hard prune.
Apple tree after pruning
A hard prune on a fruit tree means it probably won’t yield fruit again for 2 – 3 years. It’s a sacrifice that needs to be made for the health of the tree, and to keep it from getting so tall that it can’t be fully harvested. I’m not willing to drag out a ladder any taller than 8 feet. So that means my trees can’t be taller than 12′. So, enough said – before and after pictures!
Tuesday – February 5, 2019. Monday was 60 degrees, but really windy, today it’s a high of 50 degrees and tomorrow is supposed to be maybe 30 degrees tops. So I decided to take advantage of the one moderate day we’re going to have this week, and start on the spring landscaping maintenance.
One of the important things that needs to get done before it warms up too much is tree pruning. So I tackled the Russian Olives and Locusts in the Garden of Pain, with help from my landscape guy, Jester (of Nadurra Gardens https://www.facebook.com/nadurragardens/.)
Garden of Pain, after pruning, looking west
I chose to plant Russian Olives and Locusts in the Garden of Pain for two reasons: 1) they were free; all 6 of the trees in this garden grew from seed on the south berm, probably having come in with the mulch; and 2) they are thorny, really thorny. These two varieties are naturally very large trees, reaching at least 30 x 40′ at maturity. When I transplanted them from the south berm they were about 3′ high. Immediately after planting I cut them in half; three years later I pruned them down by half again, and today I pruned them down to 6′ tall – depending on the tree, that’s 40-60%.
I want the trees in the Garden of Pain to be no taller than 12′, so they will need regular pruning. Here are some pictures of the process, as well as some before and after shots.
Russian Olive #2
Russian Olive, about 17′ tall, brought down to 6′. To prune, I first had Jester saw off the main limbs down to 6′. These limbs were between 2 and 4″ in diameter. This is the hardest part. It hurts me to see it, all that work to grow cut away. It hurts the tree too – they are confused.
Russian Olive pruning process step 1
But I told these trees when I planted them, that they would always be kept short, and would not be allowed to reach their natural height. I had a conversation with my trees during the pruning process to reassure them that everything will be ok, and that I am not cutting them all the way down or killing them, and that they are valued and loved and serve a special purpose here in the Garden of Pain.
Next you remove any crossing, redundant or water sprouting branches. Crossing means the branch is cross horizontally through the tree branches, rather than outward. Redundant means that there are two branches coming out of the same side of the trunk, growing outward in the same direction, or sitting too close to one another. Water spouts refers to branches that are growing straight up from the outward moving, horizontal branch.
Close up, Russian olive, after interior crossing branches removedClose up, Russian olive, after interior crossing branches removed
After pruning, 6′ tall.
Garden of Pain, Russian Olive #2Locust #1Garden of Pain, after pruning, Locust #1
Garden of Pain, after pruning, Locust #3Locust #3
Garden of Pain, after pruning, Locust #2Locust #2
Russian Olive #1, after pruning (I didn’t get a before picture on this tree – forgot)The aftermath
Everything in the Garden of Pain is thorny!
Close up of Locust and Russian Olive tree thornsGarden of Pain, after pruning, looking east
The front of the property is really starting to fill out. It finally looks like something, no more mud, no more dirt piles.
The Rose garden really did well this first year. Beautiful color.
The rose garden grew really well for their first year. They are all between 18 and 24″ high, with nice blooms.
Rose garden, looking southAlthough they’re higher than the privet hedge which surrounds them, the hedges are big enough that you can tell what they’re supposed to be. And they’ll eventually be 3-4′ high. They’ve got a long way to grow yet, but so far so good.
Rose garden
The willow garden in the background is also flourishing, and the spruce has put on 3′ in height.
Rose garden
I love how I got the lines on the hedges absolutely straight! You keep laughing at me my lovely neighbors – there’s a method to my madness!
Privet hedge is growing!
And Aunt Judy’s orange daylilies are beautiful. In the spring there are tulips in front, and in the fall the row of Mums blooms in a brilliant hot pink.
After my 25 tons of boulders sat on the dirt piles in the front of the house for 2 years, I finally was able to add the rest of the rip rap to complete the berms, another 25 tons of rock!
South Rock Berm, in progress
Don’t know why, but I only took this one picture of the south side. It looks pretty similar to the north side though. I like things matchy matchy.
North rock berm, looking south/west from the ditchNorth rock berm in progress
North rock berm with new dwarf evergreen shrubs and native xeric roseNorth rock berm
