Friday, May 22, 2009

The Japanese Garden Area

This flower is actually only about 3/4 of an inch across. It is a little bog gentian that I keep in a pot on the deck. The pot sits tightly in another pot to hold the water in. It sits beside the tub water feature on the deck.
This is two kinds of saxifragia. I think the big leaf is another saxifragia, but when I bought it, it had no tag. They are all evergreeen. They are all growing and spreading nicely this year.
Over the last few days I have been weeding in the Japanese Garden area. I cleaned up the primula bed and added more compost to it. Then I began weeding along the front of the deck towards the little Japanese garden area. I have been pulling out violets and dandilions. The Canadensis Sanguinaria plot is expanding. The leaves are gorgeous. Mine is a double pure white blooms. I fed it some compost also. Then cleaned up the rhodo that hangs over this plant with long branches. Next to the rhodo behind the primulas is a big patch of hellebores and a very floriferous little white azalea. On the other side of the rhodo I have a minature blue spruce. This little shrub is very well behaved and always looks good. Next to the spruce is a Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. This shrub is not growing fast either so still fits in its alotted space. Next to this one, I have some small bamboo in a big paint bucket buried in the ground. This bamboo has not escaped to travel around. It is only about 3 feet high and looks a bit ratty right now. Maybe it is time to replace it. Behind and towards the pond I have a tri-colored lily of the valley shrub. Its rather lovely. I prune it judiciously to keep it in its space. Next to this shrub going back towards the deck I have a little red split leaved Japanese maple. The treasure of this garden area. Next to it is a mountain laurel that is also well behaved. Then still going towards the deck I have a bit of open area where I spent quite a lot of time removing violets carefully so as not to disturb any moss that was growing here. I want this area to be mossy. The mountain laurel is planted on a bit of a hill to try to keep its roots a bit drier. This little mound is covered with the most luscious moss. Beside the little red maple there is a rock that has some good moss on it also. Continuing along the deck front across from the mountain laurel is a dry stream made with pea gravel. The little dry stream has the Japanese lantern sitting in it. Across the dry stream is a little cedar and a baby boxwood. I keep these two clipped so that they do not touch each other. Next to the boxwood is the cement blocks for the path around the pond, another rhodo, more primulas, delphiniums, and a clematis at the corner of the deck before the cedar hedging between our properties. Across the stone path from the lily of the vally shrub is the big yellow plum tree. This trees branches form a canopy of the pond and Japanese area tying them together as one garden room.
I have more violets and weeds to cleam up at the end of the dry stream in front of the deck, then I can finish putting down the new pea gravel along the path and the dry stream. It is coming along. The saxifragia along the pond edge is slowing growing over the rocks. I need more of the little campanula that is growning further along the edge of the pond. At the corner of the pond between the pond and the cement walk and across the walk from the little boxwood, I have a minature lebanon cedar. I am pruning it to stretch out over the pond, but keep it pruned to its alotted space also. Its amazing how well these plants do when pruned regularly. I must get the rhodos some food, and more compost for the edging plants. I am going to try to keep the area moist so that the moss grows, and I must keep it weeded. Letting the violets get out of hand just causes way too much work.

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