Slow progress

You may recall that, for multiple reasons, I did minimal yard work in 2024 and 2025. From about July 2024, on, I did not even water the grass, let alone get significant work done on pulling weeds and such. About the only thing I paid attention to were the lily-of-the-valley starts that Bogie had sent me (in 2022?) I did not want to lose them. The neglect, of course, showed!

Planting Bed #1 after removal of Blue Chip Junipers 

(in October 2025)

Although progress is slow (I am even older and slower), this year I am making headway in whipping (well...coaxing) the yards into better shape. For the past several weeks I have been concentrating on Planting Bed #1 (beyond the driveway, nearest to curb) and the (former) Rose Garden which now includes only one rose bush - a Mr Lincoln.  In addition, for the past two weeks, I've added the Cherry Tree space to the Rose Garden for my attentions.

Mr Lincoln & Mystery Sage (neglected in October 2025)

(part of Cherry Tree Area in left background)

Cherry Tree Area (neglected in June 2025)

Planting Bed #1:

Original landscaping filled this area with Blue Chip Junipers - with a low growth habit. They did well for about 20 years. Eventually, dogs being walked found the area so attractive that the junipers were suffering - and perhaps 20 years is about the lifespan of the Blue Chip variety. I don't know. At any rate, several years ago I started working on removal. It was hard work and I was in my 80s, so progress was slow. In 2025, as part of annual tree work that I have JoJac's do for me, I had them take out the bush that I had not yet tackled, and I started working on getting out the lingering roots throughout the bed. Meanwhile, the sedums that had been edging in the bed expanded a bit and were looking good.

This year, I have spaded up the area to further remove old juniper roots and to hand remove runners from Fred's Bermuda grass lawn. In recent weeks, I have planted four new pots of sedums and transplanted an equal number of sedums that were in my way in the Cherry Tree space into Planting Bed #1 and covered the bare areas with mulch. The area looks much better. (Yes, I rearranged the rocks.)

Planting Bed #1 work completed as seen from driveway

(in June 2026)

Planting Bed #1 work completed as seen from down the street

(in June 2026)

Rose Garden & Cherry Tree Area:

Hunky Husband always liked red roses better than any other color, so he would have been pleased to know that the Mr Lincoln bush was the one rose bush that, during my neglect, did not die back from the graft and come up from the root stock. (All of the roses in the Rose Garden were hybrid teas.) Mr Lincoln is still there, and blooming although the blossoms have been through enough wind and rain that they are somewhat bedraggled.

Having decided that all the bushes in this area should be removed, it took me several days to remove the mystery sage bush that I had planted at the corner of the garage. (It also turns out that my skin is sensitive to those plants - who knew?) I am now working on removing the bush cherries that had been near the North Star cherry tree that died a few years ago. I also decided that I was an idiot to have transplanted some of my asparagus plants to that area and am taking them out. Essentially, I plan to have vegetables such as dill weed and tomatoes in the area. (OK, so tomatoes are fruit, but I shan't be bothered - if you enlarge the Rose Garden photo you may be able to see the two tomato plants beyond the rose.) Otherwise, I plan to let the sedum edging fill in the area - with lots of mulch used until it does.

 

Rose Garden work completed

Cherry Tree Area work in progress 

(the vertical line is an artifact of the iPhone?)

The photos make it look as though I am growing mulch. ☺ BTW: The photos show $250 (including tax) worth of mulch - 25 bags. Sedum makes much cheaper ground cover.