Each Little World: End of the month view: 6.30.15

End of the month view: 6.30.15

I started designing and planting the area on the right-hand slope around the Tea House last summer. I'm following the lead of Helen at The Patient Gardener and her End of the Month meme to focus on the progress of this particular area of my garden.

The trees next to the deck are now so leafy that you can hardly see the Tea House this month compared to last. You have to walk to the edge of the deck to get a good glimpse of what's happening in that area of the garden.

But before we walk over there I have to spend a moment enjoying the lichens on this bench. It has sat outdoors in our two gardens for a good 25 years and is still in good shape. For company I put down a long cushion but we love the look of lichens so I let them star when it's just Mark and me in the garden.

You will also notice I still have not planted the Hakone chloa grass I bought at the end of April since the spot where it was supposed to go was turned into the holding bed for plants in the way of the driveway project (more on that soon).

Stepping off the deck and taking the stone path closer to the plantings, you see this dwarf Ginkgo tree. It is one of a pair that I am keeping caged as we suddenly have a new crop of rabbits. Darling killer bunnies keep playing on the deck before they go romping off into the garden!

The Ginkgo has leaves almost on the ground so I have never been able to figure out a ground cover that might grow under it. So I leave it bare which explains that brown area in the view below.

As soon as my 'Mrs. Backhouse' Marathon lilies are finished blooming I am going to transplant some to the area behind the rock In the lower right corner. I think their peachy color will look perfect against the Tea House.

Last summer I dug small clumps of Maidenhair fern from various spots in the garden and replanted them here. I also added an Aralia cordata 'Sun King' which I bought at the Olbrich plant sale. Everything is doing very well and filling in nicely. Our cooler temperatures and sufficient rain this month have helped.

I've left this area alone as the lily of the valley is still trying to take over this garden. I dug most of it out a couple of years ago. I discovered it is much easier to dig out and be able to follow the root runners if you do it when the soil is quite dry. So I am leaving this chore until August and hoping it can't run too far before I attack it again.

This is the view looking back toward the deck. I am very pleased with the way this area is coming along and plan on adding a few more things in the next few weeks. So perhaps the view will be different — at least in a small way — at the end of July.