Swapping Gas for Plants

Since we moved here nearly seven years ago I have tried to be practical in my plant purchases; only buying things that produce things we can eat or that help said plants grow stronger and pest free.  Then last fall I started to buy a few plants for beauty.  Probably because last fall we joined the JC Raulston Arboretum.  Since then we have had a lot of fun at family and educational events.  All this time at the arboretum brought back my love for the simple beauty of plants.  Then there was the FREE plant event for member in the fall.  What a hoot, everyone lines up around a big circle of plants, when the whistle blows everyone got to grab on plant and go back behind the line till all the plants were gone.  Thankfully, I didn't run into any cane wielding members I'd heard about while chatting with older members in line :-)

All the above led to me making the executive decision during shut-down to use my freed up gas money in my budget to buy plants (after I first used it to buy books, but more on that later).  It's good to be an accountant sometimes, that way you can justify expenditures in an official manner.

Our backyard was eroding away; despite a myriad of grass and even clover seeds over the years.  This picture was taken in the fall, as winter progressed even the weeds died off, it was a muddy mess.  Therefore, back in February we finally bit the bullet and laid down sod(in only two hours with the help of our friends), this created a wonderful backdrop for my new canvas.  We are still in awe of seeing green in our backyard.

To start to fill the canvas, my first purchase was still practical, 7 new blueberry plants (Climax, Premier, TifBlue, Centurion, Brightwell, O'neil) from Rabbit Ridge Nursery.  Since we were in lock-down we called in our order and thought we would just swing by for a pick-up.  "Swing-by" is a bit of a stretch as the nursery is a 45 min drive each way but we had time.  What a nice surprise it was when we parked said "Hello" to the owner Fred, he recognized us and he walked right over excited to tell us all he had been doing since our last visit.  Visiting Fred isn't shopping, its a field trip and I was so glad Amber had tagged along.  I learned about how I had been pruning my blueberries wrong, how to better plant the new ones and about the new fruit trees he was experimenting with in his person garden (before selling to the public).  We had a great time.  Amber did learn the hard way not to tease a rooster but other than a few scrapes she was fine.  I learned everything they said about roosters was true and I'll keep to buying my chicks (The rooster wasn't Fred's it had showed up a week ago and was pacing around his hen house, when Amber tried to catch him while I was paying for the plants).

Now we had blueberry row planted (on the fertile soil of the old chicken run), I thought to myself we need something prettier back here..... So Amber and I again went on a plant adventure, this time to the State Farmers Market.  There we were happy to find many of my peeps.  We bought a rhododendron, hydrangea, three azaleas, and three frost proof camellias (the last three types to mirror the lower tier plants I bought in the fall).

In January, we had to remove a huge White Oak from our front yard, which really changed the landscape of our front yard, ie. much more sun.  Chris didn't want to plant another tree that could potentially shade our existing blueberries on "Blueberry Hill", so we decided to plant more blueberries in its place.  That led to another trip the following week to the State Farmer's Market, Lance came this time and we picked up six more blueberries (Snow Bell, Premier and Star) and some variegated hostas to add a splash of color to the backyard.  After splitting some lirope, (we had on property) the bed was done.

I got another treasure that day, a North Carolina native honeysuckle.  These don't have as strong a smell as the traditional Yellow Japanese variety, but I love adding as many natives as I can to the landscape; the red stems and flowers can't be beat.  Hopefully the vines will cover the chicken fence someday with flowers.  In re-doing the landscape, we also had to re-do the chicken run to go around the backyard, as the chickens were way too efficient at digging up plants and mowing the grass.

Next, my neighbors kindly shared their extra plants with me.  I got a muscadine to grow behind the blueberries on the fence.  Someone who was moving gave me a five gallon bucket full of day lilies, which I planted next to Blueberry Hill upfront.  Another, gave me five containers of her extra Leten Roses, which I planted in shade around around the yard.

My latest purchase this week finished off the backyard.  Due to the shut-down the arboretums in-person annual plant sale/fund raiser had to cancelled.  However, they decided they could do it online for members only.  It was race to the computer to order your plant choices, I was slower than some so I didn't get all my choices but I got plenty.  Lance and I planted all the shade plants in the backyard yesterday and now the backyard is complete.  The phlox filled the Beast with an unexpected beautiful smell.  I love all the variety of textures.  When I showed Chris our efforts at the end of his day, I was giddy at the transformation of the backyard.

The front yard is still a work in progress, but we hope to get it picture ready soon.  Wish I had better before and after photos.