Turns out I have plants arriving as early as March 3rd! I forgot I even made the order and now with snow coming down I’m getting a bit nervous about what I’ll do with them once they arrive and also where I plan on putting these beauties. I have a tendency to order plants with no real plan of where they should go and I just fit them in when they arrive.
I’ve found though that when you’ve got lots of plants coming, it’s best to have holes dug before they arrive. Digging holes in a hurry is not my specialty and I hurt my shoulder last year with all the holes I dug in our hard clay ground. Did I mention this is “Boulder County” which means there are a lot of big rocks under the ground too?
I’ve gotta start drawing up a map of our yard for the season and where I should start planting these beauties. I’ll share that when I actually get to it. But until then let's Ooo and Ahhh at what I got.
This is my second order from Spring Hill Nursery for the season, I suppose because their marketing works on me! And I’m a sucker for pretty flowers and a good deal. Plus our property was just about barren when we moved here last May so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
Bartzella Itoh Peony
I didn’t even know what a Peony was before I moved into my last house that had been planted by an older couple who were very skilled gardeners. In fact it took me a few years there to scratch my head and wonder, “What are those big flowers that come up every year like clockwork?” And I never had to do a thing for them but cut a few of the big flowers off and put them in a vase. I have one Peony here at our new place but it’s nothing compared to the ones at our old house. So I need to up my game. Yellow and Orange?! Count me in! (And if you don’t know… Peonies can live a very very long time! Coming back year after year without almost any care at all!)
Peony Lady Liberty
I’m not a huge fan of pink but these remind me a lot of the peonies at my old house and I love nostalgia so I had to bring some of my old home back here to our new one.
Orange Freedom Rose
I suppose this was my flower order because everything is a colorful flower here. The only rose I’ve ever grown is a wild rose that I brought home after my year long road trip that included a stint up through Canada into Alaska and back where I picked and drank wild rose tea all summer long. I was given another called a wild Boulder Rose that is a native wild rose to my area but with a neighbor who is a rose fanatic I decided I needed to bring one home that was a little bit less wild. So here she is. I like that it’s on its own rootstock because I believe it’ll be hardier that way.
Sweetheart Ruffles Lenten Rose
Oh my gosh my first Hellebore! I’ve been wanting these for my garden since I read a book on winter gardening last spring. I wish I could remember the exact title of the book but a quick google search is not pulling up the one. Either way, I saw my first Hellebore in Greg, my farmer friend down the street’s garden and he shrugged and said, “yep, blooms Christmas morning.”
Wedding Party Double Lenten Rose Mix
This is a pack of 3 hellebores that should bloom in winter. I have no clue which of the colors above I get but that’s kinda part of the fun of a grab bag. They don’t show much of the foilage in these pictures but you should know that their foliage is also gorgeous even when it’s not in bloom, and mostly evergreen, even here in zone 5, unless it’s a particularly harsh winter.
Opening Act Amsonia
Alright so I had yellow flowers and pink and orange and purple and whites… had to have blue right?! I have a feeling I’m going to fall in love with this plant. Blue flowers are already a pretty amazing thing but then Amsonia has something else to offer…
It turns bright yellow in fall?! Wow! When I saw this it was a must. Red, yellow, blue, and green all in one plant? I’m so excited to see this in action. I wish it was coming in more than a pack of one because I have a feeling I’m going to want this in a few places around the yard. Hopefully I can propagate it to other spots in the yard as it gets older.
And that’s that. 8 plants should be showing up pretty soon and I don’t know where to put them. Time to start planning it all out!
Do you order plants like me? Just because you love them and not because you exactly have a space in mind? When I‘ve got the garden more filled in I know I’ll start seeing spaces that need a certain this or that, but for now I’ve got so much space to fill that I know I’ll be able to find a home. Now does this fit well with the whole thinking it through, garden designer, kind of thing I’m looking to get into? No not exactly but I figure it’s my garden and the best way for me to learn is to experiment with as many plants as I can get my hands on!
I'm Zone 4 and I have a hellebore on the north side of my house. It has never flowered at or near Christmas, but usually in late February, if the snow's not too deep there.
I have elderberries, and fruit trees on order but they won't come until April I think. I got all my seed orders in weeks ago. Just some stuff that was backordered left to arrive.
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He’s got his hellebore on the west side of his house but I never saw them bloom, just what he told me. (Yours should be blooming coming up soon!) I got fruit trees in the month I moved in as a birthday present! But I have no clue when and how to prune them. I’ve been reading a bunch about it but am super nervous. Can’t wait to see all your posts about what your getting and planting and growing!
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@bobydimitrov is VERY knowledgeable about pruning trees. I don't know much at all. He's often on the homesteaders discord: https://discordapp.com/channels/498566252864995348/550358678461743104
and has posted several times about pruning trees. If you can get onto this group, you could pick his brain, I bet.
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Thank for tagging me! If advice it's needed with tree and fruit shrubs pruning and maintainece, let me know! I can help via comment, if discord is not to your liking!
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Awesome! First question is in Colorado Zone 5 when should i prune? Ive got apple, peach, plum, nectarine, and cherry and my nosy neighbor stopped me from pruning the apple the other day because she said it was way to early... not that she has any fruit trees.
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We usually don't prune our garden before the end of February and even then we consult the 2 week forecast. The main idea is to not have very cold nights in the coming weeks. -5C is not a huge problem now and then, but if there is a sustained -10C for weeks, better delay the pruning.
Your zone 5 seems similar to where we are, but in any case, local weather is more important than zones. Observe and interact 😉
Also, be prepared for a regular summer pruning. The spring prune is usually for large modifications of the shade and character of the tree. It's generally a mistake to make a snip-snip-snip micro pruning in spring, because that will lead to a very dense tree in just a few months. So in spring it's about removing larger branches or parts of the tree to stimulate new growth. In summer is about fine tuning.
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Wow ok, I’ll most certainly be having some -10C or worse nights for at least the next couple weeks. I’ll hold off. Thanks for the tips! That’s a ton of info to sift through and take in!
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