I bought this gardenia last spring around Easter...
the plan was to replace the dead one in front...
but the creeper was in full grow mode...
and it didn't happen...
so the gardenia summered in the back yard...
the area in the front under the nook bay window...
has become "creeperland"...
causing the iris to ooze onto the leaf litter...
that collects between the prolific runners...
and start growing on the curb & walkway...
[this picture was taken, after I cut back all the runners...
that were growing out onto the walk & driveway...]
by the time fall had caused the creeper leaves to color & drop...
it was quite a mess...iris oozing over the curb...
happily making a home in the leaf litter between the runners...
the old trellis leaning over precariously...
& the dead gardenia bush buried in tangled creeper vines...
with the corpse of the dead gardenia...
shrouded in tangled creeper runners...
that went every which way...
along with now growing iris oozing over the curb...
and onto the walkway & driveway...
something had to be done soon...
as the creeper buds were starting to swell...
and would soon make getting getting the old bush out...
and the new one in, as well as new trellises...
and general creeper containment...
impossible for yet another year...
then...it rained today...
and a kind person came by to help...
[more like, do all the work & I "helped"...]
"we" cut back the creeper...
cleared out the dead rose bush & gardenia stumps...
removed an old, useless soaker hose...
installed 2 large trellises...
one to hold back the old trellis & creeper...
one for the climbing rose to climb...
and tied everything in place...
harvested a bunch of "mulch",which was saved...
rescued a bunch of iris which are resting on the mulch...
planted a small azalea and the gardenia...
and cleaned up...
I may put some iris tubers back here...
as he says, "it's a clean palette"...
or I may put in something colorful...
in cutting back & thinning out the creeper...
we also "organized it"...
making sure it won't just grow right back...
covering up the new gardenia & the rose bush...
it all looks so good, I can't wait to have both hands back...
so I can tackle the south side of the house, next to the driveway...
Thanks, Mr. Greenthumb !
4 comments:
Wow! Dang, that guy does good work. :)
...sure does... and, believe it or not...FAST TOO ! :D
The planting bed looks great! Vines are insidious; I try to avoid them. I have an ivy that keeps trying to take over the back patio. Vigilance......
...Calico, I actually planted the creeper[we had it on the ranch...]
it is nowhere as obnoxious as ivy...[though it is known as Boston Ivy in some places...]I have real ivy invading the back yard...I'll take the creeper anytime...it just needs to be thinned out every couple of years, like the iris...
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