Getting year round beauty in a yard does require some planning. I like to think that I am a good planner. Of course when it comes to plants, all the planning in the world cannot make up for middle-of-the-yard utility structures, deer and/or rabbit invasion, unusual drought, unusual rain and flooding, or just unexplained plant death in a carefully tended yard. The plant above is a pyracantha. I purchased 8 of these in pots last fall to use as a hedge to screen the vegetable garden from my front room windows. They looked pretty sad as specimens having sat in their pots all the hot long summer and were only $4.00 each since the nursery wanted to get rid of them. There were skinny one-foot high twigs, but with lots of water, and some fertilizer throughout this year they have finally begun to grow into their important role. Each of these little white starlets should morph into a bright red berry this fall and winter. This red will warm the edges of my heart when the cold gray nights are long and will provide some lovely natural decorations over the winter holidays. But, I am in no hurry for that red glow just now as I am enjoying the lovely little white flowers as they are. Click on the photo for a closer look.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Planning
Getting year round beauty in a yard does require some planning. I like to think that I am a good planner. Of course when it comes to plants, all the planning in the world cannot make up for middle-of-the-yard utility structures, deer and/or rabbit invasion, unusual drought, unusual rain and flooding, or just unexplained plant death in a carefully tended yard. The plant above is a pyracantha. I purchased 8 of these in pots last fall to use as a hedge to screen the vegetable garden from my front room windows. They looked pretty sad as specimens having sat in their pots all the hot long summer and were only $4.00 each since the nursery wanted to get rid of them. There were skinny one-foot high twigs, but with lots of water, and some fertilizer throughout this year they have finally begun to grow into their important role. Each of these little white starlets should morph into a bright red berry this fall and winter. This red will warm the edges of my heart when the cold gray nights are long and will provide some lovely natural decorations over the winter holidays. But, I am in no hurry for that red glow just now as I am enjoying the lovely little white flowers as they are. Click on the photo for a closer look.
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Just look at all of those beautiful white blooms!! What a wonderful deal you got on those; I'm so glad they've grown and are thriving for you. :) Pyracantha is still on my list for the yard. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting an versatile plant. It just keeps giving no matter the season.
ReplyDeleteI'd not heard of pyracantha before.
Beautiful. You keep reminding me that I may have critters at my new country home. They may eat everything. Will be interesting to see what happens. Have a good rest of the day.
ReplyDeleteTabor - are you hoping the pyracantha thorns will protect them from deer?
ReplyDeleteTrying to figure out what they eat and don't eat can make you crazy but this is what happened in Austin. At our previous house they devoured the thorniest roses and this spring my garden group the Divas of the Dirt had to remove established pyracanthas from the front garden of one of our members. The thorny shrubs were such favorites that they were attracting the animals to the center of the border.
I hope your deer are uninterested in your landscaping.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Actually I now have a deer fence up and most of my plants are protected...until that first deer jumps the 8 feet! The deer did nibble the late fall growth of the pyracantha last year, but I mainly planted it for a screening hedge. No deer problems to date.
ReplyDeleteThey look beautiful!!
ReplyDelete