garden 2026 wish list - august update

Summer is in full swing, and I figured now is a good time to check in to see what I have done, and what is left to do.  

Garden wish list:

• Treat Hemlocks again for Wooly adelgid bugs ✔️
• Plant my camellia - I did not and it died! 
• 3 rounds of plant & bulb fertilizer - 2 of 3 done
• Make a decision on my buff beauty rose - As much as it pains me, I pulled it out...then it died
• plant garlic  ✔️
• plant basil ✔️
• plant lavender ❌
•  plant a few colorful perennials ✔️ my tried and true bubblegum wave petunias, and impatiens
• plant peonies (if yard work is finished) - yard work isn't finished, so they're still in pots
• prep for hydrangeas - still waiting on yard prep
• finalize plans for hosta starts ✔️
• 20+ bags of mulch
• 1 round of round-up by the house, and in the shade garden

Yard wish list: 

Most of this list is still on hold, since Sally Sue isn't finished....hopefully this fall! 

• Clear around the pond
• Clear some trees around the house
• Clear by the rock wall
• Burn all brush & log piles - I started on this, and burned 3 brush piles.  Still a ways to go.
• Prep for trees
• Clear drivable path around the pond

2024

garden 2026 wish list

Spring is so close I can almost taste it, and it's time for my annual blog post / garden diary entry.  These are the things I hope to do...either this year, or in the years shortly to come.  :)

Garden wish list:

• Treat Hemlocks again for Wooly adelgid bugs
• Plant my camellia
• 3 rounds of plant & bulb fertilizer 
• Make a decision on my buff beauty rose
• plant garlic
• plant basil
• plant lavender
•  plant a few colorful perennials 
• plant peonies (if yard work is finished)
• prep for hydrangeas
• finalize plans for hosta starts

Yard wish list:

• Clear around the pond
• Clear some trees around the house
• Clear by the rock wall
• Burn all brush & log piles 
• Prep for trees
• Clear drivable path around the pond

2024

garden 2024 - the done list

We all know that I am a terrible blogger, but this does still serve as my personal archive of what projects I have gotten myself into, and when.  So before I totally forget what happened, here is the done version of my 2024 garden wish list. 

• impatiens in the window boxes ✔️
• flowers in pots on the porch ✔️
• bring out the houseplants to the porch ✔️
• small herb garden by the back door ❌
• cutting garden - zinnias ✔️
• fertilize azaleas & rhododendron ✔️
• fertilize boxwoods  ✔️
• another raised bed ❌
• replace camelia  ❌ - 2025
• replace gardenia ❌ 
• move peony ✔️
• new peony ✔️
• move Cramoisi Superieur rose ✔️
• butterfly bush ❌ (I got one, but it died)
• design & plant new hydrangeas and possibly boxwood ❌
• Clean out back garden ❌
• treat all hemlocks ❌ - I got one treated, and have more treatment for 2025
• creeping phlox  ❌
• transplant some rock iris ✔️
• transplant some hosta ✔️ (In pots, but thriving)
• make garden spaces to the right side of wooded path - ❌ - waiting on Sally Sue

garden to do list - spring 2024

 So much to do, so little time.  I have one more weekend left before the burn ban goes into effect, and then I can turn my attention to the garden.  Spring is almost the only time I have flowers blooming, thanks to my seemingly epic amounts of shade, and clay soil.  I am determined to do something about that this year.

Here are my plans...some of these will be for the fall or next spring, after we're finished with the back hoe work, but here is the wish list:

• impatiens in the window boxes
• flowers in pots on the porch
• bring out the houseplants to the porch
• small herb garden by the back door
• cutting garden - zinnias
• fertilize azaleas & rhododendron
• fertilize boxwoods 
• another raised bed
• replace camelia
• replace gardenia
• move peony
• new peony
• move Cramoisi Superieur rose
• butterfly bush?
• design & plant new hydrangeas and possibly boxwood
• Clean out back garden
• treat all hemlocks
• creeping phlox
• transplant some rock iris
• transplant some hosta
• make garden spaces to the right side of wooded path

pond project - recap

 Slow and steady wins the race.  ;)  

October 2022 

Where we started

Where we are 

December 2022

Where we started

     

       

October 2022

December 2022

 

Where we started

October 2022

Where we started

October 2022

                             

Where we started

Where we started 

October 2022

merry christmas

Between Nutcracker, Covid, working with Sally Sue, and an unusually busy
work season, this Christmas has come and gone in a flash.

One family tradition is that my Dad gets to pick the meal, as our day
is divided to celebrate his birthday in the evening. 
This year was spaghetti & turkey meatballs at my house.

My house is far from perfect (peep the bookshelves) but I'm going to enjoy
coming home to this cozy tree for a little bit longer. 

pond project - december 2022 adventures

I have always had big plans for my view of the pond.  My house sits up  on a small hill, and the deep southern porch is one of my favorite features.  When I moved in, there was no front yard, and the hill had grown up to the point you couldn't see the pond from my yard.  Over the past 11 (!!!) years, I have done some work to improve the view, but it turned out that my Dad's plans were even bigger....and dare I say it, more impactful.

Dad's plans called for heavy machinery, and he surprised me by bringing "Sally Sue" to my house.  Sally Sue is a combo Backhoe and Bulldozer, and I like to say that she built interstates in a previous life.  For the past few weeks, Sally Sue has been working and living at my house.  She has made easy work of removing dead trees from the pond and clearing around both the pond & my driveway.  She has dug new drainage ditches around the pond and fixed some major potholes in my driveway.  The brush piles are growing, and Sally Sue will be a big help when we burn.  

     

Blogger is a pain, but switching to a new platform is harder.  Captions would read: Before view from the porch, and after some clearing out by hand.

After working with Sally Sue

I still have quite a to do list for Sally Sue before she leaves... clearing more around the pond to improve the view, pre-digging some holes so I can amend the soil and plant hydrangeas this spring, transplanting magnolias & native bushes, planting some evergreens, and taking down some dead Oaks from around the property.  It's a lot of work, but very much worth it! 

december bloom day 2022

I have a bloom in December!  I bought my first Camelia this year (it's still in a pot, don't judge), and I have blooms!   It's so nice to have blooms this time of year, and I'm looking forward to planting it in a prominent spot near my driveway this spring. 

recovered from drafts//new plants 2020/2021 - house plants

Looking back on 2020 & 2021, I'm not at all surprised that most of my new plants were houseplants.  So much time (too much time) was spent indoors, and I did my best to bring the outdoors in. My spare room is slowly becoming a sunroom, and I love it. 

My favorite new houseplants are the cuttings from my Grandmother's sun porch.  There's the quite prolific all green spider plant, as well as a some smaller variegated versions... all pups from the same mother plant.  The crown of my cuttings has to be from my grandmother's Mistletoe Cactus, rhipsalis.  This one took more work to root, and was a slow grower at first.  It seems to have taken hold though, and I'm looking forward to year two! 

I have a new aloe plant from my mom, and it's doing much better than my previous aloe plants.  Friends visiting from out of town brought me a little poinsettia from friends, and it is living it's best life. I also picked up a prayer plant from Ace Hardware, and it's doing very well hanging in my living room. 

That pretty much rounds out the new houseplants from 2021.  There were some air plants and a miniature orchid that didn't make it, RIP. 

march bloom day 2022

Happy Bloom Day!  Thanks to a nice snow this weekend, my daffodils have lost their blooms, and the the hellebores are the stars of my garden right now.  I quite enjoyed the snow this weekend.  It was my favorite kind of snow, a fluffy 3 inches, and the ground was warm enough that the roads were dry and clear. Enjoy the hellebores! 

PS:  It's been quite a while since I've posted here.  I like this corner of the internet, and hope to be back more often! 

may bloom day 2021

I'm a little late....BUT here's a look at what was blooming in my yard on or around May 15th, 2021.

The Iris bloomed for the very first time, and the peonies were putting on a small, but beautiful show. Out of 5 plants, I had 4 blooms this year. This is what happens when you live in the shade, oh well. I'm enjoying what I had, and planning for new peonies in a sunnier spot.

Iris

Peony - Pecher

   

Peony - ? 

My antique roses are settled in and doing their thing. It makes me happy that Buff Beauty is starting to full out and really show off. I also found a Cherokee Rose that must have been planted by my great grandmother. It is in the woods off the driveway, and very close to some of the trees that came down last year in the tornado. I've been in my house almost 10 years now, and this is the first year it's had enough sun to bloom. I'm hoping to take some cuttings, well see how my propagation efforts go!

Rose - Buff Beauty

Rose - Cherokee

Rose - Cramoisi superieur

new plants 2019 / 2020

SURPRISE! I bet you didn't expect to see me here again.  Spring is the time that I most miss my blog, and this year, after conversation with Dava (@davastewart), who I first met at a Chattanooga Blogger's meetup years ago, I got nostalgic.  I miss the blogging community and really getting to know people online in a way that doesn't translate on 'social media platforms'.  It's also really nice to be able to have an archive to dust the cobwebs of your memories.  I was nostalgic enough to say to myself, well, I do have a couple of things I could blog about....so let's see if I can do this again.   

My conversation with Dava got me thinking about 2 things I loved about blogging... being able to look back on how far my house/garden have come, and getting to know some of the amazing people in the blogging community.   I'm hoping to bring those both back into my life.  If the pandemic has taught me anything, its to put my needs first, and that good online relationships are just as nice as in person ones.

So even though this post is supposed to be about plants, I have to acknowledge 2020 as the year that will go down in history as quite the year.  I spent the spring dealing with the aftermath of a tornado and adjusting to pandemic life.   My mom had a hip replacement just before Covid, and my grandfather passed away in May at age 93.  As soon as I was ready to turn my attention outside to something normal  - maintenance and garden work.... I herniated 2 disks in my neck.  Plans were interrupted, and much of the heavy garden work was put on hold.  I picked up a few houseplants, and started propagating some of my grandmother's houseplants (mistletoe cactus and spider plant, both 40+ years old), but that was it.  

The biggest project was a May 2020 unplanned mowing of the underbrush in my front yard.  It more than doubled the size of my front yard, and makes me anxious to complete my dream project of being able to see the whole pond from my front porch. 

Looking back past 2020 to 2019 is hard.  2019 a blurry and distant memory.  I can't remember much of what I planted.  I know I was gifted a peony by my sister that bloomed from a large pot on my front porch this year.   My Instagram tells me that 2019 was a maintenance year. I cut back ivy and laid pine needles on the front steps to the pond, mulched, pressure washed, and cut back "volunteer" bushes.   It's nice to look back and see how nice it looked, but it's crazy to see how quickly things grow back after even one year off.  2019 was also the year I re-discovered embroidery.....more on that another day.    😊

New plants 2019/2020

• Peony, from my sister
• Mistletoe Cactus, cuttings from Grandmother
• Spider plant, cuttings from Grandmother
• Baby Jade
• Mini Orchid
• Wandering Jew, from Clemson
• Ponytail Palm
• Monstera, from my sister
• Snake Plants, from Clemson

new plants 2018

OLD DRAFT: I've been having are dreams of resurrecting's this blog {it happens every spring}, and low and behold I found this 2019 draft awaiting pictures.  While the pictures will likely never be added, here's a little documentation to my gardening efforts from 2018.  

I hope anyone who see's this is doing well!

~Emily

What did I plant last year?  I always say "not much" and then realize it was more than I remember.

My burst of garden energy was focused on expanding my side yard - adding hostas & ferns, and some impatiens for color.  The impatiens didn't do well, but that's to be expected in the poor soil over there.  Improving the soil is a process that just takes time and mulch.  Luckily, I have plenty of both.  The area I started mulching when I moved into my house has improved tremendously, and I'm sure the extended beds will be in good shape in due time. 

I also started fertilizing my struggling boxwoods, and it was a good year for it.  We had lots of rain, and I saw some good new growth.  It will take time for them to fully recover back to the way they were when my great grandmother was alive, but again, I have time.  I also got a pair of pruning sheers, so watch out!

february bloom day - 2018

It's bloom day! Man, has it been a minute since I've done one of these!  Hi, everyone!!

The very first of my early daffodils are blooming, and I snapped this picture over the weekend. It's a sign that regardless of what the ground hog said, spring is coming.

This has not been a great winter for my hellebores, and I'm not exactly sure why.  They're not nearly as full as I expect them to be this time of year, but I am seeing some new growth.  I'll try and add some extra pictures of them this afternoon.  In the meantime, I'm going to scroll through the gardens of the world over at May Dreams Gardens!  

new plants 2017

2017 was a hot mess, wasn't it?  My focus wasn't really on my yard, other than trimming out some undergrowth to help the view of the pond. 

There are 3 new plants from this year that stick out in my mind

1) A new antique rose - Buff Beauty.  This is my second attempt at growing this rose.  I have some animal roaming around that thought the first one was pretty tasty.  I planted this rose in the spring, and by fall I had a couple good 4' canes - despite my lack of regular fertilizing.  I'm hoping it will continue to grow, and will bloom this year.

2) Three white Encore Azaelas by the pond.   This was definitely a discount find, and a pretty big risk.  Azaelas like sun - of which I have very little - and hate wet feet.  Planting them by the pond was not the smartest thing I've ever done, but I would love for them to grow, and be the first thing you see when you turn in my driveway.  I planted 3, and 1 survived and bloomed through fall.  I'm calling that enough of a win to consider building a retaining wall and trying again next year.

3) Magnolia cutting from my grandmother's house across the street.  In my quest to improve the view of the pond from my front porch, I'm also improving the view of my house from the road in the winter.  I like my privacy, so I'd like to add some more evergreens to this section of the woods.  Trees that I can 'limb up' over time and still see the pond, but will also provide screening from the road.  Well.  I looked at magnolias at our local nurseries, and let me just say they're crazy.  They have very nice trees, but there is no way that I'm paying $200 for a magnolia that won't even get very tall.  They grow wild here, so I took a rooted lower limb from one of my grandmother's trees, and put it into my holding bed.  If it survives the winter, I'll check its root situation, and see if it's ready move it into the woods. 

Here's to enjoying my yard more in 2018!

#pondproject - frozen

Just a little photo to document the freeze.  I'd say this is day 5 of the pond being frozen?  It got above freezing for a few hours, but otherwise, it has been in the teens and 20s.  I was out of town when the pond froze, but the water must have been very still, because it's almost like glass. The shallow end of the pond is frozen to the bottom, about a foot deep! 

Close up of the reflections of the trees in the ice.  This quite possibly will end up at the background on my phone.

I hate the cold, but at least it's pretty! 

#pondproject - bye bye bushes - unposted 2017 Draft

A blog post from 2012 came up on my memories today, which lead me to looking at my desolate blog, which lead me to thinking about posting at 2017 Garden Summary, or at least a picture, which lead me to this un-posted draft from last year.  I'm guessing it's from around this time last year, because it's been a LONG time since my blog has been on my mind.   Maybe you'll see me back here more in 2018, maybe you won't.  I do know I was more active in my yard when I was blogging, so I have that going for me.

Anywho, I hope anyone who see's this is doing well!

~Emily
It only took 5 months, but the my brush piles are gone! I started the pond project this year because here in Tennessee, we were going through what I thought was a bit of a drought, and the pond was down.  This meant I could drive my tahoe up to the bushes, wrap my brush puller around them, and pull them out without worrying about getting my car stuck. You can't do this every year, but the pond was low enough 4 years ago that we had done this before.  I didn't think twice about piling my brush in a giant pile by the driveway where it was safe to burn.

And then it didn't rain....for months.  We were under a Governor's Burn Ban for most of the fall due to the very real risk of wildfires.  There were weeks where the smoke settled in the Tennessee Valley.  The pond dropped to the lowest point anyone in my family can remember, and my grandmother is in her 90's!  So as the pond continued to go down, we continued to work, and we made another bush pile.

Finally, it rained enough to lift the burn ban, and we had a New Year's Eve, all day, bonfire!

I hate that everything is so grey right now, and the pond is still super low, but here are some before and after pictures of the bushes we cleared.  I'll take more pictures in the spring when the leaves are on the trees, but this is a start!

There is still more work to do around the pond, and in the woods, but the view from my porch has really improved.  I've just got to keep reminding myself that slow and steady wins the race!!