Friday, August 3, 2007

My "Maiden" voyage to grasses ...

Got a way from posting after the tragic Minneapolis bridge collapse. I live in North Dakota but the shock of this event reverberated so strong. EVERYONE here has a friend or relative in the Twin Cities and most of us were on the phone that Wednesday evening to check on their well-being. My thoughts are with those who have lost a loved one and are suffering as I write this ...

My bright spot this week is that my friend and garden guru Kathy came to look at my new garden and gave it a thumbs up. That meant a lot to me as Kathy is the one that nurtured this interest in me and showed me the ropes. I respect her opinion.
She has some good ideas, tips and a whole new design plan for my backyard. A plan that is pretty aggressive which I'm not sure my husband is all that crazy about it as of yet!

Kathy has always been an ornamental grass enthusiast. I think the Karl Forester is lovely as is Maiden Grass. But beyond that - I could take it or leave it. Anyway, Kathy wants to split up her overgrown grasses and has offered to design my backyard area into a grass oasis. Gone will be the daylilies, the salvia and the few scraps of monarda and geraniums I have now. It's kind of exciting thinking about a garden with a whole new look but it's kind of out of my comfort zone.
My husband isn't much for my garden but the only thing he DOES like is red in the garden - so this might be a tougher sell. I begged Kathy to keep the little rock garden - she relented but she's still trying to talk me out of red geraniums. She said it's something about red geraniums and cemeteries ...
I have to admit - that is my first early memory of flowers. As a little girl, my mom and grandma dutifully planted geraniums at graves where they produced endless displays of stinky flowers. And here I am, 40 years later, putting stinky red flowers into my garden.
More to follow ...

6 comments:

Connie said...

Hi, Saw your comment over on Beth's Morning Glories blog. I was curious to see if the nd in in your name stood for North Dakota. I was born and raised there, now live in Idaho and love it here! I lived/worked in Fargo for three years after my college years....(many years ago now, ha.)
Your garden spot in the photo looks very nice. Just remember...consider your friend's suggestions, but it is YOUR garden so follow your heart. Stop by my blog sometime.

kris said...

I think your garden looks really nice too. I love ornamental grasses - altho it took me awhile to get to this point. I like them with other perennials - they're beautiful with later blooming plants like rudbeckia and coneflower. I think the seedheads add a lot to the fall landscape - and into winter - at least until that first heavy snowfall!
I wonder if you could work in some red perennials for your hubby - I love the red lilies, daylilies, monarda, etc. Nice thing about gardens is you can always change them!

kris said...

Oh - I was going to tell you which grasses I have here - little bluestem, a miscanthus, and then one stripey one that was given to me, so not sure what it is.

Beth said...

Kris - is that stripey one Overdam. That's the one that Kathy was recommending to me. It looks pretty cool. I'm with ya on the mixing up perennials with the grasses. I do think you can mix the red with the grasses and you could have a nice dramatic effect. I'm going to leave the Grandview Scarlet monarda and maybe - the geraniums :O) Thanks for the sharing the grasses you have - I'll have to Google them and see what they look like ...

kris said...

I'm not sure what my striped grass is - a friend shared it and she didn't have the name. I just planted it this summer so not even sure how big it will get.

Barbee' said...

Hi there Beth, I am here for the first time. I started at the top with "Yew got to be kidding me." and have read my way all the way down to here. Have to stop now, but wanted to let you know I enjoyed my read.

I surely identify with you when it comes to forgetting to make supper. My husband has learned to defend for himself and even to prepare for both of us, but he is retired so that is different.

Love your cute kids and doggies. There are one or two of that breed in our neighborhood that take their owners for walks. (dogs, not kids)

About the cannas: Won't you have to take the bulbs up for the winter and replant them in the spring? I don't have any, but have considered getting a few. Just wondered.