Flowers

[msmemory_archive]

(As much for my memory as anything.)
I got the quick garden tour from the house seller today. She's a Garden Club member (am I intimidated yet?), so I think she was pleased and flattered that it was one of the queries I had about the property.

In only vague order, the following are growing in the back and side yards:
Forsythia, lilacs, perennial geraniums (pink), summer phlox, sedum, clematis, trumpet vine, wisteria, hydrangea, black-eyed Susan, "wagelia"?, japanese iris, boxwood, peonies, mallow, ornamental grasses, hosta, pinks, lupines, raspberries, blueberries, concord grapes, rose of sharon, mock orange, orange daylilies, pink lilies, japanese pompoms, money plants, 2 hollies, rhododendron, azalea, some other things she didn't remember what/where she had put in, and miscellaneous evergreens.

Many of the plants are one-of, that she had gotten cuttings or trades from other garden club members, hence the variety.

Comments

[nazrynn.livejournal.com]

Holy crow! For the first time in ages, I just got "garden envy"... :)

Wisteria will attract lots and lots of bees though - as will the grapes. How close are the arbors, if they're up on latticework, from the house?

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

The grape plant (singular) is well down the lawn, on the far side of the vegetable patch. The wisteria (also singular) is in a pot near the deck.

[nazrynn.livejournal.com]

Very cool. My late grandmother used to have a grape arbor (pre-hurricane Gloria) that leaned partly against her back porch. In the summertime, the carpenter bees would be out and about, battling each other in midair, and drilling into the wooden posts, where the hive was. Similarly, the overripe fruit dropping to the ground attracted plenty of yellowjackets and wasps, which were not as friendly.

But oh, the smell of fresh grapes.... :)

[galaneia.livejournal.com]

Wow. I want a garden like that someday.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Cool! Are they mostly mature items?

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

...and Pachysandra, lamb's ear, lily of the valley, those purple spiky things you see in florists' arrangements. The veggies in the veggie patch have all died off and been turned under, but last year there were tomatoes and potatoes.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

But how did the inspection go?

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

The need for a new roof is more urgent than we thought when we toured the place on Sunday (so we are revising our offer price). Also we are going to have a structural engineer take a look and make sure the foundation is not badly cracked (the basement floors are a touch off level and the chimney is cracked and has been patched - this could be a dealbreaker if serious).

[ornerie.livejournal.com]

"wagelia"!

I bet its Weigela:
http://www.mrgrow.com/plant/plant697.htm

I love this shrub. I have a varigated one in my yard and when it blooms it gets covered with the sweetest little pink flowers that the hummingbirds love.

the only thing about caring for it is that it can look rather scruffy if you let the deadwood get out of hand (which I did ;)) but I'm told it can handle a good pruning once in a while. You may get fewer blooms the next immediate year but it should catch up.

enjoy!!!

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Yes, that would be it! She said it was for attracting hummingbirds, and had succeeded.
Thanks.

[nazrynn.livejournal.com]

That looks like the pink stuff that somehow mixed into our hedge of forsythias, back at my parents' old place...

Cool.

[corwyn-ap.livejournal.com]

I made the fellow who bought my house, a map of all the plants (especially things like bulbs which aren't always evident). Not sure he appreciated it though. It made me feel better about all the work I put in.

Re: Cool.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

I wish she had done that. I didn't really have time to take down locations/visual notes when we spoke, but at least I have a list now of what was there this week. Next spring I'll have to go back to my notes and try to match up the plants on my list with the sprouting things in the yard, but I'll know that "that vine" is probably either the trumpet vine or the clematis....

Re: Cool.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

An article I read years ago said it was a good idea to specify that the plantings came along with the house in the sale. Things in pots are generally not included in the sale, but you could ask for them. The article came with the accompanying anecdote about the good plants getting dug out by the owner before the closing.

Re: Cool.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

They're moving to California; she joked about having plane reservations for her pets. I'm not worried if she takes one or two specimen plants, but suspect that she's probably going to abandon a bunch of extra things that might have gone in a local sale, like the plastic compost bin. We did negotiate on a couple items - she wanted to keep the handpainted mailbox, I asked her to leave the drapes in the Great Room.