MACRO MONDAY - Deer Trough

Close up photos tend to be of beautiful blooms, buzzing bees, or both.  In fact next week I will share some just like that.  But this week for Macro Monday let us focus on something different. 

Something that while gorgeous, is facing some challenges. I am a firm believer that as bloggers and gardeners we should celebrate both the challenges as well as the success stories, so let us revisit the planter in my parents font yard.

It is very large and lovely and the scent of the petunias is very welcoming at the front door.

 But someone has been munching on both the Sweet Potato Vine and the Petunias.

 It is either a rabbit or a dear. There are plenty of rabbits.  Really, they are everywhere and I love them.  They may annoy me when I get my hands into my own garden again next year, but for now I still look at them and exclaim excitedly, "hey, another rabbit!" after all, I just moved from downtown Toronto where I did not see a rabbit in over a decade.  This is exciting stuff.

But take closer look.  Does it seem likely that a rabbit jumped up on this concrete planter and munched away?  It seems a little exposed to me and the rabbit would have to be very brave.  

My parents seemed certain that a deer had already trimmed back the sweet potato vine on the lawn side of the wall.  I was skeptical at first, after all there is a busy street not that far away.  While they did not see the deer eat it, they have watched deer munch on their neighbour's garden out their kitchen window for years

Check out the car in the background.  The road is 150 feet away and can be quite busy.  I guess this is what it means to have deer in the city.  We are certainly going to have them in our new garden, I can tell by the chicken wire around a few people's gardens and the abundance of dear in the nearby Assiniboine Park.

A new challenge certainly (even at the Ontario cottage I only had to worry about deer in the off-season), but one I am going to enjoy.
Mark my words.

PARENT'S FRONT YARD - The Planter

My parents have the most amazing built-in planter in their front yard.  With about 30 feet long and a plantable 15 inches across there is a lot of space to fill.

As you can see, they fill it with annuals, and my first instinct is always to garden with perennials, so I have been having some fun thinking about the challenge of putting in perennials instead.  Not that it is mine to plant mind you, but I just can help but think, 'how would I plant it?' if it were.

The first thing I thought of since it gets quite a bit of sun is to go with some Sempervivums.  

Then I read they don't like too much sun to get started but once mature can handle direct light, since the location seems perfect for it, so I would start with just 5 feet one year and see how it did.

I could easily picture a mixture of stones including river rock and slate, perhaps some driftwood. 

(Although it would be tricky with light conditions, if there was any way to get some moss into the mix that would look out-of-this-world.)

They can be quite dramatic in flower; the blooms are as rare as they are beautiful.

And there is really a great variety in the detail, including some versions that are covered in what looks like a spidery-web material ("arachnoi-deums", no surprise), which are the most tolerant of light.

It turns out that "trough gardening" is already 'a thing'.

While many arrived at trough gardening in an alpine style before me, most are not lucky enough to have such a large and well-placed trough to plan. 

(No, that should not read "plant", keep in mind I'm only visiting this garden, LOL)

It is hard top argue with the success they have had with the petunias, and the scent at their front door is heavenly, but still I cannot help but imagine other designs.

Aside from semps and rocks I also couldn't help picture some small evergreens, after all, we know they are plentiful at roadsides, as well as sedums so that their draping habit would soften the too-even edge of the trough.

While Canadian Gardening says semps grow to zone 4 only, the Winnipeg Free Press says I should be able to find a variety of succulents that survive here so it looks like this would at least be possible. 

Other plants suggested by Canadian Gardening for Alpine Gardening in Zone 3 include Creeping Phlox, Basket-of-Gold (which I had never heard of before but may have seen on a walk last night!), Saxifrage (another new one!), and Dianthus (not my favourite, but if they share optimal growing conditions with the rest then worth a try) .  

Having sunny options will clearly introduce me to many, many new plants, 

even if I am in a colder zone.

WILD STRAWBERRY PLANTERS

Okay, so only one wild strawberry planter this year, but definitely more next year. 

What I have done that is thrifty is to use natural plants from the woods to fill my planters.  The only bought plant for these woodland beauties are the white Impatiens, which at 4/$1 fit with a thrifty theme I'd say.  If you've got a sunny spot for planters then you have so many options, but if like me you're surrounded by trees Impatiens are some of the only shade loving annuals and certainly the least expensive.

July

June

The Wild Strawberry has a nice white flower in the spring (it's there, can you see it?) and I suppose I just might get some fruit though I have not seen any yet.  Otherwise the planter has lots of moss and the Impatien (yes, that is just from one plug).

The unexpected treat I got from the strawberry are the trailing bits you see in the shot above.  Not that noticeable but very nice - that strawberry has big plans!

Here are some of the other planters I've got going.  The Impatiens were so healthy I had to remove some and put them in the garden because they were covering all of the beautiful mosses!

Ferns, Jack-in-thePulpit, Solomon's Seal, moss, Trillium and other things I don't know the name of were all for then taking in our back woods.

I am sharing this with DIY Thrifty Thursday and Frugal Friday.

OLD STUMPS

This old stump is in a prominent spot near the side stairs so yesterday I hollowed out parts of it, added some soil and  red trillium I gathered from the woods. 

 Today I added a few white impatiens as well that will take the stage once the trillium dies back.  Later in the summer it looks great surrounded by ferns and last year I added buttercups amongst most of my ferns which looks amazing. 
[Summer 2013 update: Buttercups did not get enough sun to come back amongst the ferns]

I have also been filling up my planters with materials from the woods, not only is it free but I think it looks great and I know it should all survive in low light conditions given it all came from the forest floor.

Aside from the ferns, Jack-in-the-pulpit, trillium, solomon's seal, pine tree, lily of the valley and others I can't name yet, I have added white impatiens.  Enough colour to draw the eye once they develop, but not enough to overpower the natural beauty and beautiful greens. 
So many types of moss!

In the foreground is an old stump, a very old stump.  This year I am dressing it up with some simple Alyssum, pairing it somewhat with the white impatiens I have planted in my natural planters above. 

[Fall 2012 update: Decaying wood dries out much more quickly than soil and the Alyssum dried out and died out]

And finally, I also added some white impatiens into this old stump.  It is off the path a bit, so we'll see how many people notice and appreciate it, but as long as we know it is there I'll be satisfied.

I almost forgot! Today was the first day I saw my new Baby Boomer Daffodils in bloom.  

These late bloomers are tiny and I will clearly need to infill in the fall in each of the three areas I planted them, to really get the visual impact I am looking for.  They are very cute and apparently bloom for a long time which will be amazing considering they are just starting now in mid May.  If you know periwinkle you'll get an idea of the small stature of these daffs.