Tag Archives: junipers

We Killed Another Juniper! OORAH!

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If you’ve read my blog long enough, you’d know that I despise Junipers in any type of landscaping. And when we bought our house, which was built in 1915, the yard was full of the bloody shrubs…some of them the size of a single car garage. We dug and pulled and dug and cried and dug and chopped and sawed and dug most of them out of the yard.

One was left in my way….and on Saturday we sawed and dug the wee one out.

The wee Juniper had to die because I wanted to plant pretty plants that bees like. I love to garden…bees help my garden…therefore I love bees. And I’m going to make my yard a very happy place for bees.

While at Lowes, I wandered to the outdoor plant section while my husband went to the back to pick up something he needed to fix our side gate. I stood in front of the Mediterranean Heather plants for 5 minutes mesmerized by all the bees. Happy bees. Very very happy bees. I want those happy bees in my yard, so I picked out two plants, one in pink and one in white and took them home with me.

After taking out the small juniper, with a big trunk, I planted the heather. This type of Heather blooms in the winter and spring (great for rock gardens) ~ takes full sun, fast growing, hardy to -20F. It’s near my Russian Sage…so when the Heather stops flowering, the Russian Sage will pick up where it left off.

I planted four horseradish plants in the strip between the two sets of bricks (believe it or not, but that is the space I grew two rows of sweet corn last year!)…see picture below.

Also, if you take a look at the upper right corner ~ I’m debating on either planting 3 Blueberry plants and some Elderberries OR that will be the spot I plant the Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash).

I’ve narrowed down the Blueberry plants to either TORO or the BLUECROP.

Are We There YET?!

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I’m soooo looking forward to Autumn.

It’s too bloody hot here in Northern Nevada…and it was so hard not to hug the tv last night while watching Thursday Night Football to try to feel the rain that was coming down in Philly. It’s not fair.

We’ve been in the Low 100F and High 90sF the past week…supposed to have a cool down on Tuesday to 90F!!! WooHoo!

Ok…done whining about the weather for the day.

Update pics on the backyard garden ~ I’ll be picking the last of the beans this weekend, me thinks. And at least 1/2 of the carrots. Will blanch and freeze ‘em.

I’ve been trying really hard not to pick anymore peppers until they’ve changed colors. Those long skinny ones, that I had no clue as to what they were (I figured they were Serranos on steroids), are Cayennes! Ohhhh…that’s why they are so scrumptious in my Pico de Gallo! Definitely will plant those again next year.


Cayenne Peppers! SOOOO Yummmie!


Sweet Italian Peppers


Very cool looking Miniature Caribbean Habenaro Reds ~ bet they aren’t too cool to bite into though. :)


I’ve been picking cucumbers like crazy lately.


Corn is all off the stocks, except for one stock of corn that grew somewhere else in the yard…probably thanks to a bird pooping. It has about 4 ears that are almost ready to pick. The rest of the stocks I’ll be leaving in the ground until it’s time to decorate for fall. I love tying a bunch of them up to the cedar trees out front.

Have to figure out what to do with all my green onions ~ will be bringing some into work as there is interest in them from a few people.


Squash gone wild!


The moon last night ~ guess I should have gotten the tripod out, but I was lazy.


Soap I made, and named it after the moon ~ Sea of Tranquility ~ it is scented by essential oils of Bergamot, Clary Sage, Rosemary and a little bit of Peppermint. Very relaxing smell. But I must say it drives me absolutely bonkers, as it is curing under the Spiced Chocolate Caffee soap on top of the frig…and every time I walk by I get a whif of Chocolate Mint. ACK!

This is Mad Max ~ he was a little hot…wasn’t happy about getting his picture taken…Grumpy Ole Man.

Was craving popped corn last night…and not the microwave crap…the real thing. Got everything out to make it and then came to the realization of what a HORRIBLE MISTAKE I made in choosing my stove! I bought the ceramic stove top oven! You can’t make popped corn on that type of surface! So out came my hot plate that I melt soy wax on…Thank Goodness I had that!

Playing with the camera modes last night…the lighting was too low for the first picture, but I like it anyhoo.

And last, but definitely not least in my book ~ one of my lovelies ~ My Precious!

Ok…one more bitch session about the junipers! We are down to TWO juniper stumps that we are having a Dickens of a Time getting out. Big sigh. Why are they allowed to plant those bloody things?! They should be outlawed! I’m ready to pour gas on them and flick a match in their direction…invite the neighborhood over for a weenie roast.

LOL! Ya see that orange cone next to the BENT sign post? That was our neighbor across the street backing his boat out…he did the same thing to the other post on his side of the street. Looks like he hasn’t been doing that well driving lately, as the front end of his truck is smooshed somewhat!

Front Yard Landscaping after the death of the Junipers

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Well…we finished yanking, pulling and cutting those junipers out of the front ne corner of the lot. Only 3 truck loads to the dump! LOL! Still have a few piles of juniper debris to bag up and then we can level out the corner a bit…rearrange all the river rocks, then plant and regroup the drip system.

BEFORE!

AFTER!

We plan on putting in a drive pad (whether it be concrete or just rock) in part of that area sometime in the future, so I will not be planting anything between the 2nd and the 4th posts (see third picture).

My plants of choice are:

Grappenhall Lavender, English Lavender and French Lavender, Russian Sage, Yellow Coneflower (see picture below), and maybe a White Flutterby Bush.

I thought I wanted a fruitless mulberry tree for the very front yard…but I’m now thinking about a shade tree that turns pretty colors in the Autumn, which is my favorite part of the year. If you have any suggestions, let me know! I live in Zone 7.

Ohhhh….just found this ~ a ‘October Glory’ Maple! Very pretty. Fast growing. In my hardiness zone!

A Weekend in the Juniper War Zone

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I’m very, very, very tired today. And my arms and legs look like I was in the middle of a cat fight…and lost. My hands are swollen and hurt…carpal tunnel will be hurting them for a few weeks. :(

It’s amazing how much work we’ve done, yet have soooo much more to do. So far two truck loads and 26 trash bags…at least one more truck load and many more bags to go. There are two Arborvitae to take out, one more juniper and lots of trunks.

I’ve sketched out in my mind what we will do in that area once finished…immediately in the corner next to the church will be plants like Flutterby Bush, Russian Sage, and Lavender…then there will be an area left open facing the street for a future drive pad…then a Fruitless Mulberry tree.

Yesterday while taking a break I was just staring into that mess when five of the “teenager” scrub jays went to investigate. They loved the trunks…great place to crack open their goobers. And the black cat across the street had the funniest confused look on his face…staring up and looking around where, I’m sure, he used to lay in wait, under cover, to attack birdies.

It boggles my mind why ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would plant junipers! There are so many prettier shrubs to plant ~ like butterfly bushes, forsythia, barberry, hydrangea, lilacs!

Waging War Against the Junipers Continues….

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We have once again declared war against the junipers in our yard! This war will be a triology…not sure when we will get to the last part.

This time it’s on the NE corner of our lot…there are at least three junipers with pretty big trunks. Me thinks they’ve been there for over 30 years.

Here is a before picture after I trimmed them down somewhat in the spring.

And here is what we’ve done with one saw, one hedge trimmer, and my pruners. They’ve been there so long they are growing in and out of the fence. It’s slow going. Going to have to take a few trips to the dump again…we’ve piles on two sections of our fence. Ultimately I’d like to have a drive pad in that corner as we have no off-street parking. I will be planting a fruitless Mulberry near there…more towards the irises. I love those trees…fast growing and a great climbing & shade tree, not that I’ll be doing much climbing in it. :)