Returning to Not Wisteria Lane this morning, and having some faith in what I could accomplish in the time allotted, I brought along the first plants I wanted to "install" along the fenceline.
Remember that big clump of curly grass (
check the August archives if you dont...)? I divided it during the Great Potting a couple weeks back into four plants, which should make a nice soft spine for the fence garden.
Also making the trip were a small burning bush, two different roses, a pot of tall garden phlox, one of those mystery plants from the marsh with the tiny white flowers (I know it will hold its own in the bit of damp clay I discovered at the far end of the fence), some of the lavendar beebalm and a scotch broom. Oh, and a nice big pot of deep red dianthus.
The broom is one of those pretty rosey-purple cultivars, but has been languishing in some shade. I look forward to watching this plant thrive in the new sunny spot.
When I arrived, I discovered that a special session of the Harwich Crow Council had convened to examine and report on my project (
which they did, loudly and at length).
The progress was a little slow at the start, as the temperature was still rather low (
I was bundled in four layers) and some of the smaller clumps of sod to be broken up were a little frozen.
One of the nice things about all the trees is at the Eastham place is that we have been spared much in the way of frost yet. Not so in the open front yard in Harwich. It appears I'll be planting just in the nick of time.
I found things thawed pretty quickly as the morning ensued, and eventually I began to make some good progress.
While it's not nice to fool Mother Nature, I also don't appreciate the way she seems to be holding a gun to my head. With that in mind, I decided I could safely abbreviate my plans for the digging this fall, once I'd opened up space on either side of the fence. Two larger "loopy" areas, one at each end, may safely wait 'til Spring, unless inspiration and time to spare present themselves tomorrow (
well, later today).
Finishing all the way to the far end of the fence should give me plenty of room for getting everyone in the ground...and if some re-arranging is necessary come Spring, well, that will be fun, too.
These plants are the largest, potentially, and so it made sense to plant them first and deepest along the fence. It was nice to finish with the labor and get to a little of the fun stuff, like deciding how to arrange things.
I'd have loved to stay and do more, but as always lately, there wasn't much time to tarry today, as I kept a steady forward momentum going, on to other tasks, including a pretty late evening at work.
I
am looking forward to exploring Harwich once we are settled in. Here's a photo of the
Brooks Free Library in town. It strikes me as a very interesting and old building and I particularly look forward to exploring there this winter. In some way, it reminds me of the
library I grew up in, which lived in a Revolutionary-era former home of one of the early Dutch settlers in New Jersey. Of course the architecture's not the same at all, but it intrigues me just the same.
I was, honestly, a little horrified to discover that the Town of Harwich has already hung up their Christmas wreaths. They have a quaint nautical feel to them, with the red, green and white lobster buoy, but they appear to be artificial
>gasp< greens...and it's just a week too early for my taste.
Returning to Eastham, I made a momentary detour to catch this shot of the swans - and assorted other water fowl - having some fun in the sunshine on Salt Pond, before stopping by the Eastham Turnip Festival (
for part of my contribution to the Thanksgiving feast in Long Lake) and then showering and heading for work.
