Pocket Patio Project (Planting the Gardens)
Welcome to Week 3 of the One Room Challenge Pocket Patio project: in which Hard Labor ensues.
About the One Room Challenge
The one room challenge, if you are just joining us, is a national biannual event in its nineteenth year where bloggers and instagrammers document their triumphs and tragedies weekly as they makeover a space in a short 6 week timeline (for pandemic purposes, this has been extended to 8 weeks). Twenty featured designers and hundreds of guests participate in each round and much support and camaraderie ensues. It is an opportunity and an excuse to get. stuff. done. Better Homes and Gardens is the official media sponsor for the ORC.
Official Media Sponsor for the One Room Challenge
About Me
I’m Janet, a longtime interior designer and design blogger living in the suburbs of Boston in an aging builder tract home. A lot of it is in desperate need of updating and I’m slowly making some headway, but I probably have enough projects here to keep me in One Room Challenges for a loooong time! This is my third ORC and I’ve redone a bedroom AKA the Vintage Diva Glamour Den, and my Home Office. This Pocket Patio Project is the outside entrance to that office.
Patio Project Week 3
This week at the Pocket Patio Project is was plants plants plants. We bought them last week and we’ve managed to keep them alive in the pots for a week. So far, so good. I am SO not a gardener, so that right there is a triumph (love gardens, loathe gardening). Not that some of them haven’t had drama, but I’ll get to that.
To catch up on the last two weeks you can check out the unfortunate state of “before” affairs in week one, and the inspiration and plans for the space on week two.
Shade Plants
This week, I deemed it time to plant the pussy willows that I rooted from my mom’s cuttings. She said, “stick them in water - they like cold, dark, and wet, they’ll grow roots.” And so I put them in a pot of water in my garage. That definitely qualified as cold, dark, and wet! And they did, in fact, put out roots and start sprouting some leaves. Never doubt your mother.
The only thing growing on the retaining wall at the moment besides a few hardy weeds, were some lily of the valley that had migrated in and 3 hardy Jack-in-the-pulpit plants that I think maybe originally came from my mom’s house. Mom IS an intrepid gardener and I was the beneficiary of her cast-offs and extras over the years. The Jack-in-the pulpit plants are interesting so they are staying along with some of the lily of the valley.
Here are the other plants I purchased from the “shade garden” section of the nursery:
They all seem to prefer rich, moist, humus-y, well-draining soil. Sadly, you can’t always have what you want. Our soil is rock and root laden and you can hardly stick a shovel into it.
Halcyon Hosta grows 12” - 24” its blue waxy textured leaves prefer shade, and like all hosta plants, it throw up some tall unimpressive flowers in midsummer, which attract bees.
Silver Scrolls Coral Bells 12” -18” compact, showy silver leaves with burgundy, and tiny pink flowers, theoretically. Enjoys part shade
Snowdrift Astilbe 18” greens with 24” feathery white flowers. This one claims to be low maintenance (Yay!)
Spotted Dead Nettle in Pink Pewter Really?? Someone named a plant that? That’s worse than the weird paint names! At a petite 6 - 8” tall, this likes part to full shade. I spit out my tea when I read “tolerates drought”…really??? because it’s been quite the diva in the pots, wilting dramatically and looking dead (maybe that’s why the name…) until I water it and then it slowly resurrects to the pretty variegated greenery with pink flowers that led me to choose it.
Alumroot in Palace Purple, 20” a variety of coral bells, needs moisture until well established then thrives in dry shade, attractive to butterflies
Brilliance Autumn Fern likes at least partial shade and consistently moist soil but not standing water
Pussy Willow - mom said cold dark and wet, the internet says sunny and wet, tolerates shade. we’ll see what happens!
Hard Labor
I enlisted the help of my son who is also not a gardener, particularly, but when you raise kids, you automatically get a degree in guilt production…use as needed.
He was more than willing to help, as it turns out, no guilt required - I have the BEST kids.
Jamie digging up the rocks and roots #gardenprep #shadegarden
Jamie raked up the erstwhile dead leaves that collect in the corner of the patio every year and then he dug up rocks and pulled up roots while I added back plants and potting soil all while carefully avoiding the slimy earthworms I encountered *shudder*….this is the main reason I detest gardening. But hopefully we’ve given the plants a fighting chance at surviving our yard!
Jamie pulling the massive roots from a defunct tree out of the garden bed #gardenprep #shadegarden
The newly planted shade garden in the filtered morning light
I spotted these really intriguing plants in the wildflower woodland garden at our arboretum. They are these big leaves that act like a pair of umbrellas shading a single blossom underneath on each plant. Helpfully, the arboretum labels EVERYTHING, so I learned that these were May-Apples.
I was delighted to discover these were also growing wild in the woodlands right behind my pocket patio! I may need to transplant some to the patio garden, though I just read that it goes dormant mid summer, so maybe not…they are very fun though, like a little fairyland of flower umbrellas!
May-apple in our yard #woodlandplants #wildflowers
This week, my trellis/planter/screens are scheduled to arrive and will need assembly and a probably a new color…stay tuned!
Meanwhile, check out all the inspiration and progress of the rest of the ORC featured designers and participants HERE!
Other Posts you might enjoy:
Container Gardening the EASY way to have a garden!