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Re: [SG] A bio of sorts

Hi Coni,
Your house and yard sound wonderful to me.  I like old and traditional
things.  We recently filled in the area under our maple (one we
transplanted from seed 20 years ago) with the form that you fill with
concrete.  It makes it look like cobblestone, and really turned out quite
nice.  I filled in the cracks with dirt and am waiting for the chamomile
and thyme to grow from seed.  I put some borders around the tree and along
the fence first with 4x6 untreated lumber and also on the other side.  It's
very shady, and I have planted some hosta.  I transplanted some renagade
strawberries from the garden directly under the tree and on the other side
have things like vinca, ferns, arum italicum, and trillium.  It really
turned out nice, it's on the north side of our house so the area is only
about 20' wide.  Good luck with your plantings.

Jane
zone 5 Colorado

>
> I was so happy to hear of this list.  We live in the house my
> Great-grandparents bought when they were first married in 1920.  It is
> very special to me even though it's very small with a vary small lot.  We
> are very close to downtown St Paul.  My yard is mostly shade (I don't
> think I get more than 3 to 4 hours of sun except for one small corner)
due
> to 2 very old trees.  My Grandfather's birth day tree planted 78 years
ago
> (by my great-grandfather), is a huge Cottonwood (the kind with the sticky
> things not the fluffy things), and my great-aunt's (his sister) which is
a
> 72 year old Maple of some sort.  It's a very strange species that I refer
> to as a weeping maple because it's branches hang down. It doesn't change
> color in the fall at all, they just drop.  Weirdest maple I've ever seen.
> Needless to say, I've got a very dry yard.  I've been planting hosta all
> over the place, mostly around the base of the Cottonwood.  I was worried
> when I divided one hosta into a hundred or so individual leaves with
roots
> last year, that it would be too dry, but this spring they came up just
> wonderfully.  The type I have are the old fashioned narrow-leaf variety
> that my great-grandmother had planted about 40 years ago.  I just keep
> dividing it because it is the focus of my garden because it is so old and
> rather rare now.  My grandmother brought me a container of varigated
hosta
> that I'm going to use to frame the hosta around the tree.  I haven't a
> clue what to do with the maple in the back yard.  We have destroyed 2
lawn
> mowers because of the roots sticking up, and nothing will grow except
> dandilions. I'd stick with those, but my daughter is severely allergic
> (hives, rash, bloody nose, eyes swollen shut).  I'm thinking of just
> making the area directly around the tree a walkway/sitting area with
> pea-gravel and encouraging the Lily of the Valley and hosta around the
> edges.  At the same time, I'm turning my front and side yards into
gardens
> as well (too small to bother mowing, especially when we don't have a lawn
> mower anymore).  I was rather worried what my neighbors thought of it all
> because last year when I did the left half of the yard since it looked
> rather weedy to me, but I overheard some of my neighbors raving about it
> about how beautiful it looked this year so I decided to go ahead and tear
> up the other side of the yard. Well, that's the gardening bio I guess.
>
>  I work for the Library and have wonderful access to books (my other
> addiction), just no time to read.  Weird hours prevent me from working in
> the gardens as much as I'd like, but I do what I can.  My youngest
> daughter is 9 and spends time with me in the garden... her job is to
> rescue worms and suggest where plants should go, and gather up weeds I
> throw.  When she gets bored she also sprays me with the hose. :)  My
older
> daughters are 16 and spend most of their time drawing and writing, only
> helping if money is offered.  My husband is an internet trader and helps
> around the yard if I can get him off of the computer long enough.  He
does
> most of the house keeping and child rearing, since I'm the moneymaker in
> the family. He is also considered disabled (Tourette's, MPD, and
> bi-polar), but is a wonderful wife and mother and perfectly content to be
> a stay-at-home dad.  :)  That's the personal bio.
>
>   --<-@ Coni @->--
>   <conin@visi.com>
>  St Paul, Minnesota
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