Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

BY SKEETERLook at what I spotted on the Silverberry Bushes here in my Georgia Gardens. Finally, Berry's just as Tina said they would give me! The bushes were filled with them but by the time I got around to snapping some pictures of them, most of the Berries were missing. I can only assume the birds had a wonderful treat. I was able to find a lone ripe berry laying on the ground. Look at how large they are compared to my hand.

This one measured in at 3/4 of an inch!
I just love the little spots on them. Spots are a trait of the Silverberry as their leaves, blooms and now berry's show me spots. Click HERE to read about my discovery of their blooms. I read theBerries are edible so I gave one a try. I spit the thing out the second my taste buds reacted to the tart thing. The birds can have them as I will refrain from ever putting another one in my mouth. Yuck, they are not for me.
I just love these bushes and they are doing just what I had planned for them to do.

Hide the Ugly from next door. I wish I had planted more of them back in 2008 for additional screening from neighbors. It looks as though nature is taking care of at least one more new bush! While picking up downed limbs from all the crazy high winds of late, I spotted this sapling which I believe is indeed a Silverberry Bush! I am happy with this discovery and hope to find more in time. But for now, I love my Bushes, Blooms and now SILVERBERRY BERRIES, In the Garden...


Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

I have a huge hedge of 'Pyramidal' Arborvitae I planted beginning in the year 2003. It has grown quite big and beautiful and does provide me lots of privacy and beauty in the winter when nothing else is green. However, I planted this hedge in the wrong spot and with the completion of the privacy fence I decided to move this hedge.

Let me explain why this hedge was planted in the wrong spot. At the time of planting I had terrible neighbors and my main concern was privacy. Additionally I did not want the hedge close enough to the fence so as to be damaged by the adjacent property owner. The chainlink fence itself suffered quite enough damage by itself without having a living hedge be destroyed due to vandalism. Therefore I planted the hedge about seven feet from the fence. The arborvitae themselves can grow to about 5-6 feet wide. I really should've planted the hedge only about four feet from the fence because I lost that amount of space inside of the hedge and fence. I really missed the space too because who is going to use space between a fence and 11 foot tall shrubs? Normally boundaries and privacy fences would be on the outside of the living area of a yard not set several feet into the yard area.





I felt pretty confident I could move this hedge pretty much by myself. Normally moving shrubs this big is not a recommended project due to the trauma mature shrubs suffer their mortality rate is very high. I myself have lost one or two over the years in part due to moving. But here is the caveat, these shrubs grow in a low spot where water tends to flow underground just beneath the roots of the arborvitae. The area almost always stays wet in the lower area but does dry out considerably on the higher ground area. The total length of the hedge was to be 35 feet. The higher end of the area had the shorter shrubs (probably due to less water and more tree root competition) and the lower end had the very large shrubs. The two shrubs I have lost from this area were both growing above the water level and so were not privy to a good underground source of water. By the time I realized they were in trouble it was too late. But now that I know of the situation I'll be able to monitor it more closely this summer so I decided to move these shrubs.





There were eight shrubs in total ranging from 6 feet to 12 feet tall. What was I thinking??? I was able to move four of the eight shrubs by myself. I don't even want to ever think of doing something like this again. I began by digging the huge holes to accommodate the rootballs. I then cut around the root balls being sure to stay outside of the canopy if I was able to do so. This meant I had about 30-40 inch rootballs. In order to be sure the roots were completely cut and to dislodge the shrubs I leaned them over. This part was easy.




Moving the shrubs and their rootballs over was not so easy. Here we are looking at the before the move photo. See all of that room between the fence and the arborvitae? I used to have some barberry growing here but have since removed it. Anything that is invasive or has thorns has to go and the barberry fit the bill. I used the chainsaw to take them out. If you look all the way down past the hedge you can just make out a swing near the fence. Just on the other side of the swing is the end of my property and also the pond that belongs to my neighbor. To the right of this hedge there was about a three foot walkway between this hedge and a hedge of crepe myrtles and a small picket fence. This garden is known as my picket fence garden and I grow only touch me nots, the arborvitae, and the crepe myrtles in it. I wanted a bigger walkway so that the crepe myrtles would get more sun, I'd have more room to walk, and the yard would feel larger in this area without the shrubs infringing upon the space.



Ah, here we go. All moved and back into place-kind of. In order to move the bottom four shrubs I had to get my neighbor to come over and help Mr. Fix-it and I. What a big job!! The rootball with the trees must've weighed 300 pounds a piece and it was tough moving the shrubs over. Fortunately we did not have to move them far and were able to drag them into place pretty well. The hedge is now an even 36" from the privacy fence and each shrub is 48" apart. They should grow together nicely and recover in a few years. Can you see the swing and pond now? A much better view now I think and more breathing room for me and the crepes.  I wish I had taken a before shot on this side of the arborvitae but just now realized I did not. It's hard to tell just how much more room we've gained with moving this hedge over.



The last time I moved some of these shrubs was in 2008. It also happened to be the year of the Master Gardener Garden Tour. My garden happened to be on the tour and I vividly remember I had a bunch of ropes holding these shrubs in place so that they would not fall over. I learned from prior experiences that without the roots to anchor these tall shrubs into place these shrubs will easily blow over. Blowing over is not such a big deal because I can usually set them up easily, but each time a shrub blows over the rootball is set back again. To prevent blow overs I have anchored each and every shrub in two different locations with more ropes. Not the prettiest thing in the garden but definitely functional. In a year or so I'll be able to remove the anchors and I'll still (hopefully) have a beautiful green arborvitae hedge....


in the garden....

And to think I am publishing this on April Fools day! Everyone beware...in the garden... and have a great weekend!



Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

They talk about Curb Appeal on shows about selling your house. They say, Curb Appeal is the first thing a buyer sees. Well, not so true with me as the first thing I spotted was the front porch!



I wish I did not have to clip it as it turns all yucky brown for a week or so until the new growth appears. But as you can see, we have a brick retaining wall behind the hedge. I must keep the hedge clipped below the wall or it will over take the wall and I don't think that would look good. What do you all think?


Keeping this thing clipped is a pain in the back and arms. My dad gave us Electric Clippers and I do use them. But I prefer to use the old fashioned choppers as they do a cleaner job with less stress on the leaves, thus less browning. I don't really mind the spring clipping as it is not humid yet and I usually do it at my leisure. But the first clipping of this year was painful on me as I had been doing other back breaking projects beforehand.

We really do enjoy the look of the hedge but it is so much trouble keeping it clipped. I usually clip it about 4 or 5 times per year depending on how much rain we have. Spring and Fall are not that bad but in the middle of the summer, it darn near kills me! With the last few clippings, I have done one side one day then the other the next day to ease the pain a bit.

I think the hedge sort of frames in the house and keeps the retaining wall from being exposed. I try to keep the hedge one brick below the wall. I sometime wonder just how high it would get if I stop clipping it...?.. I also wonder about cutting it back to just about a foot high but I don't think I could deal with the bare look for two years before it took off again. But I would not have to clip it for a long time! Ah... The Saint and I have talked about taking it out and starting over with something else but we fear we may destroy the paved driveway and that would be an issue. So in the end, we only talk. The Hedge stays where it is and I moan and groan and keep on top of the Hedge Clipping....

Any Suggestions?

The 'Red tips' are absolutely outstanding this year! Even my little red tip has done so well it is blooming! This is the first time in the nearly five years I have had my red tip that it has bloomed. Let me tell you a little something about red tips. When I returned from Iraq in July 2003, the first thing I began doing was planting, in EARNEST. I really went kind of wild with planting. I had not been able to do planting like I wanted to the whole 20 years I was in the Army due to the constant travel and moves around the world. Sure, Mr. Fix-it and I owned our homes while we were stationed stateside, but we always knew it was only a temporary home, until we hit Fort Campbell.


We diligently hunted for an acceptable house that would not only house our family (then a 16 and 7 year old), but would house us for the rest of our lives. After much hand clenching and stress and frustration while living in an on base guesthouse, we finally found 'our' home. Both boys approved, especially the oldest, Brian. He was to get a master suite all of his own! As a bonus, it was downstairs; which I am sure made him happy because he was theorizing about sneaking out at night and being able to sneak back in too! We know those teenagers-huh Brian?!


Anyhow, we finally got our home and moved in. Come August it will be seven full years we have lived here. We have always, always loved our home. Every bit of it. For me it has mainly been the garden and the land, all one acre of it. I do certainly love the inside and there is nothing I would change about it. That never happened in my previous homes. There was always something I would structurally change in those houses, but again, they were only temporary. We are permanently home.


The one thing this house did not have was boundaries. Out here one yard seems to extend into another. This bothered me. I wanted boundaries and structure and I wanted to feel safe and secure in my paradise. All of my previous homes were in subdivisions (easier to rent out when we were stationed elsewhere) and had boundaries. Now I come to the red tips. Red tips are evergreen, fast growing ornamental shrubs. I had a hedge of them when I lived in North Carolina in my very first home. I was fortunate enough to buy that house from a few people who just happened to like to garden. Lucky me! The red tips were my favorite as they were planted in the front yard between my neighbor's house and mine. They were well maintained and large and colorful. They made a perfect boundary while still being friendly and beautiful. Back when I bought that house in the 90s, red tips were very popular. It seemed every single yard in North Carolina had a few red tips. They were so popular they were overplanted and became prone to disease. Leaf spot. Red tips have somewhat fallen out of favor since the 90s because of overplanting and leaf spot-but not for me!


I bought the pictured red tip as a little guy in a one gallon pot almost as soon as I stepped off the plane from Iraq. I planted it in this "Northside Shrub/Mixed Border" and forgot about it. Each year I would note it was growing, and growing fairly steadily and nicely. Occasionally I would hand prune it for shaping and for fullness. Now, like with children, I look at it and see it is full grown! How did that happen?? It is the perfect foil for structure between my neighbor's yard and my yard even before I added the privacy fence. If I could, I would probably plant a whole hedge of these red tips. They are really not practical for me though because they prefer full sun; whereas I have mostly shade and NO full sun anywhere on my property. Despite this fact, the majority of the red tips I have planted (somewhere in the neighborhood of one dozen) have done well.


Red tips, Photinia fraseri, are super hedging and accent plants. They can get to 10-15 tall and wide, especially in full sun. I see them around town as an accent or specimen plant and very few hedges of them. Too bad as they are great hedging plants. The fungus induced leaf spot is not a major problem. The leaf spot will NOT kill the shrub and I find it only to be a minor inconvenience with aesthetics. I do not spray or treat my red tips and hardly notice the fungus. It is there though.

When you drive around town in certain areas, and around Nashville you might not easily identify the red tips because they are covered with white flowers and are in full bloom. They don't look quite like mine in the picture above because this one had not yet come into bloom and even now it has sparse blooms due to the shade it is located in. I have never seen such a glorious display of white flowers on red tips as there is this spring. They are truly outstanding.


in the garden....