Our Pond and Our Pending Garden Move

Starting a new journey in my life is a thrilling but a bit scary too. I hope I'll be able to keep you all up to date with it as we go along through the home build process and make our dream of living in the country a reality. One way I can share it is through gardening-of course! And through the land as well. The major change between our current land where we live and our new land besides the size, 59+ acres compared to one acre, is the fact that our new home will be built in a field. There are really no big trees in this field. In my current home the house is surrounded by trees and I love it! The current garden has been designed to work with the available light that does filter through the trees. I won't say it is totally a shade garden but it is primarily a shade garden. Now we will be moving to a large field with no shade trees and I am concerned about that. The good news is that there are shady areas on the new property. Our pond is a short walk through the field. Once you leave the field you enter a beautiful forest which leads down to the pond area. This pond is quite large and completely surrounded by trees. It is rare to find a pond in my part of Tennessee that is surrounded by trees. We are thrilled but will probably do a bit of thinning of the trees. The good news is that I have a good location to move a great majority of my garden to-prior to even building the house. I can picture hellebores, hydrangeas, hostas, merrybells, wildflowers, pulmonarias, ferns, and other woodland plants from my current garden moving into this location-once I get the path in place. A big job but I am up for the task because I know that this area will not be disturbed by the build of the home. The rest of the story is waiting to be written as far as the vegetable and perennial borders.

I would love to immediately put in the perennial and vegetable garden. I have even completed a garden design for the vegetable garden so I am ready. What I am not ready to do though is to definitively site the gardens. Building a house will mean installing a well and a septic system. Not only that but house building in general is pretty darn messy and traumatic to land. Patience is not something I have a lot of when I have to accomplish such a big task of moving my gardens. I plan to take every single thing I possibly can. Okay, maybe not everything. There is a lot I will leave but I do plan to take all perennials, most bulbs, and my specimen trees and shrubs that I can easily dig up. All hydrangeas will most likely go. I hate to leave Tiger Gardens bare and without its pretty clothes of plants, but honestly, with 282 trees and shrubs just in the front yard (according to my landscape diagram I finally completed) I don't think the yard will be too bare even with a lot of plants moving. Actually, I look at it as more of the fact that I am thinning out the landscape and making room for growth for whomever buys our home when we are ready to sell it. It might be sad if a gardener moved in here and realized so many plants were moved once they saw the landscape design, but honestly, what are the odds a gardener would move into this house? In my experience gardeners are pretty much made slowly. Buying a home with all these gardens would be overwhelming to even the most experienced gardener. Pretty soon weeds would take over and the garden would soon be mowed down. I can see it already. So, in order to avoid that disaster I will move as much as I can and hope the new home buyer never sees this blog. Or perhaps it might help them?  Who knows.

Our pond on the land has lots frog eggs. How exciting is that? Surely that will help assuage my impending feelings of loss once I start deconstructing the garden in earnest? Can you see them in the above picture?

The shoreline of the pond has lots of moss growing along it. I have no idea what else is growing there but I am sure I will be pleasantly surprised as the season changes from winter to spring. I can hardly wait! This area is somewhat rocky and full of roots but I suspect I'll be able to fit in some woodland plants.

One thing is for sure about our move, Mr. Fix-it is mighty happy. He can't wait to start fishing! With lots of frog eggs I would suspect there should be some fish here too. Still, even if there aren't I don't think that smile will ever leave Mr. Fix-it's face now that we are....

in the garden....

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

The Deer Help with Planting Daffodils in the New Tiger Gardens

Deer helping with planting a garden?? What?! Yup, you heard it right! Unbeknownst to most of you Mr. Fix-it and I are making a dream come true-okay, I did let the cat out of the bag in Wednesday's post. The dream is to purchase a lot of land-enough so that we will not have any neighbors. We found the absolutely very close to perfect spot in the next county over recently and closed on the acreage this past Friday, 22 February 2013. (It would be perfect if it was already fenced)

Today's post is about the garden to be-and deer and daffodils and a non-gardening husband who loves me enough to try! The picture above is of Mr. Fix-it and is a classic picture of him. He is contemplating all the garden work to come-of which I believe he is fervently hoping he is not involved in! That is not to be! Please look around the area where he is standing-look carefully. What do you see? A field that is overgrown and plum full of weeds, briar, and who knows what else. Then, look closer and you might notice some cleared areas. Do you know what could have possibly cleared the area? I'll give you a clue-it leaves lots of scat and likes to eat gardens. It is deer of course!

In my haste to move my garden from Old Tiger Gardens to the new Tiger Gardens, I decided to begin digging daffodils. Big mistake. I began digging the daffodils (approximately 1000-1200 bulbs of one kind-'King Alfred') prior to thinking about how hard it would be to plant them in the large uncleared field near where our home will eventually be built. It was a "WHAT WAS I THINKING MOMENT" when I realized it would be difficult at best to plant the bulbs prior to us clearing the field. Nonetheless, the bulbs were dug and really needed to be planted. So, into the truck we go to plant the bulbs-hi ho hi ho HI HO! The bulbs pictured above are not even half of the type I dug and I have three or four or five other types to still dig! OMG! I guess I've done a pretty good job of multiplying the daffodils here in Tiger Gardens because I never would've thought the count would be so high.

And just how do I know how many bulbs I dug and replanted? My garden helper Mr. Fix-it was my divider and conqueror. His job was to separate the clumps and lay them in the very overgrown field. While doing this he had to count the bulbs. Laying them in the field for planting did not go as I had hoped. Again, I did not consider the fact that the field was overgrown and would be virtually impossible to plant. Just look at all of the plant matter Mr. Fix-it is standing on. It is thick and strong.

Our solution was to use the trails and bed down areas the deer had 'so thoughtfully' prepared for us. This type of planting may turn out to be a mistake in the long run because even though the bulbs are massed they pretty much follow trails--so they are randomly massed. I may go back and fill in all the blanks where we could not plant or perhaps leave it as is. There are more bulbs coming after the field is cleared so I'll have to see how it all works out with the varieties I still have to move. But, if I decide to keep the 'King Alfreds' simply as they are planted in the deer trails, Mr. Fix-it and I will forever have a good memory of the property where the deer roamed....

in the garden...

The count for daffodils planted on our land to date is: 800 Division 1 (trumpet style daffodils), a 'King Alfred' type daffodil planted the weekend of 16 & 17 February; 50 'Rip Van Winkle' Division 4 (double daffodil), and 10 'Ice Follies' Division 2 (large cupped) planted yesterday. The garden move has begun! Wish us luck!

Don't forget my drawing tomorrow for likes on my Facebook page. I'll post the winner Wednesday on this blog, but will publicly post the winner's name on my FaceBook page once I have made contact with the person. It's not too late to like my page and get the chance to win a prize!  

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

Walking Along the Clarksville Greenways

Walking is the absolutely best exercise in the world-in my humble opinion. I try to walk as much as I can and many of you know I normally walk the Fort Campbell Clarksville Base Trail. Well, that trail has become a bit too long for me since I had an injury to my foot (avulsion fracture) in October of last year. That fracture and the resulting pain that lasted nearly five months really laid me low. I was unable to walk for exercise during my recovery. I'm happy to say I am now better and have begun walking again. I think walking, in addition to being good for your body, is also good for your mind-and who doesn't need that? I decided I needed to find a shorter walking trail than the Clarksville Base Trail because I did not think I would be able to handle the nearly 4.5 mile long walk right away. My next choice in trails to walk was to walk the Clarksville Greenway Pollard Road Trailhead. 


I was actually familiar with the route because my garden club (Beachaven Garden Club) has taken on a civic project that involves marking the wildflowers along the trail. As part of that project I have walked the first section of the greenway a couple of times but never have I walked it for exercise. Now that my foot is fairly healed I have been out walking the trail for exercise with my dear husband (Mr. Fix-it) and my one dog that can actually walk, Lady. The area is so very peaceful. The barn pictured above is classic Tennessee and only one example of the beautiful scenery you will see on this trail.

The right side of the trail slopes down a bit and here is yet another barn. I love the bucolic setting and wonderful field. The water in the distance is the Red River. The Clarksville Greenway is a walking trail that was made from the old trail of a railroad route that is no longer used. The trail follows the Red River according to an informative sign at the start of the Greenway.

The trail is all flat (at least the first mile of it is) and is wonderfully paved. Many Clarksville and local area residents walk or ride their bicycles along this trail. It is not uncommon to see whole families taking a stroll on a nice day. While the trail is flat the surrounding countryside includes not only barns, fields, and a river, but also some interesting rock formations.

The rock formations resemble rocks with warts-more rocks inside of the rocks. I think this is cherty limestone but do not know for sure.

The Greenway has a long beautiful bridge where you must cross over a steep gorge. The bridge is named the 'Raymond C. Hand Pass'. Both sides of the bridge contain plaques outlining Mr. Hand's many contributions to the community. It made for interesting reading for Mr. Fix-it. Lady was only concerned with the lady taking her picture-me!

And here is the long beautiful bridge. The gorge is quite deep. If you are afraid of heights you might feel a little queasy on this bridge but don't let that stop you from crossing over and continuing the Greenway trail as it is most fun walking it....

in the garden....

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

Visiting Callaway Gardens with the Family

On a recent visit to our oldest daughter's (she is one of two twins and happens to be older by one minute-I posted on the other twin Wednesday) home in southeastern Alabama Mr. Fix-it and I made time to visit Callaway Gardens. On this day we had time to visit just a few of the many parts of the garden, and since it was very cold outside we started at the Butterfly Pavilion. The cute little girl peeking out of the cutout is my thirteen month old granddaughter. You'll see more of her in this post. Her name is Adella.

Inside the pavilion it was warm and cozy. I easily felt as though I was in a tropical paradise like Martinique or something. Butterflies soared all around us but you won't see many in this post. I have saved them for another post to come up soon. There were SO many.

Being right around the holidays poinsettias were front and center in the pavilion. Adella seemed a bit fascinated by this display.

Here is Adella being held by her Grampa 'Grumps'-our fun moniker for Mr. Fix-it (he is not grumpy at all-I promise!). The adults were fascinated with the case of chrysalises but even though Adella was looking toward the case the soon to be butterflies really did not hold her attention. 

But boy were they amazing! I will show more of this display in my butterfly post. These butterflies were all in the process of hatching out of their chrysalises. Once hatched with wings dried they will be transferred to the big pavilion for all to enjoy.

People such as my daughter Christine and her daughter Adella....

in the garden....

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

More on the Windy City

We are still on our trip to Chicago and when we left off on Monday Mr. Fix-it and I were on a quest to visit the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Did you correctly guess that the building used to be called Sears Tower? I think most Chicagoans still call it the Sears Tower as we kind of got that impression while we were there. Neither Mr. Fix-it nor I knew its name had changed to the Willis Tower.

The wait to take the elevator to the top of the Willis Tower was about one hour long. Once we crowded onto the elevator it took only 60 seconds to climb all 103 stores to the top of the building! A recording said the ascent was at more than 20 feet per second if I can recall correctly. That was pretty darned fast! Here is a view from the top. Isn't it pretty? I have also visited the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris France and can tell you I much preferred the Willis Tower to the Eiffel Tower and for several reasons. Primarily the Willis Tower did not sway half as much as the Eiffel Tower. Also, getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower takes a much longer time than getting to the top of the Willis Tower. It is not such a short and sweet trip riding just one elevator up the Eiffel Tower. No, guests to the Eiffel Tower must ascend to a second or third level then wait for the elevator, then fight the crowds. European travelers are not as nice with lines as American are. In that you use a lot of elbows to maintain your spot in line or you will quickly fall to the end and not even know how it happened! The top of the Eiffel Tower is rather crowded as well. When Mr. Fix-it and I made it to the top of the Willis Tower it was not so very crowded at all. There was plenty of breathing room; for which I was grateful. 

Waiting to visit the SkyDeck on the Willis Tower did take a bit of time. Surprisingly enough though everyone who waited to precariously walk out into the plexiglass cube on the side of the Willis Tower was quite polite and considerate of one another while we all snapped photos of our loved ones. Mr. Fix-it tried really hard to get me to walk out onto the SkyDeck but I told him no in no uncertain terms. I am sure missing the experience will haunt me for the rest of my life but at the time I could not see putting myself through the ordeal of looking down 103 stories! You can see Mr. Fix-it had no problems looking down, but funny enough he gets scared climbing on our roof and I have to lead the way in order to get him to go on the roof!

An important note for veterans and active duty service members-your ride to the top of the Willis Tower is free. Be sure to let the ticket person know you have a military or veteran's identification card ahead of time. Both of our tickets were free but at only $17.50 the tour to the top of the building was quite reasonable.  

Not to be missed is the view looking down once you are on the SkyDeck. CAN YOU IMAGINE??

I had Mr. Fix-it take another shot of the nearby SkyDeck cubicle where you can really see just how precarious looking this cube is, but I have decided not to post it. The close ups of other people is not something I usually do on here. 

Can you imagine cleaning the windows on this building? A little tidbit about this building is that no one has to clean the windows! Engineers designed a robotic window cleaner that handily takes care of the task. 

Now we'll say goodbye to the Willis Tower and move on to the Lurie Garden. 

Here is a shot of a little out of the way seating area in Millenium Park. Can you spot the white box behind the tree? It is a beehive. We saw lots and lots of beehives not only in Chicago proper but in the Chicago Botanic Gardens too.

When we left the parking garage in Millenium Park (we parked our car here for $26 a day) we took a bridge that overlooks the Lurie Garden and I snapped a shot. The garden is actually located over the parking garage that housed our car. You'll see more of the garden on Friday. This blog is predominantly a garden blog but also serves as my scrapbook of memories. Visiting Chicago with my husband was a wonderful memory I shall treasure so of course I post it on this blog for easy access.

Another shot of Lurie Garden and the overlook to the Pavilion and Great Lawn....

in the garden....

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

Another Day Visiting the Luthy Botanical Gardens

We continue our tour of the Luthy Botanical Gardens in the fantastic sunny borders. Mr. Fix-it and I visited the Luthy in July--in the middle of a fairly long drought period, yet the gardens looked great. I think most of the plants in this area are drought tolerant plants and are well adapted for the location. This garden above flows nicely and has lots of textures and no ground showing. It is very interesting to me.

In another part of the gardens we found giant concrete chess pieces. Mr. Fix-it and I got a kick out of these because whenever we visited our favorite park in Germany (Luisen Park in Mannheim) we enjoyed playing life sized chess on the lawn. All of our kids know how to play chess and I think it is an important game for everyone. Playing it outside makes it fun!

I believe these berries were Cornelian cherries. They were awesome and if I recall correctly they did not taste bad, but they were tart. I hope to find a spot for a Cornelian cherry tree in my garden one day. They are very lovely small trees.

Garden art was a big part of Luthy Gardens.

I believe these nuts to be beechnuts. My sister Dawn posted on her beechnut trees years ago on this blog.

A beautiful viburnum. There was a whole viburnum collection at the Luthy. It was the first time I have ever been able to see viburnums en masse up close and personal. Viburnums are one of the most diverse plant groups in the category of shrubs and I haven't found one yet that I did not like. This collection was a very nice one.

I leave you with one more long shot of the tropical house. Friday will be our last post at the Luthy Botanical Gardens....

in the garden....

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

Visiting the Luthy Botanical Gardens in Peoria Illinois

Visiting gardens all across the country and even the world is a passion for me; though I don't usually make special trips just to see gardens. If, however, I happen to be some place new then I will almost always take the opportunity to visit local public gardens. If I am lucky enough to know a gardener nearby I might even contact them for a visit as well. My recent visit to Peoria, Illinois saw Mr. Fix-it and I visiting a public botanical garden called Luthy Botanical Gardens. We happened to be in Peoria Ilinois due to Mr. Fix-it's job. He has the great fortune to be able to travel the country to fix aircraft. I sometimes get to visit him in the various locations and I get really excited to not only see him but to see new gardens and learn about new plants. Botanical gardens and nurseries are one of the best ways a gardener can learn about plants before planting them in their own gardens. 

I took a lot of pictures at Luthy Botanical Gardens because even though this botanical garden was tiny by most botanical garden standards, there was SO much to see that the whole garden was a feast for our eyes. I have prepared three posts on the Luthy and hope you'll enjoy this small garden as much as we did back in July. Yes, I am a bit late on posting. 

We start with the tropical house situated in a greenhouse you must pass through in order to enter the gardens proper. Here I had Mr. Fix-it pose for a nice picture for me. I don't normally talk about my husband, but I must say he is my best friend and I love him even more now then when we married nearly nineteen years ago. He is a good sport to traipse through gardens with me as I am sure he'd much rather be looking at cars in a junkyard or some local car show rather than garden touring. Look above Mr. Fix-it's head at the plant and what do you see?

A couple of leaves with writing on them! I thought I had taken a picture of the data plate on this tropical plant but I can't find it. I seem to remember it being called a "Write on me plant" but can't find anything about that kind of plant when I Google it. If you know the name of this plant please let me know as I have no idea what kind it is. Many people have 'written' on the leaves by scratching in their names. The leaves heal up leaving white scars where the etching was done. As far as I can see the writing did not harm the plant. We did not etch our names into the plants in case you were wondering.

A bit thank you to Sharon from A Lazy Woman's Garden for identifying my mystery tree! It is called an Autograph tree, aka Clusia rosea.

The textures in the tropical house were nice. I liked all of the color as well as the texture. This greenhouse was not very big but was nicely laid out.

Once you exit the greenhouse you can see the centerpiece of the garden; this water feature.

On our way to the perennial and herb gardens we passed a boxwood hedge. I like the effect of these hedges and really wish I had room for one in my garden. I've seen several gardens around my town that does have the small hedges and they are very nice for edging perennial beds. The natural wooden trellis was also a nice touch.

While in the sunny perennial border I noticed Genista Broom moth larva happily chomping away at the baptisia.  I let the volunteers know and they in turn said they'd notify the curator. I tell you this pest has been very widespread this year and I've been hearing how many mature baptisias have been decimated. Even botanical gardens can get pests.

Here is a long look at the conifer collection.

How cool is this bench?

Woodland gardens have my heart always because my garden is more like this than a sunny perennial garden. The Solomon's seal is a real workhorse in shady gardens like mine and this woodland garden at the Luthy. Do you notice the geraniums in the foreground? I am heartened to see them growing in shade. I too have planted some in shade and find they do okay but are not as generous with their blooms as their cousins in the sun.

The last picture of this first of three posts visiting the Luthy is of leaf impressions in a concrete bench. The textures are really nice....

in the garden....

Tip: When designing gardens think about how the plants will look side by side when not in bloom-vary the textures. 

There is a lot more to come from the Luthy as I am able to post off and on in the next few weeks. 

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

My Husband

From In the Garden

 Mr. Fix-it meeting his first grandchild in the spring of 2007 in Evansville Indiana.

My husband Roger, aka Mr. Fix-it, is the most family oriented, wonderful, responsible man I know. He is my heart. He has recently retired from the United States Army after more than twenty years of stellar military service including several deployments and many long work days supporting our country's defense.

From In the Garden  Mr. Fix-it enjoying is hobby of fishing in Maine in 2008.

I sometimes wonder where the time goes to and am amazed when I look back at all the wonderful memories my husband and I have had together. We will soon embark upon a new venture. Mr. Fix-it has been hired on at Fort Campbell as an aircraft mechanic. This is basically the same job he did in the Army but he will now be a civilian. Being a civilian is a whole new world to me because all of my family is military and I know no other way of life. It will also be an adjustment for Roger as we enter into a new phase of our lives.

From In the Garden

 Mr. Fix-it and I at one of our last joint Army functions.

But no matter what the future holds for Mr. Fix-it and I in this new phase of our lives we will face it together and learn and adapt to new challenges and opportunities....


in the garden....

 Roger and Tina in Iraq in May 2003. Goodbye Army!

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

Visiting the Space Center in Huntsville

Command Module

From In the Garden

Where can you go to see spaceships? 

Jimmy. 5 March 2011

From In the Garden

Dig for moonrocks...

From In the Garden

See gigantic rockets and totally understand just how big they really are....

Elizabeth, 5 March 2011

Even pretend you are an astronaut.

From In the Garden

When real astronaut suits are close by.

Liz and Jimmy.

From In the Garden

You can even climb to the moon!

Mr. Fix-it.

From In the Garden

Someone can find you with the moon video explorer and you are now on television!

From In the Garden

See a moon lander and a gigantic wristwatch? Where can you see all of these great space related things? No where else but the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville Alabama. 

Mr. Fix-it, the Jimster, myself, and our daughter Liz all took a trip to the Space Center in Huntsville Alabama and had a fantastic time. The museum is quite large and had tons of stuff to do. My personal favorite was the IMAX. Wow on getting air sick without flying. 

For a limited time entry to the Space Center is FREE to active duty military and their family members. What a deal!

Seeing the Space Center and remembering our race to space made me remember where I was when the first American man walked on the moon. I was at my mother's knee in our little trailer in Maine. My mother laughed, and she cried, and she slapped her knee so much I truly thought she was nuts (I was nearly six years old)! I will never forget that memory. During all of this she was wondering if she should wake up my younger sister to also come and watch the moon landing. You remember it was broadcast late at night? We girls were usually in bed at the time. The moon landing is one of my earliest memories. Seems like yesterday sometimes.

Do you all remember the moon landing? And if so, please share your memory with us....

in the garden.... 

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