On our recent road trip west, I found myself looking at the scenery with an eye to how I might improve my miniature (mostly) conifer rock garden at home. I'm including some shots from the Black Hills of South Dakota which was the area that provided the most inspiration in this regard.
I took a few photos of the rock garden just as the sun was coming up this morning. Obviously there is a much more varied plant palette in the little garden here at home... were there a lot more space I could well imagine a number of bonsai-like conifers of the same variety laid out much as the forest in some of these photos. To a certain extent, my white pines which back the rock garden accomplish this, except they are anything but small and will get much bigger over time and for that reason will have a limited life span (demise ala chainsaw).
My cousin shared a number of pictures of the bonsai collection at the National Arboretum with me awhile back and I share a few here... over time there are a number of conifers and dwarf deciduous plants in the rock garden that may start to take on an appearance of maturity while still in their relative youth with the appropriate pruning and I look forward to experimenting, pruners in hand.
Given time, I suspect a certain facsimile of what has taken generations to create in bonsai might be possible with the use of miniature conifers, as long as very careful consideration of every cut of the secateur is taken. I have also incorporated a few dwarf conifers into my composition but so far their growth is also very limited, most likely do to huge restrictions in root space between the rocks and I look forward to developing these as well.
Perhaps the biggest limitation in this sort of garden is ability to give the sense of mature bark on the trees as in the case of these photos taken in the Black Hills... so far I don't have a rock impression of a George Washington overlooking my work either...
This little white pine at the forefront of the picture below holds a lot of potential for appropriate training. Already over ten years old, Pinus strobus Joe Libbey will work well for accomplishing the look I desire, and it's time to start wiring some of the branches as in potted bonsai...
Just to the left of Joe Libbey, Pinus thunbergiana 'Yatsubusa Watnog' holds great promise as a foil for its white pine neighbor. If allowed, this Japanese black pine would eventually evolve into a rounded shape with dimensions of four feet. Starting next season I will begin to candle in order to achieve the shape I prefer. This was purchased as a miniature, but the new growth does exceed the 2" limit for miniatures. Pictured about four feet beyond the pink crown of thorns is another pine that excites me with its potential for training. It is called Pinus contorta 'Spaans's Dwarf' and it naturally starts to look like a bonsai after only a few years. the secret here is to keep it open and loose in its growth habit and it should be very rewarding down the line.
My rock garden involves a number of plants that may eventually need to go. I've incorporated a number of sempervivums to retain the soil on the steep banks and some are way too vigorous. In the photo below, junipers that will easily overgrow the site, will need to be pruned or moved before long. While I haven't specifically shown them here, I've also collected a large number of miniature dianthus cultivars than give the impression of mounds of moss and should be effective in this garden for a long time to come. There are numerous other miniature conifers not yet mentioned here, perhaps one of the most interesting is Juniperous horizontalis 'Blue Pygmy, the new growth of which is absolutely miniscule.
For a quick look around other parts of the gardens, I'll include the following... Brugsmansias are blooming like crazy... as noted before, Inca Suns are in the cattle tank and the third photo is of a variety whose blooms may turn pink in a day or so... then again it may be Charles Grimaldi although I didn't realize I'd saved Charles over the winter... we'll know soon enough...
I grow lots of elephant ears so I can cast concrete leaves... just need to get to it one of these days!
This is surely the season for Verbena bonariensis and I've allowed it in many spots throughout the gardens... a little extra color certainly can't hurt a conifer area such as shown here...
You may recall that I grew cuttings of a number of non-hardy succulents for the second cattle tank and added a few cacti to the mix... they are looking quite good just now....
The following photo shows the area where I've planted many altheas... there's no telling how many I've lost over the years, but finally I am experiencing some success in addition to the three small flowered doubles that have done ok for a number of years and can be seen with some good height behind the 'David' phlox...
Many of the altheas that I added last fall deteriorated a lot over the first winter, but they are now coming back and blooming well as in the case of the ones pictured below... I really have a sense that this struggle has been won...
In closing, I want to mention that we had the most wonderful 3/4ths inch of rain last night and what a difference it has made... the storm came on powerfully at the very moment I was reading on the internet that there was a 0 % chance of rain here for the entire night... hmmm...
One final picture... would you believe that this silly light colored dahlia blossom is just short of nine feet in the air? I have no idea what got into it as divisions from the same parent tuber are barely two feet tall in other areas of the garden... another hmmm...
See ya,
Larry
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét