My Gardens, My World - Hammock Area, Rain Garden, & Ditch

 

In this post, I am sharing a relaxing area at the property line bordered by the road where I put up the 45 year old hammock I made to enjoy the shade from the redbud trees.  Most of the backyard can be viewed while swinging which includes the main Rain Garden that is partly in the sunshine.  I will end the post with a few photos of the Ditch next to the road to identify many native plants on this wild side up to the next main shade area under the oak tree.  There is a sloped lawn between the hammock area and the oak tree mostly in the sun.

Pussytoes will have cute white flower heads soon.  They are located at the base of the north pole of the hammock.  There are Star of Bethlehem by the broken pottery pieces and rocks that have already come and gone in white blooms.  Both are native to Missouri.

Sedum is in full yellow bloom now in mid-May.  This ground cover is in many areas of the landscape; sun and shade.  It is easy to grow and transplant.  It can be walked on and mowed over.

The blooming yellow sedum is in abundance here as access to the dry mulch bin is used a lot at times.  It is an open area should anything large needs to be moved in or out of the house lower level without damaging other plants.  It is now the largest opening to access the property from outside the property lines.  Behind the bin are contained Solomon's Seal as the deer really like to eat them.

Solomon's Seal is mostly container with hog panel wire but plants escape and are available for the deer to enjoy and keep the area tidy with my hammock is use. There are lilies-of-the-valley and sedum all around.

Solomon's Seal blooms 

Common Native Violets are scattered in many areas

Early spring has native Virginia Bluebells which are gone by the time the hammock goes up here.  The foliage from surprise lilies aka naked ladies can be seen dying back in the background.  The pink lilies will come up in August here for a surprise!

I've had mixed success growing ferns under this redbud for several years.  With only a couple returning this year, I went to the woods by the river and found a bunch of ostrich ferns growing wild that I transplanted here recently. 

These are the first pipevine swallowtail caterpillars I noticed this spring.  There will be dozens.  Many will survive and stay in the yard as butterflies.  Their host plant is the Dutchman's Pipevine.

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

 

Dutchman's Pipevine is a native host plant in Missouri for the pipevine swallowtail butterfly.  It grows well on the hammock post.

Dutchman's Pipevine is named for the June bloom which resembles a pipe.

New hosta plants with day lilies

This little trail through the hammock area has newly planted native hydrangeas and a hybrid oak leaf hydrangea transplant from the mother plant in the from yard named Alice at the corner.  To the left will grow the surprise lilies in August.

This native hydrangea is 3 years old with the new hostas on the left and the Dutchman's Pipevine on the hammock pole above.

Four more native hydrangea have been planted this spring from the mother plant nearby to create a new hedge along the little hammock path.

Native Lamb's Ear also grow along this little hammock path.  It will grow a purple spike bloom later.

Overview of the major Rain Garden in the morning sunrise looking northeast.  The rocks are roughly laid in place with concrete on two sides. This Rain Garden catches the rain overflow from the north side of the house.  It is in full sun. All plants come back every year.

Rain Garden corner looking towards the Hammock Garden. Plants close to the lawn include the yellow sedum ground cover, a hybrid blue hydrangea at the corner, and three blanket flowers.  The larger shrub is a hybrid oak leaf hydrangea in its third year and starting to bloom large white flower clusters.  

Blanket Flower Arizona Sun; Gaillardia

This view of the Rain Garden shows a native Button Bush in its third year. It will have round white ball flowers.  The backyard is a sloped lawn that ends at the ditch which runs along the road.  

North corner of lot looking south along city street which leads down to the Pomme de Terre River.  The white pipe in the center is a sewage pipe trap where it connects our house and the city. Any problems with the city causes the sewage to overflow here into the ditch instead of backup into our house.  This happened one time when we first moved here and was corrected with this trap.

This view of the Ditch is wild for the most part.  All excess irises, day lilies, lirope, and whatever else I don't transplant from my gardens ends up here on this steep bank between the yard and street.  There are many native plants and weeds.  We have tried to keep out tree saplings, honeysuckle, and briers.  The original builder and owner of this house had this steep bank planted in crown vetch in 1978.  There is still some in the ditch but I have worked hard to keep it from invading the attempts I made at gardens along this edge and just keep it mow back in recent years. Below are some plants that I started and just let go wild in the Ditch Area.  Most are now native plants.

Variety of Irises

Common Milkweed and Joe Pye Weed

Spiderwort and Lamb's Ear

Spiderwort Bloom

This view is from the Oak Tree Area looking along the Ditch Area north. Recently planted are several service berry shrubs along a rock wall.  Then there is a row of Stella D'Ora deep yellow day lilies. This Ditch Area is full of Yucca Plants and orange day lilies aka ditch lilies.  We also like to keep sumac shrubs here for the fall color.

Yuccas in full bloom with closed-up day lilies to the left and Stella D'Ora lilies in front.  Lirope are along the sidewalk.  This is a sloped lawn. 

Stella D'Ora Bloom

 

  

My Gardens, My World - Around the House; Shaded Northside

A cast iron black crow sets at the northeast corner of the house over a drainage garden next to the sidewalk in a shaded area. P. Allen Smith has a thing about black crows and had them for purchase at his Moss Mountain Farm outside of Little Rock, Arkansas where we toured on one of our trips to that state.

This is the view of the Shaded Northside where the backyard and northside sidewalks meet. We had planted a row of native redbud 6" saplings over 30 years ago a couple feet inside our property line.  They typically live 30-40 years.  There is more top growth now and many of the lower branches are dying.  They provide shade along with this side of the house for most of the day.

 

This view extends from the property line where there is a dry compost area with a bin made from half a livestock feeder ring.  It is located downhill which makes it easier to wheel-barrow landscape refuse from the front and side yards.  There is a wet compost area on the other side of the landscape near the vegetable gardens which easier to carry kitchen scraps. The dry compost is sifted into the blue barrel each year after it decomposes and is used for mulch and garden soil.  This year I got five 50 gallon barrels full!  I also keep a rack of small wood pieces here for the chiminea.

This is the shaded drainage garden that the black crow is looking over.  There are blue ajuga ground cover and pink dianthus planted here that stay low.  I have planted a pink ice plant (delosperma) this year and hope it does well along with the other perennials.  This area is located by the door of the shop in the lower level of the house.  Rarely, the rain comes down so fast and hard that it overflows the roof gutters. Rainwater is diverted away from the back wall of the house with a concrete drainage ditch and drain next to the door that leads the water under the patio through a pipe that pours out onto the back sidewalk.  This photo shows the drainage from the roof gutters at this northeast corner.  This visible drain also catches excess rainwater that may run downhill along the sidewalk.  It mostly drains under the concrete in a pipe that pours out into the second herb garden close to the back sidewalk then into the lawn.  Basically, all rainwater is diverted towards the main Rain Garden which will be shown in another post. 

This is my hosta garden as viewed from the corner with the black crow looking northeast towards the front of the house.  The hostas had been split and new ones added last year.  It had been overgrown with some very old plants. Hopefully, the new ones will fill in and have more varieties that bloom at different times.  The sidewalk shows how very steep it is as the main floor of the house is at ground level in the front yard; the lower level is a full walk-out.  The full lower level has concrete walls on three sides.  

Across from the hosta garden is a sedum ground cover that blooms yellow flowers and tolerates being walked on and mowed over.  It spreads very easy and is located in many areas. to fill.  The redbud tree boundary continues along the property line into a Hammock Area which I will have in another post along with the Rain Garden that can be seen here at the end of the sidewalk. My original native hydrangea shrub can be seen on the upper right in this photo and in the photo below. It is just starting to bloom large white flower clusters. I have transplanted three more offshoots from this mother plant here to complete a row.  There are five more offshoots taken from this mother plant located in the Hammock Area and Rain Garden.  

In front of this mother native hydrangea is where native Virginia bluebells have come and gone now but I have include a photo below from when they were in bloom a few weeks ago.

Full native hydrangea shrubs with redbud trees and lilies-of-the-valley are on the left side of the sidewalk and the hosta garden is on the right next to the house.  View is looking toward the front yard.

This view is from the front yard looking to the back yard at the property line.  Rainwater from the front gutters is guided to the sidewalk away from the house.  Any overflow is absorbed into gardens on either side.  There is a Rain Garden at the bottom.

Lilies-of-the-Valley bloom early and leave a fine dark green foliage ground cover.  The plants are well-contained with the sidewalk on one side and mowing with the lawn on the other side. The scent is highly fragrant.  I enjoy them tremendously whenever I walk along this sidewalk in early spring!

My Gardens, My World - Around the House; Backside

The Princess Project

What better way to begin my garden journal in its 40th year than with the completed and  final major project?  Today is Mother's Day 2026.  I had wrote about The Princess in previous posts which I inherited from my mother by way of her maternal uncle. One year ago, I took the 40 pound bronze sculpture to be appraised at Grant's Farm in St. Louis, Missouri during the PBS Antique Roadshow.  It had been in a dark place since my mother's death in 1993 and in my childhood home under the dark stairway since her uncle's death in 1957.  It is here now in its final resting place in the light watching over me in My Gardens, My World.  I have added a Bohemian garden flag representing my heritage with my parent's homeland, Czechoslovakia.  I have also included two old glass lamps my father had found and liked but never used in our home in Virginia.  I will likely add other memorabilia to enjoy this space close to my heart and home.

The concrete steps in the above photo are the last concrete pour from our mixer that has been instrumental in so many landscape projects over the years.  The first project was a concrete pad for a dog pen shortly after we moved here in 1986.  After the Britney hunting dog named Toffee was gone, the pad served as a foundation for a garden shed.  The plants seen here include creeping Jenny (yellow-green) as ground cover that comes back every year in the stone block planters.  I buy a variety of annual coleus that grows well in this partially shaded area. Closer to The Princess are tall pots that I buy different annuals for each year.  Now it has sweet potato vine (yellow-green) and purple petunia plants for the fill & spill with red geraniums for the thrill aspect.  There are also the same petunia and geranium in the hanging planter on the wall behind The Princess.  The second tier stone block wall is a sitting area to view the gardens and enjoy a fire in the chiminea.  There are long roasting forks hanging on the wall alongside the magic hour (sun/moon) metal wall art. The Princess sets on a stone block pillar I built that has a time capsule sealed inside with childhood memorabilia.  The stone block wall at the top of the steps contains a garden in full sun.  There are two blueberry bushes to the rear which should produce this year hopefully as it is their third year.  I have several native rose poppy mallow vines as ground cover in this boxed garden along with spring bulbs such as crocus, tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths.  I keep a clay saucer with marbles scattered here and there around the landscape to retain water for pollinators and butterflies that visit.

I will continue with all the separate garden and landscape projects immediately Around the House but this post is about the Backside only.  The above photo is the southwest corner.  The house and a large oak tree shade the backside of the house area morning to mid-day but this corner gets little shade except for the blueberries against the wall that are more protected. It is easy for me to dump used coffee grinds from the above deck to keep their soil acidic. I can water all of it by standing on the deck above at the end of the carport. The rainwater from the roof gutters lead away from the house into a separate raised garden. 

This is the view of the south corner looking north along the backside of the house.  We have a full walkout lower level with a sidewalk between the stone block planters and the grass yard.  Along the sidewalk we planted lirope (monkey grass) which has a blue spike flower in late summer.

View of backside of house from middle of center steps off patio looking south.  This area is mostly shaded from the oak tree and house.  The coleus do very well here.

View of backside of house from middle of center steps off patio  looking north.  Two concrete pots on either side of the steps contain large clear and rose quartz crystals obtained from Arkansas. This is a full afternoon sun area past the water hydrant.  It was planted last year with gladiolas and dahlias which should be dug up and stored every winter but were left in and came back this year. I have planted coleus this year closer to the steps as the oak tree has gotten larger over the years and now mostly shades this portion.  We also plant four different herbs near the north end by the shop door which makes it easy to cut for cooking use. Cilantro is self-seeding, sage usually comes back most years but basil and rosemary need new plants each year.  At the corner are lemon thyme and chives.

Blooming Sage

Lemon thyme & blooming chives with a drainage area in between from a pipe laid under the sidewalk.

Blooming dahlias come in a variety of colors

Full view of backside of house close to noon in mid-May.  The large oak tree casting the shadow in the above photo moves the shade over the deck as the sun sets in late afternoon.

Next post will describe the area Around the House; Northside.