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