Well today was the day of reckoning for the giant leaf castings. After laying them down on 3 cement blocks to be painted with the cement drylock and letting them bake in the greenhouse we rolled them outside to a shady spot and the beautiful colors of purple and copper have been added and its looks spectacular. After a day of drying I will apply the stencil which will read “Welcome to CopperTop Gardens”. Don’t know the color of the stencil just yet but am thinking perhaps black or white. Can’t wait to roll them around the garden and find them a most respectable home.
copper & purple paint
- first coat of paint
With respect to the gardening we have(BBBB) been busy beyond belief. We finally figured out what we were doing with the large beds in the formal garden. We were very happy 
to have found a supplier for the perennial we have been looking for to border the beds ; Germander “Tecurium” it grows to be about 10-12″ tall gets woody and stays green all year round. If not trimmed it will bloom a purple flower. However, we will not be allowing it to bloom we will keep it trimmed and compact. It looks absolutely beautiful. In the larger beds we have planted 85 in each bed. The pink garden took 28 we only bordered the front of the bed as the back borders a fence. We also bordered the copper bird bath. Now we just have the purple garden which will take approx. 40 as we will only do the front of that bed also as it has a natural fence of ornamental grasses. In the main beds in the formal garden we also pulled out all the perennials and replaced them with some interesting shrubbery, golden mop heads, espalier berry tree & golden barberry. We have the four large beds planted with bronze leaf red begonias. That is a first we will see how they do. That job took 2 days and consisted of 20 flats of flowers. We finished the pink garden yesterday that consisted of a half day of pruning the shrub roses that rest against the fence. OUch, that job was painful. We removed a truck load of dead wood from them and then layed down a nice 4″ thickness of sewer mulch. The plants love that stuff. Also planted a flat of pink petunias & pink geraniums. The three giant planters have been finished 2 with bronze leaf begonias and the other with Kong coleus, duck foot coleus, and just your run of the mill coleus. It has been difficult getting the planting done with the extreme heat. But I came up a genius idea. We opened the 12 x 12 canopy and move it about the garden and work under a canopy of shade. Smart huh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, that idea struck me as I was recuperating from heat exhaustion after working outside for 6 hrs on Mon, and then 7 hrs on Tues. That was bad I never felt so sick in my life nause, vomiting, diarrhea, and then the chills. Won’t do that again any time soon. The canopy prevented a 3 day loss of work. I would say we are about 65% planted and the home stretch is near. Everything is looking good and very pretty and we are very please with the changes that have been made.
to have found a supplier for the perennial we have been looking for to border the beds ; Germander “Tecurium” it grows to be about 10-12″ tall gets woody and stays green all year round. If not trimmed it will bloom a purple flower. However, we will not be allowing it to bloom we will keep it trimmed and compact. It looks absolutely beautiful. In the larger beds we have planted 85 in each bed. The pink garden took 28 we only bordered the front of the bed as the back borders a fence. We also bordered the copper bird bath. Now we just have the purple garden which will take approx. 40 as we will only do the front of that bed also as it has a natural fence of ornamental grasses. In the main beds in the formal garden we also pulled out all the perennials and replaced them with some interesting shrubbery, golden mop heads, espalier berry tree & golden barberry. We have the four large beds planted with bronze leaf red begonias. That is a first we will see how they do. That job took 2 days and consisted of 20 flats of flowers. We finished the pink garden yesterday that consisted of a half day of pruning the shrub roses that rest against the fence. OUch, that job was painful. We removed a truck load of dead wood from them and then layed down a nice 4″ thickness of sewer mulch. The plants love that stuff. Also planted a flat of pink petunias & pink geraniums. The three giant planters have been finished 2 with bronze leaf begonias and the other with Kong coleus, duck foot coleus, and just your run of the mill coleus. It has been difficult getting the planting done with the extreme heat. But I came up a genius idea. We opened the 12 x 12 canopy and move it about the garden and work under a canopy of shade. Smart huh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, that idea struck me as I was recuperating from heat exhaustion after working outside for 6 hrs on Mon, and then 7 hrs on Tues. That was bad I never felt so sick in my life nause, vomiting, diarrhea, and then the chills. Won’t do that again any time soon. The canopy prevented a 3 day loss of work. I would say we are about 65% planted and the home stretch is near. Everything is looking good and very pretty and we are very please with the changes that have been made.Oh, and we also got the last street lamp up and the spotlights have been rewired and installed to illuminate the hedge row of willows & also installed the electric awning over by the fish pond. I think that is all we have accomplished so far. Stayed tuned for the follow up regarding the leaf casting painting. TTFN, back outside I go.
