Planting Our FIRST FLOWER BED - Ep. 029

[@raselbx]

You, Joey and Sander are really doing it right. I love it.

[@mariafolch8067]

I am thrilled watching you planting those beds around the house. I love that you provide the horticultural name of the plants, as well as some background of their origin, habitat, grow habit, etc. This video is just what I needed as I have been trying to figure out what to plant under my Japanese Maple. It is refreshing to see you crossover (for lack of better words) from house plants to garden plants. You are very knowledgeable and I am so glad I found your channel. I am also glad to see you being sponsored by Espoma and contributing a portion of the profits to your community. Thank you for taking us on this journey.🌿🌾🌱🌳🍂🦟🌺

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Hi Maria, thanks for writing in and letting us know that the content is meaningful to you. Very glad to find you here and that you're gaining much from it!

[@catbarnard2833]

Imagine spending decades of your life creating an oasis like this place and then having to sell, and worrying about what will happen to all of your trees and plants, and then Summer Rayne comes along wanting to buy! Jackpot! It’s so lovely to see you working around the plants that are already there and carving out your own little spaces in between the “residents” haha

[@sedumzz3289]

When i build my flowe beds I fill it in slowly by waiting for certain plants to go on clearance... I never thought seeing someone building a flower bed at once would be so satsfying!!

[@sarahhollingshead6289]

Beautiful ❤️❤️❤️

[@anastasiawak894]

❤️♥️❤️ such great progress. I’ve been working on my garden and feel your pride and joy and pain in the wallet hahah but on a much smaller scale. I just can’t decide what to put in my shade garden. These decisions are hard.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

What's so nice about many of these plants is that they spread rhizomatously and can really "fill out" a bed without breaking the bank. Yes, you may have to be more patient, but having a couple Cornus, Fragaria, Mitchella, Galium, etc. can really make a bed feel full in 2-3 growing seasons.

[@anastasiawak894]

Ooo thank you I will look in to those and add them to my list!

[@debbiefontenot9440]

I absolutely love your videos! You are, among other things, a landscape artist! I thoroughly enjoy your conifer pruning video. You created lovely bonsai-like garden trees. It’s safe to say you are a Renaissance Woman.

[@drekfletch]

If you like the documentation of having tags, you could collect them in a folder or scrapbook.

[@cherylanderson3340]

Love your plant selections, & see many I've planted here, plus a few I'd like to add, like the Cornus canadensis AKA Creeping Dogwood, which is the only one I had wanted since seeing it in a book, but never planted. I've never seen any for sale. My Foam Flower had finally just taken off, after about 5 years of surviving but not spreading very much, when I'd decided to hire someone to help me clean up the yard one spring. After she left, I noticed she'd ripped out all of the Foam Flower under an azalea, thinking it was a weed! So It's a good idea to put up labels & or have a map with pictures so you might be able to protect them from well meaning helpers. I've also had lots of plants just disappear. Some don't do well when overcrowded, & some are eaten by rabbits & groundhogs, so if years down the road & you suddenly notice - where's this or that, you'll still wonder where they went, but at least you'll notice & have some record of what you'd planted there. Now my new neighbor has planted a hosta right in the middle of a patch of yarrow I've been watching for about 5 years, which had finally filled out enough this year to help prevent erosion & provide a big, airy mound of flowers along the gritty strip between our driveways. Ugh. Wish I'd dug them up, but didn't know that was going to happen. You've given your new plants such a good start, & the perfect mulch, so.that they'll probably have enough moisture retention around their planting holes to survive their 1st summer when the heat kicks in. Toward the end, I was thinking of suggesting you place some stepping stones so you can confidently make your way over to & from the water spigot & hose, when you started doing just that, & saying why you were doing that. 🥀 It's going to look so pretty. That new planting area along the deck, in the background looks great too, deep in mulch. Oh - as for the clay - I had some areas of clay too, & was discouraged until I learned that working in Gypsum along with the aged manure & compost works wonders. After that, just as you're doing, adding layers of enriched soil & amendments, covered by an organic mulch. So I learned that clay is not poor soil at all. It can create problems for builders & gardeners & people who need to direct the flow of water on a large scale, but in the Northeast anyway., for gardeners, it helps to know that It's actually highly nutritions. Nutrients were captured in it, & have been held there, within its dense structure, since the time when it was formed in layers of silt, & then we can try to contemplate that during the last Ice age, most of North America was miles deep beneath sheets of ice. The use of Gypsum helps improve the structure of clay by allowing air in, as its tiny, open, ancient structures not only introduce the flow of air into the dense clay, since forever ago - it then becomes that which assists water to move through it, releasing & carrying nutrients along, & freeing them up after being trapped within the clay for literally ages, & then those nutrients are carried into the soils of our gardens. It boggles the mind...

[@KUYA222]

Amazing!!! That's astonishing! Keep it up!

[@cefcat5733]

You are a garden artist, can't wait to see the 'finished' growing garden painting by Summer. Good luck to not find very hard big roots waiting under the soil but that's fun too.

[@amyc9642]

Love the woodland mix of plants you chose. It's going to be gorgeous as it matures. Lots of great texture. You definitely know your stuff! One tip I learned working at a perennial nursery was about watering the base of the plant, not so much the foliage. So especially when you are watering in after transplant, get the breaker head right in there by each root ball. It also help to get rid of any air pockets in the planting hole.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We'll have to do an updated video on how it's filled out. Even after a week, it's starting to look fuller and more vibrant! Thanks for tips on watering. We ended up getting one of those pro hose heads you see everyone using at botanic gardens and nurseries that give the plants a nice soft rain shower. But we've been getting some GREAT rain for the last days of spring / first days of summer that there hasn't been much need to "water' these guys in! (Luckily) Because I guess last year was a drought.

[@rustysgarden5011]

Love that coffee in a beautiful morning

[@glendacox6540]

I’ve planted all of these....the woodruff multiplies nicely....actually all of them do. Great selections!🌸🌼🌺

[@swatch12345]

Great selection! Yeah don't forget to mix in some gold. Spiraea 'Goldflame' or 'Magic Carpet' would work. Maybe Carex or Acorus 'Ogon'. Viburnum davidii would be a cool textural difference. Something shiny like Azalea satsuki or 'Cherry Drops' might look good. Looks like fun!

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Nice selections!

[@sheilacasper2030]

The stone path finishes the area off very nicely.

[@MsJake199]

Beautiful! Excited to see this spot later on how it progresses

[@jesse7491]

Love your sites. You are spending so much money on plants and what the Espoma would cost you are getting into a Martha Stewart universe. We gardeners on budgets may feel left out. In Brooklyn your apartment was recognizable as a place we could identify with. Just the pile of bark mulch would be 600 to 800$$$ in my area. I will still watch because you are so knowledgeable and such a lovely human.

[@judymckerrow6720]

Thank you Ms. Summer and Sander, I love to see the strategy behind what other people plant,the why and where of it.💚🙃

[@kindashin]

can we appreciate sander’s talent and skill of how he’s able to capture every single moment? ive been watching since ep 1 and i havent found any of the episodes with boring unmemorable shots❤️

[@2prettyfunnythings736]

Great job flock. Looking good. ✌🏼🪴

[@TheBombson]

Its so interesting to see your work with outdoor plants now and I was already fascinated by the patterns in this humble start! 🧩

[@bryanhumphreys940]

Kind of jealous of your soil, but that's ok. I live in what was an ice age glacial lake bottom (Rocky Mountains), so having soil that's 50% by volume rocks is to be expected. They are really pretty rocks with a lot of colors, though. Seriously, I'm loving these videos from the new homestead!

[@LunovaLabs]

This lighting makes it really hard to see what’s happening. Can’t wait to see the property develop!

[@greatmarloes]

Aw yeah, 40 minute episode♥️

[@cath.lamontagne5357]

❤ absolutely lovely scheme. Bravo!

[@asianangie7209]

Love how you trimmed the acer,, the beauty of the white branches just pops! Also love the white viburnum among the burgundy foliage and house. Can’t wait to see updates on the plantings. I hope to find some cornus ground over, they look so cute.

[@aaronrdomanais]

i don't have a property yet but i imagine that i will use this video as a reference when that day comes. i recently bought a book about xeriscaping in a local secondhand bookstore so i recognized some of the plants here

[@ek1529]

This is going to be a crowded bed ;) Watch the Heucheras, though beautiful, they have a reputation of not lasting long...

[@nadineweiler7747]

Bed looks terrific....look forward to see how it develops! Really liked the explanation of your thoughts in planting.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We'll have to give updates. It started to flourish just a week after!

[@greatmarloes]

Just had a thought and figured I could just share it bc why not😅 As you probably have experienced working in/with nature is very good for the soul. I'd love to see you collab with a mental health professional who maybe studies/d the effect of gardening to share how helpful it can be to mentally heal☺️ Like I said, just a thought I had and wanted to share. Groetjes♥️

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. There are some really great programs around NYC on therapeutic gardening and garden therapy. We'll have to look for that version in this neck of the woods.

[@botanyboy5454]

I love Espoma and Proven Winners ! I loved when you said the Nativars. If the time or thought would ever come you might like to have some of the Sorority Sisters (Viola Species) HMU. A contribution if so liked? Doing a lil Viola species collecting myself. Maybe one day reintroduce the Parma Violets from the Tussie Mussie era.

[@Japanesemaplegarden]

If your Cornus canidensis doesn't get established, try out Gaultheria procumbens as a great substitute. Again I love Cornus canidensis but in some micro-climates it fails to establish because of summer heat where Gaultheria procumbens is a nice substitute.

[@lgarden7086]

Thank you so much for this…I love houseplants and outdoor gardening. This is just the beginning and I’m so excited to join you on your new journey. Trillium is one of my favorite spring perennials. Spreading it like you paid for it…I remember my first home I used free composted wood chips from the transfer station and my neighbor said you’re spreading it like you paid for it😀 I have compost bins now and I use wood chips as a brown and I’m wondering if it will impact my garden beds negatively or maybe not because by the time I use it it’s soil. Nice mulch I need some…. This is my first year using bio tone and I will be looking for the larger bag for my next purchase.

[@christophertaylor9826]

Great video please keep them coming.

[@oishd6077]

I am loving the aspect of using natives... I'll try to adopt it myself too , since i am planning on making a new bed soon 💚

[@Banano91f]

Thanks for sharing 🙂

[@swagatabiswas4176]

This is beautiful😍

[@tomdix8028]

So glad to see the bunch berries, i have begged the nurseries around me to carry them, just seems no ones interested in them.

[@MiuMiuG]

It look like this will grow into a beautiful natural bed. Gorgeous!

[@carmeloconnor3413]

You are doing great work especially for the next generation summer. Greetings from eire. Love to know if you are coming to eire in the near future 🙏

[@thunder402]

The flower bed looks wonderful. Its nice learning what is native to this area. Can't wait to see it all lush and full with new growth.

[@gcxred4kat9]

l'm a big native plant enthusiast. Gotta say, galium, bedstraw, isn't especially attractive when mature, unless l got the species wrong. Love your channel.

[@Eneri-neme]

I really love to see how you guys are working with what is already there, it's a much more realistic aproach and it's giving me a lot of ideas, of course, being in the south of south america, jajaja, the natives are pretty different but is nice to see, nevertheless.

[@Japanesemaplegarden]

Your spruce looks like Picea abies 'nidiformis' common name birds nest spruce. In areas of heavy snow they tend to be less mound like especially with age and look more like a birds nest. PS I love Cornus canadensis as I grew up going to the upper peninsula of Michigan where it's native too.

[@deedeequast9148]

So inspiring and illustrative. Thank you! Could you please specify the date when you planted these beauties?

[@KaleiPlants]

Love seeing these plants and the idea of planting native ones on the area! Would it be possible though to get some of these plants from the forest and replant them on the beds around the house? Or is there some laws against that? 😊😅

[@tamarawilcox6954]

Check out the research of Dr. Linda Chalker Scott and the Garden Professors...fresh arborist wood chips are the best mulch, and as long as they are not mixed with the native soil, they do not pose a nitrogen depletion problem. They also recommend not adding fertilizers when planting unless soil tests show a need.

[@jeanneamato8278]

Great choices familiar with all. Bare root plants should be held in water till you plant. Roots dry out quickly.

[@maureenmalchan7510]

Am loving it! going to follow along with all the growing!

[@JeraldBaliteTV]

Excited for more bed plantings and updates on ur farm

[@blunderbuss1395]

the 'galanthus' is actually leucojum aestivum!

[@sandylee1717]

I’m learning so much here!

[@gaynellewilliamson2954]

Luv it, get it sis!

[@susanpratt4061]

I love cornus too! Great to see if being used. Would you be able to do a video on true small plants for those of us with small space landscape.

[@leilawerner5620]

Looks to me like you should think about removing that pine tree while its still somewhat small because the roots will eventually not be good for the house foundation.

[@maevandorpe6617]

You should use an auger on a drill to dig your holes.

[@arunbangera2]

Can't wait to see the updates in future episodes!🤞 Lake is the water source for all household and gardening purpose? Sorry if i have missed updates on this in earlier episodes.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Well this is a very wet area here. Groundwater is particularly high, so it's a combination of rain, springs, and such.

[@amyjones2490]

You would love battery operated power planter. Its such a big help when you are starting a garden.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We'll have to look that up!

[@samchow9119]

Just a thought. Take a photo everyday for a year of the bed, and compile into a video.

[@josealeman332]

Lots of work but look so pretty :)

[@SHARONSHORTOrchidsandGarden]

You guys should invest in augers for making holes in the ground. They come in all different sizes...

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We have some of those that fit into your drill. A back saver!

[@SHARONSHORTOrchidsandGarden]

@@FlockFingerLakes 😊

[@iwishiwasamyduncan4797]

buy a drill augur bit for digging the soil. best purchase ever

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We definitely have those for the bulbs!

[@jimini1976]

Some species of bees like to make nests in the ground under the cover of plants and shrubs. The only warning the bees give is by stinging you. Hornets also like to build nests under decks and within thick shrubs. Just a warning to anyone spending alot of time doing what Summer just did :)

[@judymckerrow6720]

With the Japanese maple being so lush I’m just wondering why you planted so much beneath it. Won’t it be hard to see what’s growing under there? 💚🙃

[@FlockFingerLakes]

The maple loses it leaves in the winter and only starts to come in early spring, it's so nice to see some of the early spring bulbs, ephemerals and others pop up under her skirt. Plus a little peek-a-boo of the ferns between her and the Picea make for a nice "ruffle"

[@danlit7018]

Oh and im nearly on the verge of creating my smoothie company, though, i want to give it to a kitchen and let them do it. I talk too much its good to see you well. x cul8r.

[@2to-tango]

The conifer is too big, it's too close to the Japanese maple IMO. Cut back at least a third? Great property! Love your videos! 💕

[@kristyc1046]

Where the heck is Joey? I want more Joey,LOL. Nice video loved it.

[@altamiravivencias9868]

Hi what a beautiful day there. I’m wondering if you’ll have to do this every year. Will the plants survive the winter?

[@FlockFingerLakes]

These plants are all cold hardy and perennial, so will have no problem coming back year-over-year. If anything mulching and thinning will what we'll have to do.

[@altamiravivencias9868]

@@FlockFingerLakes 💕🙏🏻😘

[@cefcat5733]

If you have chickens, or get any animals, please find a way to protect them if there are coyotes there now or in the future. Coyotes form packs and do great sweeping damage to most other species, sheep, etc. even dogs. Saw this on a farm from a KZbinr in Iowa in June 2021.

[@judymckerrow6720]

Mr. Ray!💚💚

[@cefcat5733]

@@judymckerrow6720 zacktly! 😊 That was not so good. Coyotes maybe dig under fences. He will find a way.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We have zero tolerance for chicken loss, so we'll try to build Fort Knox to protect them.

[@cefcat5733]

@@FlockFingerLakes Please do that. My Mom said the coyotes were in the city park already in Wisconsin about 2010.By now they could have migrated to the east coast. 🐺 Maybe the bear will scare coyotes away but raccoons like eggs too.

[@arttreestick7434]

You'll be making the manure yourselves? Lol

[@melatn]

The Japanese maple steals the show. Would be great to know if anyone manages to grow it in a small space like a balcony. Also, I've written a poem that mentions Summer and some of my other favourite gardeners. It's called 'Dreams of a balcony gardener'🌱 and its on my channel, enjoy.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

She truly is a beauty. Japanese maple in general can be trained to be great bonsai and container plantings. There are specific varieties that are even smaller in stature, so those should be looked into. We just got a smaller one for another garden that doesn't get more than 4 ft tall and spreads about 6 feet wide.

[@melatn]

@@FlockFingerLakes thank you, will sure try it.

[@harveisterharveister3830]

amazing wiman!! i want to work whith she!

[@terencetuer3403]

Are you going to plant a vegetable garden, or berries.

[@summerrayneoakes]

We'll plan to do more edibles in spring of next year after we fix the deer fence :)

[@elizabethpeterson7955]

What agriculture zone are you in?

[@summerrayneoakes]

Zone 5a - 6

[@agnieszkakowalska6352]

I love your videos, but little bit shorter plis:) 💚

[@riawhetstone3725]

Would chickens eat the ticks? If they do, that would be extremely motivating for my husband & I! 😣

[@FlockFingerLakes]

chickens, guinea hens, and opossums are incredibly good at eating ticks.

[@triciascott9254]

You need garden gloves. Lol. Those look like welding gloves.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

These are called rose garden gloves. We have been doing a lot of work pulling barberry and multiflora rose, so you definitely need some extra help blocking those thorns. Welding gloves also make an excellent substitute for gardening in and around roses or removing multflora and protect your forearms.

[@bettenotap4791]

Did I hear correctly, you have sweet woodruff in your forest? I wouldn’t think the prior owner would plant non natives in a natural forest, that’s disheartening.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Hi Betty, we have native woodruff (also called bedstraw) in our forest. Galium triflorum. You don't usually find that in cultivation ... usually only in native plant societies. The one I planted is often sold under "Asperula odorata" but it's in the genus Galium, like our native one.

[@triciascott9254]

Pull that horrible Juniper ground cover. They attract red spider mites that will infest the entire bed. Also, they stink like cat pee.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

There's some juniper in the other beds, but not this one. We don't mind juniper though. The cones provide a nice source of sustenance for the animals in the winter. And cedar waxwings seem to love them!

[@ajjamung1314]

I love the gender neutral y’all. Do you even say that in your neck of the woods? 😝