Dayna's Landscaping

Here are a few more areas where ornamental grass was dug up.  Reynolds Office Building, Farm Machinery Building and the Gus Fonner Rotunda.  I finally got to the point that I could do one area each season, so I wouldn't have to face all of this in the same year. Newer Divisions at Reynolds Building - 2017 Old and new grass at Reynolds Building- 2017 Gus Fonner Rotunda - 2020 Farm Machinery Building Again 2016 Are you tired of looking at grass?  I am!

 One of the most physically demanding jobs is to dig up ornamental grasses, divide them with a sharp shovel or handsaw, and replant them.  If it's not done at least every 4-5 years, then they don't look good and are soon overgrown and die in the center.  They are extremely difficult to remove after 5 years!   Step by step process every 4-5 years.  This was the second time of doing this in my seven years here.  The first time was in 2016.  It is now 2020.  

When the grounds are mowed, the arboretum can be beautiful without the flower gardens and landscaping.   As with any property, some trees will need trimmed or cut down for the safety of the visitors.  Others trees need treated for disease or insect infestation, but that doesn't usually happen because it's too expensive.  Going forward, a variety of disease resistant trees native to Nebraska should be planted.  So far EAB, Emerald Ash Borer has not been found in Grand Island, NE.                                                

After digging out two old juniper shrubs, I amended the bed with better soil because it was predominately sand.  It's on the north side of the building, so it's shaded most of the time.  What do I plant? I planted lava rock! Spirea shrubs failed, so solar rock was added and various perennials planted.  They did grow, but were definitely not the right plants.  It just seemed like a mixed variety with no theme, so I tried something different. Now, it is two catmint plants in the background, and three Arizona Sun perennial blanket flowers in the foreground.  I liked the Mesa Yellow blanket flowers planted the year before, but they winter killed.  It seems that I'll have to plant fresh blanket flower every spring as they are sensitive to our harsh winters.  They are only $2.99 each at the local Ace Hardware.  It's a cheap planting.  

 The entrance gatehouse is the first building visitors stop.  They pay admissions here.  This area used to have daylilies.  The property gardens are full of daylilies!  I removed them and decided to go with a prairie themed area and planted an ornamental grass.  I started with lava rock, but was told to keep it all uniform and place the remaining solar rock there so that it was all the same after the renovation.  I agree. I planted Shenendoah ornamental grass.  It spreads under ground and gets fine, reddish seeds plumes later in the summer. This is the area after the grass and solar rock were applied.  Hopefully, it will look good as it grows.

      The area near the entrance to the Hornady Family Arbor was under construction in 2014, so it was a mess.  With a volunteer, we removed most of the plants from this very large area. The yellow daylilies were left in a semi-circle and the pink daylilies were moved to the center front of the Rotunda beds. After everything was removed and most planted to grass by maintenance, the garden was much smaller and manageable.  I planted hostas, goldenrod, asters, sedum and joe-pye weed.  They were growing in other areas of the property.  No money spent!  The area was mulched. This is the first season in bloom for the new garden plan in 2015. A different volunteer and I planted sedum from a different spot to this area.  Everything filled out after 4 years.  The center of the semi-circle has always been annual flowers.  The goal is to have that area be perennial, also.   Red tulips were planted in 2018 to provide some spring blooms fo...

There are iris and daylilies planted here.  There are plenty of weeds, also.  It looks very messy, so I decided to dig up all of the daylilies and just have iris in this location.  Now, it appears less weedy and people can focus on the antique tractor a little easier.

 2014 - Yikes!  I could only plant what was given to me starting the job in mid-Summer 2015 - My second year on the job was pressure because of the Grand Re-opening of the Stuhr Building and a quick flower bed fill was necessary.  Supertunias (petunias) don't like sandy soil, and are expensive!  I spent the entire summer fertilizing them. 2016 - I dedicated my third season to adding perennials from other gardens on the property, so it wouldn't cost so much to landscape every year.  This is an annual/perennial mixture.    2017 - I continued to add perennials, and they are starting to fill the flower beds.  Profusion zinnias are the annual filler flowers. 2018 - Changed the annual colors to yellow in the foreground as the perennials continue to spread.                                           2019 - Decided to go with white zinnias this year, wh...

 A spot of Yucca near the Fonda garden could be removed or showcased.  Because yucca is drought tolerant, I decided to keep it.  This property is basically on an old riverbed of sandy soil.  Every year,   Yucca is "yucky" to spring clean because it gathers so many leaves, and is wet and moldy at the bases under the long foliage.  I tried to plant flowers in the front to make this area look better for visitors during the busy summer months.  They didn't do well because of the dry, sandy, infertile soil. I added Autumn Joy Sedum from another location because it doesn't require much moisture.  There is a sprinkler behind this spot, but it doesn't catch the water which works out fairly well. Every year the yucca and sedum get larger and will need divided when they start to merge.

The plan here is a good one.  It's hot and dry in this location, with no water.  Iris and daylilies fill the bed and can certainly take the heat.  They need dug up and thinned out.  The brick walk has grass and weeds in the spaces, also. This is how it looks currently after everything was dug up and divided.  Iris and daylilies stop blooming if they aren't thinned out every 4 or 5 years.

 In 2014, the entrance to the arbor was a hodgepodge of plants.   I decided to weed and remove plants that didn't look right in this area.

I dug up one clump of Karl Foerster grass from home and divided it into eleven little pieces and planted them in early summer. It kind of looks like a grain, so I thought it would look good here.  Since it's basically a shed with antique machinery, I decided the fewer plants the better.  I decided to remove the plants around the building.  I wish I would have a photo of all of the "before" here.  I removed two huge Ravenna grasses as well as other plants.