Late Fall Planting

Brad and I went to Rainfrost Nursery yesterday. We bought a few bushes and wanted to get them into the ground before it gets frozen. Our research online tells us that it is okay to plant in December before the ground freezes. The lady at Rainfrost said the same thing. Hope that proves to be correct!

We took a chance and bought rhododendron, knowing that deer may feast on them. Why is it that this plant does just fine up on the Blue Ridge Parkway? Aren't there lots of deer up there???

The second purchase was hydrangeas, our Christmas gift from Nina and Charlie. They are the Nikko Blue variety, which we've had at our last two homes. Brad put them in the lower end of the "pretty place" garden. He encountered many, many rocks, and theorized that when the house was originally built the unused rocks from the creek were piled here and covered. The rocks he dug up will come in handy to re-edge this garden area. The bush stems are a bit difficult to see since they are bare. I tried to catch the 3 bushes with the sun rays hitting them.

A few weeks ago I bought two hawthorne bushes on a ridiculous close-out sale at Lowe's. Would have bought more if they had been available. The goal with the rhododendron and hawthorne is to add some winter greenery to the yard.

I also bought these cabbage or kale plants. When I bought them the centers were white. Anne told me that exposure to the sun would turn the centers purple, and obviously she kneweth of which she spaketh!

We put them in the circle near where the large tree used to be near the house. We want to discourage driving and parking in the circle. This requires quite a re-training with our family, since the circle has been fair game for years.
This week I'll be working on Christmas decorations, and finishing gift shopping/ordering. Next week I'll concentrate on cooking.