Grass To Osmanthus- An Update

A road trip yesterday resulted in the purchase of four more Russian tea olives, osmanthus fragrans. This should finish the job begun a couple of days ago to hide the silver chain link fence along the west property boundary.
The first one went in easily because there was a rhododendron in that spot, so the hole was already started. The rhodie was moved down the hill to an area among its own kind.

The shovel used for this digging was my grandmother’s spade. It is very old and the wood on the handle is brittle. It was being protected in the shed from all but light use but this job needed the extra length that this blade gives. There is boiled linseed oil to be applied to the handle sometime this winter. Daffodils were all around this area and were placed to the side to be replanted. Note the batch still hanging on the edge of the hole.

The shovel kept hitting something hard during the digging of the second hole. I thought it was rock but turned out to be a drainage tile of some kind. The tiles seemed to be made of some kind of pottery/cement product. No wonder it was hard for the rhododendrons to live with the large tile underneath. Now that it has been removed maybe the osmanthus will have a better chance. Nice clumps of daffs there.

All done now. The close spacing should allow for a quick fill in to hide that ugly fence.

The fothergillas were replanted in front of the osmanthus to add some color. Now we will wait for Mother Nature to take it from here. We have had good rains lately, the soil is moist and soft. This time of year is best for moving and planting shrubbery that is hardy to our zone 7a. Quite a bit of real hard core gardening was done today. We are feeling refreshingly sore from a job well done.

Tired but content,

Frances

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