Garden Groundwork at the Blue House

 It's been a while since I've written a blog, but it's not because I haven't been busy, it's that I haven't been out taking any photos for a while now. And the reason for this is actually quite exciting. The Northern Shenandoah Valley Master Gardeners Association selected my garden for the garden tour this year. Each year, they choose an area and this year is Warren County. A group of them came to the house, the day after we arrived back from our English trip, to assess the garden. It was a mess, mainly due to the fact that I don't cut any of my plants down after summer, leaving the dead foliage and seed heads for wildlife to eat or hibernate in. And the group realized this, and also realized that my dream for the final garden wasn't yet complete, but they loved what I've done so far and wanted to showcase it as a work in progress and an educational garden. They gave me their decision in January, the Blue House would be one of 4 properties on the tour in June, and from then onwards, it was a lot of planning, work and money to try and get the garden close to the vision I had in my head. I had originally planned to come near completion in about 2-3 years, but the master gardeners convinced me that my garden was good enough for the tour as it was. But obviously, anyone who knows me, knew that I saw this as a challenge, and from that moment, I strove to try and achieve as much as possible before the big day.

My first project was a vegetable garden, fenced, that I built during the end of winter, filling the raised beds up with compost, manure, Shenandoah topsoil and shredded mulch, so the soil could work together for a few weeks before I was ready to plant. I still need to build a gate for it, which is on the cards for this weekend.

The beds are now full of veggies growing, but not as fast as I'd like, but this is the same with all gardeners in the area, since we've had a cool spring. But the peas have taken off and are very happy, climbing up their trellises and ropes.  I'd done some winter sowing over the first few months of the year, so had small plants to put in the beds, baby beets, parsnips, cabbage, squash, beans, broccoli, plus lemon balm, lavender, sunflowers and herbs to plant around the edges. I've since added tomatoes and peppers, dill, rhubarb and spinach.  And you can also tell from the photo, that the camper is now blue. It looks a lot better than the previous red, and neighbors have often complimented it.

Then once the temperatures reach a steady 50F and there were no more freezes, the plants were deadheaded and pruned, and then annuals purchased for pots. Every weekend, I'd go to native plant sales and visit nurseries to buy more plants that insects, bees and birds would love. I had so many gaps and empty areas around the front and back garden that I wanted to fill. For the garden tour, I wanted my flower beds to be alive with vegetation, flowers and buzzing critters. I'd spent the winter scouring local flea markets for cheap or free items to use in the gardens. From old vintage chairs, to planters, to glass and pottery, I'd been collecting and painting, so I had decor to compliment the plants.

I hired a young lad to come round and remove the grass from this slope. The area behind it, up to the gate, had taken me 3 years to remove the sod, dig over and plant. This new bed was the biggest area that I've transformed so far, and the steepest. Once the sod was removed, I then dug it over with a fork, removing more grass roots and mixing with topsoil. For the first time ever, I put shredded mulch down too, to protect the soil, help keep the roots of new plants damp, and discourage weeds.. This will be the only application of this, I'll be relying on the new plants to cover the area within 2 years and dead leaves from each autumn to fill in the gaps. The older beds  are established and have only a few weeds, which I leave, since they're still beneficial to wildlife. After all, weeds are simply what us humans regard as 'unwanted plants', but it doesn't mean they don't serve a purpose. I had hundreds of dandelions blooming in the early spring, and as the bees began emerging from their underground tunnels, this was their first food.

The older beds have filled out well now, and beginning to bloom. One of my favorites, Sneezeweed, is a mass of bright golden blooms bobbing in the breeze, and I've planted more in the new bed. This beautiful flower on its own is loved by many kinds of bees, bee flies and beetles. It's a little too early yet for butterflies. The white baptista is a host for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.

This weekend, I'll be attending my last plant sale to fill up the new bed and a few other random spots, and from then until the tour date, it will be just nurturing, as well as other DIY projects that I still have to complete. I'm still going to be on the look out for more free rocks and logs. The driveway was looking like a builder's yard with all the 'stuff' I'd acquired for free over the winter, but thankfully, that's nearly all been utilized now, and the drive is slowly looking tidier. 

The rocks and logs, that are already in the garden, have begun to serve their purpose. I created this area in a shady spot at the side of the back garden, using old bricks, rocks, broken flower pots and logs. We've seen a few garter snakes, a toad, skinks, all creatures that love dark, damp places.

The pond I built 3 years ago has become a haven for insects and birds. Everything is growing well, so much so, that I need to move the iron heron I placed there a few weeks ago; it's now barely visible. A redbud tree, that had been trying to grow under the fence for 2 years, with me continuously chopping it back, has won its battle. I let it grow this year, and it's spurted upward, spreading thin branches over the pond. It will gradually become more upright as it gains maturity and strength. In the front garden, I had the same issue with a mulberry tree, but last summer, decided to let it grow. It's now a magnificent bush, and should produce berries next year. Both of these trees are native to Virginia, so the insects and birds will use them.

I sit down on the job when watering the new plant bed. The sneezeweeds and an obedient plant wilted every day after being planted, but with a good soaking each night, they've now got their roots entrenched in the soil and will be OK. I will be watering the garden every evening before the tour date.

Here's a few photos of other areas in the garden, but I'm not giving too much away before the Big Day. I still have the veggie garden gate to build, a fence to make from old doors, and some tile work to do, but I'm on schedule and hope to be finished in a couple of weeks, leaving the last few days for weeding and one-on-one encouragement chats with the plants. I've had to remove a black walnut tree, since it makes the soil below impossible for anything else to grow in, and I found a healthy clump of poison ivy under the spirea, which had sent out runners. Thankfully, I'm not allergic to its oil, but I still wore gloves to remove it. The highly invasive tree of heaven has been determined to get a foothold in the garden, with tiny saplings springing up all over the place, but I have them under control. And a poke weed, which I allowed to grow a couple of years ago, keeps popping up around the hydrangeas, from seeds the birds dropped. I have allowed one to grow by the cemetery fence since the birds love the fruit so much, so will be pulling up young plants for a few years to come.

There are only 3 weekends left until the tour day, and I'm getting nervous, but also excited. It will be a privilege to show my front and back gardens, and I intend on making it more educational by placing boards around, explaining what I've done, and why. There will also be lots of seating areas, in the sun or shade, hoping folks will want to sit a while, to listen to the pond bubbling, or the insects buzzing, or to simply chat.

There will be another blog after the tour, with a lot more photos, and for me, a few days spent with my feet up, relaxing and enjoying the garden, with a few glasses of red.

The tour date is June 24th, 9am - 4pm, and tickets are only $10 to see all 4 gardens. Tickets can be purchased on the link below, and incidentally, both of the photos shown on this page are mine, taken last year in the gardens.

https://nsvmga.org/events/garden-tour/

The featured gardens, including the Blue House of course, are here:

https://nsvmga.org/events/garden-tour/featured-gardens/

Urbexia and Abandonments in the Arctic Air

 A couple of weekends ago, I met up with our small group, Urbexia, in Harrisburg, PA. It was an easy drive with little traffic, a Stephen King audio book to keep me occupied, and the 2 hour journey flew by. I met the crew at a diner, which turned out a pretty decent breakfast, and with full bellies, we began our exploring trip. It had been a long time since just us four members had been together on our own without any other guests, and it worked out well, we were all able to pile into one car, that one being Margie's, since all their stuff was already heaped in the back.

We were planning on exploring a long time abandoned school in the city, parking on a side street in the silent neighborhood, and then strolling around the grounds, but with no big cameras that would attract attention, just our iPhones.

It was blustery and cold, yet the sun was shining, creating incredible lighting for photos, which would have been great if we'd had our cameras with us, but we snapped away diligently with our phones regardless. I'm particularly fond of the one with Emily and Margie, skipping through the brambles. We held up phones to take photos through windows that rose above our heads, but the results yielded nothing exciting within. We roamed around the exterior, finding that the building was sealed up like a drum. Which was no loss really, the inside, already gutted, hadn't been photo worthy. We were in a dodgy neighborhood, and spotted an SUV parked on the road, with its hatch wide open but no movement from within the car. On the school grounds was a blinged out Jeep, with the shiniest chrome wheels I'd ever seen, and its owner polishing the exterior, while occasionally looking across the road. I had my own ideas about what could possibly be trying to transpire here, but being my usual nosy self, asked the polishing dude, as we passed him, why he was polishing his car in this odd location. He looked up for a few seconds and then responded, "Because it's peaceful." Alrighty then. I smiled at him and we walked away, behind the building, to see if there were any photo opportunities, and we weren't remotely surprised to discover, that when we returned a few minutes later, he'd gone.

We'd spotted some kind of shrine across the road, so ambled over to investigate, drawn to the Moorish architecture and colors, and half hoping it would be abandoned. But of course, it wasn't.

This was the Zembo Shrine Building, built in 1928, a masonic building, with the shriners raising money for children's charities and hospitals. 

https://zembo.org/

We peered through doors and inspected the grounds, taking time to snap a couple of group shots on the icy stone bench against the building. Richard and I decided to strike an Egyptian pose outside the huge tiled doorway, but then wondered why, since this was a Moorish architectural style, resulting in us laughing even more.  Looking through the glass, the interior seemed to be untidy, and knowing the building had once been on the market, I wondered if the shriners were managing to raise enough money for their charities as well as the upkeep of this building.

Back in the car, we stopped for a quick snap of this Lustron house. I'd only read about these a few months ago, intrigued by their popularity. About 2000 of them were built after WWII for returning GI's. Made of prefab enameled steel panels, they were low cost, easy maintenance, and very durable. Even though they were well built, production delays, escalating costs and bad planning led to the bankruptcy of the Lustron Corporation in 1950. Many of the homes remain today, and are even sought after. It was grand to finally see one first hand. Wish we could've gone inside, but this particular home didn't look very well maintained.

I found an interesting article on them, here.

 Our next stop was another school, again unused, of a neo-gothic design. With tall sky-reaching towers and incredibly intricate brickwork, it broke my heart to see this old Catholic school abandoned after just 100 years use.

 

Although its academic teaching standards were high, it failed to stay open, and from peering through the doors, it seemed its last function had been as a haunted house a couple of years ago. I did find a report from 2021 where the building would be used to provide recreation and further living skills for the local youth, along with other parts of it being converted into commercial space for offices and restaurants, but it seems those plans have fallen by the wayside, since 18 months later there's no sign whatsoever of any development, and the completion date had been projected for late 2023.

We drove on to our last exploration destination, an old lunatic asylum, which ceased operating as a mental hospital in 2006. Many of the buildings are empty but there are also a lot of them still in use.

We wandered about, taking phone shots of whatever piqued our interest, in my case, a stack of light bulbs, and a hilarious smoke detector sign. The wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped, but we pulled up our collars and walked about the grounds.

We only saw a few people, smoking outside a building, guessing they were staff, and a couple of joggers who trotted past us. The grounds were being maintained, pruning was evidently being done, freshly sawn boughs lay on the ground and orange tags were on some trees. Newer looking signs had been added to empty buildings, but we couldn't find any open doors, or see anything that even beckoned us inside, apart from one room, with interesting machinery and tools. We came across another couple, who like us, were looking through windows and snapping phone photos. As we got in the car for the last time, a security guard drove up behind us. We carried on forward, and he followed, waiting while we went down a dead-end road, turned around and came back, and then he followed us again until we drove off the site. We didn't mind. The day had got colder and windier, we were ready for some hot food and beers.

 At Emily's recommendation, we stopped at Pizza Boy Brewing, where the multitude of craft beers was overwhelming, but of a most excellent quality. A huge calzone went down very nicely too. It was dark when we emerged, the temperature had dropped even more. Hugs and farewells, accompanied with promises to get our little group together again soon. We'd had a lot of laughs throughout the day, even though we hadn't really achieved our goals, and it had been fun to catch up. I was getting tired as I got into my car, yet my audio book, and the easy drive down the highway to home kept me awake.

The Lonely Tree

Ever since I've been coming to Front Royal, before I moved here, I'd always been intrigued with a little tree that juts out from the mountain skyline, and is particularly visible when you enter Front Royal from the north as you drive over the bridges that span both forks of the Shenandoah river. I've spent many a car journey entering the town, and just staring at that little seemingly forlorn tree that stands alone, looking the exact same in any season, and just simply looking lonely. It had always affected me, making me feel a little sad as I stared up at it, despite the fact, that of course it's not lonely; there's millions of trees up there with it. And maybe it wasn't lonely, it was actually a bad-ass rebel tree, that wanted its own identity, thank you very much, and if it had to stand aside and have it's own silhouette, then it darn well would. 

So, I was exceptionally pleased when one day while scrolling through Facebook, I found a post on The Lonely Tree, and behold, many, many people loved this little fir tree, and many also crossed those bridges, peering up at the mountain skyline, and imagining their own story line about the little tree.

The now famous tree stands proud about one mile up before Dickey Ridge, on the right hand side. There's no actual overlook there to stop and park, but it's clearly visible by the stone wall as you drive past.

People uploaded a few photos and explained what the tree meant to them, and I realized that there was a Lonely Tree Community!

I was amazed at how many people had been touched by this tree. There's been a local beer named after it, people have had it tattooed on their arm, and a couple of people in town have created their own artwork of it. There were hundreds of comments from folks who made a point of visiting it regularly, had their own name for it and some had even scattered loved one's ashes there or got married under its boughs.

Some of the comments follow:

One guy has been telling his granddaughter that the Grinch lives there.

There used to be a smoke stack next to it. I remember seeing it as a girl.

My Grandfather use to call it "The Lone Sentinel" as it looks like a lone soldier walking down the mountain.

 

That tree is such a landmark can see it when crossing the bridges coming into Front Royal ❤️ makes me kinda homesick !

It’s definitely a loved sight and tree in this community. Living out 619 my entire life, I look forward to seeing it everyday I pass the livestock. A local artist Tiffany Budzisz did a fabulous portrait it. “The Lone Tree” 💙

https://artvalleyva.com/products/lone-tree-skyline-drive

My dad is laid to rest at that tree. ❤️ It warms my heart to know others love that spot as much as us.

 

 

Mawmaw’s rooster tree 🌲

When my son was small he thought it was Barney the dinosaur 😂

We've called it the rooster. It's my front porch view. Love it.

In Grade School, I Remember It Being Called “Man On The Mountain” 😅 

 

That’s my husbands tree. He called it his tree. He died in November. Can’t look at it without thinking of him. My stepdaughter even had it tattoed on her arm.

Pretty sure everyone is aware it's "just a tree". As you can tell from the comment section it's way more then "just a tree" to many people.

So many of us have been fascinated by that tree 🌳. My late husband would point it out and wonder...it is a reminder that even in a forest full of trees it is possible to stand out OR to stand alone. Perhaps it reminds me of the creator who put it there for a distraction from all the craziness going on around us.

OMG...that's been my tree for years...I have showed it to my family and told them you ever want to know where Mamaw is I live right under that tree...You can see it coming into town from many directions and when you get into town you just need to look up for it on the drive and there it is...I am so proud of it because it has been my friend for many years and I hope it has many more...

I got married at that tree. we call it the Wedding Tree ❤

I’ve always called it Frank.

My wife and I named it Mildred when we first got married. Idk why but it’s always stuck with us. I work for Amazon and move all over but when I come home to visit family we always say hello to “Milly” as well

My dad loved that tree. He passed away in November. Michael at Tried & True Tattoo blessed me with this sweet memory. A good friend also gifted me with the painting shortly after he passed. It hangs in my hallway between two pictures of us from my wedding. I can also see it from my living room window. It’s a very special tree. - photo

I got married there at sunrise. Nothing could have been better, we had three deer that came out and just watched us the whole time. When we were done and started walking they walked away too.

I think it’s awesome that this simple little tree that I’ve seen sooo many times means so much to many. I will never look at it the same. ❤️❤️

A couple years ago my girls asked me why that giant always stands in the same spot and never moves they was 5 and 7 so I went w it lol. The other day the oldest seen it and she asked the next time we go to that mountain if she could stop by and thank him for protecting everyone in Front Royal lol...

 

I refer to it as my "help me tree." Based on Psalm 121:1-2 NIV

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

It helps me lift my head a bit higher when in the valleys and reminds me I'm not alone.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have been so surprised that so many people watched, gazed upon, looked out for, and revered this little tree. Front Royal is a small town filled with many kind-hearted people, a community that so often comes together for those that are less fortunate among us.All the monuments and special places in the town are respected and loved, so why on earth wouldn't this little tree that stands so proud on the skyline be an exception? Some people even suggested creating a Facebook page for it. At least I now know, this little tree isn't really lonely at all.