My Certified Wildlife Habitat in Pittsburgh Old blog

Winter Gardening

With all that went on this summer I did not get the chance to blog much about my wildlife habitat. I have cleaned up the beds and have a lot of plans for the next growing season. I figured that even though this is not part of my wildlife habitat, I would try to blog about my indoor non native house plants. Just because it is winter does not mean I have to stop gardening. During the winter months some of my tropical house plants go dormant or take a rest. I also have plants that start to really show off and are at their peak during these months. Amaryllis, Paper whites, Albuca, Orchids, Peace lilies, and many other winter flowering plants. Right now my Amaryllis are in bloom. They started in mid November and will bloom probably through January or February. I also have Paper whites that I hope will be blooming for Christmas and New Years. I have Several different Orchids sending up flower spikes, and my Albuca is also sending up a new Flower spike. I figure I will discuss these for the next few months and also share anything that happens with my plants outside. Even though we have had several frosts and some snow flakes here in the Pittsburgh area, I still have some plants that are still flowering outside. I have daisies, marigolds, Iris', roses, forget me not's and Mums blooming throughout my yard.

Here are some pictures of my Amaryllis that are blooming right now, and some other photos of what is happening with my indoor gardening.

My bedroom Bay Window area with Amaryllis in Bloom.

Closeup of Amaryllis

New flower spike on corkscrew Albuca.

Loss Of Endangered Native Plants because of Home Depot.

I have Home Depot putting a new roof on my house they are doing the roof soffit fascia gutters down spouts and wrapping the bay window and dormers with siding. It is a huge job and I understand there will be problems. I even expected there would be a few plants that would get damaged but the workers do not speak English and just look at you when you tell them to be careful around the plants. The roof was not done right and I had to have them put in writing that they would come back and do it the correct way. Never hire Home Depot they just slap new shingles on the roof and do not address any of the issues that are wrong with the roof in the first place. I just got a cosmetic job on my roof. I was promised the work would be done a certain way and they tore my roof off then said they do not do that kind of work I was told they would fix some things before putting new roof on but then said they do not do any kind of structural work after promising it. I am estimating that they destroyed about a couple of thousand dollars worth of landscaping and they are not done yet. This does not include the native endangered species that I can not replace. Again I warn you do not have Home Depot install a roof for you. Look on line at all the complaints about the work and people not able to get things fixed under their warranty.

 Corners all pull out and leak

 Gutters put on wrong and warped.

 Left a big mess for about 3 weeks till I had to clean it up myself.

 Crap thrown all over my yard the neighbors yard and the church parking lot.

 Ripped my hand railings out of concrete on both sides of steps.

Crap thrown everywhere. Never use Home Depot home service to install a roof.

Very Unhappy About Home Depot Roofing Project.

I have not posted any thing new for a while because of the construction going on with my roof. This has been a major project and The roofers are not doing the job I was promised. I had to stop work for the last week because I needed them to do stuff right and was not going to let them continue till they did what they were supposed to do. They have killed a lot of my landscaping even though I have told them to stay away from certain plants. They killed several rare and endangered species of  native wildflowers that I will do not think I will be able to replace.  They also killed off some of my Blue Sea Holly (Eryngium Planum). They threw a ton of crap on it then pulled it up when cleaning because they thought it was a weed. It took me a long time to find this and the place I got it from does not carry it anymore. I can not wait till the roofing project is done so I can get back to doing my yard work without a bunch of idiots destroying everything.

Big changes every where

I did a lot to the yard to prepare for the roofers and moved a lot of plants away from the house to try and save them. I took all of the iris and other tender plants from in front of my porch to the side yard where they should have been safe. I also got a few new colors of iris from a friend and found some plants that are new to the yard that self seeded from some where.

New Iris (Recurring Delight) in my border with all the iris I moved from in front of my porch.

This was the mess the roofers made to my neighbors yard. I cleaned some of it up then made them clean the rest. I then went out with my shop Vac and cleaned all the broken shards of slate out of her lawn.

This is my front hand railing that the roofers tore out of the cement. I have asked them what they intend to do about repairing the broken steps concrete and railing. So far I am still waiting for a response.

More mess left in neighbors yard.

My Certified Wildlife Habitat sign has arrived and is put up proudly at the front of my border.

Wild strawberries taste great.

Back end of the border.

Back yard has run out of planting space till the roof project is done and stuff can get moved back against the house.

Another picture of the new iris

New roof and Masonry repairs.

I have not had enough time lately to post here because I have been getting a lot of work done on the house. I am frustrated with the roofers because they are not even trying to watch out for my landscaping and plants. I put my sign up for my Certified Wildlife Habitat and have been trying to protect my plants and yard from the workers doing my roof.

This was work I had done to the back of my house. The brick was all pulling away from the house because of the rotted out box gutters and downspout. The masonry contractor put new brick in instead of re using the old brick.

The new brick does not match and the grout lines are a lot thicker than the rest of the house. Even though it does not match it still looks better than it did, and I am not afraid of the brick falling through the lower roof.

Another look at the new brick.

Old roof coming off. The old roof was slate but I can not afford to replace with slate so I went with a dimensional asphalt shingle.  

End of day one the two deteriorating chimneys are gone and new roofing deck is put over where they used to be.

New roof from front of house. Next project is going to be soffit , fascia, and siding on dormers and front bay window.

Upper roof and back lower roof are done, tomorrow they will finish the front porch.

So much is going on.

This is my favorite time of year because my yard is exploding with blooms of color and there is so much activity.

Pink Bachelor  Button. This is an annual that self seeded from last year.

This Rose is so cool it opens Yellow with red stripes and eventually turns an intense coppery red. 

 Variegated Weigelia. This year it is full of flowers that start out white and turn pink.

 Peach Iris. I have several different varieties and colors and most are in full bloom right now.

 Yellow Iris.

 White Salvia and ox eye daisy.

 Oriental Poppy. These are everywhere in my yard and an old time favorite.

 Old Fashioned single Peony. This opens about a month and a half before most other peonies.

A favorite re blooming Iris 

 This is a Late blooming lilac. Almost all of my other lilacs have bloomed and are gone but this one has not opened up all the way yet. I also think it is a re bloomer.

 A grouping of Iris in front of my porch. I will have to divide these again and move some around.

 This orange Iris is one of the most intense colors in my yard right now.

 More Iris in front of my porch.

Been moving a lot of plants away from the house before roofers come to start work.

 Orange and yellow Iris.

 Dark red and white Iris. The white re blooms in the fall.

 Amethyst and Ice Centaurea. A newer variety of an old fashioned perennial.

 Centaurea also called Mountain Bluet.

 Rhododendron.

 Re blooming Iris.

 White Iris.

 Pink Knockout Rose.

 Iris and Poppies.

 Japanese Iris.

 Dark Red Iris.

The last of my Beauty of Moscow Lilac.