Golden Privet and Fall Aster Maintenance

Last weekend I got a lot of garden chores finished. It's amazing how much you can get done when you don't have the Internet to distract you! :)

Nonetheless, I am happy as a clam in the pre-oil spill days, to report that I bought a new computer and am back posting in real time.

One of my weekend chores was to trim the fall asters to about half their size. They get about 5/6 feet tall and are rather unruly---slightest rain storm causes them to flop, so I like to shorten them up. Here is a clump before its haircut:

and after:
I will probably cut it back once more around the end of June. Then I will leave it alone so it has time to form flower buds. Cutting back may cause the bloom to be a little later, but to me that's better than having them all on the ground after it rains.

I have two golden privet bushes in this garden. I like the constant limey-yellow foliage color.
I decided I needed one right where the red X is below so I would have a triangle formation of golden privet.



So I went back to the rockwall garden and dug one up. It was growing too close to an Alberta Spruce so I did it a favor by bringing it out front where it would get more sun. I will also enjoy it more out here. It should turn a little more golden once it gets some sunlight.

Here is my triangle formation:

There is also a triangle of Alberta Spruce just beyond this area. I'm big on triangles!