PCMG Home
Projects
Parker County
Garden Tips
Members Landscapes
Water-Wise Gardening
The Best of Parker County
the real
dirt: A Gardening Handbook for Parker County
PCMG 2009 Calendar
Gardening & Landscape Terms
Links
PCMGA in the News
PCMG Speaker
Bureau
Spring & Fall Plant Sales
Become a Master Gardener
FAQ
Parker County, Texas
County Seat: Weatherford, Texas
32.77N -97.74W (Elev 941 ft)
Cold hardiness zone 7b
Heat zone 9
Some pages require Adobe Reader
Information and images are property of the Parker County Master Gardener
Association unless otherwise indicated.
Use of the information or images from this website must clearly give credit to
the "Parker County Master Gardener Association."
The information is provided as a reference and the PCMGA is not liable for
negligence or misuse of the information.
© 2003-2009 Parker County Master Gardener Association.
On the web since July 23, 2003.
817.598.6168
parkermg@ag.tamu.edu
Contact the Webmaster
Site last updated
January 03, 2009
|
Back to Aledo Page  The Parker County Master Gardeners have planted over 20 trees on both
properties. The first tree planted in 1999 was a Texas mountain laurel; it
has beautiful blue blooms in the spring and is located on a berm that can be
seen from the street. In 2000, a bur oak, an aristocrat pear, Bradford pear
and two weeping willows were planted. Only one of the weeping willows
survived, one was run over by a 4-wheeling teenager. In 2003, a lilac sprout
from the Community Center was transplanted to a berm at City Hall. Also in
2003, several desert willows were planted from saplings bought from the
Forest Service. Before planting, these were put into plastic pots for half a
year, until a good root system formed. Two Leyland cypress trees were
planted in 2004, along with a Shantung maple. In the winter of 2006, two
Tonto crape myrtles were transplanted from a Master Gardener’s landscape.
Many crape myrtles have been planted at the Community Center, one in an iris bed, one by the Christmas tree and four in west bed. In 1997, the 4-H club landscaped the east side of the building, which included planting three crape myrtles. We have the two lilac trees that have been there for many years along with the Chinese photinia that was planted in the 1970’s when the building was built. The pine tree, which is lighted each Christmas season, has been planted at least three times since 1997. The first one died from lack of water, the next tree died after two years for no apparent reason, in 2001, the current one was planted but now it is dead or nearly dead. Later this year (2006) when the planting season is better, a new one can be planted again but this time a new variety and a new location are planned. Another tree, a Shumard red oak, was planted in 2005. . Shrubs, Perennials and Groundcovers The Community Center has a row of Will Fleming hollies with purple wintercreeper euonymus underneath. Dwarf Burford hollies, dwarf yaupon hollies and Indian hawthorn are all evergreen and along with the variegated hydrangea and thrift in front make a statement. The hawthorn blooms pink in spring and the hydrangea also blooms in spring, along with the thrift. In addition, hardy hibiscus, artemesia, in a bed with Texas star hibiscus and standard nandina compliment one another. Purple wintercreeper euonymus is located under the large, pink flowering crape myrtle.  The vines
along this wall are coral honeysuckle and there is a hedge of Japanese
boxwoods with the wonderfully drought tolerant New Gold lantana planted in
front. Under the Chinese photinia planted in that bed, is liriope. There are
crape myrtles, climbing red roses on trellises, red salvia greggii and an
althea cultivar named "Diana" located here. In 2005, the Master Gardeners
built a bed that has a pomegranate, three single bridal wreath spireas, ruby
grass, and crossvine on a trellis. In this same bed are Bonarinenses or
Brazilian verbena, purple coneflower, Maximillian sunflower, fescus grasses,
and daffodils that bloom in the early spring. In one large bed, a woven waddle fence was built to hide the air conditioner, alongside a yellow lady banks rose on an arbor with Texas betony planted underneath. Two rosemary plants, Texas star hibiscus, Katie ruellia that line the walkway, and cockscomb are next to the building. The other side of the walkway is a bed of ‘camera’ lantana, ice plant, yellow cannas, variegated euonymus, Texas sage, garden ruellia, and a lilac bush. When clearing and mowing the creek two times a year, the Master Gardeners found a native blooming honeysuckle bush and a Mexican buckeye in bloom. The bed on the Old Annetta Road side, to the west, has another lilac bush, Manhattan euonymus, goldstrum rudbeckia, turks cap, and iris in many colors. The rose bush, blooms prolifically in the spring with tiny white blooms and is an original that was planted years ago and was transplanted to this location for more sun. One dwarf crape myrtle is located under the pruned cedar elm trees along with a decorative clay pot that is planted with annuals each year to finish this bed for street beauty. Shrubs at the city hall property originally consisted of the Chinese hollies, the hedge of dwarf Burford hollies, along with two crape myrtles flanking windows. In that bed, we took out the liriope that had brown tips because of the west sun and replaced with Katie ruellia. Texas star hibiscus, Mexican bush sage and daffodils flank either side of this bed and Asian jasmine in back of this bed, under the hollies, acts as filler. In 2004, we put iron decorative fencing next to the sidewalk. In 1997, a 4-H group planted 500 variegated vinca major plants under the nine oak trees to act as groundcover. Each year leaf rollers spoil the tip ends of these plants so this year (2006) we hope to spray with a systemic insecticide to prevent this from happening. Once this large bed finishes blooming bright blue flowers in springtime, we string-line trim it to keep the bed neat and tidy.  Yellow
lantanas that are winter tender but return each year are at base of the
shrubs by the sign that says "Aledo City Hall." In this bed, three Burford
hollies are on one side and one on the other with raised rock beds.A trellis with passion vine sits behind three Burford hollies with white and blue lantana under them. A patio between three oak trees is the setting for benches built in 2005 for the Master Gardeners to have a place to sit during the horticulture lessons each Wednesday. Located in the three beds by the patio and under the trees are, white Nancy lamium and plumbago in one, coral bells in the second bed and the third has plumbago and red begonias. In 2003, a sign was placed in front of property denoting the Parker County Master Gardeners as designers and maintenance crew for landscaping Aledo City Hall. Berms: Along with the Texas mountain laurel, three Texas sages, green santolina, and red yucca were original plantings on the large berm. Each year there are annuals planted twice a year for color. Snapdragons, purslane, pansies, kale, portulaca, pentas, petunias, and verbena have been some of the annuals planted on the front side, facing the street. This year (2006) we have zinnias (the profusion series) planted for color. Candletrees, with large yellow blooms in fall, were featured in 2002 and castor bean plants with their decorative leaves and seed heads, made a showing in 2004 and 2005 on top of this berm. The transplanted lilac, ‘purple knight’ salvia greggii and Russian sage replaced an original yarrow planting then garden phlox were added, more red yucca and the Texas sage reseeded. In 2005, daffodils and Byzantine gladiolas were planted along with pink skullcap and yellow lantana. Over the years, plants have been planted and died because the top of the berm dries out very quickly and the sprinkler does not cover adequately. Tropical hibiscus is periodically planted for summer color and the decorative boulders on top of the berm add interest. Additional boulders make a definite contribution to the ornamental grass berm. Cultivars of grasses are Japanese silver grass ‘gracillimus’ and ‘variegatus’, weeping love grass, one miscanthus ‘giganticas’ that was dug up because it was invasive and looked a lot like Johnson grass. The grasses are drought tolerant and look beautiful with their white plumes all winter long. We prune these grasses each February, right before the spring growth. Transplanted sedum lines the front side of the grass berm and on a corner of the berm is a white hardy hibiscus that has dinner plate size blooms all summer. Mexican mint marigolds placed in a broken pot was sunk into this bed and each year the marigolds reseed and bloom a bright yellow in the fall. Dwarf morning glories also reseed each year and bloom pink from summer until frost. In 2002, various daylilies and Louisiana iris were added to this berm.  Crawdad
Creek was a muddy marsh area that ran from a 4-foot culvert under the
railroad tracks to a culvert under the road. In summer, it was dry with
weeds and in winter, a muddy area impossible to mow. A large amount of clay
soil was brought in to build a ridge at the mouth of the creek. This creek
was named for the large amount of crawdads that live there. In 2002, at end
of the creek, a pond was dug so that the water could pool, then commercial
grade weed block started the construction with large boulders placed on top
to outline the creek. After the flat rocks were strategically placed in the
creek, 3-inch river rock was placed between the rocks. The first large rain
washed all the river rock into the pond. The Master Gardeners did the very
tedious and time consuming job of hand picking all the river rock out of the
creek and put them into wheelbarrows to remove. A lesson was learned and
will not be repeated. After flat rocks were in placed in the bottom of the
creek, the gardeners planted perennials along the sides in pockets and built
beds at the mouth of the creek. To the west of the creek, a bed was built
with rocks and planted with Texas star hibiscus, desert willows, red salvia greggii and hardy hibiscus. Standing tall beside that bed are daylilies,
which bloom orange each spring, Louisiana iris that bloom bright purple in
early spring and the Mexican mint marigolds that bloom yellow in the fall.
At the end of creek, is a weeping love grass for visual interest. In 2004, on the other side of Crawdad Creek, a bed was built with railroad
ties and planted in that bed is a desert willow and bright pink hardy
hibiscus. In 2005, we enlarged the west side of Crawdad Creek by building an addition to an existing bed. We placed railroad ties filled with bedding soil and planted one variegated privet, three cotoneasters, and three Bowles wallflowers. As mulch, we put the river rock left from that earlier mistake in the creek. Along the east side of Crawdad Creek, we planted rosemary, blue spirea or Bluebeard, New Gold lantana, weeping love grass, and a transplanted vitex that blooms a beautiful blue in the spring and early summer. In 2005, the gardeners placed edging around the pfitzer junipers on top of ridge, incorporated Asian jasmine, added sedum, "hen and chicks" and bulbs to the juniper bed. Leyland cypress flank each side A rock walkway to allow us to walk from one side of Crawdad Creek to the other was built and this took many hours placing the rock, edging and sackrete to finish this path. We seeded with two pounds of bluebonnet seeds on a 2,000 foot area behind the building in September. The soil was raked with a tractor, we spread the seeds, and then we walked on the area to pack in the seeds. We strategically placed large rocks to be used for picture taking in the spring when the bluebonnets bloom. In 2005, there was a small blooming period and we tilled the area again and added two more pounds of seed. Parker County has had a drought and few bluebonnets bloomed in 2006.  Also, in 2004, the
Iron bed was designed. We tilled up the area west of the creek and planted
desert willow saplings from the Parker County Forest Service. We also
transplanted vitex into the Iron bed that was named for the iron antiques
that decorate the outline of the bed. A rusted horse trough is planted with
annuals each year and a donated bench sits in this bed to view the corkscrew
willow lined creek.In 2005, on the east side of creek a Madam Butterfly canna was transplanted and we added other yellow and peach cannas. Neil Collins Memorial Rose Garden A 1,200 sq. foot rose garden was finished in 2006. We tilled in four yards of expanded shale (recommendation of Texas A&M), two yards of bedding soil and six yards of composted cow manure. Edging was added and a walkway of decomposed granite was built through the garden. We built two large arbors, for the climbing roses that are eight feet tall and six feet wide and had a wrought iron trellis built for a climbing rose. Drip irrigation was installed before we planted these carefully chosen roses: Climbing Pinkie, Zephirine Drouhin, and New Dawn to climb the arbors, Graham Thomas, a yellow David Austin rose and Belinda’s Dream which blooms a pale pink. There are three of each, Maggie and Knock Out roses, with dark pink blooms. White blooming Iceberg roses and three Nearly Wild roses that have pink blooms join the grouping. Orange roses are F. J. Lindheimer, three Livin Easy roses and one Old Blush rose that is a light pink, rounds out the total number of 29 roses. Bricks are placed side by side to create a finished look at the entrances to the rose garden and a metal decorative bench is in pathway, to allow a stop to smell the roses. The signage for the rose garden says, "Neil Collins Memorial Rose Garden landscaped and designed by Parker County Master Gardeners with love." |
Back to Aledo Page |
|
© Parker County Master Gardener Association Last updated November 04, 2006. Originally created July 23, 2003 Phone (817) 598-6168 e-mail parkermg@ag.tamu.edu Information and images are property of the Parker County Master Gardener Association unless otherwise indicated. Use of the information or images from this website must clearly give credit to the "Parker County Master Gardener Association" |