Ditching the Orphans

We have been blessed with two days of wonderfully warm weather for mid November. This seemed like the best opportunity to stow all the miscellaneous potted  plants in our dry storage ditch. It is one of the last fall jobs that needs to be done. It is not an especially photogenic story, but such is life! Our soil lends itself to creating such an area, since it is sandy and nowhere will get soggy. We sometimes have to worry that it is a bit too dry here, since the big spruce tree shades and shelters part from normal rain.
This area seems to be populated with plants year round, which doesn't speak well of our decision making abilities. We cleared all the existing plants out and cleaned the extra dirt/compost mixture from the bottom and sides.

A few areas were made a little deeper with the result that we removeded about six wheelbarrow loads from the ditch.
Bill dug a bit more from the end closest to the driveway.

These got piled nearby to be used to fill some material in around the plants after they were repacked. I used this sandy material mixed with old horse manure to make a reasonably light filler to add to the spaces around the pots.

The ditch is almost 3 feet deep in spots and about 2+ Ft. in others. Some of the smaller plants don't need quite the depth. I somehow managed not to fall in during the time spent cleaning out and refilling!

There is quite a variety of plant material  stowed in here. Some plants are quite ragged looking, but may get a chance to rebound next season. Several rhodies seem to end up here for years and bloom in spite of us.

We have a Magnolia tripetala that was destined to be planted this last season, but that didn't happen, so back it goes. Same story for our English Oak.
We used Bill's wagon to fetch the various plants.

Many were leftovers from our spring plant sale plus some miscellaneous rhododendrons that were dug in June. Others are small plants that were discovered as layers and need a year or two to get bigger. There are several very pretty little Pieris in this category, plus some azaleas from Spicy Lights and Homebush.
Every thing is back in and just needed watering and material added to fill in spaces.

Here is a little slideshow with some additional  images from this adventure.