Today, I unintentionally began a long term project, which we'll get to in a minute. But first, it's time to see how everyone is doing.

I think the Mood Ring Podocarpus has grown slightly. I'll have to compare pics. But I think it looks bigger than it was when I planted it.

The single bloom is still in place on the Chinese Snowball.

Chinese Snowball bloom for the fall.

All is well at the front porch.

The Pink Muhly grass plants are all still pink.

Pink Muhly grass.

Pink Muhly grass.

Pink Muhly grass.

Pink Muhly grass.

Finally, I've spotted a large Joro spider web.

This one was located in between the camellia cluster and Purple Magic crape myrtle.

Berries are starting to appear on the Dogwood Cherokee Princess.

From what I see online, these berries are favored by many species of birds.

I learned that the flowering bush in my backyard is an American Beautyberry.

It was here long before me and does its thing every year without any input from me.

My neighborhood association hosted a fall plant sale today. Since fall is a good time for planting, I headed three blocks away from my house to where the sale was being held to check it out.

And as expected, I was unable to come home from the sale without a few new residents in tow despite not having any idea where I would plant them.

No worries though. I've said many times in the past that I follow the, "I wonder if this will work" philosophy of gardening. My yard is big enough that I should be able to make something up as I go along.

I came home from the sale with the four new residents seen in the photo above (L - R): A pair of Cleyera Bigfoot shrubs, an Anthony Waterer spirea, and a Variegated Shell Ginger. Now the fun of figuring out where to plant everything begins.

The Variegated Shell Ginger and the Anthony Waterer Spirea both like a lot of sun, something which is plentiful in the front yard. The area seen in the photo above looked promising.

I grabbed the shovel and carved out an area for the Variegated Shell Ginger.

The Variegated Shell Ginger can grow to around 3 feet in height, and would fit nicely here.

Once I removed and relocated the sod, in the ground it went. A nice layer of mulch finished the job.

I'm taking a chance with this plant. My subsequent research suggests that this ginger plant may not be as tolerant of winter as it ideally needs to be for this part of the state. Time will tell.

I then headed to the other side of the yard and found another spot in front of everything that looked encouraging.

I removed and relocated the sod and prepared a hole for the Anthony Waterer Spirea, which also likes full sun.

The tag on the plant says it can reach three feet tall. The pink flowers it produces will look nice here.

The important thing here is that I made sure to leave plenty of room between the spirea and the nearby Pampas grass.

With the two sun worshipers planted, I now had to find a spot for the Cleyera Bigfoot shrubs.

I went to today's plant sale with one idea floating around in my mind. I wanted to ask about privacy shrubs to fill in some of the bare spots along the lines between me and my neighbors. But the key in this case is that I need something that doesn't mind some shade. The plant sale staff recommended the Cleyera because it can be happy from full sun to part shade and everything in between.

The spot behind the driveway azaleas seen in the photo above is what I mean by the term "bare spot." There is a lot of greenery in place, but also some gaps in the privacy coverage. The spot seen above looked promising, but just didn't seem to be what I was looking for. After thinking about it, I realized that I could do better.

And then the light bulb came on . . .

Everything I've done to this yard during the 13 years I've lived here has been directed everywhere EXCEPT the area in between me and my neighbor seen in the photo above. I've essentially ignored that section of the yard until last year when I started transplanting excess Monkey grass in an attempt to do something about water runoff.

The biggest reason for my inaction is the fact that I've never had to do anything with it. The English Ivy that was here before me makes a very thorough and practically indestructible ground cover. And as long as I kept it from smothering the trees, all was well. It's been a mess, but a well-functioning mess.

Today, it occurred to me that the privacy shrubs I just bought that are happy in the shade would serve their intended purpose of providing privacy very well in this area, much more so than anywhere else in the yard.

And then I also realized that if I'm going to plant anything here, I have to do something about the English Ivy.

And so began the long and intense process of removing the very well entrenched field of English Ivy from my side yard.

I grabbed the shovel and some gloves and started digging and pulling.

I learned last year while transplanting Monkey grass that English Ivy does not go willingly or quietly. But with a little elbow grease, it can be removed. The small area I cleared last year remained clear through this season. Today, I started at that point and began expanding along the property line. I also discovered later on that not all of the ivy was "English," and that some of it was "Poison."

This was a lot harder than I expected. But I eventually pulled enough vines and uncovered some ground.

I started a pile for the next Leaf & Limb collection which will occur in a few weeks. By that time, I suspect this pile will be much larger.

Finally, I had enough room for the two Clereas. I decided to stagger the holes to help with coverage.

According to the tag on the plants, Cleyera Bigfoot shrubs can reach more than 15 feet tall and about 6 feet wide. The benefit to the staggered layout will, hopefully, be realized after a few years.

I finished this part of the job with a good layer of mulch.

With these two shrubs planted, I realized that I've just entered into another significant project that will take a long time to come to fruition. But that's ok, and actually quite encouraging to think about.

Today's experience also tells me that getting rid of the English Ivy is going to be a challenge, mainly because there is more here than meets the eye. But that's also ok. Like everything else with this yard, I'm looking forward to the challenge of filling this area with privacy.

Yes, this pile will be A LOT bigger when the next Leaf & Limb collection arrives.