Another Bed....

This is the bed I was referring to in the previous post. It borders another fence line, and you can see that the path had yet to be created. More digging, you got to love it! Again the bed is pictured after the planting. The plantings are hard to make out but we've got an autumn clematis vine, holly hocks (double flower heads, cause they were prettier to me back then), silver mound, mums, and a couple of hybrid tea roses, plus- a climbing rose Joseph's Coat. Near the center is a french blue lilac bush. It is the first bed you see as you enter the yard. The little reading angel, a gift from my mother-in-law add some needed drama!

What I call "anybody can grow" yellow mums do very well in this bed. It is the driest bed in the yard, because of its sun exposure and grade. Mums should be cut back by the fourth of July or when they get unusually tall. Don't throw away what you cut. Slightly peel back the ends to expose a little of the soft tissue, and place in potting soil. Keep moist and within a 2-3 weeks you've got more mums to plant. It works like a charm!

The lilac bush has done well some years, but this year I'm a little concerned that it's seen its last spring. It blossomed but it is failing to get green! The late freeze and hot temps have created havoc for it. My friend has suggested we top it off and amend the soil, but everything else currently in the bed is flourishing. Lesson #2: Sometimes no matter what you do somethings can't be saved!

Beginning with the Flower Beds...

All the sod was removed from the flower beds. The bed against the back fence was cleared of the dying red twig dog woods. The orange prolific day lilies were thinned. It wasn't easy work that's for sure. My husband did most of the removal, I just throw the pieces into a wheel barrow for transport. The sod was piled behind the shed, upside down and by the next summer it turned into a nice compost pile! What we should have done was rent a sod cutter, but novices don't know think about these things. All that we thought about was getting it gone and shovels and hands were the tools at hand! Lesson #1 is rent a sod cutter to save your back and hands.

We didn't take pictures of our hard work but you can see the rear of our yard with the initial plantings. Three beds are missing from the photo. Two beds were placed by the patio behind the house and the final one is on the far right looking above the shed. All the beds visible in the photo were cleared an planted in the mid spring of 2001.

The Garden Gate After...

We thought this would look more inviting! We are getting a little ahead of our selves. We completed the back yard before we tackled the front entrance into the garden. Some day we will replace the asphalt walkway with pavers, but that's for another day, year or life time! The sedum and bishop's weed against the garage wall originally bordered the walkway. Over time we have added a variety of ferns that include, autumn fern, christmas fern and maiden fern. The outer bed is lined with black eyed susans, lupine, day lilies, shasta daisies, white phlox. The gate itself is surrounded by silver leaf vine, clematis, even rose of sharon, and in the far corner of the fence you can find comfrey(great natural compost)!

The Garden Gate before...

This is a view of the gated entrance of our garden. You can be honest, does this want to make you journey back and discover what's there? We didn't think so ....

Pictures as promised...

As noted in the previous thread the pathway is visible and further extended around the sun porch forking into another path to the new shed.

Also visible is a rock bed that became a small water feature. Everything about our garden is predicated on the senses; sight, sound and smell. The water feature offered us a soothing sound as we enjoyed a meal or relaxed with a good book.

Rest assured this did not happen in a blink of an eye. It took a better part of month to clean out the sod and create the flower beds. At times it seemed like we'd never get the foundation of our garden done. It was a process that involved creating visual aesthetics coupled with practicality and frugality. How did it look? What else did we need to do to make our life in the garden easier? Most importantly, how do we get the best bang for our buck? (Sorry about the cliches but they work.)

Back to the Patio...

The small square blue stone patio was pulled up. We dug out any sod left over to the far right corner of the house. Obviously cutting a curved edge. We reused the blue stone placing them randomly and added gravel fill to top it off! We used the gravel because it was monochromatic to the blue stone, yet offered a textural difference that was engaging to the eye, although it was a little rough on bare feet! It was also inexpensive. We brought in about 3 yards of it by the time it was over. We brought the gravel from the front yard to the back in 5 gallon pails and dump the gravel and then spread it with a wide rake. It was back breaking work but the results more than pleased us. The gravel eventually extended into a path way from the downspout and wrapped around the sun porch to our garden gate. More pictures to follow!

A view underwater...

I came across some old photos of what our yard looked like before the sod was removed. As you can tell we replaced the shed and the viburnum is gone.

Our property sits pretty low compared to some of our neighbors. The neighborhood had an ongoing problem with flooding and luckily the town put in a french drain to help us out. We still get water but it drains readily!

Our yard is surrounded by a chain link fence. Along the back from the shed to the left corner was a raised bed with dying red twig dogwoods and day lilies the orange prolific ones you see everywhere. The day lilies remained but all the dogwoods needed to be replaced. We have a big ash tree that provides some shade, but its seed dropping are maddening. We also have two small trees near the left corner that we have yet to identify. We think they are black cherry trees. They have insignificant white flowers in the spring and small purple berries in the fall. The berries drop and germinate, creating a seedling mess every year!

First you ....

remove the old patio and a lot of sod.

We started our garden in the late spring of 2001. Our children would soon be building their own lives, one was already in college, the other would soon graduate high school. They didn't hang out in the backyard anymore other than to sunbath or mow the lawn. My husband talked to an associate about helping us design an "after-work get a way" in our own back yard.

Anita was an avid gardener and a wonderful friend. Her home was nestled among flower and vegetable beds. She once raised sheep and had the best soil I've ever seen. I won't go into the compost pile, but I will tell you sheep leave the best fertilizer behind! She really created our vision with graphite and paper. Unfortunately she passed away before she could see our shared vision fully grown. She was truly an inspiration with a fork and hoe, but her spirit lives on everyday in what I see out our window.

Our house is nestled in one of the oldest planned developments in CNY. You know the kind where the houses are similar 2 stories, built on small lots and your neighbors wave when you get the morning paper.

Our first task was to remove our patio. It was originally a simple square patio made with rectangle chunks of heavy blue stone.

In the first photo you can see the corner of the small stone patio. The shed was there when we moved in. We didn't know at the time that the large shrub next to it was a viburnum. A couple years later it would be gone with much regret. Live and learn everyday a motto for LIFE!

The second photo is a better shot of the small patio that will be transform by some back breaking work.

A weed is a flower...

waiting for someone to appreciate it!

This little yellow flower is called goat's beard. Wild flower or weed doesn't matter once you appreciate is delicate beauty.

Goat's Beard can grow up to 3' tall with a flower head up to 2" wide. It sprung up in our yard about 3 years ago. We dead head the flowers when they start to go to seed, as they spread like dandelions!

Black-eyed Susans are easy to grow...

ANY WHERE and EVERY WHERE!

Every blossom opens in its own way

Flowers are a lot like children, they bloom in their own time. Flourish in the light of love and grow if fed properly.

This is a white coneflower or echinacea just as it's starting to bloom. It makes its appearance in the early summer in Central NY. The seeds heads are quite ornamental in the fall. They seed themselves quite happily, but are not as prolific as the black eyed susans in our yard.

He's smiling back at you!

I'm just starting to find all the photos we've taken over the last seven years. So until I'm better organized I thought I'd treat you to some of the little things we love about our garden now that its full grown.

We found this little guy at Walmart several years ago. We thought he'd feel right at home, we've even found him a few pals along the way! In the winter he hides in the shed out of the cold but he comes out every spring to help keep away the trolls!