Featuring...The Front Garden

How long has it been?  Too long. 

I got a job!  A wonderful, flexible, perfect part-time job.  I love it.  It's hourly.  I work from home, I can volunteer at the school occasionally and I pick the kids up every single day.  Heaven!

But it's not very conducive to blogging.  Sorry, dad.

So now that I've explained where I've been...how about I show one of the (few) projects we've done lately?!?

Like I said, it's been too long.  Way too long.  Last summer, we demolished and rebuilt our porch.  Then we got as far as painting it...and stopped.  Which was fine - it was September.  The garden can wait. 

Painted...and done.

Here's October.  Which is exactly how it looked the following April.  A bunch of dirt and some leaves.

Halloween!

Until last weekend, when the kids went to Grandma's house for a Victoria Day mega-sleepover!!!

I decided to keep it simple.  No flowers.  Low maintenance.  Modern-ish.

Hakonechloa macra "All Gold"

In the front,  I chose a shade tolerant yellow ornamental grass.  Yellow, because it POPS in front of the green porch.  Shade tolerant, because the front garden gets minimal direct sunlight. 

It faces east, so it gets morning sun...which the car mostly blocks since it's against our parking pad.  I learned long ago, don't fight the sunlight your garden gets - work with it.  So with any luck, this variety of Japanese forest grass should be happy here. 

And if it's happy, I sure will be too.

Buxus "Green Gem"

Behind that, I chose a row of boxwood bushes.  This variety, "Green Gem", is different because it tolerates full sun/full shade.  I've planted other bushes here over the last decade.  Some have worked (hydrangea, variegated dogwood - kind of) and some have not (spirea, burning bush - never turned red in fall, and countless full-sun/part-shade perennials).  Sunlight has been the problem.  So finding a variety that can tolerate a full range of light gives me hope these will survive, too. 

I stressed and slept on and changed my mind and revisited and reconfirmed my simple plan for two rows of bushes and grasses.  A few times.  Multiple times.  Then one more time.  But when the boys were gone and we had a few open hours, Steve decided to pull the trigger. 

Newly Planted

We visited our local nursery and almost fainted at the prices.  So right then and there, in the 'ornamental grasses' section, we googled a nursery outside the city and took a little trip.  Best decision ever. 

Islington Nurseries had a variety of boxwoods in a smaller size (which were 20% off at the register - surprise!) and multiple containers of the grass at a better price than downtown. 

Sold!

Loooove!

Combined with the pop of color at the door in the background, I just love pulling up to our house.  The front garden is complete.  Finally!!!!

The Return of the Garden

This was 7 weeks ago.

April 15, 2014

And this is today.

June 5, 2014

Seven weeks is nothing.  But that garden is everything!  I'm amazed how much has filled in, especially with the beating the backyard has taken over the last 3 years.  I really thought more would be lost.  Incredible. 

Almost all of the garden came back on its own.  Hooray for perennials.  Only a few spots took a big hit, due to the fence, which I had to fill in this year.

Back Right Corner

The planter used to be on our old deck.  I moved it to the back corner to give some height where I lost an evergreen bush.  It's ok.  I love the fence more than I ever liked the bush.  This corner is super shady when the leaves come out, so I chose ferns along the back and hostas in front of the planter.

More Green

I split the big green hosta and hoped they would fill out.  They obeyed.  The yellow one in front of it gives a pop of color in the shade.  And, of course, I planted in threes. 

The rest just grew in.

That corner is so deceiving!  I'm surprised every year by how shady it gets.  Spring comes and I think, maybe I really CAN plant "part sun" or even "part shade" plants there...  Then, surprise!  The elm tree in the corner leafs out and it's dark enough for my toddler to take his afternoon nap there. 

It's shady over here on the left side, too.  The plants up against the fence get no direct sun at all.  That's where I put in those blue-green hostas which love the shade.  The darker their color, the shadier they like it.

But 2 feet away from the fence, it's a sun fest, which is brand new.  Before the new fence, we had a tall lilac bush/tree on our neighbor's side that blocked the sun to the brick "edging".  Now, those part-shade lungworts at the edge are not sure what to do.  They may find a new spot, but I'm giving them a chance.  And splitting up sunnier hostas for this little corner as I wait and see...

But, in the meantime, this sunny right side has gone gangbusters.  Even the Japanese Maple that I almost killed 4 years ago.  It's a running joke with my husband.  I pruned it so badly, it almost died.  I was so so sad.  So I made a deal with him.  He gave me one chance to bring it back to life or else dig it up.  A respected professional came in.  He fertilized it and made me PROMISE never to touch it again.  I haven't.  And so far, it's obeying, too.

SUN

This might be my favorite little corner.  I transplanted a few sun loving perennials from semi-shade here, so they should grow larger soon.  Nothing is blooming (the clematis on the right will, soon) but I think I prefer it this way.  There's something about only texture that I love. 

And the firepit.  Oh that firepit.  I still don't know where I stand with it.  Right now it holds all the old 1900's brick that I can't bear to part with...and there are stacks of extra driveway pavers hidden behind it.  There's enough "growing" on around it, that changes may wait another year. 

Then I'll rip the whole garden out.

But for now...let's have a look at what 7 weeks can do for a backyard.

Well, I'm amazed.  Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst, really worked in this case. 

But I'm not ignoring that awful patch of semi-grass.  Or this...

...what you see when you step off the deck.  Oh, you know, just the old dirt footprint of our last deck.  I don't know if I am gung-ho enough to rip out and lay new stone.  But I could pinterest all day, dreaming of what I'd like to go there. 

For now, I'll just sit back and ignore the dirt enjoy the view!

Spring Has Sprung

Someone recently asked me, "what's your next project?" and I drew a blank.  Then one day, all the snow and ice melted. 

I think we all know what the next project is.  But there's some waiting involved.  As in...let's see what wasn't destroyed when the fence went in.  I already know of a few casualties.

As for what comes back?  There are many possibilities.  Before our two renovations, I fell in love with gardening.

April 2009

We tried so many different things back here, but what stuck was following the shadows.  And embracing shade. 

May 2010

Grass in the sun, garden in the various shady border areas.  Heavy shade on the left, light shade on the right.  And don't plant anything that says "Full Sun" no matter how pretty it is.  I learned that the hard way...there were so many beautiful casualties...

May 2012

2011 is missing because that was the basement reno.  The garden collected piles of garbage from old pipes and rotted wood to bags of concrete and plastic tarps.  I couldn't believe it rebounded in 2012 like nothing ever happened. 

So we'll see what happens in 2014.  Because the beating from the renovation of 2013 was much, much worse...

2014

Here's the state that it's in today.  Not pretty.  But the potential is there. 

I pulled all the rocks, bricks and pavers into the middle so the perennials can grow.  But until things come up, nothing's for sure.  Grass gone?  Adios firepit?  No blooms, texture only? 

It's all up for grabs.  It's just gotta be inexpensive and low maintenance.  Game on!

And Now...The Outside

Supervising

Our deck has been so bad for so long.  Falling apart from rotted wood.  So we knew it was inevitable that our new slider would have to open onto a new deck.  And the falling down fence had to go, too.  Even with today's awful heat and humidity, the work is moving along well.

New Fence

Note to self: Virginia Creeper is the worst vine to plant if you don't rip it back religiously.  This one took over the fence, the neighbor's lilac bush near our lot line and traveled all the way through the neighbor's yard to the next neighbor's fence. 

I don't know how much of it is dead, but I plan to get rid of the rest and find another vine that isn't as invasive.  Let's see if that poor lilac bush finds the strength to bounce back...

Green Fence

When we bought our house, we had a love/not-in-love relationship with its location. 

Love the street.  Love the neighborhood. 
Not in love with being at the top, near a very VERY busy road. 

Enter our magical green (currently white) fence.

In Full Bloom

Since we bought in December, we had no idea how wonderful these two "Bridal Wreath" Spirea bushes would be.  Right now they are all white, in full spring bloom.  At about 8 feet tall, they are mature.  And they block everything out.

My favorite part: when you trim them after flowering (I hack them so they don't scratch the car - but never more than 1/3), they grow even fuller the next year.

Which is perfect, living on a key lot.

What Houses?

Since we're the last lot at the top of our street, the backyards of homes on the BUSY road back onto the North side of our property (hence, a key).  At first, I thought it would a privacy problem, but so far, we've been fine.  In fact, it's a big plus having sunlight through the windows on the non-shared wall. 

The bushes provide privacy for both us and our neighbors.  We don't have to see them hanging out in their backyard.  And they don't have to stare at our car when they do. 

View from the Porch

And as for the traffic?  You can see a truck whizzing by just above the bush.  But as soon as you walk down the front steps, it's gone.  You almost don't even hear it anymore.  There's just a big wall of green - well, now, white.

The fragile spirea flowers will be gone with the next rainfall.  They don't last long, but we enjoy them while they're here....


....and we're also enjoying the beautiful weather.  Here are pictures of Jake & Henry yesterday with their newly planted maple keys - or helicopters, as I called them growing up.

In There Somewhere

Waiting for it to Grow

Henry literally checked his 3 times last night "to see if it growed." 

Don't ask him to boil a pot of water.

Spring is Springing

I love to garden.

I don't know where it came from.  I knew nothing about plants and never cared to.  I didn't even know the difference between an annual and a perennial.

Then came my first summer staying home with baby.  I stared out the back door and couldn't stand the ratty mess looking back at me.  I knew it could be something better.  Since day after day, we would stroll past the stunning waterfalls of shapes and colors in the gardens all around the Annex.  How hard could it be?

Before - Spring 2007

Hard.  But I threw myself into it, finding I just loved it.  Learning the perennials, planning the garden, feeling great when they grew.  And admitting defeat when the sun plants died in my mostly shade garden. 

After - Spring 2008

Or finding out I almost killed the gorgeous Japanese Maple with my bad hack job.  It's still in the revival stages after a "DO NOT touch this tree again" visit from the arborist 2 years ago.  

Small Jap Maple - Spring 2010

Last year's basement renovation kept me from even thinking about the garden last year.  It was impossibly filled with wood beams, jacks, old duct work and other random construction related tools, tarps & dirt.

So I'm chomping at the bit for Summer 2012.  So far, so good.

Late March

Today!

Yup, the Japanese Maple is coming back.  The arborist told me at least 5 years before it's back on it's feet.  Year 3 is looking promising.  And I'm not touching it. 

Leafing Out

The Trilliums are blooming. 

Sign of Spring

The Bleeding Hearts are appearing....10 days ago this plant wasn't even out of the ground!

Pink Hearts

And the native Wood Poppy is getting ready to explode.

Soon-to-be Yellow Flowers

I may have some dead-and-gone hydrangeas due to last year's negligence.  I cut the dead branches down to nubs, hoping that the little green leafs from the base will grow up and out. 

They're this year's experiment:

This will be the Before picture

I even had a welcome visitor checking things out....

He had good timing.  Jake & Henry weren't around to smush him to bits...