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gardeninbc

New thread as this may be SLOW to open

gardeninbc
17 years ago

Hi y'all. Got a new camera and thought I'd share what I've been up to. Thought I would do it in a seperate thread as these pics are very large and may take quite some time to load for those on dial-up. My apologies as I haven't figured out how to resize them yet.

I have been working like crazy, but when I am home we have been busy installing a new front garden. The new lawn went in two weeks ago and new curvy beds were added (although I must say T's curvy beds are looking better than mine). This weekend as a mother's day treat, I spent the weekend planting away in all that fresh new soil.

Here I am making many plant placement mistakes I'm sure:

{{gwi:159709}}

And here are some of the results:

This area used to be overgrown with 8 foot tall rhodos (I hate rhodos). Last summer I cut them all out so I could plant something lower growing so we could actually see out the window:

{{gwi:159710}}

and another shot of the same area:

{{gwi:159712}}

This area needs many more plants but it is one of my only full sun areas of the garden. Of course iris were needed :)

{{gwi:159713}}

We added half a dozen large rocks to this garden as we wanted to landscape around them with ornamental grasses. Most of these are evergreen up here:

{{gwi:159715}}

I will post more pics as things start to come together. I would say about 70% of the plants are in but I won't do too much more planting now until late blooming stuff comes into the nurseries. Right now I have an awful lot of spring bloomers.

Am enjoying hearing about everyone and unfortunately don't have an awful lot of time to share comments. I know I'll leave someone out and do a terrible job of trying to talk to each of you so I won't try just now. But since it is T's birthday - I owe her at least a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Hope to be back very soon to share some more.

Cheers,

Barb

Comments (6)

  • deanneart
    17 years ago

    Hi Barb, thanks for checking in. You new curvy beds are looking fabu-fabu!!! It is just great to hear from you and know all is well in your neck of the woods.

    Great pics!

    Deanne

  • Sue W (CT zone 6a)
    17 years ago

    Wow, Barb, you've been busy! Don't you love having a clean garden slate? Is the dark leaved plant in front of the garage a Phormium? Oh boy, don't I wish we could grow those outside around here. Thanks for the progress reports and check in when you can.

    Sue

  • Full_Bloom
    17 years ago

    Wow Barb...that's amazing...you have been a busy girl!:-) I *love* the way you raised the beds a bit. I wish I had thought to do that when I first started making my beds. You've done a beautiful job! Are those 'All Golds' on either side of the rock? They are beautiful and really light up the area...I love that! I may have to look for some of those! :-) Oh and irises! Are yours bearded iris? I love irises and wish I could grow more, but borers are a problem here. I sure do miss seeing all of Jain's beautiful iris. Hope you'll share pics of yours when they are blooming. Well *everything* is beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing...and *do* share some more...you know how much we all love pics...me especially! :-) Ei

    P.S. Is the red foliaged plant in your pics a Japanese Maple?

  • just_t
    17 years ago

    Barb, your curvy beds put mine to shame. I'm looking at yours and wishing mine were built up higher (perhaps I'll add more soil before planting anything.......next year). I like your mature trees/shrubs (what kind are they?) Hmmm, may have to consider adding that to my plan, too. I like what you've done and so glad you shared some pictures of it. I'd love to see more (photo glutton that I am).

    I'm sorry about the woodpecker woes there, too. From what I'm hearing there are many of us who were visited by these dastardly birds who had never had any problem (nor heard of any problems) before. I hope your bird has moved on (ours has, I think).

    T.

  • gardeninbc
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks guys! Wish I could take credit for the raised beds but the landscapers did that. We have 3 mature maple trees along the front of our property and the previous owners made a mound of dirt and then planted the tree on the mound...looked a bit weird. So we had to raise the entire bed so it didn't look so silly.

    Yes, Sue that is a phormium. The darker leaved ones will survive winters here unscathed. The lighter ones are iffy depending on how cold temps dip.

    The iris are siberian. I've had awful luck with bearded iris and find that the siberians perform better for me. Ei, on either side of the rock is japanese hakone grass. An evergreen here too. It should triple in size and I'm hoping will gently arch over the rock to soften the lines. That whole garden in front of the window will be like a japanese garden. This weekend I am going to put a dry riverbed path through it. The rest of the bed is planted with hosta, ostrich ferns, azaleas, and epimedium.

    The trees are all japanese maples. We have 3 large red leafed varieties that line the front of the yard. One small weeping one in my japanese garden. Our small front yard also contains a weeping cherry and a weeping dogwood.

    As you east coasters are in the middle of a monsoon, we are having a heat wave, and boy are the plants loving it. I was out there last night watering and buds are coming up on many of these brand new babies...it is very exciting.

    Starting this garden from scratch has been much easier than last year when I attempted to move things around and work with all of the old existing plants. And of course, couldn't have done it without you guys and all your inspiration photos of fabu combinations.

    Talk to everyone soon,
    Barb

  • gardeningmary
    17 years ago

    Hi Barb

    Nice to hear from you:0) Your new beds and lawn are looking fantastic! Planting a new area is so much fun isn't it? I love the colors and textures you've incorporated. Hope we can see more photos as it matures.

    Mary

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