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| Thought I would show off my hard work over the past month or so. We bought the house Nov 2012 and we've been renovating the house, inside and outside. Last year I killed the Zoysia/Northern mix grass and put in sprinklers. I planted an elite Kentucky Bluegrass and this year I'm working on the perennial and shrub beds. I converted a few of the zones to drip irrigation for the perennials and shrubs. I've put put down something near 60 yards worth of topsoil, compost and mulch since we bought the house. The house faces directly south, with the left (west) side getting afternoon shade due to the trees. Originally there were overgrown generic yews, azaleas, barberry etc... on the side of the driveway and around the front of the house. Which when I took them out obviously left holes in the yard, so I leveled and sculpted the yard, added a lot of organic amendments, turned over a lot of the sod in the beds and mulched heavily. Basically I started from scratch and at this point I'm basically done. I have some perennial seedlings that I started over winter which are still in trays that will come out when they're ready, but over all I'm pleased with the results. The plant list is below, although doesn't include the seedlings waiting to go in. I also put labels on everything so myself and the neighbors know which plant is which! Now I just have to sit back and wait for things to fill in! The triangle next to the stairs is mostly tropical annuals, Cannas, Dahlias, Tuberoses, Crocrosmia, some indoor plants spending the summer outdoors and of course some Petunias. The pictures are in reverse order, i.e. newest on top.
Shrubs: Perennials Tropical/annuals |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by digginginthedirt z6 Lanc. PA (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 14 at 11:39
| Wow! You DID put in a lot of hard work. It must be so rewarding to have the finished product. I love the curved lines of your beds. I can't really comment on what you planted, because I am a visual person and can't tell what's in the beds at this point, but I'm sure everything will be beautiful! |
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| Yup, proof is in the pudding. I've had a bit of success at our old house, so this is following most of the same process, good soil, irrigation and mulch. The plants will be small this year, really just establishing themselves, next year should be something to look at. Here's the house as it existed when we bought it. And below are pics of my past creations. Though this time no roses, I just enjoyed the perennials more. Who knows I may have some at a later time. There's just no reason to have "shearing hedges", the Yews, barberry, Boxwoods and Azaleas had to go! As well as the lumps of other shrubs which had become one long mono-shrub.
Here's the old house's "success" which I'm aiming to replicate and grow on:
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- Posted by thegardenat902 Zone 5 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 14 at 13:21
| Wow you have done a lot! And the success at your old house is phenomenal. Pictures really help show that don't they? I love looking at old pictures and seeing all the progress I've made. Congrats and I'm sure in no time your new house will look just like that! |
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| Thanks for all this detail shown in pictures and posts. I do realize how much work you have done. Be sure to post further pictures as the gardens develop. |
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| If you managed to do that well, at the previous house, you'll have similar results fairly soon, at your new location & much more beautiful, than simple old overgrown hedges & the usual foundation plantings. Although I do hope you were able to at least repurpose some of the Azaleas in the more shadier areas... |
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| Very nice :) Having done all my beds myself, I truly understand all the hard work you put into this. Great job!! I look forward to seeing the beauty bloom... Lilsprout |
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| Unfortunately all the shrubs had to go, they were so intertwined and if I was able to cut them back I'm not sure they would have regrown. Plus it was so much work, at a certain point pulling out shrubs/small trees you just give up on saving anything and start hacking away with an axe and pick axe. It was such a marathon I just ran out of steam to save anything. If I do azaleas again they'll be some of the deciduous yellow fragrant varieties. But realistically I grew up with Azaleas sheered into hotdog shaped foundation plantings and I want to try something different. I know they say that plants go into style and back out, and to me Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Boxwood, Yews, Forsythia, Barberis have such a bad taste in my mouth it's hard for me to spare space for improved varieties. My neighbor asked why I wasn't interested in the standard foundation shrubs and I didn't have a nice way to tell her! The back yard is north facing and short, and I'll be working on it this summer/fall. There may be room for some tried and true shrubs, but I'm leaning towards camellias at this point. |
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- Posted by southerngardening24 7b (My Page) on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 0:33
| The improvements you have made are amazing! I agree with you on the shrubs. I bet your property will be one of the nicest on the street with all the different plants and great design. |
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- Posted by shadeyplace 7 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 6:22
| What happened to your edgeworthia? Did it have to be axed also? You have put a lot of thought into this. Mine is just a no thought garden...I just "buy and stick" |
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| What a difference! It will look great once it's filled in! The roses at your other house are gorgeous! |
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| @shadeyplace - I think you misunderstood, there used to be something like 50 boxwood/azaleas/barberis/yews and I took those out and planted the list above. i.e. the list is what is now planted. The Edgeworthia is new and growing fairly well. When you have to start over because the previous version was too over grown it's only logical to plan it out as best you can (plus what else are you going to do over winter when nothing is growing?. Now I'm probably entering the "buy and stick" phase, and that's probably 95% of the lifespan of plantings. Someday I may make room for roses again, my mother is quite disappointed we don't have any roses this time, but they were just so much work spraying and cleaning up in the fall. |
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- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Sat, Jun 7, 14 at 6:30
| We started over in 2004 and pulled out every shrub in the backyard. It's still a work in progress, but also understand how much work you've done. We also took out a boxwood hedge in the front yard, not nearly the size of yours and happy to be free of all the shearing on that. Although I still have a few individual boxwood around the yard. Hope it all works out the way you want it to and will also look forward to seeing more photos! I hope you have a nice vacation planned this summer near a pool and a hot tub after all that digging! :-) |
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