Show us your yard!!!!!!!!!!!

You know, Darius, I do not know what they did with this kettle except that it was somehow used when butchering years and years ago. My Dad traded a farmer some corn for it in the 60's or maybe early 70's. I see quite a few of them around here used as flower planters as most have cracks in them and won't hold water. My Dad had stored this upside down so that no water would be held inside and cause it to crack when it froze. He gave it to me so long as I promised him to turn it over every year before freezing temps. No problem!

Osteole, the lasagna garden has worked very, very well for me. It is best I think to set it up in fall so that it will set all winter and be ready for planting by spring. When planting this spring, I knew the project was a success by the sheer number of worms I found. My cousin was helping me set up the fountain in May and said he had never seen soil with so many worms. And compared to my other gardening beds, the weeds were much, much less in this new bed.

Keep in mind that the photos of the plants in the bed that I took yesterday were planted only 6 or 7 weeks ago. Some were transplants from another established garden but many, many were bought this spring in quart size pots. With the exception of a couple banana trees that seem to be pouting from the cooler than normal temps last month, I am very pleased by the rate of growth. In other words, Osteole, I highly recommend this method of establishing a bed on top of a lawn. But I won't kid you, given the size of this bed, it was a monumental task to get completed. If you have any questions about this method or my experience with it, just let me know.

Kelly

Here is one of the side yard.

Thanks all for showing us your wonderful yards! Some real beauty there!

I love lasagna beds - no digging and worms, worms, worms!

Wow, Melvatoo, so green and lush. Just absolutely beautiful. How old is your side yard bed?

The month of June, had a lot of rain...since they started keeping records of rainfall, it was the 2nd highest since 1898? Something like that, so things around here are very green. Looks kind of like Costa Rica...but we don't have the Parrots...
The bed in the side yard is going on eight years old. I haven't done much with it, as it gets a bunch of shade. It is the North side of the house.
Another bed in the side yard, it gets more sun, as it is close to the street, it is only a couple of years old...

This message was edited Jul 5, 2004 10:14 PM

I thought I'd share a recent picture. I don't know how I got this on here, but have a couple of others, too. Anyway, this is part of my garden.

Rosemallow

I just don't know how to put more than one picture on a post.
Here's another part of my yard.

Here's another. I really enjoy my yard and garden, but because of a knee problem and pending surgery, it's been hard to keep up this year. Yes, we had a lot of rain here in Michigan, too. My tomatoes are as big as my fist - can't wait.

That is gorgeous! I am sorry to hear about knee problems..I have them too, and it makes it next to impossible to keep things up...I just can't get down on my hands and knees anymore, and besides that, I have almost a Phobia of ants, and you know, they are going to get on me! Otherwise, I would just sit on the ground, but those ants would find me...I just know they would....

Instant grits, Melva2!!! Pour them around your plants and the ants will almost decrease to nothing. Really.

I just saw this thread and it's wonderful! I'm getting such a feel for the styles you all have, and such ideas, too. That lasagna bed turned out great, by the way! That's what we're doing at the right side of our driveway, just as soon as we're certain the English ivy is killed off and we can pull out as many of its roots as possible.

Here's some pictures of our yard. I don't have many wide shots since this year I've done the pretty close-ups almost exclusively. ;)

Here's a good bit of the back yard. Our property line is just beyond the red twig dogwood behind the birdfeeder and it goes straight back to behind the forsythia bushes in the rear. Small lot, 150 long x 40 wide, I think.

Front yard as seen from the end of the driveway:

The right of the driveway, a work in progress! That bed pretty much shows the property line...I think it's a foot past the bed's edge, or close to it.

Gardenwife and Rosemallow thanks so much for sharing your yards - lovely! I like your WIP gardenwife - whenever grass is killed I celebrate! Just love to see that sod go! I have a three foot strip between us and the neighbor on the left - he is a confirmed lawn nazi so our grass always looks funny - his is golf course up to the property line and then there's this three foot strip which is, well, not...I am dying to dig it all up and plant something nice and messy there, like daylilies or a wildflower garden. He would prob have a heart attack...

Rosemallow you have a beautiful property - such a nice view! I love that open feeling - very different from mine! My whole garden is planned to enclose the space and hide the neighbor's fences, basketball goals, RV's, telephone poles, etc.

I have tried Grits, the ants laughed...
Here is one of my cat...or am I, his human? I never can remember..anyway he is pretending to be a Lion...

I had to take some pictures for school for a landscape evaluation project. I gave myself LOW grades.
This is what you see of our house if you're driving North.

Closer...

This is the view of the "service area" (what my prof calls where the garbage cans are!

This is part of what you see if you're driving South. I didn't go far enough up the road to get the whole area in.

This is part of the other side of the fence in the picture above

This is looking down the fence row of the picture above, same spot, except you can't see the backhoe. :-)

I'm hoping when Wanda is here in August she'll be able to help me "transform" some of these spots!

I have too much yard to ever fill it all with flowers... but hopefully I can get it a little less "thrown together" looking, and a little more aesthetic.

This is my "tropical" corner... LOL brugs and short castor beans

I have enjoyed seeing the different ideas each of you have. For years and years I had nothing more than grass in back. My son helped me plan the back of my yard with a berm to hide a fence and ditch that I am constantly fighting weeds. I also wanted to hide railroad tracks. Much of my yard is easements - rail, gas and high overhead power wires and that's why it looks so big. I don't have one of those towers in my yard, though, thank goodness. Another thing I have is a field next to my yard - you can see over the split rail fence. A fenced walkway to a tunnel goes under the tracks. I could call it a nuisance, but it has the advantage of separating my property from my neighbor's. My neighbor on the other side has a wooden privacy fence around his patio which is behind his attached garage. So, again, I am not bothered by neighbors. Most of the neighbors like the open look and have not put in fences.

An easy way to start shaping flower beds: I purchased metal edging and shaped it the way I wanted it to follow my garden. It comes with metal stakes that help to keep it in place. I didn't dig anything up, but simply filled my area with dirt. (Anything underneath dies). Then I set my plants (I have only perennials that I've been adding to every year.) and used Canadian peat to top. This keeps weeds down and makes it easy to pull them. Next year, God willing my knee is better, I plan to edge the metal stripping with pavers. This is so much easier than digging everything up first which is what I would have done. I never would have believed I could start a flower garden this way, but learned this from my son who is a fantastic gardener.

Rose, you have what I just learned is a "borrowed view". It isn't yours, but it looks like yours. How wonderful!

Rosemallow I def. agree with your way of starting a bed! I NEVER dig anymore - grasskiller covered with 12 inches of hay does the trick! And actually I find the beds I've started this way do better than where I've brought in expensive soil! Which is amazing when you consider our rotten soil (soil? how about muck!) and drainage problems down here in this bowl we call New Orleans. Rotting hay seems to be worms' idea of filet mignon! When I have to do a raised bed for drainage I pile up soil from some other project, like our second driveway, etc. and then use the hay.

What a great thread!!! Thanks for pointing me to it!!
Guess I better get pulling weeds!!

Melissa,

Those three trees in front of your house are gorgeous! How inviting! Would make me want to pull off the road and just look for a few minutes.

All of these gardens are SO nice, and it enjoyable to see the pictues. Thanks.

Jean

Well, I just compiled 11 pictures of my front yard, but I will make it 6 or 7. These go from left to right in the front only.

First one is my garage area. I am including it because I am proud of the Crossvine training we have started. It should eventually go up and over the garage clinging to wire that is strung. In the middle of the two doors in my potted Bay Leaf tree. Ignore the ugly basketball goal.

Edited for clarification.

This message was edited Jul 6, 2004 8:01 PM

Next a wide shot of my front yard. On the left is a Crepe Myrtle. Under it are dwarf nandina, Abelia Grandiflora, and an 'Edward Goucher' Abelia hybrid. In the center bed with the Bradford Pear (yuck) are Profussion Zinnia's and a few herbs.

This is what is behind the bench area in the above picture. Between the Holly Bushes is a Mophead Hydrangea. To the right is 'Climbing Pinkie' Rose that I put in back in April. In front of the Hydrangea is a fairly new perennial bed. Back in April, I yanked out all of Asiatic Jasmine ground cover around it and started putting in perennials.

This message was edited Jul 6, 2004 8:15 PM

Here is my front entry. The two identical pots have Asparagus Fern and Torenia, though the Torenia is between bloom spurts at the moment. On the right is wax begonia and spider plant, that were in the identical pots last summer. I stuck them in the ground in September and they overwintered. Pot on the right is periwinkle and mexican heather.

This is the right side of my yard. This is the perennial bed I started back in spring '03. The large spaces at the bottom of the holly bushes are from dying cedar bushes we removed this spring. There is varigated abelia in their place, but they are still very small. There are lots of various perennials in there and a hard hibiscus right outside of the bed. My crepe myrtles are bouncing back from being butchered by the previous owners, though you can still see the damage.

Last one for now. This is the mostly northern (right) side of my house. Variegated Liriope on the left, in the middle, an espaliered Camellia (put in this winter) with Caladium in front of it, and dwarf nandina (yuck) on the right.

Here is one that I took today...it is where the yard is both front/side.

I have been sitting here enjoying all your great yard pictures. I am canning apricots from my own tree. They are good sized but won't hang on the tree, We have had a lot wind yesterday and today. So I go out an pick up the apricots. When enough I can them. Just ook the canner ful-7 quarts out and it is late and time for bed.

I surely have enjoyed seeing all the different kinds of gardens you all have. Donna

sweezel your garden and house are both gorgeous!!!! Thanks for sharing the pics! Don't pick on your Bradford Pear - its lovely! And seeing your abelia makes me want one - all pruned up like that. Usually one sees them flopping all over - I love your combination of formal shrubs with more casual perennials. Great contrast.

Q: I have a perennial bed with a crepe myrtle in it much like yours. However, my cm has gotten so large that its shading out the entire bed! I'm thinking of pollarding it next year, or should I thin it out? I know some people think pollarding is a crime, but...it's pretty darn big - a Natchez white. Shouldn't have planted it there in the first place I guess. What do you think? What will you do with yours?

WoW! There certainly are some beautiful yards you've shown. Sweezil, yours is really lovely. Here I am, just loving flowers, without a clue as to half of their names. And you just described something I think I have in my yard, the dwarf nandina (yuck). The leaves look the same; does the bush get little pink flowers? It amazes me how really "into" plants you folks get. I just plant 'em and love 'em. If I can get something free, good. But if I see something I like, I'll buy it. There's a perennial farm out near Tecumseh, MI where 2 of my sons live. I like to make a trip out there once in a while in the spring to find something different. He's been watching for a variegated iris.

Rosemallow, I am not sure where Trenton is in relation to Lansing. But wanted to let you know that there is a greenhouse called Van Atta's just outside Lansing that carries all kinds of different perennials. That is where I got my variegated iris. I find their prices are kind of high, so I only buy unusual perennials that I cannot find elsewhere.

Kelly

delphiniumdiva - I would just trim yours up from the bottom some so that more light can get under. I see quite a few lower small branches that could be removed. Some of those plants in my bed get quite a bit of shade from the Crepe Myrtle (the pink loosetrife for example). I purposely chose plants that could do with well with max 4 to 5 hours of sun . They get quite a bit of morning sun and the right side gets quite a bit of late afternoon sun from behind. When the Crepe Myrtle starts to shade even more, I will probably just use it as an excuse to extend the bed out and put shadier plants in the back area.

As far as the formal bushes, all of the hollys, nandina, and two larger Abelia's were there when I moved in. Of course, I do need to keep the yard a little more formal, because I live in a Homeowner's Association run community, so they will stay. The globe shaped Abelia's were already shaped that way so I am glad I did not have to do the work. I just gave them a hard cut at the beginning of this growing season and last to keep them round. The rest of the time I just trim off the the long wily shoots with gardening shears. You loose most of the beautiful, sweet smelling flowers if you trim too much.

Rosemallow - as far as the nandina, I don't think it would make it up in your zone, but I could be wrong. It has small pink tinged white flowers, but they are not the most obvious thing about them. Most people buy them for the fall coloring and berries. The reason I hate them is that they spread by runners and their berries. They are becoming an invasive pest in this area, too. The birds eat the berries and end up populating local forests with them. I tried to dig one of them out once, and it was not budging, so I gave up.