My front yard ... garden

This is where is started. I am trying my hand at a cottagesque garden. My first complicated landscape. There are many changes to come. My own little before and after.

That house just is so charming I just know it's going to be beautiful! Look forward to updates!

Love the house!!

I can't wait to see it too, although I can already picture it in my mind. Enjoy!

My biggest garden lesson so far: There is no end to the number of plants you can put in one small space!
My biggest house lesson so far: It is not where you start, it is your vision, your dream. More before pictures: the view.

Plant List
Sun Side Border
1 Green Giant (Thuja plicata)
3 Butterfly Rose (Rosa Chinensis “Mutabilis”)
3 Red Rose Mallow (Hibiscus coccineus”
2 Burning Bush (Euonymus Alatus)
1 Pink Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnate)
5 Dwarf Burford Holly (Ilex Cornuta “Burfordii Nana”)
10 Juniperus conferta ’Blue Pacific’ (Blue Pacific Shore Juniper)

Island
3 Sky Rocket Juniper" (Juniperus virginiana 'Sky Rocket'
10 Hollyhock Alcea rosea var. nigra 'The Watchman'
10 Angelina Sedum (Sedum Rpestre “Angelina”)

Street Hedge Border
20-25 Sky Pencil Holly (Ilex Crenata)

Shade Side Border
6 Hydrangea Royal Red (Hydrangea hortensis compacta)
1 Large Viburnum (Variety?)
1 Fernspray Cypress (Chamaecyparis “Filicoides”, Sunny spot on Shade side of garden)
1 First Love Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides “Aimee”)

Front Floral Border
24 Crocosmia Emily McKenzie (Crocosmia hybrids “Emily McKenzie”)
40 Red Carpet Border Lily (Lilium)
12 Dragonflower White (Physostegia virginiana “Miss Manners”)
12 Moonbeam Coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata “Moonbeam”)

Walkway Border
2 Hollywood Juniper (Juniperus Chinensis “Kaizuka”)

Unplaced
3 BITTERSWEET VINE (1 Male, 2 Female) Celastrus scandens
3 Dumbo’s Ears (Rudbeckia maxima)
1 Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

you sure all that's gonna FIT?
the view, hencethe Street Hedge Border Sky Pencil Holly,eh?
Can't wait for some afters! Big ambitions!
With all this detail, I think you should go to the Garden Design aka Curb Appeal forum for more advice

This message was edited Feb 27, 2007 12:00 PM

do you really need that awning

That is the before picture. Big changes are coming. I put in a fence today. I am anxious to finish the new walkway, but it is still too wet. Tomorrow I will plant the hollywood junipers, put edging around the beds, and lay down mulch. I want to put in a foot path. I am considering pea gravel...dark red..looks more brown than red or neutral tan/brown. The red ties more into the house. The tan more into the walkway (tan pavers). Hmmmm, maybe I will mix them! I chose tan pavers because the brick colored pavers looked out of place against the brick of the house...as if you just couldn't match the brick. Contrasting ended up looking better than an off-match.

Okay...I will tell the awning is gone, long gone. I think I tore it off the first week I moved in. I hated it. We have done some major remodeling inside. This house was not so great when we purchased. Split up into apartments and horrible, horrible kitchens.

I will post a couple pictures of the remodeling. We are very proud of work completed so far.

seems like a very charming home.

I bet it will be spectacular when you are finished.

but wow, that's a lot of plants.

Holy smokes. I was half falling asleep when I posted last. I cannot believe the number of typos. How embarrassing. I am now proofreading this post. Now do you all really think that is a lot of plants? I still have empty spots. If anything is worth doing, it is worth overdoing. Minimalism is just not my style!

Don,

I know it looks bad to have a lot of empty space but in 3 years the garden will have grown considerably. Take it from another person who likes to overdo; if you space them too closely, they will either die out or you will be unhappy and try to move them. However, in moving them, you will either kill them or the plants around them because the roots will get all tangled and grown together. I've been there done that and wasted a lot of money and time!
Terri

Really, you can put a lot of plants in a space. Look at the forest...plants are not placed by packaging rules. Guaranteed some will die...some won't do well...some will thrive. More is more. Just come over for Thanksgiving dinner if you don't believe it! You are all invited. Bring your favorite dish...with food in it!!

I am not too happy with the hollywood junipers though. I love the plants, but bought them outside the plan. I don't know if I am happy with the placement. It is still too wet to do the walkway...so I will be planting the hedge, the bulbs, the hydrangeas, and the island berm this weekend.

What's the best way to break up heavy clay soil in a space too small for a tiller. I bought one of those spikey twisty things. It works fairly well, but the chunks are still too big. And boy, is it MUCH work. Holy smokes!

working with clay is a nightmare... i recall the HOURS my DH put in digging the post hole for our mailbox....

when i did my beds, where i dug the hole, i just tossed the clay and filled it with top soil... for me, at the time it was the easiest.
But i think i will have to put more time into my beds this year with all the new plants i'm getting.

sorry if this wasn't any help... honestly - i don know how to break it up.

Glad you updated... i was wondering how you were coming a long.

Clay really doesn't break up. It clumps and makes you mad. LOL. I have it here too and I hate it. I have to have my dad get the tiller out sometimes to break up the soil because even when I water it it can be hard as a rock. If I try to use the shovel it hits the ground and shakes like a jackhammer. Not fun.