Major Garden Renovations

The past couple of weeks have been busy in the gardens. Our backyard is done for the moment, we planted the grass and are just letting that take root. Next year we will hopefully build the patio and make additional renovations, but for now we are done back there.

Most of our time and energy has been focused on the front gardens over the past few weeks. We had 2 huge pallets of fieldstone delivered and I built and edging wall around the bed between the garage and front door. I still need to build the edging around the bed on the other side of the walkway (in front of the majority of the house), but I pulled my back building the other bed so I've been taking a break from moving stones.

We prepped both beds over the weekend though, and I have planted a ton of stuff already. My orders from Van Bourgondeon should ship tomorrow, so I'll have the rest of the items planted by the weekend hopefully. On Friday I'm planning to go to the local nursery and get my Nova Zembla rhododendron, and either an Oregon Grapeholly or a Boxwood to go next to the front steps. I'll also pick up some rudbeckia probably, and maybe a Hydrangea Paniculata, although that will probably wait until next year. I've been waiting for this nursery to slash their prices to 75% off (currently at 50%) but I feel like I need to get this stuff in the ground and established before the frost sets in, so I'm going for it this week.

Below is a list of what I've planted over the past few days:

Blue princess hollies (male & female), perennial strawberries, azalea (unknown), yellow coreopsis, pink Phlox, purple geranium, pink geranium, 2 potentilla plants (white and yellow), orange double-flowering lilies, white Siberian irises, purple Siberian irises, pink poppy, pink Coral Bells, 2 asters, a hot pink mum, hot pink echinancea or rudbeckia (unsure), apricot hollyhocks, 2 large Autumn Joy sedums, pink dianthus....I think that's it for the front beds.

In the back I added some of the orange double-flowering lilies, a few Lenten roses, and some wild yellow poppies. My grape hyacinths have sprouted again back there with the cooler weather. They did this last year and came back in the spring and flowered just fine, so I'm not concerned.

I can't believe how much I've planted - and I've still got a lot more to go!