Front Landscaping Before

I realized I never posted any "before" shots of what our front landscape looked like when we bought the house.

Here is what the bed next to the garage looked like. It was covered a couple of layers of plastic topped off with red rock mulch. Plantings were 2 dying mountain laurels, the Freak Tree, a huge evergreen that was a hybrid of 2 different kinds of trees, pink heuchera (coral bells), which I've reused in the new gardens, some hardy white mums and a spring white flowering ground cover. I got rid of everything but the coral bells.



The Freak Tree (unfortunately this is the best pic I could find of the whole tree):


The only things planted in front of the main part of the house were some hostas and pachysandra that weren't doing much in a part sunny location. And a euonymus that was threatening to overtake the front porch, and not in a good way. Also a clematis along the light post, and a ton more hostas. I kept the clematis. This picture also shows my calla lilies and pink glodiolous, which I dig up and bring in after blooming.



Here is the front walk before and after brick demolition and some topsoil. I think we're just about agreed on the stones with wooly thyme planted among them. It should be very nearly evergreen here if we're lucky.

Major Score at the Nursery

I had another busy and productive week in the gardens. Most of the work is done now, and all my main shrubs and perennials are planted. I'm still waiting for my bulbs (and a few plants) from van Bourgondien. I'm getting a bit concerned because I've read a lot of negative comments about them online. I called Wednesday and was told my orders should be shipped within the next couple of days. I'll be calling again tomorrow if I don't see a status update on their website.

I just about finished the stone edging around the main foundation bed and was able to do it without hurting my back this time around. Figuring out how to lift and place the stones has a bit of a learning curve, and I've definitely gotten better at it. We have about a full pallet of stone leftover, so we've decided to pull up the brick front walk and the wooden railroad ties lining it and create a stone path! This will be kind of a major endeavor, but it was John's idea and I certainly wasn't going to say no. We're trying to decide what to put between the stones to create a natural but durable look. I'm leaning toward a hardy creeping thyme, but I'm wondering how that will hold up in winter with snowblowing, etc. Needs more research.

I dug up my mother-in-law's azalea earlier in the week and did what I think is a successful transplant. It's large, but the roots weren't that deep and it seems happy in its new location. I also took a pink Phlox, a pink dianthus, what I think are purple geraniums and a yellow coreopsis. Everything looks decent and happy in its new home.

Friday was my big day. Our babysitter came and I set off early to go to the nursery in Collinsville where I planned to do some damage. The sign said 50% off and I had decided not to wait any longer for a deeper discount since I wanted to get stuff planted. So I went there and got a wagon and put a monster Nova Zembla rhododendron on it. A worker came out to offer help and I asked if everything was 50% or just the trees and shrubs. Good thing I asked. She told me only their clay pottery and accessories were on sale. None of the plants were on sale! So I had just loaded up a $178 shrub onto my wagon. I had planned to spend around $200 total in hopes of getting 2 good sized shrubs and a couple of perennials. No way was I paying almost $200 for one plant! The woman told me if I wanted to pay $30 for a membership fee I could get 10% off my entire purchase. I politely thanked her and got the heck out of there, cursing in my head. My plans had been seriously disrupted! I knew another nursery closer to home had a not as nice selection of Nova Zemblas, but that one was also overpriced.

Luckily, I'd been driving out that way every week with the boys to get Jake to nap, and I had driven past 2 other nurseries in Burlington. I stopped at the smaller one but they had nothing much there. Then I went to the large one, which had a huge "Sale" sign up. I started walking around and saw another sign that the nursery was closed, but I should feel free to walk around. The place was huge and as I walked around I quickly realized they had everything I wanted there, and at ridiculously lower prices than the other places. AND it was all on sale. But they were closed! I had seen a man going into one of the buildings on the grounds so I went and knocked on the door. Turns out he was the father of the guy who owns the nursery (who was out at a landscaping job). He told me as long as things had prices he could ring me up.

I chose a healthy Nova Zembla almost as big as the $178 one I'd seen earlier, a clump of Rudbeckia Goldsturm, and a clump of Shasta daisies (these were marked as both Snowcap and Goldrauch, so they will be a surprise next year). Then I saw what looked like a huge green/gold boxwood, unmarked and with no price on it. I found the guy I'd talked to (who couldn't confirm what kind of plant it was), and he told me I could have it for $25. He didn't know how to figure out the sales tax, so he told me I didn't have to pay tax, and to just write him a check. I got all 4 plants for $98 - I think I scored big time!

Happy ending to my story. Everything is planted now and we're getting a nice light rain today, which is much needed. Some pictures of the new edging walls and plants are below.









Nova Zembla Rhododendron




Boxwood Shrub (I got confirmation from an online garden forum that this is Buxus and not a privet or something else, so keeping my fingers crossed)

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!

Big Things Afoot

We have been in major landscaping mode the past few weeks and have gotten a lot accomplished. We had 10 yards of top soil delivered a couple of weeks ago and have moved about half of it to the backyard. We will finish moving and distributing this weekend and get grass planted all around the pool area. This is going to be a huge improvement for the backyard, which was previously peastone gravel. We will also make a patio area, but that will have to wait until spring most likely.

In addition to the dirt, I also created a new rock border around the garden bed in the pool area, which I'm very happy about. It's bigger and better than the last border, and should do a good job of dividing the grass and garden areas.

Yesterday we ordered 2 large pallets of cut moss fieldstone, which will be delivered next week. We will use this to build borders around the new beds in front of the house. We tilled up most of the soil in these beds last weekend, and I got one of the beds built up with topsoil, cow manure and peat moss week. After we build the borders it will probably need to be built up more, but at least we're getting there.

My bulbs and plants from van Bourgendien will be delivered in the next couple of weeks, and I'll also be purchasing the Nova Zembla. I need to get everything planted by October 15, that's my cutoff. But I hope to have it planted by end of this month so it has a few weeks to harden and establish before the first frost. Fingers crossed that all my transplants and new stuff make it.

Here are a few pics of what's happening in the gardens.

Aster novi-belgii Sloopy:


Sedum spectabile Autumn Joy:





New stone wall around pool bed:



10 yards of topsoil: