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| This photo of my lily has absolutely nothing to do with this article... just in case you were wondering! |
"My Little Garden In Japan" is presently hosting a blog carnival with the subject being garden resolutions for the coming year. An excellent topic to be sure, and it has got me to thinking about the coming season. At this point there are no big changes in the works. I do want to start doing more with miniature conifers in hyper-tuffa containers. I guess the biggest goal is to figure out how to maintain the gardens with my worn out upper right arm and shoulder, but I pretty much subscribe to "where there's a will, there's a way", so I guess my biggest resolution will be learning to adapt to my shoulder situation. Today I'll take another look back at a garden redo done in 2009. I have dealt with these changes in the past and used some of these photos before... you may want to turn back now! Now I have to say, my sharing photos of the gardens at less than their best, is sort of like "The House Wives of Orange County" leaving home without their make-up... generally it just doesn't happen.... but I'm feeling brave today.
If you really want to know what's right and what's wrong with your gardens, I recommend taking lots of photos from all angles and all seasons... then look at them over and over again all winter... what's right with your garden will make you happy when you see it... what's not right will cause a sense of discomfort... you'll know what to fix!
There was a time when the problem area in my gardens were not a problem... but then lots of growth happened and things became overgrown and even rampant... case in point, the birch walk. If you recall, it was reasonably attractive in 2003... here's a photo I shared a few days ago...
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| The birch walk in 2003 |
It was ok back then and when I looked at this photo, I was happy. Then I decided it was getting too shady for the iris, so I moved them out. The yellow Euphorbia polychromas seeded about like crazy and they were a pain to deal with, so I threw most of them out. Grass infested many of the Hughes junipers, so I dug them out... I was left with dirt. Then the bright idea of growing several varieties of vinca minor hit me... too bad it didn't knock me out because this was one really stupid move... not only in the birch walk, but three other places in the gardens as well. Here's a rule of thumb for you... never plant vinca minor in a restricted area... and it's no fun removing every little stem of it... basically straining the soil eight inches deep!
Now in reference to my previous advice... do you think I was happy the winter of 2008 when I looked at this photo? I wasn't because I peeked at it in August and pulled out the pickaxe and the shovels right away... I couldn't even wait until December to be displeased with what I saw...
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| Overgrown with vinca minor and no character whatsoever |
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| Sod removal for a new hosta area has begun |
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| Removal of the vinca was next |
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| A small fence was built as a backdrop for the new hosta garden 'to be' |
Originally I planned on this new area to be an enclosed garden... but then I decided we needed a small barn so it is still a path of sorts. What had once become very much overgrown was now 'lightened up' and I was able to install hostas bordering the edges. This whole problem began with trees on either side of the birches getting large, but now it feels much more in scale and is a great place to hang a hammock and relax. Unfortunately, the birches are now shading out some of the spruces... damage can probably be contained for a few years with lots of pruning of birch limbs... eventually however, something is going to have to go. It definitely will not be the large fern leaf beech on the one side... I'd hate to lose the rhythm of the birches, so perhaps some on the spruces on the opposite side will have to go... I've also hated that idea for a long time, but all of a sudden, it seems like it may have possibilities... time to look at the pictures and make some decisions for down the road!
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| The new hosta garden in its first year |
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| From the other side of the fence |
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| The new garden room is completed |
The final step in the redoing of this area came in November 2009 when we added a small barn at the end of the path... Larry
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