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| I call it the rock garden although it really isn't one... it does have rocks! |
The photo above was my header for awhile and pictures my most recent change to the gardens at Oak Lawn Cheese Factory. This was my spring project this past season and was completed before my shoulder gave out... now that I think of it, maybe it's why my shoulder gave out! I can't say I'm happy with the trade, but this area is very pleasing to me. Changes have occured to this front entrance many times through the years, so bear with me as I take you way back!
In the following photo taken from a very old sepia, we see Oak Lawn from pretty much the same angle somewhere in the 1800's. While we can't be totally certain, we believe Oak Lawn was built as a cooperative effort by the local farmers as a way to market their milk. We believe this to be a collective photo of the farmers upon the completion of their cooperative cheese factory.
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| Oak Lawn in the 1850's |
Somewhere prior to the use of motorized vehicles for delivering milk to Oak Lawn.
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| Milk delivery at Oak Lawn in the early 1900's |
The next scene tells us that at least someone had purchased a motorized vehicle, probably in the 20's to 30's. Note the Siberian Elms that had been planted here. These were gone when we purchased Oak Lawn, but there were others closer to the road which would have been on the left hand side of the photo.
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| Oak Lawn in the 20's to possibly 30's |
This was Oak Lawn in 1972 when my wife and I purchased it... while it doesn't look all that bad in this photo, believe me, it was in deplorable condition and I don't know what we were thinking! Keep in mind that this post is about the development of the front (to the left in the picture) gardens. If you look carefully, there was a 125 foot bridal wreath hedge about this side of the property, a couple large siberian elms, and a box elder at the far end. There was a privet hedge along the walkway, a couple of peonies and more bridal wreath (Spirea Vanhoutii) next to the house.
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| Oak Lawn in 1972 |
My first big garden project was terracing this front area which I did in conjunction with my siding the house in cedar, installing new windows, renovating the interior, building a greenhouse, adding seemingly endless cedar fencing of my own design, building a "bergola" for grape vines that reflected the Swiss ancestry of the previous cheese makers (the entrance to a home passing under a structure for vines), removing the big old trees and adding many new ones. My first interests in plants had to do with houseplants for several years and only about a quarter acre of gardens. I guess much of my free time had to do with renovations which I did myself with the help of my wife.
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| Long before the rock garden in 1982 |
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| Around 1982 |
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| entrance walk changed to pass under a bergola of my design |
The "front entrance" in its first incarnation can be seen below... many reincarnations to follow over the years...
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| My first front yard I could call my own work in the early 1980's |
This phase was quite pleasing for a number of years as seen in the following photos...
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| The patio in front of the greenhouse |
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| The terraced gardens were sunny enough to grow roses |
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| Even the grapevines were producing fruit |
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| I was quite content for about ten years with what was happening here |
Then as so often happens, this part of the gardens began to get overgrown. There is a difficult time between young trees and trees starting to show some maturity... sort of like raising our two boys as teenagers... a gawky time, when there is a need for the the pruning process to take hold, and for the canopy to be raised. This can be a difficult time in the garden when things just don't quite look right and yet the gardener isn't totally aware of what the problem is. By the mid 80's, that's what this part of our gardens had become. Additionally, the poor quality stains of the early 70's had destroyed the cedar look of the house, so I had to come up with a new color scheme.
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| It was definitely a time for pruning... to the ground! and then dig out the roots! |
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The new warm colors of the house and impatiens in the new found shade
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| Too many trees, and too much shade in 1987 |
Now for a big skip in time and many remodeling projects later, I'll move to 2008. By now the house had been painted blue which I love, except for the fact that it fades really quickly so has to be painted often, and for that reason I'm thinking of going to a more federalist blue-gray. At any rate, I was becoming sick of impatiens in the upper terrace and decided to switch to hostas... since I divided some of my mother plants, it didn't take long for the divisions to establish.
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| Early spring in 2009 |
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| The hostas in 2010 |
I was now pleased with the upper terrace as shown in this photo from July. I now need to step back a couple years and show you the condition of the lower terrace and how we got to the first photo in this post... I'll save that for the next posting as this is getting a bit long... Take care, Larry
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Change in the gardens
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