The rock garden... a long time in coming... 2nd installment

The entrance area in 2008 when I decided it was time for a redo

In my last post, I showed several photos of thesefront gardens here at Oak Lawn, beginning with circa 1855. I'd like to begin today by (re)sharing a little verbal history of this old but important building that was essential to the local farmers so long ago. I first published the following about a year ago...

Oak Lawn Cheese Factory sits amongst Wisconsin farms and served those farms for 100 years. Area farmers brought their milk to the factory for the production of cheddar cheese. The son of a local farmer (now 81 years old) tells how, in the 30's, he was dropped at the local one room school house a half mile north of the factory after chores on the farm.  His uncle would take him and the milk from his father's farm, as well as the uncle's own farm, and deliver it in a model T with a rack that held up to five milk cans. This represented the milk produced by both farms in a single day. After the model T wore out, a model A was purchased and a rack for the cans was added to that vehicle. In the summer, the milk from the two daily milkings was kept cool in a water tank, but in winter that was not necessary. It was kept in an unheated room and approached freezing prior to the once daily delivery to the cheese factory. Two farms and 4-5 cans of milk... amazing when considered by today's standards!  There is now a farming operation a half mile from Oak Lawn, that milks about 2000 cows instead of the 20 or so milked on a typical farm fifty years ago. A few miles from Oak Lawn, there is a new operation that will be milking over 8000 cows! The home farm of 80 acres that supported an operation and family completely, has now become operations that incorporate 1000's of acres to maintain their business. There lived locally a nun who was well known for her advanced age of well over 100 years. In a radio interview, she was asked to what she attributed her long life. Her response was that it was necessary to be able to accept change. 

With that I move on to more recent changes. The photo above is what had evolved since the 80's... I had started using a few rocks in the area, but they really didn't quite do the trick, and the area beginning with the little steps was overgrown with more of that vinca I referred to a couple posts back, hostas of little interest and a pagoda dogwood, as well as a goodly amount of sweet woodruff... the whole scene needed to be addressed. If you look closely at the photo below, you will note that the dry laid terrace walls were in bad need of being rebuilt as well. My 26 year old son came to my aide in taking care of that task much to my appreciation.

In 2008 the front entrance had once again become overgrown. The following year 
we removed all the plant material except the upper terrace hostas and my son 
redid the dry laid wall. We also cut down the young elm tree to the left of center.

Phase one involved this small part of the redo in summer 2008

A good edge on a garden covers many sins so we left it as seen here through 2008 and summer 2009

The wall renovation is completed in the fall of 2009

All the offending plant material is removed and new smaller
cultivars of blue spruce are added to anchor the end of the building,
 as well as  a Fagus sylvatica 'Purple Fountains' for interest

As I pointed out the other day, I am not a real rock gardener, but rather a gardener who likes rocks. When it came time to start developing the remaining portion of the front entrance, it was a matter of laying out the rocks, filling in with my compost, settling the area, planting the area, and then creating the pathway to the house. here then are a succession of photos showing the process and the results...

The first step was to collect a variety of stone... a friend dropped these off for me

I then reshaped the area that was previously here

Normally rocks should be buried fairly deeply but since it was my intention to raise the path area,
I didn't feel it was necessary here

I had dug in a 12' tall chimney tile column to below the frost line and electrified it,
added a light which I installed on top of a patio block,
and  painted the whole affair

I began carting in my compost while I searched out more large stones

I then brought in the remaining stones... held the very largest 10' in the air in a tractor bucket and let it roll out so the heaviest portion landed at the bottom of the bed... with more compost added, this rock was about 2/3rds buried

After compacting the lower layers of compost, I was ready to start planting. I planted an Arnold's Promise and a Jelena witch hazel which will pruned up eventually and be the future source of shade for the garden as I expect the white ash will eventually succumb to emerald ash borer which is becoming a significant problem in the midwest. If that doesn't happen, so much the better. The witch hazels can get very large with time, spreading 15-25'.

At this point, the majority of the planting was completed and the grass in the path was treated
with Round-up in preparation for adding the gravel and flagstones

The dry laid stairway is completed

And lastly the bluestone path is laid in the gravel

Voila... the project is complete

So these were the basics of how this project was completed. I grow lots of primula, double helebores, epimediums, iris cristata, lilies, dianthus of several varieties, thyme, dwarf veronicas and columbines, lots of varieties of sempervivums, and a host of other plants here. Many were from reserves held in other parts of the gardens. I planted thickly, assuming that some may not survive this environment. It does however hold huge drifts of wonderfully insulating snow all winter. In the back portion I've installed another fernleaf beech for future shade... the radiant crab is messy and not worth keeping, but can't be removed until other things increase in size. I will complete this post by sharing lots of photos of what performed here last season... I'm getting excited just thinking about it... 

Well before the path was completed, early primula began their wonderful show

In this photo, several epimediums have begun to bloom... this older section of the
 rock garden also contains several dwarf hemlocks

More of the same from yet a different angle

Primula 'Radical Red' and Epimedium 'Domino' on the right are both favorites of mine

I absolutely love the look of plants against stone

Domino is my favorite epimedium

Looking southeast through the young fern leaf beech across the
flagstone path to the newer portion of the rock garden

Looking north towards the greenhouse

Looking east from the new stairs

The metamorphosis is complete

Burgundy Splash asiatic lily growing in a crevice

Looking to the west

There is something about a busy palette of small plants with variety of textures and foliage colors that I find very pleasing

So that's it for this two post series. In the back of my mind, I see  gardening activities eventually move closer to the house. I imagine the outer gardens becoming pretty much self sustaining with the exception of regular mulching and pruning that could be hired work if necessary. I created this area with the specific desire for a place to sit and watch the world go by, surrounded by the plants that I do so enjoy. Take care and have a great week my friends! Larry

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