Welcome to my Garden Great Room

The Gayla Pink Apple

 

Welcome to my Garden Great Room!  My backyard garden is finally complete - well, phase I is finished.  This should be my last post about my gardening renovation.  Whew!  Perhaps a phase II next year.  It is time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my hard labor.

My backyard garden is what I call my garden great room - one big space with designated areas defined by the layout.  What that really means is that you can see from one side of my backyard to the other instead of small private spaces.  It is not garden rooms divided by mature trees and shrubs, creating a path to stroll, leading you to quaint intimate garden rooms.

 

The bones of the yard are three fence lines with mature plantings of trees and shrubs along with a few perennials.  Five large mature layland cypress trees died several years ago and were removed.  New baby trees - saplings - have been planted in their place, but it will be several years before they will fill in and offer their beauty to the space.  That's just part of planting young trees and shrubs, etc.  My father gave me the little saplings.  I planted:  1) two crabapple flowering trees - the birds will love them;   2) a Goldenraintree, which is also a flowering tree;   3) a Washington Hawthorn, also a flowering tree; and   4) another crepe myrtle. 

What started it all...

Focal Point to my Garden Great Room

The focal point to my garden great room is a large concrete fountain converted to a planter which houses summer flowers in memory of our precious shih tzu, Casey, who died in February 2013.  This is what actually started the whole renovation.  I wanted to sit outdoors and reminisce and think about her joy and love.  The concrete fountain/planter is located in her favorite area of the yard. 

In addition, I wasn't working outside my home and therefore had the time to get into gardening.  Man oh man, did I ever dive into it.

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Main walkway... 



First walkway edged with bricks

and ground cover planted between pavers. 

 First was edging the main walkway from the gate to the patio with bricks from my brick pile, along with planting hydrangea shrubs with a few perennials and annuals.  The pavers were placed there about 15 years ago and weeds had grown over them.  Rolling my eyes as I say that, too! 

Hydrangeas anchor the bed, while cladiums offer summer color.

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Curved walkway...

Second, a curved walkway was added -- extended off the main one, to lead you to the brick steps that take you to the lower level of the yard.  This curved walkway is made of old pavers we had on hand, I moved them to create this walkway.  The pavers were placed by my very hands, and edged with bricks carried by me and placed by my very hands, too.  Frankly, this is several days/weeks of back breaking labor.  Rhododendrons were planted along its' side as well as a few perennials and summer annuals. 

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Walkway to the focal point...

 

Walkway to Focal Point of the Garden

Third, a double walkway was created leading to the focal point - the large fountain planter.  Boxwoods outline each side of the walkway.  Begonias were planted in the planter for summer color.  Today,  it's very pretty, if I do say so myself!  And, yes, another walkway where each paver and brick were placed there by me! 

Another view of the focal point and side section

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Birdbath...

 An old abandoned birdbath pedestal renewed

with paint and a new birdbath bowl.

Since grass is impossible to grow, I decided to give up on grass - just too much shade to be successful with grass.  A old birdbath pedestal got a new birdbath bowl.  It was then welcome birdie birdie!  Liropre was planted around the base of the birdbath to accent it.

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Accessories (pots) to accent...

 Various pots were added for summer fun and accents...

  Coleuses with asparagus and plumrose ferns

Yellow coleus with dill and purple accents

 

Ivy Trellis Tower

I have this thing against ivy.  A friend convinced me ivy is not all bad.  So, I planted this ivy trellis tower to give ivy another chance.  This is the small ivy - a green needlepoint variety and a variegated ivy.  This was just planted on July 4th so it will need time to grow and climb the trellis.  Wish me luck! :)

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Just a Swingin'...

 

A new swing was added which created a relaxing space to sit and enjoy the outside space, thus, creating a sitting conversation area.

Phase II of my garden great room - next year - will be expanding this area, but for now, the swing grounds the space.

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New chairs...

 New club style patio chairs

The patio table and chairs received a new umbrella (not pictured) with blue tooth!  A couple of club style patio chairs were added to enjoy a morning cup of Joe.  This created the main gathering space on the patio. 

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The Garden's Little Black Dress...

 The Little Black Bench

The Little Black Bench was added which created a little sitting area to admire the birdbath and planter.  It sits in a very shady area and is quite cool and nice to stop and sit for a few minutes.  I call this the Little Black Dress to my garden.

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The Sundial...

Brick sundial

Brick sundial was added in front of the birdbath.  Standing water was an issue here, so creating something to combat the water and lack of grass were my purpose.  The goal is to let the ground cover fill in the area, creating coverage in lieu of grass, and offset the standing water.  This will take time to fill in, so mulch will carry the burden for now.

Brick sundial with summer pot of coleuses and dill in foreground

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Hosta Hill...

 (No photo available of the hosta hill. The area is too wide to capture it all in a photo, so I gave up) 

Two small hills were cleared and renovated.  Both were overgrown and weeds were pulled and removed.  Fifty hostas were planted on one hill - I call it Hosta Hill now.  The Hosta Hill is edged with liropre and a few boxwood plantings with a little bit of ground cover here and there.  This hill will be very striking as the hostas mature, but right now they're pretty small and getting watered a lot. 

Solid green Hosta on the Hosta Hill...

A few little baby Hostas planted on the Hosta Hill

Blue Hosta - growing nicely on the Hosta Hill...

Variegated Hosta on the Hosta Hill

I tried to get a good photo of the hosta hill, but it didn't cooperate - just couldn't get a good shot.  Anyway, this creates a really nice backdrop for the lower level of the garden which also allows a view from the upper level as well.  An old swing frame was given a new swing and painted.  It creates a sitting area for the lower level allowing you to take a moment to just sit and admire your surroundings, hopefully one day to be in awe of all the beautiful hostas and flowering trees. 

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Rock Hill...

Rock Hill as of July 4, 2013-photo is side view

Still a little work to be done, but all rock are in place.

The other side of the small hill is now a Rock Hill.  I hauled rocks from my grandmother's old home place as well as rocks from my parent's property to completely fill this space.  Plantings of several different ground covers were planted between rocks.  This creates somewhat of a maintenance free area as well as holding the dirt.  I'm very please with the way it turned out.  I'm humbled by the fact that I personally hand placed the rocks and the rocks came from my family.

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The Gate...

A fun update to the gate with a little concrete bench and a coat of black paint.

As you probably know, I've said, the garden club ladies always said, "Every Garden Begins With a Gate."  I didn't have a pretty gate.  A quick fix was to paint it and accessorize the entry.  A little concrete bench says hello and gives the entry to the garden presence. 

So, finally...it's finished.  I've put my heart and soul into creating this garden.  I already enjoy the space a lot.  In a couple years as the plantings grow and mature, I think it will be quite nice.   

With that said...Welcome to my Garden Great Room...

Gayla

 

 (I started my backyard renovation April 4th and finished it yesterday, July 9th. Seems I've literally worked non-stop 24/7 for the past three months on it.  I've never enjoyed gardening - still don't, really - but I do think, today, I can call myself a gardener.  This blog post summarizes most all of the projects involved in creating my garden. This should be my last blog post on this topic! - at least for a few  months, anyway. )