New Gardens

A Graham Thomas rose bush in side garden

6/5/16

     I can't believe it has been seven months since my last post.  Life gets in the way when you move.  I do not recommend moving five days before Christmas into a house where kitchen remodeling is still going on, the entire yard has been neglected, and then having to endure snowmaggedon the end of January, a bitterly cold April with snow, a month of rain in May.  Trying to garden has been a real challenge.  We jumped at the chance to buy back the house we built and lived in for twenty some years when it came on the market last fall.  We love the house and neighborhood. 

     The house we moved from (a bargain fixer upper that we bought when we were transferred back to this area ) was much too large for us with an acre of mostly grass, with only a few trees that were far away from the house.  It was hard to see and hear birds because the trees were so far away.  But now back at our old house, wildlife is a few steps away from the windows.  Lots of trees, birds, squirrels, chipmunks.  And with a forested flood plain on one side of the house, we see deer, fox, rabbit, and raccoons.

The neglected back garden

     Here's what the neglected back yard garden looked like last November just after we bought the house.  Trees and bushes were overgrown and not pruned.  There were all kinds of vines, weeds and stray plants growing everywhere.

Back garden early spring

     This is an early spring (mid March) photo of the same area cleaned up, planted with new hollies and other bushes.  The daffodils I planted years ago are still there.  I put in some pansies along the edge of the wall. We had sod put down in the back yard because it was mostly weeds and mud.

    

Back garden early June

     Here is a photo I just took today of the same area now planted with lots of shade plants.  The daffodils are done, and the pansies are bushier and bigger and still doing fine since it has been cool so far.

     I will detail what's growing in the back garden in the next post, and in following posts I'll include the side gardens, the woodland garden, and the front garden.