Little House Hawthorn

 

 We were well rewarded!

Last September Miles took down two very large trees that were killing a smaller, much prettier, Hawthorn at the little house yard. Our little Hawthorn really bounced back! (I know that is an odd angle but it was the only way I could get it all in and still have it be relatively close.) We will have to wait a few years for it to straighten up but with regular trimming it will get there because not only is it alive, it is FULL of flowers. And even better? It smells FANTASTIC! It was a lot of work and we will be burning the wood forever but it was so worth it. The little house yard is so much prettier this year with the Hawthorn blooming at the same time as the iris. The Linden will be next and will bloom with peony. Then the columbine and cranesbill will take over for the summer. With the big trees gone you can actually see it all and the increase in sunlight hours, the flowering plants are looking so much bigger this year than last. It makes me want to go and find a tree to cut down. Oh happy day!!

Tying it all Together

Our front yard was becoming a mishmash of gardens as we expanded to add new plants, so 3 years ago we decided to turn the whole thing into a garden, except for a 24' circle. We measured the circle using a metal stake and rope, then marked the whole thing with old hose hammered down with long nails.

front circle before

Kelly lugged in all the stones from back in the woods and lined them up along the hose. Then he dug out all the areas outside the circle to about 2' deep. Next came a big load of garden soil and, of course, plants. We preserve some larger sections at the front for dahlias and glads, which all have to be dug up and replanted yearly.

front circle after

Blast from the Past

What fun looking through old garden photographs turned out to be! This is the Nursery Entry in 2005 which would have been the second year for the Nursery. If you stand in this spot today, all you would see is Lamium and Phlox. There is Golden Creeping Jenny there still but unless the Lamium has been recently pulled, you wouldn't see it. It has been a couple of weeks since I pulled Lamium here, opting instead to spend my garden time planting. I know the Creeping Jenny will survive and plan to move more of it in the next couple of weeks so will unearth it again then. The Allium above is the same patch that I took to Linda this year so it made it through the aggressive progression of the Lamium as well. The Nursery is an overgrown mass of plants today and is not recognizable in any of the 2005 photographs. Although I miss having it so neat and orderly, I would not trade that for all the plants I have harvested from the overgrowth and I will spend a good part of this Fall moving more. As an added bonus, my trip down memory lane produced white Columbine and pink Honeysuckle that I had completely forgotten. I am not sure where the white Columbine went but the photo prompted me to go and pull Lamium all around the spot it was originally growing. I was rewarded with three seedlings, one of which is large enough to possibly bloom next year. The white Columbine has a fringed leaf unlike any of my others so I am certain the seedlings are white. It was nice to have garden surprises this late in the season when I had thought the only surprises left were discovering what the new dahlia look like when they open. I wonder what I will find when I open the 2006 folder.

Reminder for Danielle

This will remind you of what my backyard was like with no garden.