Planning the east garden was fun, ok, so planning all the gardens was fun. When we come out of the east door of the house, there is a concrete deck we can sit on. The ground slopes towards the porch. I could imagine us sitting on the porch and looking back towards the yard. I had the vision of the porch being the stage, and the flowers the audience. It was a fun thought, so I played with it.
The garden is in tiers, just as a theater would be. The lower level is my ground cover. Oregano has found a way into this garden, as well as pansies, which the children love to eat. The next level up is usually covered with pine needles and has our house plants on it. I have been exploring with clematis as a ground cover here. They are not happy with the pine needles. One plant survived, and it is like artwork against the pine needles.
The climbing plants along the back are climbing hydrangea, trumpet vine and a clematis. .The climbing hydrangea has wonderful texture in the winter. The peeling bark and red cedar color is wonderful against the white snow.
The river rock path was Karl’s idea, and I love it.
2016
2021
We removed several trees from the sweet grass garden bed close to the east side of the house. (Anyone who would plant a tree so close to the house still has me wondering about their sanity.) In the process the pathway and the rock wall was damaged. This year Karl fixed that issue, he dug up the river rock we had laid in the path, put down some foundation gravel and moved the rocks back. It looks so nice. I need to rework the rock wall when time allows.
I replanted the beds on the east side with marigolds, thyme and day lilies.