Wendy, I just saw your post. I would love to see photos of your old garden too! You moved far away, didn't you? Started a new garden? I am so curious how your new garden is doing too. I hope you will start your own thread so we can all follow along.
It's amazing to me at least, to see this very large, garden and all the projects that it takes to put it together. Especially the hardscapes, because that is the part I really have struggled with. And you can do so much with a large garden that you can't do in a small garden.
Roxanna, I'd like to know how long it took you from the planning stage to what you considered a completed garden? Did you have help in the design stage? A landscaper that arranged subcontractors? I can't get over your brick patio. It is SO gorgeous. Beautiful craftsmanship.
I wish houzz was set up to allow people to 'heart' a photo that especially appealed to them.
prairiemoon -- So glad you are here! To answer your questions above: We bought this house, our first after 20+ years as a military family, in 1998, I think. Except for the front walk and lawn areas, which had some minimal gardens, the "outback" stayed empty for a year or two. I knew I wanted to have gardens there, but didn't really have any ideas right away.
Enter a very nice young man who had his own landscaping company. He worked alone, and after some conversations, we took a chance and hired him. He was great, easy to work with, a good worker, and he came up with the initial plan for the back yard. I liked his vision. He set up underground electrical wiring for some lovely copper lights (shaped like flowers) -- those are the white pipes you can see in the second photo at the beginning of this thread. He made the beds along the central axis from the big arbor (which be built from scratch from his own design) to the woods, and made the original pillars to match. Marked out the pool area, outlined with genuine cobble stones, Installed the pool -- it's about 18" deep, and faced it with a stone wall. Of course, I had to get a small fountain! The local frogs love it.
The patio was my design -- I love herringbone brick. He built that as well as the stone walls around it. I still love the look, altho the environment here leads to mosses covering the bricks, and the western-facing aspect means we never use it, sadly, altho we had thought we would... Had the bricks cleaned last year, so it looks pleasing again now!
As mentioned, he advised me on suitable plants/trees, and put those in (amelanchier trees, a couple of hollies). He made some beds raised because of our very high water table out there (vernal swamp, remember?).
The rest I insisted on doing myself -- who's a gardener if she doesn't actually DO it, sez I? I loved grubbing in the soil. I brought some plants from my childhood home -- a wonderful 1820 farmhouse which has since been torn down and replaced by a dreadful monstrosity, grrrr. Those plants include the allee of daylilies, a Bridal Wreath spirea, some very ordinary hostas (which have led me to more exciting varieties over the years). Everything else has been bought and installed by three people -- Me, Myself and I. I am bound and determined to spend down my children's inheritance -- a plan that is still working beautifully, since I still cannot fail to go to local nurseries as well as online to get more plants, etc., and having lost permanently many things over the years, I keep purchasing, lol.
Ah, well, as I tell everyone: It keeps me off the streets, wandering aimlessly, and out of the hands of the police. All is well.
Truly, truly lovely.
Wendy, I just saw your post. I would love to see photos of your old garden too! You moved far away, didn't you? Started a new garden? I am so curious how your new garden is doing too. I hope you will start your own thread so we can all follow along.
It's amazing to me at least, to see this very large, garden and all the projects that it takes to put it together. Especially the hardscapes, because that is the part I really have struggled with. And you can do so much with a large garden that you can't do in a small garden.
Roxanna, I'd like to know how long it took you from the planning stage to what you considered a completed garden? Did you have help in the design stage? A landscaper that arranged subcontractors? I can't get over your brick patio. It is SO gorgeous. Beautiful craftsmanship.
I wish houzz was set up to allow people to 'heart' a photo that especially appealed to them.
prairiemoon -- So glad you are here! To answer your questions above: We bought this house, our first after 20+ years as a military family, in 1998, I think. Except for the front walk and lawn areas, which had some minimal gardens, the "outback" stayed empty for a year or two. I knew I wanted to have gardens there, but didn't really have any ideas right away.
Enter a very nice young man who had his own landscaping company. He worked alone, and after some conversations, we took a chance and hired him. He was great, easy to work with, a good worker, and he came up with the initial plan for the back yard. I liked his vision. He set up underground electrical wiring for some lovely copper lights (shaped like flowers) -- those are the white pipes you can see in the second photo at the beginning of this thread. He made the beds along the central axis from the big arbor (which be built from scratch from his own design) to the woods, and made the original pillars to match. Marked out the pool area, outlined with genuine cobble stones, Installed the pool -- it's about 18" deep, and faced it with a stone wall. Of course, I had to get a small fountain! The local frogs love it.
The patio was my design -- I love herringbone brick. He built that as well as the stone walls around it. I still love the look, altho the environment here leads to mosses covering the bricks, and the western-facing aspect means we never use it, sadly, altho we had thought we would... Had the bricks cleaned last year, so it looks pleasing again now!
As mentioned, he advised me on suitable plants/trees, and put those in (amelanchier trees, a couple of hollies). He made some beds raised because of our very high water table out there (vernal swamp, remember?).
The rest I insisted on doing myself -- who's a gardener if she doesn't actually DO it, sez I? I loved grubbing in the soil. I brought some plants from my childhood home -- a wonderful 1820 farmhouse which has since been torn down and replaced by a dreadful monstrosity, grrrr. Those plants include the allee of daylilies, a Bridal Wreath spirea, some very ordinary hostas (which have led me to more exciting varieties over the years). Everything else has been bought and installed by three people -- Me, Myself and I. I am bound and determined to spend down my children's inheritance -- a plan that is still working beautifully, since I still cannot fail to go to local nurseries as well as online to get more plants, etc., and having lost permanently many things over the years, I keep purchasing, lol.
Ah, well, as I tell everyone: It keeps me off the streets, wandering aimlessly, and out of the hands of the police. All is well.