I'm dreaming of a 'coup d'état' in my garden... a Rose walk!
morrisnoor
16 years ago
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morrisnoor
16 years agoceterum
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Work in progress in the Rose Walk
Comments (30)Ahh, if only I can walk down that path. Absolutely stunning how it all got transform into so lavish and colourful path. I absolutely love those Morrocan Jars . Brilliant idea ! This project is big and back breaking at least it is for me. I will be so sore. Yeah, would live to see how it looks since everything grows huge. I hope Maurizio will see this and update :) Jin...See MoreDreams of an Ocala Historic Rose Garden
Comments (40)Sherry, I have been pondering your comment about my garden taking a back seat, and indeed it has - but it's by my choice. I much prefer gardening in a public place, with other people working with me and coming to see the garden. The cemetery rose garden is three acres, with a lot of sun and well-drained sandy loam soil, while my home garden is small and rather shady and has dense clay soil, soggy in the winter and hard as a rock in summer despite years of soil amendment. I enjoyed planning my garden, but tweaking and maintaining it isn't nearly as rewarding as caring for the cemetery garden. I also like managing people - that's what I did for a living. It's a lot different to do it with volunteers rather than paid employees, and I've learned that I need both a smile in my face and in my heart to do it effectively. I do have a nice garden at home, and this is the time of year when I have an illusion of control over it. While it's not my main focus, it still gives me pleasure. I am reluctant to have strangers come see it because I'm pretty well known as a Master Gardener and garden writer and rose garden manager, and it's very hard to live up to their expectations. But I happily share it with friends, family and fellow rose lovers - just not garden tours! About dealing with the early stages of a garden - because we have so much room in the cemetery, the roses were mostly planted with plenty of space to grow. Having the burial plots cleared of weeds and planted with roses was such an improvement that I don't think there was any pressure to make it look like a conventional garden. There was almost no pruning of the roses in the first several years. I think that I first visited it three or four years after its establishment, and it looked both barren and overgrown, with big unruly roses surrounded by weeds and wood chips. We've done a huge amount of work adding companion plants, including annuals that self-seed and perennials. That takes volunteer time to maintain them, of course. We volunteers primarily work on the roses, of course, but we like the big unruly look and focus on the roses being healthy and not blocking pathways or monuments. The garden is still mostly roses and wood chips, with plenty of weeds, but it looks more like a garden now than it did before. The cemetery went from roses only to roses with companion plants - at home, my experience was more like Jeri's with the Stagecoach Garden (which is a little gem). I filled in with perennials and annuals and the garden was quite pretty in early days while the roses got established, but it's changed a lot as the roses and trees have shaded and crowded some of the planting beds. It still is pretty but it's not got the variety that it once has - the roses dominate. Anita...See MoreMy Dream Garden Would Look Like __________
Comments (16)I really love where I'm at currently and I'm pretty darn happy with how things look, but in a dream garden the layout in our back yard would be much different. I'd change the layout of our deck, I'd have the trees positioned for afternoon shade instead of morning shade, and I'd relocate all the utility lines that prevent us from planting around the perimeter of the yard. Basically, if we want to plant anything, it has to go smack in the middle of the yard where everyone walks or plays. And in my little dreamland there'd be a lot less grass to mow because I'd have it all occupied with plantings. I also want some weather-proof artwork out there; a tiled waterfall, or some sound baffling for the air conditioner. But there's only so much a human can do in a year without ending up in the emergency room....See MoreHi! I'm new to gardening and Gardenweb. Some advice please?
Comments (15)I'll reinforce some of the others' suggestion, and maybe change some. If you're looking for the cheapest possible way to create a landscape, try the following: Go to your library and check out some books on garden design. While you're there, get one or two about plant propagation. Read, read, read. Take notes. Plan on paper. Keep in mind when you plan that what you're planning isn't cast in stone. If the yard is completed slowly -- to accomodate your budget -- then you'll have plenty of time to change your mind. And in the end, there's something very satisfying about seeing a plan become a reality. Also, it's not necessary to buy nice paper or colored pencils. Printer paper and crayons work just fine. Or notebook paper (you can draw lines the other direction to make a grid and use the grid to approximate space in your yard so you're not overplanning the space). And if you have a computer, that's even better: I don't know about Macs, but the IBM version of the Windows operating system comes with a very basic program called Paint which works just fine, and you can change the layout to your hearts content without throwing away a scrap of paper. If your soil is heavy, start collecting leaves and plant material scraps *now* and create impromptu compost piles. Get stuff from your neighbors: grass clippings, fallen leaves, trimmings, etc. If your yard is unplanted you have plenty of room to create piles for composted material. With time, patience, a lot of hard work, some indulgence from your neighbors, and a few large and unsightly piles, you can have a decent amount of soil amendment for cheap or free. (Though you may have to compost for as much as a year to generate enough for your purposes). I definitely second the getting-cuttings-from-your-neigbors approach. Or drive (or walk) around town and find plants that really strike your fancy instead of limiting your selections to your neighbor's tastes. And make sure you understand propagation (getting and using cuttings) before you go, not just so that the cuttings survive and thrive, but in case the owner of the plant you lust after takes some convincing because they don't understand propagation and need it explained that what you're after won't damage their plant. For pots to grow cuttings in, yogurt containers work fine, and you can pot up to gallon milk containers when you need to. The things that will be tough to find for cheap or free are the hardscape items. One recomendation I have is for mulch paths (or mulch in general): you can usually get mulch from power companies when they have to cut down brush or trees for maintenance purposes. If you tell them you want the mulch from the next job, they'll make it and drop it free of charge (or exceptionally cheap), though you have to be willing to accept an unknown (usually large) amount and you'll have no control over the timing. If you're worring about getting too much, try making arrangements with your neighbors for taking any excess off your hands. With patience, time and (sometimes huge) effort, you can have a nice landscape for the price of rooting hormone, soil-less sterile mix (for the cuttings) fertilizer, and some hardscape materials. Now, you may not want to go about it in this bare-bones a manner, but I took my suggestions to the extreme just as a reminder that landscapes do not need to be store-bought and expensive. Good luck!...See Moresandy808
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