Thursday, March 26, 2009

Garden Tour Part Two: Cozy little side garden


Next stop on our Garden Tour is the little garden beside the stairs leading up to the porch. So, imagine yourself walking up the lavender-lined slate sidewalk. You'll reach the front of the house, look to the right, and see the garden that I posted yesterday. Look to your left, and there is the flowering plum tree garden (more about that in a bit). Directly in front of you are the steps to the front porch. Turn left and walk between the flowering plum tree and the porch steps. Here you will find this tiny little garden. Look closely at the picture and you will see the steps leading up. There are my big pots that I do in annuals each year (mainly kale and bright whites for contrast). Right now, they are crunchy but after it warms a bit, I will be hard at working on all my planters.
On the left of the picture, you see a blue spruce. Now, I like the blue spruce OK. In fact, I like them a lot, but notsomuch in MY yard. Not the look I am going for. But it came with the house and I would feel terrible for chopping down a perfectly healthy tree. I am worried about how large this tree will get... so at the first sign of it going insane and growing super tall, I may need to take it out. For now, it gets pruned a lot. I am thinking of when it gets bigger, pruning it pencil thin so it is tall and narrow and more storybook.
Just to the right of the spruce is a rather scraggly looking russian sage. I adore russian sage and I am hoping mine will rebound. It isn't looking very promising right now.
The three big moundy plants in the very front are more catmint. Boy, the feral cats love these. I snapped a cute picture of the cat we have dubbed "Red" rolling around in it like some junkie getting a fix. Damn stoner cats!
Smaller plants in this area include a few varieties of allium (I love these!!) and sea thrifts. A Japanese peony is springing up to the right of the structure that Steven thinks looks like an oil rig. The sweet pea that took over that oil rig looks pretty dead right now. Drats! Oh, and near the base of the spruce is a carpet rose called "baby's blanket." The big trellis in the very back has clematis working its way up.
About that sad little path in front there. This path winds around the sideyard all the way to the gate that leads to the little fenced in area that the dogs use. We put this path in last year but didn't get the opportunity to finish it. We spent months looking at different materials to use for it. We found stones that are just right so hopefully in the next month or two, we will have a finished path.

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