The Big Bed out Front gets some Needed Rejuvenation

At the beginning of July, with a couple of throw away cameras, I took some shots of both the front and back gardens. I hoped to end up with some photos that would be good enough to show you. Here they are.

Looking out Front

Pots by the Garage and a sign Welcoming You to Fred’s Garden

The front garden this year was desperately in need of rehabilitation. The soil that I had initially amended 21 years ago with dozens of bales of sphagnum peat moss and cow manure had reverted back to the gravely-sandy dirt I had started with. Many plants had become overgrown, others were performing poorly, and some I now wanted relocated to different places in the beds.

Over the different gardening seasons, I had spot amended when planting, thrown organic fertilizer on the beds, mulched on occasion, and watered with Miracle Grow sprayed on with a hose attachment. Quick Fixes only last so long, so this Spring I had to bite the bullet and give the main big bed out front some long needed TLC. About a dozen bales of sphagnum peat moss and a few dozen bags of dehydrated cow manure were worked into the soil to make the plants Happy Again.

Some more looks out front, and Bears carved into my Next Door Neighbor’s tree

The garden here at Whimsey Hill has distinctive color changes throughout the growing season. In April the show starts with all the yellow daffodils. In May and early June it is the pink and rose colors of peonies and the blue-purple of Japanese iris and columbine. July again brings on the hot colors of yellow, orange and some reds. In August through the time of the killing frost, the garden takes on rose to pink, and purple tones again with all the dahlias, sedum, cleomes and assorted amaranthus.

A place for outdoor eating and a metal decoration I put up on the fence

My garden is more than just a collection of plants. It is a visual picture that changes from day-to-day, month-to-month, and year-to-year. The garden here at Whimsey Hill House is much different looking now, compared to what it looked like when I first started. Back in the day I planted things like my Mother’s family did, just everywhere making a garden that I would call fruit salad; a lot of color and no singularly defined taste. It had a wild flower look, but made of perennials and annuals, not controlled in any way. After going on gardening tours and seeing what professionals in the business had created, I redesigned it with more attention to mass plantings of the same plants, and shapes of foliage and foliage colors versus the flowers plants produce.

The big bed out back 14 to 16 feet deep and 125 feet long

Some other shots of the back bed and the Ornamental Grass and Daylily bed

Being a visual picture, it is important to me that the garden looks good, not just from outside, but from every window I look at it from the house. The Garden of Weeding for me has become a private park, an oasis of sorts that is my own little world.

Companion post ..When designing a Perennial Garden, it’s all about Shapes of Leaves 1-15-2011, Colored Foliage adds that WOW FACTOR to a Garden 2-22-2011, Stagger plant Heights when Planting (Designing) a garden 2-23-2011, Evergreens are the Winter Interest in My Garden 1-24-2012, Al Fresco (Outdoor) Dining.. two cafe/bistro-patio tables equal one picnic table 5-22-2012