Thanksgiving 08

I'm behind on my posts but on schedule with the gardens. I'm posting a before and after photos of the front yard. The porch roof w/railing never materialized due to zoning regulations so we settled for a nice sitting wall where we can put planters w/pretty non-natives. As you can see in the one photo I put out plant labels for the public because we were on the MAEscapes Garden Tour 08 and had about 90 visitors and happily were lavished with many compliments. Not in the photos are accessories we added. A small water feature, bird bath, feeders, bench, solitary bee house, bird houses, stumps, stepping stones and lighting. In the back yard we adding a bat house, martin house, bumble bee and solitary bee houses and a small vegetable garden as well as many more native plants. In the spring we want to add a large water feature (for asthetic purposes). I also want a bog but not sure where.

Waiting For Spring

The front yard is gone!! My neighbors are still debating whether they know what the heck I'm doing but are too shy to ask. We ripped out everything with the exception of three shrubs. I brought in 8 yards of topsoil to form brims for the two raingardens then put down two layers of cardboard(about 3000 sq ft, WOW) covered with 4 inches of mulch to kill all the grass and weeds. I put in two new lampposts, two electric outlets and two rainbarrels. I managed to get about 50 new trees, shrubs and perennials put in but will plant at least that many more in the spring. Still need to arrange for a porch roof to be installed this winter. Sometime before summer I will add a stepping stone path, benches, water feature, bird houses, tree stumps and what ever else I might think of. Maybe by the end of summer the neighbors will speak up. Once things are in bloom I will post before and after pics.