Front yards are for showing off. That’s what I believe. That’s why when I think about what I’m going to plant and where, I think about how it will look to passersby on the sidewalk.
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Notes from a wildlife-friendly cottage garden
So when the contractors put in our new driveway, they cut a slice out of the planting area for the Driveway Border and the little bed along the west side of the house where the Clematis ‘Jackmanii’ is planted.
So the new driveway is done. It’s an improvement. I failed to take a “before” picture and even looked for an older photo without success. Among the thousands of pictures we’ve taken of the front garden there was not a single one that showed what the driveway looked like. That in itself should tell you …
That’s how it felt last Wednesday morning, as the sewer repair crew arrived with their much-larger-than-expected excavator. (Though the excavator’s color did nicely echo the orange of the Mexican Sunflowers.)
Doubling Down on Tall Plants
In addition to the bulbs, I’ve ordered some new perennials for fall planting. Most of these are for the Front Island Bed. This bed is an irregular oval wedged between the rectangular Driveway and Sidewalk Borders, all three divided by grassy paths.
That’s Where the Tall Plants Grow
I have a lot of admiration for writer and landscape designer Benjamin Vogt. His blog, newsletter, and other writings make very useful reading for anyone interested in the intersection between gardening and ecology.
Night of the Living Mulch
So a little while back I came across this 2017 Washington Post article about using sedges (Carex) as a substitute for mulch.
Reality TV For Gardeners
Thanks to the blog pbmGarden, I have discovered a British TV show called Love Your Garden, which is available on Netflix. It’s a show that has its flaws, and yet Judy and I are hooked.
Happy Birthday, Karl Foerster! (And Giveaway Winner)
The ornamental Feather Reed Grass ‘Karl Foerster’ (Calamagrostis x acutifolia) is pretty well known, but what about the plant breeder and garden designer Karl Foerster, for whom the grass was named? March 9th just happens to be Karl Foerster’s birthday, so perhaps a little attention is called for. Though he died in 1970 at the …
Perennial Winners and Losers in the Sidewalk Border
The Sidewalk Border was the second border that I added to the garden. We moved into our house in July, 2003. Next day I went to work on the Driveway Border. The following spring I started digging up turf along the sidewalk for the Sidewalk Border.
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