Although quite a few of our potted plants on the deck and front porch are annuals, we've started to think more frugally, and fill our pots with perennials that can be planted in the gardens later. We enjoyed this Japanese Honeysuckle in a pot all summer 2006. It never had more than two or three blooms, but in the fall we planted it outside the fence on the southeast side of the yard. It's rewarded us by climbing up (and inside) the fence, scenting the air with multiple blooms and making a lush green backdrop for the other things planted there. We've considered planting Honeysuckle beside the garden shed and letting it cover the shed like ivy, but we've heard it can become invasive, so still thinking on that.
The frugal potter
Six cats in the yard May 2007
A sweet stray calico cat showed up at our house last winter and hung around so long that we finally took her in. She returned the favor by presenting us with four beautiful kittens at the end of March. We enjoyed every minute of the nine or ten weeks we had them here. Our daughter and I shed a few tears as each one went to its new home. Then, the week before the vet appointment to have Mama spayed, we started to suspect she was pregnant again. It's true. So I guess we'll have kittens in the yard yet again later this summer. But Ken says this will be the last time!
Textures for Tiny Toes
From smooth stone, to prickly mulch to tickley grass, the garden offers a wealth of textures for the tiny bare toes of our little grandson.
A Pretty Pot For Nothing
We put this pretty pot full of Hen & Chicks together by collecting slips from those we have in various spots in the garden. The red in the middle is Sedum that we dug up from Rock Hill Garden.
Rock Hill Garden Early Spring 2007
Rock Hill Garden, just as things are beginning to bloom - Columbine in two different colors, with a backdrop of Yarrow not yet in bloom. The Speedwell and all the Sedums are beginning to fill in, and the prairie grasses are just emerging.
Sandstone border for the gardens
We collected this beautiful sandstone from the pastureland of Ken's 97-year-old grandfather and made a border all along the back fence, encompassing the three native prairie gardens. Besides looking nice and tying all the flowerbeds together, we hope the stone will serve as a barrier to keep the wild things out of the lawn and the weeds out of everything. We pulled a LOT of weeds last year, the first real year of growth in the garden, but we're pleased with how much the native grasses and wildflowers have overtaken the weeds this year. Of course some people might think a lot of what we have growing is weeds! We've taken the attitude that if it's pretty, we leave it until it isn't pretty any more, or until it takes over something we like better. I had to fight to keep my husband from pulling out the snow-on-the-mountain that's coming up. We let three grow last year and they got huge with deep, deep taproots. But oh, they were pretty! I'm hoping he'll let a few stay this year, too.
Front Entry in Autumn 2006
My dad built this flower cart and gave it to us as a house warming gift. I've enjoyed filling it with petunias in the spring, mums and pumpkins and Indian corn in the fall, and Christmas decorations in winter. It makes a nice "landmark" to direct visiting friends to our house, and of course, it's special because Daddy made it.
Front Porch Sittin' Summer 2006
The plants in this pot mix (beautifully designed by Lori Johnson of Hesston Plant Company) were still too pretty to throw away at the end of the season, but too big to bring inside, so we planted the whole mix, just as it was in the pot, in a wet corner of the backyard where only moss grew before. We added some of Grandpa's sandstone and the result is so nice that we've dubbed the corner "The Moss Garden." It's a favorite spot in the yard. I think the only thing that didn't survive the winter was the Diamond Frost (Euphorbia). The Creeping Wirevine, English Ivy, Creeping Jenny and Gaura are all thriving in the soggy corner by the fence.
Where it all started: a fenced in yard, a "cold" tub, and a dream . . . June 2005
When we moved to this house in July 2005, the backyard was a "plain vanilla" fenced in plot of grass with a nice deck and a hot tub that was really a "cold tub." My husband envisioned a beautiful garden with native prairie grasses and wildflowers. We offered the hot tub to some friends in exchange for them hauling it away (a more than fair trade), took out the bald cypress in the middle of the yard (because, according to Ken, it was right in the middle of our football field!) and he rolled up his sleeves and started in. Two years later, the yard is still an experiment with lots of trial and error, but we're enjoying the journey.
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