the front welcome garden, south side, 2009 reflections

Here's the second in my series of reflections about how the garden did this year.  Again, I feel the need to emphasize that these are not supposed to be beautiful, perfect cropped pictures of everything that did well this year in my garden - these are reality pictures of a garden that is still young and in development!

Now that I got that off my chest, I can go on.  This year I got rid of the front lawn entirely and started this new garden area from scratch this spring.  I acknowledge it looks a little patchy but I have big plans for improvement!  I also included some pictures showing the more established side (which you can see more of here), just so you don't think my whole garden looks this bad...

 

The Front Welcome Garden (year 1)

 

Here it is freshly planted in mid-June.  I had smothered the grass with carpet, which I have now moved to the area closer to the tree, at the top of the photo.  For a list of perennials, click here.

End of June.  There are some iris germanica planted on the new side to repeat the ones on the far side of the front path, so they should bloom nicely next year.  I also think I want to divide that yellow stonecrop and those shasta daisies on the "established side" and put some more on the new side - they are just too cheery not to spread around!  On the new side you can also see nepeta (catmint) 'Walker's Low' in bloom.

 

Late July.  Nothing much exciting happening on the new side except the catmint.  I definitely need to add some of those shasta daisies and probably some of the yellow achillea 'Moonshine' as well. 

 

 Late August.  Gotta love that nepeta for blooming for so long!  There is also some echinacea purpurea that I started from bare roots this spring, plus some perovskia (russian sage) that is taking off, plus some surprise pink clary sage and borage that must have come from the compost bin.

 

Mid-September.  I've added some deschampsia cespitosa (tufted hair grass) on the left, and definitely want to get more next year to plant in drifts around the whole front garden.  Also added some dianthus for more summer blooms.  That tall white stuff at the back is an annual euphorbia (snow on the mountain) that I probably won't bother with next year - too spindly.  Another failure - my rosa glauca (red-leaf rose) died.  Hmm..  I love it for the unique colour of leaves as well as starry flowers, so I think I'm going to replace it.  I suspect maybe it died because it wasn't close enough to the soaker hose and didn't get enough water to get established this year.  Most shrubs do need a little babying in their first few years and I definitely could have done a little more in the babying department.

 

Late September. 

 

Early October.

December.

Other parts of the garden:

• the Front Welcome Garden, north side
• the Entry Garden
• the front Shade Garden
• the Side Garden
• the Butterfly Potager
• the back Shade Garden
• the Adventure Garden
  
• the Veggie Garden aka 'England'
  

Comments

[The Ms. S.]

Wow - amazing progress in one year! That is, indeed, a very welcoming garden!

(I haven't even started my front yet - it's kinda overwhelming at this point to even think of where to begin! Guess that's why gardening is a long-term hobby:))