Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The Bones


Bones - they provide structure, strength, support and outline the substance. We'd be quivering masses of protoplasm without them!

Gardens of any size need bones too.  Without them, they are random collections of plantings.

Our eyes, our minds look for pleasing lines of order.  Even subconsciously, we try to process and group things, we look for sensible transitions, with just enough random and unexpected sprinkled in to keep it all interesting.

The bones of the garden are the large plantings, hardscapes such as walkways, water features and statuary.  They define the paths that garden visitors follow, provide a backdrop for the smaller plantings, lead the eye and structure the presentation. 

Our first impulse is to think of gardens in terms of vegetation, but gardens without bones, inviting pathways and hardscapes is like a picture without a frame.  Gardens should lead you into areas and use bones to hide some, but reveal enough to tempt you to seek out the beauty awaiting you around the next corner.  The hardscapes provide a pleasing outline, draw the eye and highlight the beauty of the plantings.

This is where we are - mapping out the bones of our garden.  The decisions we make now will in time become pretty permanent, so we are taking our time and letting what we have to work with soak in.  Some of our pathways may indeed eventually be cast in stone.  While moving water features or transplanting rhododendrons that have been growing happily for a decade may be possible, it would be a big job, so we'd much rather make the right plans now instead!

First Bones Planted!

While we are in the very beginning stages of mapping out our plan, we will never pass up an opportunity!  Our goals include taking our time, enjoying the process and creating our garden as inexpensively as possible. 

In early June, Home Depot was clearing out their rhododendron inventory with a 50% off sale.  Gallon pots were only $3.99 each, so before we had even finished clearing, we bought and planted 35 rhododendrons!




Rhododendrons are a great bones plant.  They will grow large, so they will be a super backdrop to the smaller plantings in front, they are evergreen, they have beautiful spring blooms and they love the woodland shade.  They have been in about a month now and so far all but one look great (and the one may come back)!

We planted these based on our original paths, so we will see if our updated design will require us to move any.  At this size, if any need moving, that's fine.

Even though we have to plan out the bones of our garden before too much more gets planted, there is still lots to do!  We may not know where everything will be planted, but we know we will need LOTS of hydrangea, azaleas, hosta, etc., etc. 

We can either buy plants at the nursery or grow our own.  Honestly, one of the most rewarding aspects of gardening for me is starting plants from cuttings.  Kim and I lived in Delta PA on four acres in the 90s and we had a small nursery.  I loved starting cuttings then and this is a great reason to resurrect that skill!  In my next post I'll show you exactly how we start cuttings!

Thanks for reading.  Please come back soon!

Take care,
Scott

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Clearing Begins!

In my last post, I shared what our half acre of woods looked like at the end of May and the wonderful vision the Tiekert's garden gave us as an example of what it can become.  Now it's time to get to work, start clearing out the undergrowth and taking the steps to transform the vision into reality!

I use the term "work" loosely.  Yes, this takes time and a whole lot more physical effort than my office job did, but I love it!  It is a great mind clearer and calorie burner too!  Singing birds, breeze in the trees and the sights, smells and sounds of nature are all rejuvenating!

The temperatures really started cranking up towards the end of June, well into the 90s, as we began the heavier work, but in the shade of the woods, most days, even sweltering ones, aren't bad.  Sometimes we just worked outside in the mornings, which let me keep up with my software tasks in the afternoons.  Once we got going, clearing only took about a week or so - much less time than I thought.

Here is a pictorial summary of our clearing activity these last two weeks:


I could not have moved some of these fallen trees without Brad's help!



I raked some paths so we could get around the property more easily and transport the debris.  We originally thought these would be the permanent garden paths, but now that everything is clear, we have new ideas in mind.



 With most of the larger limbs removed, the raking begins.  Kim is hard at it!



We steadily worked from one side to the other until before we knew it....



I could look from one corner of the property, all the way to the other and still see Kim!  That's her, the dot in the center, between the two trees.



With the exception of two big, fallen trunks that are larger than I can handle, as of this morning, 7/3/12, the entire half acre is completely clear, ready for digging features and planting!

I promised some words on bones, the defining plants and features on which our garden will be built, but this post got longer than I planned, so I will deliver on that tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Take care,
Scott

Monday, July 2, 2012

Where We Are and Where We're Headed...

The typical guy in many respects, I've developed the usual aversion to directions whenever the "figure it out as you go along" option presents itself.  Still, while trial and error will be a big part of what's ahead, a woodland garden of the magnitude we envision will be a lifelong journey.  Missteps in planning may not become obvious for half a decade.  While the fun is in the journey, Lord willing, I want to be young enough to fully realize and enjoy the vision at the end!

Fortunately, my wife Kimberly knows quite a bit about gardening and has forgotten more than I've ever retained.  But a half acre is a pretty big space and a woodland garden is completely new to us both, so we have a lot to figure out, draw out and plan!

We've been told to start with the "bones", the larger plantings like rhododendrons, that will act as a border for pathways and set off individual garden areas.  The smaller plantings will fill in more quickly, so we have more options for experimentation there, but we've got to decide where our areas and pathways will be and what we will grow to define them.

To do any of that, we've first got to figure out what we have to work with.  We need a clean slate!

Here are a few shots of how our future garden looked on 5/31/2012, before we started cleaning the blackboard.  There are lots of weeds, briars, wood debris and undergrowth that we need to clear:






 Kim in quiet meditation, contemplating the possibilities!

There are many places with quite a bit of undergrowth to clear!

And the best way to do it is to pull the weeds out by the roots wherever possible!  That's me, Scott, showing off my best side.

The Vision!


On June 10, 2012, we were given a wonderful vision, literally, of what our garden could become!  Kim and I took the Harford County private garden tour to benefit the American Cancer Society.  We saw many beautiful gardens, but there was one in particular - the Tiekert  woodland garden called Holly Oaks, that was just an amazing experience!

Everything was beautiful and perfect. They even had speakers hidden throughout their several acres of gardens playing soft classical music. I am still getting chills thinking about it!

It was also a wonderful witness.  One of the first things Mrs. Tiekert said was that God is the creator and they were merely the caretakers. 

These pictures don't come close to doing their garden justice, but they will give you some idea of the possibilities:






























This garden was literally jaw dropping beautiful!  It was soul moving!  Just imagine what it would have looked like in the spring with the azaleas and rhododendrons in bloom!  I have never enjoyed any garden, commercial or private, so much in my life.

Some folks are moved by art, some by music and others by nature.  I'm moved by all three, but never more so than my experience at Holly Oaks!

The Tiekerts certainly raised the bar on our vision by a quantum leap!  We'll see if one day we will attain what they have, but we can miss by a lot and still have something we will thoroughly enjoy and be very proud to show.

Next time I'll show you how our clearing is coming along and the first "bones" plants we've selected, so come back soon!

Take care,
Scott