Baby steps towards the future gardens of Beebe
Posted: Sun May 28, 2017 5:08 pm
One late night, I found myself trying to sketch out a FOH view for Beebe by putting together elements we hope to have over time. Gothichome rightly pointed out that my sketch had quite a few elements that were more Victorian formal than Craftsman grand.
Since then, we've been partly waiting to see what former plantings will peek their heads out while clearing overgrowth in bits at a time and continue to pick up so much rubbish in the backyard it's annoying sometimes. (Broken safety glass in the lawn and bedding is not my friend.)
Yesterday, as I added some of the celosias we bought out front, I realized that part of why my sketch went that way for plantings was that prior folks here had pretty much done symmetrical plantings in the beds near the porch as well as along the front stairs down the slope. Not all the symmetry survived, but you can see the remnants.
Yes, that's another challenge, the slope. The front of our property has a rather steep slope. We have minor drainage issues (mostly due to a missing gutter drainpipe), and we have erosion issues on the driveway side, especially near said drainage. I temporarily used rocks and fill from elsewhere to slow that, but it's not very pretty. Sean is eager to build rock retention walls, I remind him it's not yet in the budget.
We also currently do not have a sidewalk that runs along the street, as that's something Gardner is getting to over time. This is an issue for planning the front because eventually what we put there could be taken away by city setback. There is currently sidewalk across the street, but not on our side. I had tried to put in a call to City Hall a few weeks ago to get a reminder on how to figure out the setback, but am still waiting to hear back from them, and I think this week I'm going to have to stop waiting and just walk over to ask. I had the info before, but unfortunately, that was way back when we started looking at 42, and I think the note I made might have been recycled along with all the paperwork for that house.
Here, we have to flag before we call the "Call before you dig" number. I can't flag until I know the set back. So nothing has been done except weeding and mowing on the bottom most part of the front lawn yet.
Getting back to formal versus not. I stumbled upon a blog the other day that has the most amazing gardens surrounding a bungalow in Victoria, B.C. Now, we don't nearly have the land they do surrounding Beebe, but when I saw pictures of that home, that "yes!" voice rang in my head.
Despite that, I found myself dutifully planting two of the celosias in mirror image between the plantings already in place out front. (As seen above.) Still, until we can come up with a big picture plan for the front, it doesn't make them stand out in a weird way either. I know, baby steps towards asymmetry, but it's hard to get a brain like mine to accept those steps just yet even if it wants the desired result such steps would take.
So instead, in the backyard, the rest of them will not be carefully balanced. The main bed in the back is by the garage, and it is overgrown with all sorts of things, including tree saplings, thanks to the squirrel army in our neighborhood.
Today I plan to seriously start clearing that overgrowth in earnest. I did a bit yesterday, which only led me to want to do more. Here's a comparison of one shot I took a while back.
I also have a lot of plants to ID here. Some, I know--iris, holly bush, bleeding heart, birch, and so on. Many others I have no idea what we've got. Time will tell. The first below is a bearded iris in the garage bed. The second is definitely iris, but it hasn't been thinned in a while so it's choking itself and no flowers yet. The rest, I'm not 100% positive what any of them are yet.
In truth, the yards I have saved images of over time all have more of a woodsy, story bookish sort of feel. Right now, our front looks rather symmetrical overall for a bungalow. One concern is there is a lot of fear of lyme here in MA. I already know one of my neighbors sprays just for ticks. So I also need to be aware of that, and will try to incorporate some tick repelling plantings like rosemary while I also make habitat for things that like to eat ticks too.
I've also long ago started doing research on native species as well as invasive species. Some invasives we do have are already a thorn in my side, like the brush I can't think of the name of it right now near the garage, right by the fence and therefore will be a PITA to dig out. We also have the bleeding heart in the garage bed, which is very pretty, but not native. Lamprocapnos spectabilis
I had looked at other bleeding heart variants that are natives, like dutchman's breeches
and squirrel corn
.
I won't be yanking that out anytime soon, possibly ever, but it is something I'm still considering. If we do get rid of it, since it's not an invasive, I would try to give it to someone else rather than trash it, as the plant itself is obviously healthy. Still, leaving it is also leaving history, given that I don't have to worry about it being invasive. (Yes, I am totally on the fence about this.)
We definitely do not have the budget for a whole scale "all at once" redo of the front. So I'm trying to find in between stages to work towards an end result. This is our first year here, so I also know it's a time of waiting and observing. Here's one fun reward to doing just that: a hosta that's intermingled with a woodland flower. You can only clearly see one bloom here, but there's probably about four or so that are in there.
One really sweet spot that unfortunately will all have to be dug up to improve grade drainage is along the west side of the house. There is a rockwall interspersed with various plantings, and look at all the lovely ferns and moss. This will be tricky to preserve in order to get that wall to stop leaking like a seive from ground water seeping in.
So this thread is my variant of a house project for our yard. I'll try to update as we do, and talk about what we'd like to do, plus ask for lots of suggestions!
My three goals for this week:
1. Visit City Hall and find out what local rules are (if any) regarding rain barrels, water features, and rain gardens.
2. With that same visit, find out what the set back is so we can plan with that in mind.
3. Build the three (possible four) compost bins in the back.
Since then, we've been partly waiting to see what former plantings will peek their heads out while clearing overgrowth in bits at a time and continue to pick up so much rubbish in the backyard it's annoying sometimes. (Broken safety glass in the lawn and bedding is not my friend.)
Yesterday, as I added some of the celosias we bought out front, I realized that part of why my sketch went that way for plantings was that prior folks here had pretty much done symmetrical plantings in the beds near the porch as well as along the front stairs down the slope. Not all the symmetry survived, but you can see the remnants.
Yes, that's another challenge, the slope. The front of our property has a rather steep slope. We have minor drainage issues (mostly due to a missing gutter drainpipe), and we have erosion issues on the driveway side, especially near said drainage. I temporarily used rocks and fill from elsewhere to slow that, but it's not very pretty. Sean is eager to build rock retention walls, I remind him it's not yet in the budget.
We also currently do not have a sidewalk that runs along the street, as that's something Gardner is getting to over time. This is an issue for planning the front because eventually what we put there could be taken away by city setback. There is currently sidewalk across the street, but not on our side. I had tried to put in a call to City Hall a few weeks ago to get a reminder on how to figure out the setback, but am still waiting to hear back from them, and I think this week I'm going to have to stop waiting and just walk over to ask. I had the info before, but unfortunately, that was way back when we started looking at 42, and I think the note I made might have been recycled along with all the paperwork for that house.
Here, we have to flag before we call the "Call before you dig" number. I can't flag until I know the set back. So nothing has been done except weeding and mowing on the bottom most part of the front lawn yet.
Getting back to formal versus not. I stumbled upon a blog the other day that has the most amazing gardens surrounding a bungalow in Victoria, B.C. Now, we don't nearly have the land they do surrounding Beebe, but when I saw pictures of that home, that "yes!" voice rang in my head.
Despite that, I found myself dutifully planting two of the celosias in mirror image between the plantings already in place out front. (As seen above.) Still, until we can come up with a big picture plan for the front, it doesn't make them stand out in a weird way either. I know, baby steps towards asymmetry, but it's hard to get a brain like mine to accept those steps just yet even if it wants the desired result such steps would take.
So instead, in the backyard, the rest of them will not be carefully balanced. The main bed in the back is by the garage, and it is overgrown with all sorts of things, including tree saplings, thanks to the squirrel army in our neighborhood.
Today I plan to seriously start clearing that overgrowth in earnest. I did a bit yesterday, which only led me to want to do more. Here's a comparison of one shot I took a while back.
I also have a lot of plants to ID here. Some, I know--iris, holly bush, bleeding heart, birch, and so on. Many others I have no idea what we've got. Time will tell. The first below is a bearded iris in the garage bed. The second is definitely iris, but it hasn't been thinned in a while so it's choking itself and no flowers yet. The rest, I'm not 100% positive what any of them are yet.
In truth, the yards I have saved images of over time all have more of a woodsy, story bookish sort of feel. Right now, our front looks rather symmetrical overall for a bungalow. One concern is there is a lot of fear of lyme here in MA. I already know one of my neighbors sprays just for ticks. So I also need to be aware of that, and will try to incorporate some tick repelling plantings like rosemary while I also make habitat for things that like to eat ticks too.
I've also long ago started doing research on native species as well as invasive species. Some invasives we do have are already a thorn in my side, like the brush I can't think of the name of it right now near the garage, right by the fence and therefore will be a PITA to dig out. We also have the bleeding heart in the garage bed, which is very pretty, but not native. Lamprocapnos spectabilis
I had looked at other bleeding heart variants that are natives, like dutchman's breeches
and squirrel corn
.
I won't be yanking that out anytime soon, possibly ever, but it is something I'm still considering. If we do get rid of it, since it's not an invasive, I would try to give it to someone else rather than trash it, as the plant itself is obviously healthy. Still, leaving it is also leaving history, given that I don't have to worry about it being invasive. (Yes, I am totally on the fence about this.)
We definitely do not have the budget for a whole scale "all at once" redo of the front. So I'm trying to find in between stages to work towards an end result. This is our first year here, so I also know it's a time of waiting and observing. Here's one fun reward to doing just that: a hosta that's intermingled with a woodland flower. You can only clearly see one bloom here, but there's probably about four or so that are in there.
One really sweet spot that unfortunately will all have to be dug up to improve grade drainage is along the west side of the house. There is a rockwall interspersed with various plantings, and look at all the lovely ferns and moss. This will be tricky to preserve in order to get that wall to stop leaking like a seive from ground water seeping in.
So this thread is my variant of a house project for our yard. I'll try to update as we do, and talk about what we'd like to do, plus ask for lots of suggestions!
My three goals for this week:
1. Visit City Hall and find out what local rules are (if any) regarding rain barrels, water features, and rain gardens.
2. With that same visit, find out what the set back is so we can plan with that in mind.
3. Build the three (possible four) compost bins in the back.