The Historic District

Because folks have been asking, here's an album of photos from our gardens. It chronicles the changes we've made over time at Fix Farrington.

When we first moved in there wasn't much in the way of lawn because it was mostly weeds. The first photos in the album are from after I removed the chain-link dog run, cleared the brush, cut down dead trees, and killed all the weeds, along with what little grass there was...

This summer we lost a 100+ year old oak. When it fell it took out the two crabapples on the north side by the wall. Ergo, more changes are coming once I figure out what direction we're going.

A few of observations:

1) Wow! What a wonderful wall! Grotto-like fountain! I would have sworn you were in England.

2) St.Paul? May I ask, in what general area there are neighbourhoods like that? I lived in Richfield (when I worked in Edina) and near Nicollet Mall @ Stevens Square (when I worked downtown) in the mid-'80's. I don't know St.Paul at all. Anyway, it looks very nice.

3) Sorry to hear about your oak. We had the same thing happen this year, too. It took out 8' of our neighbour's fence...no real harm done.

4) I really like your landscape design. I like the tree house (though it could use some "tree appeal"). I'm still trying to talk my wife into building something fun like that.

MJT, what a great yard you've created. I certainly fits with the status of your home. And that stone fence, a work of art. Well done.

I love the progress photos.

Amazing job you've done. We're still crawling along and hope to baby step sometime before winter with our gardens.

I thought the Grotto was faboo as well.

Thanks all.

Olsen185 - We're two blocks from the Cathedral and half a block north of Summit Avenue.

The stone wall came with the house, so I cannot claim credit. The part along the back will have to be rebuilt at some point; it's leaning quite a bit. The MN historical society has some walking tours that start at the James J Hill House, which is only two blocks away, and one of the tours features our wall as it is quite unique in the area.

Restoring the grotto is on my list. I'm trying to recover the original fountainhead first. At a party several years ago I ran into a local architect and Cass Gilbert expert who used to live in the house behind us. He said he had the fountainhead and was willing to return it to us. At the time he'd had a couple too many adult beverages and since was involved in a traffic accident resulting in memory issues, so I have to tread lightly. The story is that he was renting his attic to some college students. After they moved out he was cleaning up the attic and found the fountainhead that the kids had stolen. He wasn't fond of the previous owners of our house so he kept it. He'd been watching us restore the place and was happy with our work so offered to return it to us...

We're debating about the future of the tree house. It was well camouflaged prior to the tree falling. My parents built it for my son's birthday when he was little. Now that he's old enough to drive it doesn't get used, but She Who Must Be Obeyed isn't willing to give it up...