EPISODE VI
Just in case you forgot what our little urban garden looked like when we moved in, the photo below should refresh your memory. We started with the fence erected by the previous homeowners, a lone tree which we moved from one side of the yard to the other (the small circle of dead grass marks its prior location), a flat expanse of grass and some crumbling sidewalks. I'm standing in for the sculpture that my husband, Mark, proposed to create as a centerpiece to give the garden focus and scale.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
You can see from the picture above that we accomplished our dream: The sculpture's in place, we installed all the brick hardscaping we'd designed, and had areas at each end of the garden where we could sit and enjoy our handiwork. The garden was lush and lovely and every inch of space was full — from the borders to the raised rock garden located at the far left in the above photo.
So we began to work our way around the house. The planting areas were not large but they offered micro climates — like shade (above) on the north side of the house. It didn't take long before they, too, were full. Here, the ferns and Hostas hide an old, unused cistern in the jog of the house while the goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus) hides the utility box.
We also managed to create ideal growing conditions for a variety of plants, including creeping thymes and sedums, that liked the sharp drainage (above) in our raised rock garden, which we built on top of discarded clumps of concrete.
We also grew our best crop of prickly pear cactus (Opuntia species) at this garden (above). The cactus thrived in the rock garden, which was not only in full sun but baked in reflected heat from our huge blacktopped driveway. We even managed to get bear's breeches (Acanthus mollis) to bloom next to the driveway one especially hot summer — a feat never since repeated!
MIKE DeVRIES PHOTOI was in my full English border phase in this garden: growing red Valerian (Centranthus ruber), pink Dianthus and Lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis). The Valerian died numerous times and I just kept replanting it until I finally admitted it was one of the plants that was unsuited to the garden and the climate.
At the end of three years, we'd accomplished our Five Year Plan. Actually, we'd gone beyond it and were gardening on all sides of the house. For the next couple of years we found ourselves growing vines up the fire escape and filling a Victorian wire plant stand on the back porch with potted plants.
Eventually there was only one place left to go and that was up — onto the roof of our garage (above). We decided we could either add crenellations a la White Castle or huge pots that could hold more plants. We now found ourselves watering plants above our heads.
And that brought up the question: Just how far were we willing to go to garden?
To read more about how I started gardening, my first garden and the history of this garden, click on My Garden Odyssey in the Categories list.
