And now they're gone...

At last, I get to enjoy being out in my garden listening to the birds.

We were really pleased with the work the landscapers did, and they were very pleasant guys. But we are glad they are gone. :)

My south facing bed is about 2 - 4 ft deeper. And that can only mean one thing--plant shopping!!!

I did get one little treat for a shady corner of the patio, and that is this sweet meditation Buddha. It makes a very soft musical sound so nice to have it close to the seating area. I added some aqua sea glass to the bowl the lotus flower spills water into. The flower has orange LED lights in it under the water so I am really looking forward to seeing it later this evening.

I better enjoy this quiet evening before the planting begins!!!

I hope you are all enjoying this kick-off to sweet summer! 

Update: I captured a short clip of the fountain at night. I think the water looks like liquid flames. I like!

http://vimeo.com/99002679

A giant spaceship hovered over my back garden and a door opened...

...a ramp was lowered and four little green men started wheeling plants down. They saw me in the window, one touched the side of his nose and winked at me before they silently rose up and zipped away.

Okay, it didn't quite go like that, but the plants did arrive! Trees, shrubs and perennials - the bones of the garden. Honestly, it did seem a little surreal.

I've been working on my dream list of plants for soooo long that to actually see them here kinda choked me up. Good thing it was pouring rain or I might have had to do a dance around them. As it was, the only dancing I did was when the mosquitoes swarmed every time I went out to look at them.

As you can glimpse, my focus for the bones of the garden are green foliage with some chocolate and burgundy foliage, mostly white flowers with a bit of pink to pull the various foliage together. I built on my existing plants and got more of the ones that were thriving.

We planted mostly in groups of three or five with some mass plantings of ferns and ground covers.

I went for a few drop dead gorgeous plants to add drama and contrast.

I also got a bit of blue for a special feature area I am working on.

Because those little "green" (Ha! Get it? Gardener's humour lol) men obviously zapped me with something when they winked at me, I am now madly contemplating more plants. And a water feature. Has this happened to anyone else? The more plants thing, I mean, not the spaceship plant delivery... ;)

Hope your gardens are full of pleasant surprises!

Edit: Here is link to where we left the landscaping last year. It has links to the previous stages of landscaping this back garden. Alternatively, you can click on the landscaping label and see highlights of the progress in this garden space - from bare gravel to lush retreat.

A Room of One's Own

First, there were the days of garden dreaming. Looking out the window that was really too high to see anything when one was sitting down, as one tends to be in the house. There was a new baby to be nourished, cuddled and hopefully put to bed occasionally, hardwood to be installed, walls to be painted, baseboards to be put in place and upgrades to hideous light fixtures to consider. Of course, there was the unpacking to be tackled, but that could wait. Back to the dreaming. And back to the garden. For that was really where one imagined being with chortling baby.

[window too high that wanted to be a door]

The garden needed a fence, it needed earth - yes, the previous owners has filled the back garden with gravel - and it needed plants - galore. So we started planning. We put in a fence, we took out gravel, we brought in good earth. We ripped dead stuff out. And then we had a place to play and a place to plant. But something was still missing. There was no place to sit and just be in the garden, and we still couldn't see out into the garden when we sat in the house. Back to the drawing board for Phase II.

We decided we wanted a cobblestone patio with a small cedar deck, large enough for the BBQ and a small table and chairs set, to become "one" with the garden. So, the landscapers came, and ripped out earth and sod, reshaped some of the beds we had created

and planted two beautiful trees (of several more to come), a Ulmus americana 'Brandon' (Brandon Elm) and a Prunus maackii 'Jeffree' (Goldrush Amur Cherry). I *love* the bark on this one, it is a real four season beauty.

[bronze satin bark of Goldrush Amur Cherry]

The stone patio went in and we had one day to enjoy it before it snowed. The cedar deck had to wait until the last little warm spell arrived and the carpenters went madly at it to finish it off. And then it snowed again.

But there is now a door. So I can look out to the winter garden and begin the dreaming time again. Sitting in our home these Christmas holidays will be a little brighter this year as we wait for the garden to awaken. And then, Phase III, the planting time will begin. The thrilling time, I should call it. :)

Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you. ~Marsha Norman

I hope you are all enjoying Mother Nature's quiet time to dream new beauty into your own verdant corner of the earth.

Just when it looked like it was over between us, something happened

What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Autumn is closing, only remnants remain of the glory and gold of September. Many of us here in the north are closing our garden gates, stacking our pots in the shed and putting the chairs and tables away. But not here at Latitude. The landscapers have just arrived.

Yes, more to come. :)

If you want to see some truly beautiful autumn leaves, check out the stunning jewels at Voyages Around My Camera and the header photo over at Blue Algae Creative. They're gifted, these folks are.

All is Quiet Now

The landscapers are gone now. They have left me with my new,

empty garden. A green carpet in a room with with no adornment other than a wall of spruce.

I do have a few treasures I saved from last summer when I just couldn't help myself and shopped at the end-of-season sales. Suprisingly, they all survived.

So many ways to paint a blank canvas.


There is much to do and much to decide. But right now, it is just so peaceful. As we wait for the grass to settle in, I sit out on the steps and stare. I walk around the edges of the beds and dream.

I feel blessed to have this little space to call my own. I know this garden will be the site of many happy family events, soft days, and cherished memories. I am truly grateful.

Soon, the grass will have knit itself into the earth and I will lay on my back in the yard on a warm night and stare at the stars.

And then, I will begin to garden.

The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. ~Chinese Proverb

The Earth Moved

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it really, really did. And I couldn’t be more thrilled!

The landscapers were here today! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Those of you who have followed this little blog from its hopeful beginnings of a wish for a backyard to garden in will understand what a big adventure is happening here. Then it was just snow and dreams (and a lot of gravel!).

So this is Day One of the renovation: Out with the old compacted clay, gravel, concrete slabs and fabric that allowed nothing but weeds to grow

In with rich, luxuriant topsoil

To create my tabula rasa

Day Two comes next week. It will mean clearing the remainder of the debris away and bringing in another load of topsoil. They may even bring the sod and mulch that same day! I don't want to get my hopes up yet, I have waited so long already. Surely something will complicate things.

But I have to tell you, my desire to shop at a garden centre is so strong...I think I might even be able to power my vehicle in that direction on sheer will alone. How's that for green power! Pardon the pun :)

Remember Betty and Wilma from the Flintstones when they would run screaming "Charge" down the street with their credit cards held high? Well, um, I can completely relate, that's all.

So wish me luck with the rest of the renovation of the yard. Never has a girl been so excited by the gift of dirt!

A Paper Garden...

Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.
~ Napoleon Hill

Well, we have come up with a plan! Our mature yard, unloved for so many years, decades even, is coming to life!

The plan below represents two winters of dreaming out the window and one summer of evening meanderings. Last summer we got the old stumps that were along the borders all ground out and we got a fence up. Why so slow, you ask? Well, with a toddler to enjoy and home renovations underway, it's all we could manage.

This year so far, we have settled on a landscaper to do the excavation work of taking out all the gravel and concrete pavers and about six inches of clay. He will bring in topsoil and lay the sod and prep the beds with bark mulch. That will be our foundation for gardening. I know all the experts say to do your hardscaping first, but we haven’t decided on exactly what we want for hardscaping yet and I simply can’t wait another year before I garden!

Although we know we want either a patio or deck out there and have a vague notion of the shape, I am happy to sit out on the grass until we do decide.



As you can see in the plan, there will be lots of areas to plant. Everything marked “mulch” is prime planting space! I will have an almost 10 ft deep semi-rounded bed for shade plants, some shrub areas around my spruce in the back and lots of sunny areas for some hardy roses and other flowering shrubs and perennials.

Along the north side (right side of image) I want to put a privacy screen of a variety of columnar trees and some high shrubs. I want a mix of deciduous and evergreen so that there is winter interest. These have to been quite narrow or standard-shaped as I only have about eight feet of bed there between the fence and the area where we will have a patio or deck.

On the south side (left) I want to put one deciduous tree with a high and rounded, but not too dense, canopy to screen out the view of the side of the neighbour’s house. I would also like this tree to have some winter interest so I am thinking of something with an interesting bark, such as Prunus maackii ‘Jefree’ (Goldrush® Amur Cherry). Around this tree will be shrubs and perennials for shade. (Maybe even a water feature someday. One must continue to dream!)

So many decisions to make! I am working on a list of plants, shrubs and trees I like and what might be suitable to the particular locations in my garden.

Right now, we have to pot up what I do have planted out there already (treasures I couldn’t resist even though I knew we were going to have a major upheaval!) and pick out the stepping stones.

Oh, did I mention the landscaper said they should have it done in May? Cross your fingers with me, dear gardeners, and think positive thoughts that they stay on schedule!

Edit: I have tried to post this so that the picture of the plan will enlarge as you click on it- to no avail, I'm afraid. It seems to be random in that some do and some don't. If anyone knows the secret, please share!