Understanding "Winter Interest"

Last year Carolyn Gail over at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago whipped up a plan for my front garden that I wanted to redesign but had no idea what ought to go there. If you don't remember, the only thing in those beds were big overgrown Yews and Junipers, which I hated. I had them all yanked out and vowed to never plant another evergreen in the front of my house - it was my attempt to assert my individuality over my neighbors who only seem to have evergreens in their front gardens.

So, I was bummed to see that Carolyn had included an evergreen in the plan she did for me. I argued back and forth with her over why I needed the evergreen considering that I sort of hate them and she just kept saying "you need it for the winter interest." Well, I'm stubborn and a know-it-all so I decided that I knew more about this than Carolyn (a professional landscape designer) and did not plant any evergreens. I had decided that the evergreen would simply take up space where another better, prettier shrub could be planted, and, after all, during winter we gardeners are simple waiting it out, right? Well, now I get it! When I removed the established evergreens I immediately hated the front of my house more than ever. Quite frankly, it looked like a mobile home to me. Well guess what? That's what it has looked like all winter.

We've had a lot of snow in Chicago this winter and for months I've been driving by all the houses with the big evergreens I once scoffed at, now envious that their house doesn't look like a mobile home and mine does. All of a sudden I am mesmerized by the way the heavy snow sits atop these evergreens totally changing the shape and looking all cool.

I'll probably be rethinking this whole "winter interest" thing this spring. The trouble is that now I've used up all my shrub space in the front garden so if I want some "winter interest" it will only be at the sacrifice of some other shrub that's already planted.

Lessons learned: listen to the experts, even if you do not understand or see their vision.

Patio Project Day 1: For Carolyn and Carol

BeforeAfter

The more I look at this picture, the more my house starts to look like a double-wide trailer on blocks. Now that the big ugly shrubs are gone, the space under the windows just looks plain awkward. I had planned to build a window box for the center window and although I'm sure that will help some, I don't think it will solve this problem. Anybody got any suggestions?

I don't think my neighbors are going to be too happy about me yanking out these mature shrubs and when they question me about I'm going to tell them that my landscape consultants Carolyn and Carol told me to do it. Still, I am thrilled to have these things gone. Now I have a blank slate to start from.

Thomas called me in the late afternoon after I'd had a chance to get home to take a look. I almost got the feeling he was calling to make sure I wasn't sitting in my front yard crying and regretting my decision to remove these shrubs. He also updated me on the patio situation in the backyard. I will spare you the details for now but after I spoke to him I was very glad that I hadn't decided to install the pavers myself.
Isn't this exciting?

Devine Intervention: Paths

How did I miss this? ? ?

Over at Gardening Gone Wild they are hosting the first of what I hope will be the first of many Garden Bloggers' Design Workshops. This month's workshop is Paths and Walkways and it just so happens that I've been obsessing over where to place a path in my front garden, or if one belongs there at all.

If you've been following my current conundrum, you know that I'm in the process of expanding the front yard flower beds to prepare for some beautiful things to happen there next planting season. Well, no sooner had I expanded the beds and "lasagna'd" them when I ran across this awesome book Front Yard Gardens. You see where I'm going with this - screw the expansion - I want to plant my entire front yard!

Well the problem is that the yard is a perfect rectangle and that's pretty darn boring. Plus, the yard is not that deep but I think if I plant the entire thing without breaking it up somehow, I'll really have a hard time planting and weeding. Now normally I'd do this the exact opposite of how it should be done and plant first and think of paths later while cussing myself for my bad design and lack of forthought, but since it's winter I have some time on my hands.

So, I'm taking Nancy up on the offer to explain to you that I'm having trouble deciding where the path should go. The picture below is my front yard. I should say that I'm planning to have all those shrubs removed before I start planning so dont let them disrupt your creative juices.

So - where do the paths go? Don't be afraid to say "there should be no paths cuz the yard is too small." That just means less work for me ;)

The yard is 41 feet across (that includes the walk to the porch) and 18 feet deep.

The only idea I've had is to place a narrow walkway along the current curved beds then plant on the other side, too but that seems like it might look like my yard has stripes.

I look forward to your suggestions! And I believe I made the November 30th deadline so that means I get entered into a drawing for a great book. YAY!

Chop Chop

With the weather man calling for rain starting last night and continuing on for a couple of days I was really feeling the pressure to finish my outdoor chores. After reading Rosemarie's review of her leaf blower/chopper I did some research and was pleasantly surprised to learn you can find these for around 60-70 dollars. So, in keeping with my impulsive garden weekend I ran right up to HD and bought one. If you don't have one of these things and you have lots of leaves, GET ONE! It did get clogged up a couple of times, probably because it rained a little last night so the leaves were damp. One warning, this thing also chops up animal feces that may be hidden in your leaves and it is very stinky and very disgusting so be careful! (insert gag reflex here)I offered to rake the morning glory ladies' leaves if they let me have them and even though they said they ARE composting their leaves this year (2 houses in a row in the burbs composting leaves - ROCK ON!) they'd let me take what was there today since they just raked yesterday, the yard was totally covered today and there are still plenty of leaves left on the tree. Man that raking is hard work!

I raked their leaves and my leaves then put wet newspaper (thanks GB) on the grass left in the new front beds. I have to say I felt like a complete fool out there laying newspaper on my grass.

Then I vacuumed up all the leaves with my handy dandy new blower/leaf chopper dumping them on the wet newspaper as I filled the collection bag.

Here's what it looked like when I finished. I was so thrilled that I completed this project before the rain started. Then I sat with a backache waiting for the rain to come to help mat down the leaves but it has yet to do so. THANKS ERROR PRONE WEATHER MAN!

So, my lasagna garden is finished as far as my original plan but I just do not think this stuff will fully decompose by spring next year. I'll probably add coffee from Starbucks but maybe it needs something else? Anybody have any ideas?

Suggest A Plant: Curb Appeal

I had such great luck back in the summer when I asked people to suggest their favorite plant that I thought I'd try it again with front gardens I'm trying to design.

In case you need a reminder, here's where my new front gardens will be. I'm not finished removing the sod but you can see the outline of where the edge of the bed will be. These part shade beds are about 6 feet from the 5-6 feet tall shrubs. Disclaimer: I am aware the shrubs look like freshly groomed poodles. I hate them, too. But they are staying at least until next year, and I vow to never let the landscape guy do that again.

So, here's what I need oh wise gardeners with your beautiful gardens and your exquisite garden designs. Give me your 3 favorite plants that work together height wise and try to work them into the design. I'll either grow them from seed or grab them on clearance over the next couple of weeks.

Suggest a...
Tall plant - for the back of the bed near the poodle shrubs
Medium plant - to place in front of the tall plant you just suggested
Short plant - to place in front of the medium one you suggested

Thank you in advance for your suggestions! I appreciate you!

Sunday Digging

I was outside by 7:30 this morning. It was kinda chilly, but for me, perfect weather for digging. This is a fairly low traffic time on my street so I didn't have too many gawkers. The first thing Mr. W said is "WOW YOU REALLY DUG FAR AWAY FROM THE HOUSE!" What do you think? Is the bed too wide?I probably should have waited until later today to take these pictures but I was just so proud of myself I had to snap a few to post. The one below is the side of the house that leads to my backyard. I was surprised how much sun this area gets. I have no idea how many hours of sun per day equals "Sun" versus "Part Shade" but when I went back out to observe the sun at noon, it was still fully shining on this side garden. I'll keep checking that throughout the day and do some research on what constitutes Part Shade. I had always considered this entire front garden Part Shade but maybe sun loving plants would survive here on the corner.

I'm planning to move all the hosta over to the new Good Neighbor garden. They look really crappy this year but I think it's because I let these beds get so weedy all summer. Is it okay to transplant these hosta now, or should I wait until next spring?

Speaking of the Good Neighbor garden, one of the morning glory ladies scared the crap outta me while I was digging today. She was out gardening early too and I guess she heard me and came over to say hello. Did I mention I'm not social AT ALL? I mean I can do it, and I'm pretty darn friendly thanks to being raised in the south, but I'm a total Introvert. Anyway, she was pretty darn impressed with my newest gardening project, especially when I told her I was planning to plant some things on the side of the house for them to enjoy from their windows. She had noticed the Hibiscus that volunteered right under their morning glory vine and since she seemed to like it so much, I told her to dig it up and take it. I just don't care for them. The fact that it couldn't determine whether it was a weed or not is a total turnoff.
Goals for this week:

1. Finish removing sod from new beds (get out there before I'm fully awake and have a chance to talk myself out of it.)
2. Remove everything in kitchen garden except tomatoes. Try to find a place to compost it.
3. Transplant sod from front yard to the spot where the kitchen garden is currently.