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the blank canvas

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Category: garden plans and adventures | Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:31 am

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Lets see, I'll begin with a description of my playground. I have 3 acres that were neglected for maybe 5 years before I got it. Theres a pasture in the back which hasnt been turned or planted in the same number of years. The neighbor's horses like to wander in it, and I dont mind since I'm not growing anything there... yet. Last summer and in the early spring it had a lot of pretty wildflowers, verbena, beebalm, pincushion, all sorts of blanket flowers and mexican hats. Theres plenty of thistle back there too.
Theres a brief wooded area between the pasture and my house and it has a lot of hackberry trees, hawthorne of some kind, a few of those thorny acacias, cedar, osage orange, and a few differnt oaks. Tucked and woven into a row of trees and shrub is some honeysuckle, which would be doing better if we had rain.
Theres a little road that runs from the pasture through the wooded part and snakes around to the back of the side yard. This is where it becomes immediately barren and boring. Theres the shadey back yard which is nice, but the whole rest of the yard around and in front of the house is dead grass mostly.
I do have a peach, a red plum, and a continuously fruiting pear tree. These are on the side and corner of the house The pear has been the only tree thats managed to start anything worthy of eating. (yay! its my favorite) The windy storminess we had after everything began to bud this spring knocked off most of the blooms, so not much fruit.

Here's the blank canvas.

(and yes, my house is like a shrimp pink which shall soon be remedied. I'm counting the days! ) Yeah, so its pretty naked as far as any kind of landscaping. This was taken in December so if you add green to the trees it looks mostly the same. Did I say boring? Yep, its boring... and what a challenge! :} It's actually been good that there's nothing, because I havent had to think twice about what I'm planning or work around pre-existing things much at all.
It the front of the house there is one small bed. Its what I did right after moving there. There had to be something pretty. Theres an overgrown silverado sage, which I surrounded with yarrow and dusty miller, a russian sage and a rosemary. Theres a yucca in there too but its too shadey, gotta move it.
I have a sea holly I'm trying again, I tried some from seeds and it never worked, this was a root, so I hope something will come of it. I think its too much in the shade also.
This is part of my flower bed by the front door.
It became an experiment of what could grow there and without much water. This was mostly because I have a toddler and I can barely remember my name most days, watering isnt at the top of my things to do list. hehe ;}. My yarrow has since bloomed a pretty yellow. I love that stuff.


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glendann wrote on Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:30 am:

Your home is like mine was except mine is a mobil home and was parked in an area with 2 trees only .One hugh Pine in the back yard and a large Cedar in the front to the right side. That was it and 3 years later and after a quad bypass and a year out of my life it looks some better.Still a long way to go and lots of moveing plants and other things around .
If you will go to my blog you can see a little bit of my acreage.

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glendann wrote on Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:31 am:

Ps I love the bed you have made and you will have a pretty yard .It takes time.

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Gardenstew wrote on Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:17 pm:

Plenty of space to play with there Prairiefeather. I'd bet many gardeners would sell their right arm to have that much space again :D We will be with you every step of the way!

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