Where we left off...
By the end of summer 2018, I had discovered my love for wild flowers and a free-spirited, cottage style. My tidy yard had grown a bit wild and it inspired me as I planned my first garden.
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Fall 2018
Before I could build my garden, I had to address some problems and clear the lawn. So much lawn.
Boxwood Woes
Earlier in the year, I had removed the lawn along the right fence and planted a line of boxwoods for privacy. Unfortunately, many of them succumbed to boxwood blight.
I’d advise anyone considering boxwoods to be careful about where you shop and ask about blight directly. The plants I’ve purchased at local nurseries have mostly been fine, but I’ve lost too many that came from bigger stores.
I also realized that the boxwoods would grow too slowly and were too short to create real privacy along the fence. So with only a few boxwoods left, I moved them to the front of the garden. My new goal was to create a short boxwood hedge that would frame wild, cottage-style plants inside.
Adding Structure
I wanted to replicate this idea in the middle of the garden, so I added a boxwood hedge along the garden path. They were tiny plants, called ‘Sprinters’ because they grow very quickly. (I can now say that they’ve lived up to their name and are already much larger.)
Again, my goal was to create a solid, formal border that would encase a wilder garden inside. I hoped it would help me tame my messy cottage style and make it look less chaotic.
Here it is in spring 2020. (You can see more of my garden here.) I think it’s worked according to plan, bringing some order to my mix of plants. I will prune the hedge into a more formal shape over time, assuming I can learn to do so.
Goodbye Lawn
I’m not sure I knew I’d be removing the entire lawn when I started the garden, but it quickly became apparent that it had to go. I wanted deep garden beds across the yard, so I needed to begin clearing the grass. (And by grass, I mean a field of weeds.)
I proceeded to dig it up over a few weekends. It was the toughest workout of my life. By far. These days, I cover any problem areas with cardboard to smoother the weeds. But I think it was necessary to dig up the lawn at the time because the weeds were quite thick and I wanted to give my new plants the best chance to thrive.
Planning Spring Blooms
If you’ve seen my garden lately, you know that I’ve planned blooms throughout the spring, all the way from March through June. I wanted to enjoy the flowers for as long as possible if I was going to do all of this work.
I planted my first spring bulbs in the fall of 2018. They included crocuses, daffodils and tulips. I looked for varieties that would start earlier or stay blooming later into the season.
I planted six peonies that fall. I marked each of their locations in the garden with large stones, because I knew I would be planting many more things the following spring.
This is also when I created a rose hedge at the front of the garden. I got my first English rose, the lovely, soft pink ‘Desdemona.’ She would join the apricot ‘At Last’ and white ‘Knock Out’ roses.
Cleaning up with Mulch
To suppress weeds after clearing the lawn, I mulched the entire yard. I also learned a lesson about recording my garden purchases...
I couldn’t remember (or tell any longer) if the initial mulch I purchased was black or brown, so I ended up with BOTH colors. These days I keep a photo album on my phone with plant tags and other key garden purchases. It’s saved me when I’ve forgotten a plant name or entirely forgotten about a plant that I killed in my garden!
In the end, I enjoyed the accidental color blocks of mulch. It made my blank canvas a bit more interesting over the next winter.
Spring 2019
The next spring, I was amazed by the beautiful bulbs. (My husband was also stunned and kept asking where they came from. He couldn’t believe they bloomed from the bulbs I planted last fall.)
The crocuses started the season in March. A white drift edged the front of the garden.
The crocuses passed the baton to the daffodils in mid-April. The ‘Eleanor Auchincloss' daffodils caught the morning light and confirmed that daffodils are my favorite bulbs.
Next came the tulips, which overlapped with the daffodils in the beginning and then continued through mid-May. The ‘Silver Cloud’ tulips stunned and changed my idea of what a tulip could look like.
The success of the spring bulbs encouraged me to move ahead. I was ready to continue planting and build up my secret, cottage garden.
More to come next week. Thank you for reading and please consider subscribing, if you haven’t already, so you don’t miss anything. Every update will then be emailed directly to you.
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