Our garden design is coming along as I see elements I like in other gardens nearby and throughout Texas. Here is a little update on what I have planned…
My inspiration garden
This summer I just fell in love with this simple boxwood garden at a home near ours, situated on a small manmade lake. Our first home had a view fence just like this and it made our tiny garden look really large because of the view beyond our backyard…
Isn’t this view gorgeous??!
I love the design of this garden and how the owners planted boxwood and other evergreens around their oak and pine trees. They incorporated rough cut stones around each of the topiary beds and little statues ~ perfect in my book!
There is a lovely stone and cement patio with chairs and a table on it but I was trying to be discreet when I shot these photographs to not invade the owners’ privacy, so no shots of their patio. You can see a little bit of it in the first photograph:
Our general backyard plan
- Use the cut stones leftover from creating the flowerbed and rock wall behind our master bedroom. Buy remaining stones to finish the planter.
- Loosely make an oval shaped garden bed above ground for new boxwood and holly found on-sale.
- Plant around the main oak tree using reclaimed composted soil from local waste management company.
- Cut back any dead branches and shape into balls before next freeze so plants can harden to the weather.
- Consider and possibly buy a few flat stepping stones to try in the area from the patio to around the first oak tree.
Here are the plants I found at Walmart last weekend for $5 ea./large 5 gal. container and $2.00 ea./smaller containers. I bought three large boxwood and three large holly bushes and several small boxwood to use in pots and elsewhere in the yard.
Here you can see how I loosely began the planter bed by laying out the remaining cream-colored chopstone (limestone with sawcut tops and bottoms). There was no rhyme or reason to laying out the bags of soil and when Mr. Ethereal came outside he suggested laying them where I would want the dirt then cutting each bag open with the shovel.
“How do you do that?” I asked casually… (I really wanted him to come help me with this project since my workweek involves combative kids who make my muscles really tired from holding them back, trying to keep them from fighting with each other.)
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| Final photograph with potted plants pulled to the garage wall for protection from the hard freeze we had most of this week. Lots of acorns have fallen again even though a bunch were just raked up… |
Mr. Ethereal was good and did come throw bags around for me placing them where they needed to be and opening some. (I had already carted them from the car to the garden just before he got home from inventory counting. This was Saturday mid-afternoon, afterall.)
My helper!
Mr. Yoda kept me company and sniffed for squirrels while I schlepped the Better Homes and Garden cart filled with 3-5 compost bags up the steep alley driveway curb and into the yard…
He is a good boy and enjoyed roaming around while Mom worked.
:)’
The planter bed starts coming together and I love how it looks!
The oak trees cloaked in autumn glory above…
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| Don’t you think this new bed will balances the yard?! I love it! |
This was the last of the really nice weekends of this year’s Indian summer ~ low 60’s on Saturday and 50’s on Sunday. Here you can see the two hydrangeas ready to be pulled indoors on a moment’s notice to protect them from the cold and freezing temps.
The rosemary topiary looks terrible but that’s because I gave it a severe haircut to shape it. It had grown crazily during the late heat of summer in its spot over by the garden shed. And I had forgotten to turn it more often so it would grow evenly around its main stem… My bad.
🙁
A beautiful mess
Looking out the window late on Saturday as the sun dipped down towards evening, it was time to reflect on the day’s progress made and enjoy the beginnings of a new yard… Happy to be home!
Sharing with
Thursday Favorite Things ~ Follow the Yellow Brick Home
Share Your Style
Party in Your Pj’s ~ Apple Street Cottage
Tuesday Turnaround ~ My Wee Abode
Spread the Kindness ~ Shelbee on the Edge
Friday Features ~ Oh My Heartsie Girl!
Câlins et bisous,
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