How we got from cornfield to (barely) controlled chaos
Planning the Landscape
The good news is we started with 2.5 acres of cornfield. A blank slate. The bad news is we had to do something with all of it right away, to avoid erosion and weeds popping up everywhere. (Spoiler: the weeds do that anyway.) Follow along for tales of how we turned our cornfield into what you see above.
Note: While everything above is at least underway, blog posts for everything haven’t been created yet.
The Deck
The deck was one of the first things we added to the house because without it the only access to the backyard was through the garage or the basement. We love it. We just didn’t enjoy doing it twice three times. (Thrice?)
The Perennial Garden
The redesigned perennial garden has been a work in progress for a few years now. This spring we were finally ready to replant!
Island Beds
With a large lot like ours, planting only around the edges isn’t an option. In the front yard we added four island beds for multi-season interest, using primarily shrubs.
Spring Flowering Corner
One area of the yard where I didn’t worry about multi-seasonal appeal is the flowering corner. My husband and I both like lilacs but when they’re not blooming they can be boring to downright ugly. So we planted a large informal lilac screen in a far corner of the front yard, along with some other flowering shrubs and trees. It’s beautiful in the spring and generally forgettable otherwise.
Fruits and Vegetables
We don’t have any pretty photos of fruits or vegetables, so please enjoy this fox in our compost bin. Foxes have been occasional visitors since we moved in. This was one of two that spent a few days at our compost pile.
The Herb Garden
We combined the garden shed that we needed for storage with an herb garden. The inspiration for the herb garden was a traditional English herb garden built around formal geometric beds with gravel paths. But we don’t have an estate and a gardener (other than us) so we had to scale it back just a bit.
The Pond
We knew we wanted some kind of water feature at our new house, we just didn’t know exactly what. We thought about a more formal fountain but ultimately went with a freeform pond with a waterfall. Despite very little going according to plan, it has the lush, woodland feel I was going for, so I’m happy with how it turned out.
The Gazebo
We knew we wanted a screened gazebo at our new house. We had one at our old house and we LOVED it. It was our summer living room. (And we stretched it to spring and fall when we could.) The mosquitos aren’t as bad here because there’s often a breeze, but it can still be unpleasant sitting outside at dusk. Which is generally when we want to do it!
Foundation Plantings
I find most foundation plantings boring. A few tortured shrubs with some standard annuals plunked in front during the summer. Maybe some hanging baskets. Meh. Fine for a standard colonial maybe. I wanted something different.