GARDEN RENOVATION: Part 2

Our front landscape bed has been laying fallow while we've waited for the winter to finally, truly end, and now for the spring rains to cease... So, today the sun is shining, the homeowners' association landscaper is spreading mulch, and CA and I tackle another out-of-control bed. Guess I hadn't gotten up adequate nerve in time for our first-go at starting afresh, somehow ignoring the fact that bed #2 was almost as bad as bed #1.

Bed #2

Bed #1

We dig and tug and pull to rip-out woody, ugly Vinca, along with some struggling thyme, lavender, and chives. I've given up on having an herb garden in front--lots of bugs dine off my basil. As I write this, CA is digging out most of the day lilies coming up in the first bed. This variety has a short bloom-life and dies back too soon, and the shortage of sunshine has never been encouraging.

I'm breathing easier now that the unmanageable and incongruous plantings have bitten the dust. Why did we wait so long? The landscaping was bad when we moved in almost 10 years ago... My excuses are: we moved to a townhouse to avoid yardwork; we were both over-taxed with responsibilities and work; ennui; the cost vs. pain equation; a dearth of creativity. As it turns out, I like the bare mulch much, much better than I ever did the bloomless lilacs, woody Vinca, and lazy day lilies.

There are some peonies surfacing behind the tree in the second bed, Forget-Me-Nots under the same tree, and this lovely, lovely blue perennial (Brunnera!) I got in Michigan two years ago is nestled in next to the front stoop. I want more of these!

Turns out this is Brunnera, or more appropriately these are Brunnera. Two varieties.

I'm anxious to plant the shade-tolerant varieties I've been researching, but will wait until we return from Virginia Beach because the deer in our woods are notorious snackers--preferring my gardening endeavors to their own environs. Oh wait! They were here first.

I've lost tens of twenties of dollars over repeated Springs to those deer and their voracious nibblings. I know. I know. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. Here's to good mental health! And, the survival of my greenery.

I think that guy in front is a goner, too.

I'm sure there's an ingenue waiting in the wings at Key Blooms in Portage. MI.

Bed #3

Wait! Bed #3?

 Call the immunologists--I think this reno has gone viral!

Doesn't CA do nice work?

The relocated Day Lilies will survive and thrive, or they won't. But for now, they make a lovely border along the side of our screened porch. We've tried many perenniels in this back side yard bed, and nothing has survived. There may be some hosta that'll work their way up eventually. Last year we filled in with garden ornaments.