Georgia Flower Garden

This will be part 1 of a two part series...

When the Saint and I purchased a boat, we had no idea it would entail a Flower Garden as well. See this big old ugly shelter we had installed to keep the boat clean? I have hated this big old ugly thing from day one! First we had to remove 8 big trees to make room for the metal monster. Of course, we cut each of them down and chopped them up, all by ourselves. Just call me Lumber Jane! We had firewood for several winters so that was a plus.

Once the shed was in place, we ended up with a rather large empty area so I slowly started to add things to distract the eye away from the shed. The first thing was the white picket fence that we had salvaged from a home renovation project. I told you about that with my Gas Woes story a while back. I planted a LeAnn Cleyera on either side of the fence then added the Japanese Loquat to the left of the fencing. I added a park bench in front of an already existing plum tree. Peony are located in the rock circles. The stakes represent where miniature Elephant Ears are located. I made the round planter from stones we had moved from around a dead tree. I made two rectangular planters from free brick picked up at a job site in a new housing development. You can only see one of them here but the second one is balancing out the garden in front of the bench.

So the garden begins. I did not like the way the gravel from the boat shed was falling into the garden area. This entire area has a gradual slope from the shed to the bench. We had some border stones around the grass border of the yard that were in place when we moved into the house. I never liked them there so decided it was time to remove them.

Knowing it would be next to impossible to get them into the ground level plus a lot of work, I decided to do something different. I laid them on their sides to form a little wall. I then back filled the area with the gravel.

We found these big stones along the back of our property line and never could decide what they were for, but I decided they would make good steps. I had to get the Saint to assist me with those stones as they were very heavy. He got them from the backyard into the garden area with the aide of a dolly (hand truck). They were so heavy they bent the dolly platform! He also helped me get them into place.

So I guess you could say that the boat shed is Level 1 of the garden. That Oleander bush is no longer located there as I knew in time it would be too large so I moved it to the other side of the garden. Mistake as I almost lost it. I will talk about that another time. Getting back on course here, Level 1 evolved as one of last springs projects.

I tackled Level 2 this spring soon after a tonsillectomy. One of my faults that I inherited from my father is, when I have something in my head, I don't stop until I get it done! Thanks for that trait Big Daddy... argggg... I took my favorite flat blade shovel and started to level out the dirt to make a pathway. You can see a brick planter but we will talk about that tomorrow with Level 3. I have already shown you the Half Circle planters a few weeks ago. That started this level project then the idea of adding a straight wall was in my head. Again I was looking at the border stones at the boat shed. I did not have any left over and was not going to steal any of them for this project. So I ran to the garden center to pick up a few of the shorter ones. You can see how much of a slope I had to deal with by the angle of my little red wagon. It took me all day long to dig out the dirt as I ran into some Georgia Clay. Not fun stuff to discover. In time I had a completed wall and filled in the pathway with pea gravel. My only regret is, I did not put landscapers cloth under the gravel. I don't like using it in the garden but for a path, it is fine.

Tina, do you see that gnome under the dogwood tree? Some of you may know that the Saint hates gnomes but I found this little guy on the cheap and slipped him into the garden and it only took the Saint two days to find him. He just giggled and said, "I said NO GNOMES" He knows this is my domain and to stay clear so he let the gnome have his new home.

Remember the free house bricks I just mentioned? I needed those bricks elsewhere so those planters got a fresh look with new border stones. Tina calls these Castle Rocks and I like that name so Castle Rocks they will be from here on with me. So the two brick planters which are now Castle Rock planters are separated by levels.

I had parsley to the back of this planter and put purple Perwinkle (Vinca) in the front. See the beautiful Homestead Verbena beside the planter? I told you in the past it was large!

So now Level 2 is a complete Level with 4 Elephant ears, 5 Peony, Vinca, Verbena, 3 Dogwood trees, Gay Feather, Salvia, Sedum, Mexican Heather, Petunia, Red Star, Alyssum, Blue Daze and Multi-Lantana.

Look at those miniature Elephant ears. I think the Big Box store had them mislabeled because they are huge and get bigger each year!

As I was putting in the wall stones, I broke my hand shovel (thanks clay) and sent the Saint to the Garden Center for a new one. That sweetie of mine came home with two shovels and two Dwarf Lilies! I think he was feeling sorry for me doing all this work so soon after surgery. But he knows I was having fun! So I had to plant them somewhere and came up with the idea to make a little triangle planter at the end of the pathway.

I am happy with the way the triangle planter turned out even though it was really tough as the clay was super bad in that area. I don't have much clay in the garden or the yard but in that area, I sure do. I moved a statue here and there to conform with the new design. I am now happy with the over all look of Level 2. As you can see everything is thriving and looking like a nice area to take the eye away from that ugly metal monster!

Tomorrow, I will show you Level 3 of my GEORGIA FLOWER GARDEN, In the Garden...