Stinky, (the cat) enjoying the verbenas. After we put in this retaining wall last fall, I finally felt like this front porch bed could be finished. A few colorful annuals did the trick, oh, and a kitty.
Front porch garden: Dwarf Korean lilac in the back, Carol Mackie Daphne, and mixed verbena in front. The bright pop of yellow to the left/rear are the Maximilian sunflowers; they’re about 6 feet tall. And the little T fan shaped shrubs in the foreground are my little hedges; they greened up nicely after a heavy snow last winter, and they have their first branch sets on them. Fingers still crossed.
In the picture below, you can see the stone steps we put in to lead down from the front porch to the lower willow garden. Wish I had taken a better picture. Also in this
picture, you can see the front south rock berm, in the upper right corner. There is a berm like this on each side of the front of the property. Eventually they will be covered in stone. But for now, I was able to afford 25 tons of large boulders, 3-6 tons each boulder, to put on the berms. These boulders are the anchor stones for these two berms. I know, it looks weird right now, it looks undone – and it is. But these things take time, and money $$$.
On the north, front side of the property is the other large berm. I don’t think you can see the boulders from this view, but you can appreciate the second year’s growth of Aunt Judy’s daylilies. They’re right out front behind a row of pink mums. Appreciate them! They came all the way from Missouri and are working really hard in this nasty soil.
All in all, I feel good about this progress. It’s finally starting to look like something, at least out front.