Tag: Rose garden

Front Yard 2009

The front of the property is really starting to fill out.  It finally looks like something, no more mud, no more dirt piles.

The Rose garden really did well this first year. Beautiful color.

The rose garden grew really well for their first year.  They are all between 18 and 24″ high, with nice blooms.

Rose garden, looking southAlthough they’re higher than the privet hedge which surrounds them, the hedges are big enough that you can tell what they’re supposed to be.  And they’ll eventually be 3-4′ high.  They’ve got a long way to grow yet, but so far so good.

Rose garden

The willow garden in the background is also flourishing, and the spruce has put on 3′ in height.

Rose garden

I love how I got the lines on the hedges absolutely straight!  You keep laughing at me my lovely neighbors – there’s a method to my madness!

Privet hedge is growing!

And Aunt Judy’s orange daylilies are beautiful.  In the spring there are tulips in front, and in the fall the row of Mums blooms in a brilliant hot pink.

South side of driveway

 

 

 

 

North side of driveway

Rose Garden

Rose garden, first spring

I have always wanted a rose garden, ever since I was a child.  I remember seeing a rose garden in front of a big building.  I don’t even remember what the building was, or where it was – I think I was 10?  I’m just not sure.  But I can still see that rose garden in my mind’s eye.

Champlain shrub rose

I found baby roses in 4″ pots, online from Heirloom  Roses https://www.heirloomroses.com/  and Edmond’s  Roses https://www.edmundsroses.com/ roses.  I bought only “shrub” roses.  No wimpy hybrid teas are going to make it out here in Brighton.  We have winds out here that roll hot tubs down the street.  Really.  That happened last year.

Tequila Sunrise shrub rose

So I bought 36 small roses in sunrise colors, yellow-orange-red-whites, spaced them out and planted them in the U shape garden between the privet hedges.   (Add in: amend the soil, install irrigation to water the roses . . .)  They grew so well the first year that they were taller than the baby hedges.

We built a retaining wall with mixed granite stones to hold the garden in place and delineate the border of the garden from the ditch in front.

New granite retaining wall for the rose garden
Finishing the culvert with granite

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the little privet hedges growing behind the roses, circling around the 1/2 moon shape of the driveway.  I can’t wait for them to get bigger.  I really want a formal look for the front yard.