Garden Fancy: Garden Timeline 2014

In 2014, we made three more garden areas:

The Yellow Garden
The West Island
The North Island

Plus, we made a couple of other improvements:

I cleaned out, painted and organized an ancient shed to make a nicer garden shed
We got a new shed for our chickens, so they would be warm in winter

The Yellow Garden

There were two ash trees in our back yard when we bought the property, and we had the sicklier of the two removed in 2014. The other one has been slowly worsening for a dozen years and we will eventually have to have it removed too.

After having the tree removed, I made the Yellow Garden, filled with yellow and gold plants to brighten up the north side of our house. A lot of this wood chip mulch was from the removed tree.

The West Island

We also laid out a large curving C-shaped bed in the side yard west of our house.

From the West Terrace, this view shows the side yard to the west of our house, where we laid out a large C-shaped mulched bed. It didn't look like much at the time, but it has since filled in with mature trees and shrubs.

The large new West Island was planted with trees, shrubs and small groups of flowering bulbs. These have taken some time to grow to mature size.

The North Island

The shadier North Island was planted with shrubs and trees. Azaleas, a flowering dogwood and several small magnolias were added.

Garden Shed and Kitchen Garden

I cleaned out and painted the interior of my Garden Shed. This is the "After" photo; I won't even show the "Before" (dark, bird poop-filled). Here's a post about its transformation.

The new "Grand Chicken Hotel" that we had delivered sits next to the chicken pen and Vegetable Garden.

Another view of the Kitchen Garden, before the delivery of the Grand Chicken Hotel.

More Photos

My delphiniums really looked great in 2014. Runner grass took over this bed (you can see it in front of the delphiniums) and I eventually had to remove the delphiniums. I've tried to replant them here, but they've never survived and looked as good as these. Maybe I'll try one more time....

The Herb Garden boxwoods have just about filled in as a hedge that could be trimmed.

Phlox, roses, Shasta daisies--and the plant I grew to regret planting: Obedient Plant (or DIS-obedient Plant, as I refer to it, Physostegia virginiana). It's a total thug that invades through runners. I eventually had to completely clear this border of everything except the roses. It has pretty enough flowers, but boy was that plant a mistake....