Getting my gardening on…

I am so excited — now that we’ve been in the house a year and it’s springtime I get to start putting in a flower garden. Something I have always dreamed of living in the south — a lovely, drippy, leaning-to-english styled flower garden. A place to sit and be peaceful, to ponder and enjoy. It will take a few years to build and establish, but I’m ready for the challenge. I’m starting in the Southwest corner of the backyard this year and will work my way around — eventually. This year I will set the shape and layout and every year as what I plant takes hold I’ll be able to see what and where I need to fill things in to have a garden that has year-round interest.

I found a hybrid lilac that is supposed to do well in zone 7…we shall see. I definitely need to amend the soil, but it seems to like clay/wet soil and I have that in spades.

That will go in the back corner where the south and west fence line meet. They get big and bushy so it will have plenty of room back there. Then there will be daylilies, Poppies (though I will have to figure out how to contain those first) and some gladiolas. I’ll probably pop some echinacea in as well just for a little vibrancy of color.

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I’ve spent the winter drawing out my plans and deciding what will go where year by year. I’m really trying to do a little at a time so I don’t overwhelm myself. Having lived in desert and then high desert for the last 25 years, this new Piedmont region is like a foreign language to me. But I’m excited for the challenge and the rewards that will come from my perseverance. I’ll take pictures to post along the way.

We had grand plans for landscaping on Friday and Saturday, but turns out it’s going to ran like nobody’s business on Friday and only reach like 58 degrees on Saturday. That certainly will put a damper on our progress, but we shall see. The weather people don’t always get it right. Here’s one time I’m hoping they get it wrong — very very wrong.