Landscape Projects Over The Years
Gallery > Landscape Projects
Our landscape has certainly changed since moving to our new home in 2004. Starting off with nothing but 2 acres of flat lawn and a scrub brush, I have, over the past few years, been at times excited, at times challenged and more often than I like to admit, overwhelmed. Our gardens have been a work in progress, with it seems always a project or two on the go. Here are a few pictures of some of the major changes over the years. For a few pointers on how I created our garden landscape see How To Design a Cohesive Landscape.
One of my first projects was to add a flagstone border around an existing fire pit.
Our first full year in our new home was a busy one. The first step was to take stock of what was in the garden and start making plans about what would stay and what would be changed. While there were quite a few blue spruce throughout the property, there was also a double row of evergreens lining both sides of the yard. This felt like too much of a fence to me, something we thought we left behind in the city. As many of the evergreens were only about 3 feet tall, we took the opportunity to move many of them to other places throughout the yard. By the fall of 2005 we had a plan in mind for hardscaping and overall bed shapes.
The main paver patios were added in 2005 including the front and side walkways and large patios just outside our kitchen and bedroom entrances.
Another major project in early 2005 was to clear some scrub brush and build our first vegetable garden.
After finishing the first of our hardscaping features, I was excited to really begin building our ornamental gardens. We made quite a bit of progress in 2006.
Acer campestre (hedge maple) anchors the west portion of the Kitchen Patio Garden and will eventually provide shade from the afternoon sun.
I have discovered I love to work with flagstone. Another major project was the design and planting of our Bird Sanctuary Garden.
The Front Walkway Gardens as they appeared in 2006. An addition in 2011 resulted in some further changes.
Never one to sit back quietly, 2007 saw the start of our Woodland Garden in spring and our Carolinian Garden in fall. My fall was also spent having great fun building a stone wall with fieldstones collected from our yard and neighbouring properties. You can read more about these projects at my blog posts Creating A Woodland and My Carolinian Garden.
A new stone wall marks the end of our landscape while a native tree provides a focal point and transition between the Hawthorn Grove and the Vegetable Garden.
The spring was spent clearing scrub brush and grape vine for our new Woodland Garden.
A view of the Woodland Garden in 2008.
The Carolinian Garden in the spring of 2008.
In 2008 we took a year off to enjoy the fruits of our labour. The year was spend mulching new beds, planting a few additional shrubs and perennials and mainly learning to maintain what we were building.
Adding trees and shrubs in front of a grouping of evergreens helps naturalize the look and will eventually create a distinct pathway between the two gardens.
The Bird Sanctuary Garden is really starting to fill in by 2008.
Another busy year, 2009 saw the addition of our new garden house (to hold our garden and pool equipment) and pool. We also planted new gardens around the pool and expanded the width of the Front Walkway Garden.
Our new pool in 2009.
A view of the garden house.
In 2010 our focus turned towards vegetable gardening. Over the years we have added to our repertoire of vegetable varieties and wanting to plant potatoes meant we needed more space. So in 2010 we added a second vegetable garden. I was also lucky to add another native tree to our yard -- this year a Nyssa Sylvatica.
New garden dedicated to potatoes in 2010.
Nyssa sylvatica 2010.
More excitement in 2011 with an addition to our home. This resulted in another change to the Front Walkway Gardens. We also added a few more trees to the yard including two natives -- Cercis Canadensis (Canadian Redbud) and Ostyra Virginiana (Ironwood). But what is really amazing is how, after only 5 to 7 years most of the gardens are now looking filled in and mature. Over that time I have learned a lot, made quite a few changes and am still looking forward.
Expanded Front Gardens.
Still tweaking, here are some new shrubs in part of the Hawthorn Grove.