Anniversary Garden
The
  In the beginning my intentions were only to pull out the trees and bryers with the back hoe and clear this area to plant grass seed and maybe a shrub or two around the stones but once it was cleared I had better thoughts of a perennial garden. 
 
  The idea to turn this area into a perennial garden was inspired by some of the beautiful gardens that Kelly and I saw in Newport, R.I. while celebrating 25 years of marriage on May 28, '08. This project began for us during our vacation that week so we thought it only appropriate to call this the "Anniversary Garden".


The very first photo below with the goats shows that patch of trees in the background that is now the garden. I hope you enjoy the photos of this garden from its very beginning...
June 2009 - This long stone lined bed is reserved for hybrid mini roses bushes. In the wooden bed next to it are 2 Tree Peonies, phlox, brodiaea, and 'belle of woking' clematis.June 2009 - Stone edging on the pathways completed and the birdhouse is installed.I added this small bed in front of the greenhouse for two rose bushes and mums. The lower sitting area in the garden.Behind the lawn chairs is the future site of a pond/waterfall.A Purple Martin House I built for the garden. My Dad is very talented and he made this beautiful carved sign that will hang over the garden entryway. Thanks Dad ! June 2009 - Daylily and Iris Bed
Take note of the fir tree you can see in the right hand corner of this photo, it is the only tree left here to be incorporated into the garden. I pulled the tree stumps out with the backhoe and got this area down to a blank canvas. Its time to start adding beds. Each of the large stones you see are all at least 8 feet deep in the ground and unmovable so I used them in the design as corners in the beds and entryway. I started by adding topsoil between the largest stones in the landscape. This first bed alone took 10 full buckets with the tractor to make. I used all composted topsoil I have been amassing from our property. This will become the entryway to the garden. This is the final shape of the bed with Boxwood planted on the front edge. A peastone pathway will go between these two large rocks.The red cedar corner poles for the arbor are in the ground 4 feet and each are packed with stone and 2 bags of concrete for strength.More room to sit and enjoy the garden was a must so I dug out some more topsoil to create a stepdown effect from the arbor and I added a border with old wood poles and flat stone. This area will be filled with peastone.Front View of the arbor and the lower sitting area. The short poles in the front and rear of the taller arbor corner poles are for fence rails.I added this outer stone border and a few things we planted were starting to grow, the garden was taking shape ! Our cat Nanook loved the garden. He is sadly missed and will never be forgotten.
May 2008 - garden construction started 
2009 Photos - many new additions this year
Hibiscus and Russian SageFlowering HostaBekgian Mums
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April 2010... starting the garden expansion.
This is the beginning. This area is planted with Hibiscus I grew from seed, Rose of Sharon and Hollyhocks I grew from seed.The next step was of course the entry way to this area from the original garden. Kelly wanted stone steps leading in.I put in the steps and added a small raised bed to the right side for a Snow Lotus Tree Peony.Next I stripped all the sod off of the entire area and tilled the topsoil in the areas that we planned on using for flower beds.I then started laying the stone borders for the beds.Another bed I added in front of the greenhouse and it is planted with Purple Coneflowers that I started from seed and will have Gaillardia planted in front of it when my seedlings mature.I added 20 bags of moisture control soil to the beds and began filling the walkways with peastone. Cleome and Tritoma that I started from seed are in the center of the larger bed.I added another dedicated bed in front of the Snow Lotus Tree Peony to be home for the "Strawberry Swirl" rose bush. The peony is an early bloomer and the rose will show soon after.
2010 Garden Photo Section
The front entrywayA closeup of the Phlox in bloom in the tree peony box.Blue Birds have moved into our "Purple Martin" house. Im not complaining, they are beautiful birds.Clematis Lanuginosa "candida"Lanuginosa "Candida" Clematis with "The President" Clematis in the background.Clematis "The President" in full bloom.Clematis "the president"Clematis "h.f. young"... first flowers for us on this one. I cant wait till this one matures.Tree Peony- unknown variety with first flower.3 flowers on it this year. The first one is just starting to fade in this photo.I believe this to be a Hummingbird Moth that visited the garden this week.Some early bloomers...
  We had an area in our back yard that was an eyesore. It was a patch of trees and huge bryer bushes surrounding a small section of old rotted farm fencing. Inside the bryer bushes I even found an old cracked porcelain tub...  what a mess this area was !