Yup. When we say "mud," we mean mud. Here's the back yard yesterday. Andy took out the deck that was too small for even four people to eat dinner on ("Please pass the salt, and don't fall off the deck!!! "), and started eliminating the top layer of sort-of grass and mostly mud and often moss. We are just unable to grow grass in our back yard. We should have been tipped off when we bought the place -- the previous owner had every inch of the back yard covered in bark dust. We waited a year for it to decompose, then hired some guys to take the rest of it away, smooth out the bumps, and replant grass. It looked nice, for about five minutes. Remember this? This was taken during that five minutes. We are Midwesterners born and bred, and we do like a nice green lawn. There is a reason why Japanese rock gardens are big in the Northwest, however. Oh, man. Let's go in the front yard, quick.
Ah. Okay, that's better. This is my little tree peony. This bud is seriously like two inches around. Can't wait to see this. I'll show you. That muddy brown color behind the bud is the front porchy thing of the house. But anyway, in the back yard, the grass very quickly ceased to come back. In the winter, most of the yard turned to mud. In the summer, the mud turned to dirt. There is a huge tree back there which blocks the sun. No grass will grow under the canopy of the tree. Under the tree there are only tree roots and dirt.
This is more (sunny) front yard. The parkway, with its new coating of compost/mulch. (Every spring, Andy and I have great conversations about the difference between these two things. They go like this: Me: "Hon, can you get a load of mulch for the front yard and do it, please?" He: "You mean compost." Me: "Er . . . " He: "Mulch and compost are the same thing." Me: "Err . . . " .) Something black goes on the parkway and beds. Roses there. No grass. See that purple tree in the background? It's a plum, the exact same kind that's in the back yard, too. It drops its little plums all over everything and then people step on them and track them into the house. Bees are everywhere, feasting on rotting plums. No grass under that tree either. Someone once looked at it and said, "Oh, but you can make plum jam!" I had to kick her off the property. I was inches away from throwing plums at her. I am utterly conflicted about these trees.
This is a climbing hydrangea. It's attached to one side of the front porchy thing. It climbs in the shade and doesn't need support, having those little hairy graspers. My friend Nancy, who actually knows what she's doing in the garden, says that this was a bad choice, as it becomes absolutely monstrous and rips off your gutters. When people say things like that I'm like, "Hm? Wha?" I pretend I don't understand what they are talking about, and busy myself with some pruning, or pull out a weed or two, or pick a flower and tuck it coquettishly behind my ear to distract them. Because I love my climbing hydrangea. When it starts ripping stucco off the house I'll reconsider, but until then I'm all Hmm? [Eyelash bat.] Wha? Did you say something?
The dogwood. In my opinion, there really just can't be too many of these sweet little prom dates in the world. I so love the dogwood tree. We have another one, a pink one, in the back yard, but it almost never flowers. I don't know why. Probably because it's the back yard, where nothing works. Don't you love this color of creamy-ish yellow? I think I'd like to paint everything in the house this color and then make some buttercream frosting and sit on a stack of pillows, eating the whole bowl.
This rock is cool. My bro-in-law made it for us, but I haven't the first clue how he did it. He knows how to do all sorts of cool, professional-looking things like that. He also helped Andy build the pergola thing in the back yard. Soon after the back grass went away, the dog came. She wore a patch along the back fence which will never recover. The back yard is going to be covered in gravel, except for a little rectangle of grass which actually grows. I saw a garden in the first issue of Domino magazine last fall that inspired me. It's a square garden, covered in gravel, with raised beds. This is our plan. We just need a place for our hammock and the table and chairs. We need flat surface so I can walk on it, and we need no mud.
It's taken six years to get the front yard to be good. The previous owner apparently didn't like people, and he planted many scary and unappealing plants to create a fortress-like barricade not just around the property but all over the property. I'm not great in the yard -- I mean, it always looks pretty in the spring but then I sort of forget about it and again it's like -- Goldilocks Theory. Too many things to take care of make me want to weep with exhaustion. So, gravel, and containers in back. Andy does all the work and I wring my hands supportively and practice my empathicalism -- it rained last night so there is some serious water back there, since the place doesn't drain very well. He's got a long day ahead of him, poor sweetie.
Martha [landscape architect/college roommate/East Coaster who has never seen the yard in real life but heard all about it], we tried. We really tried.
you poor thing! this won't make you feel better but the flowers you showed in the front at least looked pretty! my little porch garden is being overrun by snails and natural elements. i'm so worried because i don't want to kill everything!
I love your stories and the way you tell them. I wish I had a yard, all I have is a roof top deck :)
*sigh* I love peonies! They're my absolute fav :) Your wee lil gardens look so sweet Alicia!
Oh, this post makes me feel better. Sometimes I feel like ALL I ever think about is how to fix the yard.
We put in gravel and raised beds in the corner of our backyard two years ago and it's been great. Things that are suppose to grow do and it's easy to weed. Unfortunately, there is the rest of the backyard (and front) to deal with.
The front is lovely! I think the back is being a pain on purpose so you'll turn it into an entertainment area. Yep, your back yard is a social butterfly!
oh, al.
oh dear al.
you did great.
i think maybe we should work on this...
: )
I hear you on the climbing hydrangea. Life's too short to worry about silly mundane things like gutters and stucco being ripped out (not that your friend wasn't absolutely right to warn you about that)... and it's a *hydrangea* for goodness sakes! Almost the best plant of all.
I'm so jealous of your peonies, they don't grow well in my "zone," I'm told. It looks lovely just as a bud, and I'm sure it will knock people over once it blooms (literally and figuratively!). I'll just have to live vicariously through your photos once again...
did you make an umbrella tree like the one we saw?? it looks like you did. i can't wait to see your back yard when andy and you are done.
I grew up in a house with several fruit trees in the back yard and I can definitely sympathize with your ambivalence over the plums. The amount of work to keep them healthy and then deal with the harvest could be staggering. We tried to be good stewards and use the fruit - no problem with the cherries and raspberries - the birds got most of them anyway. But the apple and fig trees overflowed to an alarming degree. It's a miracle that I can still eat either fruit. At the end of summer my feet would smell like vinegar when I came in the house after playing barefoot in the yard with all those rotting apples fertilizing the ground. As for making jam, it's fun when you have a peck of fruit to play with, but torturous when the bushels start to pile up and it’s 90 degrees. And if you think that people are unenthusiastic about hand-made craft gifts, just try giving away 50 jars of apple butter!
Gosh Alicia, I think your yard looks quite tidy and pretty, mud and all. I grew up around forests of dogwood trees in NC, have always been my favorite. Years ago, I started collecting the McCoy "Blossom" pottery pieces for the dogwood blooms on them (ok, so one vase doesn't really make a collection, but you get the idea). I managed to get outside last week and weed our patio, for purely selfish reasons- its what my studio window looks out onto. I'm such a fair weather gardener.
I'm still barely speaking to you, by the way.
I feel for you Alicia, our back garden is a mass of dandelions, not the most attractive thing in the world. It really needs returfing but as a renter I can't be spending that amount of money on it. Your small patch and gravel idea sounds fabby though.
After learning that we'd cut down a crab apple tree in our new jungle-yard, my coworker asked sweetly "but how will you make crab apple jelly?" GRRR! I won't, that's how!! Great post, you had me laughing...My husband's all like "Mel, you CANNOT nail trellises into the siding of the house!" and I'm like "Hmmm? Whaddyou say? Hey, is that a blue jay?!" (hammer hammer nail nail) Have a good weekend Alicia, thanks for a peek into your garden!
Peonies are my very favourite flower! I had some nestled in my wedding bouquet, and long after most brides have set their bouquet on a table and forgotten about it, I was wandering around still holding mine, my nose stuck deep into it.
It'll look good; you've got such great taste.
And that Andy of yours sure sounds like a peach.
i can totally relate. i just planted a wysteria and keep getting people telling that it will soon rip my fence out of place and grow crazy roots i won't be able to handle... i just smile and take a big ol' swig of vino.
Your pictures have brought tears to my eyes yet again.....how I wish I could step out into your yard....front or back, doesn't matter! I can almost smell the sweet flowers and feel the cool shade of the front porch. But, alas, I'm at my desk at school, missing both of you! Give Andy a squeeze for me next time he's clean enough :-)
Oh Alicia,
I know your pain -- our backyard looks like your backyard! The previous owner had 2 x 2 cement blocks in a huge rectangle for a garden but it was over grown and falling apart. All last year my husband took that apart -- oh boy was that an event! Now we are left with a HUGE area of dirt. Thankfully we are having some landscapers come in and grade the lawn and lay down grass seed. It just seems like forever to get things the way you imagine...
oh well good things come to those who wait.... :-)
Good Luck I am thinking about ya!
We have a climbing hydrangea too and love it even though it's threatening to take over the entire flower bed (and the front porch). Last year a friend commented that walking by it was a little jungle-like. I'm sure he meant that in the best of ways.
How very pretty! I am the same as you, once it gets hot outside, most plantings are one their own. They either live or die, their choice. I put all kinds of hanging baskets out and by August, I can't wait for them to die so I can thow them out--I'm so sick of watering them! haha. So, let's just enjoy what's alive now!
Oh, how this post made me laugh! My husband's mum doesn't like people either, and planted a huge big scary bush thing with spikes around his childhood home, so that not only did people stay out, but those who lived there got scratched to pieces every time they tried to get in the door. But would she prune it? Oh no! And if somebody did brave the tree and manage to knock on the door, she'd lie down on the ground, safely hidden in the kitchen, until they went away. Once my husband lost his keys, and knocked and knocked. Thinking nobody was there, he ended up breaking into the house, only to find his mum lying in the kitchen. She looked at him and said "Oh - it's you!", then got up and started doing the dishes. Strange, strange lady.
Mulch vs. Compost -
Isn't mulch ground up wood and/or bark (mostly decorative and to keep weeds away) while compost is decaying vegetable matter like banana peels and coffee grounds that you use to fertilize a garden? :O) Your backyard is going to be beautiful and I love the front!
Oh how I envy you! PEONIES!!! They are so so beautiful, and to have them growing in your yard seems like an impossible dream. Today I am going to post a photo of MY backyard. If you're interested, you can see the misery of an Australian Outback Yard all for yourself :)
Ok- this is too beautiful....wheres all the weeds?????
I am still envious of your garden though, because I have never had one. I'm living at Reed College right now, and although there are some gorgeous flowering trees and some bulbs here and there, it is mostly just grass. Maybe you should come here and ask them their secret.
And as for people who hate their neighbors - I once read a book in which an old lady had this gorgeous front lawn, all violets. But she planted cacti underneath the blossoms so that anyway who dared to pick the violets would get pricked.
Where I lived in California, having fruit trees meant that the possums would come out at night and eat them. Have you seen a possum? They look like giant rats!
Believe it or not, I've had tremendous success with gardening over the last several years -- all in containers on the extra-large back deck of our apartment. Green thumb. Who knew? I grew some monstrous Cleome last summer. And our Angel's Trumpet was still blooming on the back porch in December. In Chicago.
Hi Martha!!! My latest little green preject has been Charles Ian, who turned 2 on Feb 19. It was all his fault that we had to give away the trumpet (hallucinogenic properties). What's up with you?