Pacific Northwest Gardening: Laurie's Garden Tour 2, 1 by Jamesk

Jamesk wrote:
Tills, I'm a regular visitor at the Bloedel Reserve, so Poulsbo is just a hop, skip and a jump further. I could stop by and we could put our heads together. I often have to cogitate for a while to come up with ideas, however. I'm not too good at coming up with instant solutions. If that works for you, I'll let you know when I'm contemplating a trip up that way....and perhaps we can arrange a date.

Katie, thanks for the ideas. I think I could come up with something along those lines. I do tend to think about things for a good while before launching into a project. I never thought about writing about the process, but I suppose there might be someone who would find it of interest. I'll see what I can come up with.

Susybell, The front garden is the focus this year. I've been working on ideas for ages. I've filled pages and pages of sketches. I think I'm just about there. My big dilemma is the next door neighbor to the east. Our two front lawns run together and from the street we appear to have a sort of large parkland in front of the two houses. I like the look, but keeping it all green in the summer is not only a chore, but expensive. Just edging and mowing takes a big chunk of time, and you don't want to hear about the water bill. Anyway, the neighbors seem perfectly happy with the status quo.....so I'm trying to figure out how to approach them with my ideas which would radically reduce the amount of lawn on my half. It's a bit touchy. This is something I know I'll be able to blog about. Stay tuned.

Here's a shot taken from about half way across the neighbor's lawn, looking toward my house. It'll give you some idea.