My yard, almost done with landscaping

In the early summer, I got tired of looking at the edge of our yard, which had become overgrown with weedy sucker trees and creeper/smilax vines. So, I lopped all of the trees down (almost all of them were smaller than 2", so a lopper worked just fine), dug out the roots, took out the trunks with a pick-axe and talon shovel, roto-tilled the soil, punched through the hard-pan in a few places, mixed in compost and some "Penetrate," and dug out the new vine roots after they started coming in.

After that, I planted a bunch of stuff. I could not have told you the difference between a camellia and a coneflower before I started this, so everything was, and still is, new. I have read dozens of books on plants, landscaping and gardening over the last six months and I realize that I know hardly anything.

I am almost done with the initial landscaping, so I have attached the photos below. I left the large trees in place and planted six new small trees (Jap. coral bark and paperbark maples, chaste tree, redbud, and two fringe trees), about thirty shrubs, 90 or so perennials, and about 500 bulbs. I finished the fence and am also almost done with the edging and path (biggest lesson to date - stone is extremely expensive). My hope is that most of these will live so that next summer I mostly have to add rather than replace. It ain't perfect, I am sure, but my more modest goal is for my wife and kids to have a special place to enjoy.

Thanks again for the guidance you have provided me to date, both in direct response to the questions I have asked and in response to the questions of others. I have thousands more, but I will only ask a few at a time.

j

jdicav, A very BIG WOW, you have created a magnificent garden to date, from someone who has never gardened before and didn't know a Dandy- lion from a Daisy, you surely need a good pat on the back.

I don't know your zone, summer / winter temps, so can only praise your choice of plantings, the white picket fence suits your garden style and love all those curves that as the shrubs and tree's mature, the curves will hide some parts when you walk round the planted area and this is a great way of giving the eyes a nice surprise, when you get to a curve you want to see what is going to be on show. I hate large areas of plantings where you can stare at the whole layout all in one peep.
Remember also that you can add shrubs, tree's etc that give winter colour / berries to encourage birds etc, butterflies and ofcource, you want all the pollinating insects as your planting grows outwards and upwards.

As regards the curving areas you have created, my personal advice would be, try NOT make the wavy curves quite so tight, my reason for that is, when cutting a lawn, maintaining the edgings etc, it can take you twice as long and also makes the edges a bit too fussy when the garden really does mature.
IF you really need to pull a bit of garden OUTWARDS, instead of a curve in the lawn, why not try maybe a nice largish POT on a raised pedestal made from the edging stones or even a 18-14 inch large cut log to stand the pot on, even a bird bath would look good and these can be removed IF required. you obviously can select many items that act like a full stop along the borders giving the eye time to search for any plantings round this obstacle.

Only suggesting things and ignore IF you don't like these suggestions. I really do think all your time spent reading, asking questions, taking your time at the planning stage, then preparing the soil will see a wonderful garden that your wife and kids will be over the moon, Most of all, I hope your very happy with all the work, time and expense it takes to form and make a lovely planted area,
Just make sure you are able to maintain the garden areas you plant up as weeds grow way faster than out garden plants, Make yourself a composting area too, this is the best type of soil improver you can get, it's so heart warming to add your kitchen waste to a compost bin, wooden frame or whatever you can make, but the benefit to your soil is the most rewarding , no chemicals, encouraging wildlife into the garden and you will soon learn the beneficial garden insects and deal with the ones that love your garden plants and want to destroy them by eating them.

Well done, hope you can continue on your new found garden hobby and both you and the family can enjoy this space for many years to come. IF your anything like me, you will re-arrange a lot of the Perennial plants from time to time as these need splitting up after about 3-5 years and replanting them again, so your gardening skills always improve along with your plant knowledge.

Happy gardening for many years to come.

Kindest regards.
WeeNel

Oh what a great project!
It will be so much fun to follow along as the garden grows.
One suggestion- you might want to bump out the garden edge on the right side to include the tree trunk - Why? Because it can be hard to keep the grass cut up to a tree trunk without damaging the bark, if you use a WeedWhacker.
How old are the kids?
I only ask because if they are quite young you might want to incorporate a "fort" for them.

Thanks, WeeNel and Pistil, much appreciated.

I am in Zone 7. The shrubs are mostly native azalea, sasanqua camellias, Alabama croton, dwarf red osier dogwood, hydrangeas, and Sunrosa roses (though there are some other one-sies). The perennials are largely phlox paniculata, Lenten roses, daylillies, blue love grass, muhly grass, deciduous and evergreen Solomon's seal, Stokes' aster, and coneflowers. The bulbs are hardy crinum, daffodils, Spanish bluebells, yellow hyacinth, oxblood lilies, and spider lilies. I wanted to plant a serviceberry or Stewartia, but I couldn't find one. I ended up getting a very sharp paperbark maple and Chinese fringe tree instead. There is a lot of space that I have not heavily planted, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Your ideas and suggestions are great. I am not quite done and had not really considered the impact of the curves on lawn cutting. I will go back and take a look at them. I have a bench and three pots, but there is space for something else. The kids are young, just turned three. A tree house or fort is a great idea.

This message was edited Nov 18, 2015 10:10 AM

I curse tight curves when I mow, wrestling the lawnmower is hard. I have some tight curves and they are a pain in the neck back.

I can't give any good advice about specific plants, because I garden in such a different zone.

At that age, a "fort" does not have to be much, I recall a "fort" just steps from the house, basically a little flat spot under some brush and oak trees. I thought it was great, but a lean-to with a couple of boards would have been greater. Later my father built us an actual treehouse in an apple tree, this was great fun. You also might want to save a bit of garden for the kids to plant-I must have been about 4 when a neighbor gave me some chrysanthemum divisions to plant, it was my first gardening experience and I still remember it.

I would never over plant the beds / borders all the same season as these perennial plants will bulk out in about 2 seasons, wait another 2 seasons and there's every possibility that you might need to dig some type of plants up and separate the root-balls to allow the plants to continue flowering, too crowded and some types just grow greenery and NO flowers.

This is all the part of learning about gardening and different plants needs, how to care for them.
As Pistil has said also, the reason to take the sharp curve from the edges, by all means keep the curves BUT just make the curve shallower or less sharp in shape, elongate them. I love curves as they allow you to make secret planting, so when you walk along the length of the beds or borders, you find a surprise NOT visible because it's hiden from your view by a slight curve.
I think the suggestion of a kids building, is a grate idea, this allows you to encourage the kids to help in the garde, instill rules as to what is safe to tough or eat, so planting different textures ar good for showing off the neighbouring plants AND lets the kids become aware of different shapes and textures, what stings, what attracts bees / butterflies, all this is easy education for little ones, I'm now in my 70's and began helping (in my childish way) my Dad in our garden as during the WW11 we had to grow our own food crops and to this day if I'm stuck for an idea or problem solving, I think "well what would my Dad have done" so the earlier you allow the kids to help or grow some SAFE seeds, the better they become gardeners as they grow into adulthood.

Keep in touch and as others have said, be good to learn how your garden grows and takes shape.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

I would never over plant the beds / borders all the same season as these perennial plants will bulk out in about 2 seasons, wait another 2 seasons and there's every possibility that you might need to dig some type of plants up and separate the root-balls to allow the plants to continue flowering, too crowded and some types just grow greenery and NO flowers.

This is all the part of learning about gardening and different plants needs, how to care for them.
As Pistil has said also, the reason to take the sharp curve from the edges, by all means keep the curves BUT just make the curve shallower or less sharp in shape, elongate them. I love curves as they allow you to make secret planting, so when you walk along the length of the beds or borders, you find a surprise NOT visible because it's hiden from your view by a slight curve.
I think the suggestion of a kids building, is a grate idea, this allows you to encourage the kids to help in the garde, instill rules as to what is safe to tough or eat, so planting different textures ar good for showing off the neighbouring plants AND lets the kids become aware of different shapes and textures, what stings, what attracts bees / butterflies, all this is easy education for little ones, I'm now in my 70's and began helping (in my childish way) my Dad in our garden as during the WW11 we had to grow our own food crops and to this day if I'm stuck for an idea or problem solving, I think "well what would my Dad have done" so the earlier you allow the kids to help or grow some SAFE seeds, the better they become gardeners as they grow into adulthood.

Keep in touch and as others have said, be good to learn how your garden grows and takes shape.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.