We purchased our house in the fall of 2003.  That summer preceding had been exceptionally hot and dry.  The previous homeowner had left the house vacant for months and other than a lawn scalping not much was done.  We spent two weeks prior to moving in resurfacing nearly every surface of the interior.  We made 35 trips to Home Depot in that two weeks span.  We were nearly on a first name basis with the cashiers.

Once I felt like the inside was live-able I moved to the outside.  This house was the first we’d purchase therefore this was the first garden that was totally mine.  The garden was in worse shape than the circa 1982 interior.  I spent weeks in the cold January rain pulling Ivy, Vinca, Fatsia, Honeysuckle Bush and anything else that I could get my hands on.  I also wanted to cut down 1 or two of the three trees in our front, but my husband wouldn’t let me.  However, I still swear something has to go.  Honestly… who puts Thundercloud Flowering Plum next to a Photinia (and this is a 20′ tall Photinia tree).  The Red Hat Society is a great organization.  I just don’t want to be their signature garden.

Unfortunately, all three trees give us a great deal of privacy in the front and the Plums are pretty when they flower.  Everything stays.

Once I had my fun of tearing everything out I started to put back plants that were pretty.  One afternoon my neighbor stopped by to chat.  She asked me why there were no flowers in my garden.  I also heard two women on their walk mentioning that my garden would not look nice in the winter because there were no evergreen shrubs.  I was crushed.  Here I had spent all of this time and money to start creating a garden that was just mine and my neighbors thought it was awful.  Granted, it was better than what was there.  I got to thinking about it and realized that I wasn’t planting my garden to be beautiful to them.  I was planting it to be beautiful to me.

Now notice that I did not say that I planned it.  For a landscape designer my garden is anything but planned.  I was so eager to put plants in the ground I skipped the planning stage.  I would go to the nurseries and have a full on episode of, “oh that’s pretty,” and in it would go.  This proved to be a bad idea in the long run.  I didn’t know where the shady spots were.  I didn’t know what portions would be difficult to water.  It was a mess.  Five years later I’ve almost figured it out.

I also began to realize that my neighbor who told me that my garden had no flowers was wrong.  My garden is full of blooms.  It is also full of amazing textures and shapes.  Her definition of “flowers” was that every garden needs to have a flowering Dogwood.  I would love to have a flowering Dogwood.  I just have a mile long list of other trees that I want first.

Topping my list of favorite trees is the Paperbark Birch (Betula jacquemontii).  The stark white bark and the pyramidal shape make this the most elegant tree (in my opinion).  I love the fine texture of the branches and how it almost glitters in the summer breeze.  Nary a showy pink flower, but still beautiful.

In the shrub category I would have to go with dwarf conifers.  I am a sucker for a dwarf conifer.  I have a huge collection of them.  Some are sited in an area that is far to shady so they are getting leggy, but for the most part they offer that evergreen backdrop that my nosy neighbors failed to see.

For perennials I would have to go with New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax).  There are three of these in my garden and I would love to have more.  The bold texture and color add weight to the garden.  They are easy to grow and wonderfully drought tolerant once established.

I do have flowers in my garden.  I have a little Rose garden (that I truly dislike) and I once had the most beautiful Dahlias in town.  I’ve let the roses go to pot and I decided to divide my Dahlias, but forgot to put them back in the ground.  My cut flower selection if fading.  Re-establishing that is my main focus this year (oh and the weeding).

The point is that you don’t have to have a garden full of bright and bold flowers to make it beautiful.  While I have a large population of weeds, my garden is still spectacular come summer.

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In bloom this week:

Forsythia, Primroses, Pansies, Heath, Daffodils, Christmas Cheer Rhododendron, Grape Hyacinth, Thundercloud Plum (starting), Hyacinth