A Secret Garden in the Village

I admire large, sweeping gardens surrounded by open countryside or woodland. Gardens like these easily invite nature in and keep the rest of the world at bay. It's ironic to me that I have ended up with less than a 1/4 of an acre to garden in, in the middle of a village, with a view into my neighbors' windows. How much privacy can one really expect living in such close quarters? How can one truly get away in a backyard that's stuck in the middle of it all?

It was uplifting to tour a garden right here in our village that offers such an escape – a tour made possible through our local garden club. There is so much to learn from this garden. I hope some of its magic rubbed off on me. Hopefully you, too, will be inspired and walk away with ideas of your own.

There is not a stitch of lawn.

The back of the house leads into the garden by way of gravel and stone. The gates transport you into another world.

Deep borders seemingly creep into the gravel pathways. There are plenty of seating nooks.

Shadblow Serviceberry and Magnolia trees will soon form a cradling canopy above.

Corners of this square plot have been erased by curving lines and focal points. I enjoyed this creative play of branches, one of many "stations" ensuring you pause and keep your pace slow, present, relaxed.

Sculptures alight on this stage. A dark green curtain of fence is the perfect backdrop. It doesn't distract – a perfect frame for a palette of plants.

Even stone becomes art.

Flowers dance around this crowned wooden toadstool. How small am I, Alice?

This potted fairy seems surrounded by a gigantic, flowing meadow that is really not all that big. It is magic.

Now I believe I can escape in my own secret, backyard garden. I was certainly transported to another world when I stepped into this one. This post is for all gardeners, but especially for those with limited space and unlimited imagination.

Nice Driveway

Nostrovia or na zdrowie, misinterpreted by some ears as "nice driveway", is a polish cheer to your health. This is how I came to name the bed I created along my driveway. (This is also now, humorously, a toast we frequently use among friends and family.) The driveway area between us and our neighbor is the third area I focused on in creating my garden. This post is a time line of this area of my garden from the very beginning until now. The bird & butterfly garden being the first and the potager (kitchen garden), being the second. Our property actually goes right to the very edge of our neighbor's house, but we left a pathway to be, well, neighborly. From this "before" picture, you might guess as to why I created this bed. It is wide open – hello neighbor, what are we grilling this evening?

 

You can see our back deck railing in the very foreground of the above picture in the spring of 2009. This picture also shows the very beginning of the bed – dirt. Those boards are actually covering fence post holes for a trellis that my favorite contractor built (once again, amazing husband), to add some privacy between us and our neighbors. My instructions were simply to build a trellis as high as zoning laws would allow. Here's his design:

I'm glad I left it up to him. He did a beautiful job. Here is the bed planted by late summer of 2009.

The vine on the trellis is morning glory 'Heavenly Blue.' In this bed I've planted an arborvitae 'Emerald Green,' and a ninebark 'Coppertina.' Below is the bed in early spring of 2010.

I extended the bed further down the drive and planted a second arborvitae. In the space between the arborvitaes I planted rudbeckia maxima, indian grass and solidago 'fireworks.' They filled in quite nicely their first year. I cannot wait for the indian grass and rudbeckia to grow to their full heights.

I also have liatris, coreopsis varieties, achilia 'Coronation Gold, obedient plant and meadow sage 'May Night' planted in this space. The soil is well drained and I think of this area of my garden as my "mini prairie." The sunflowers are a temporary screen until the arborvitaes grow in. I also have a dutchman's pipe vine growing along the trellis. This will be its third year, and if it doesn't take off I think I will need to move it. The soil may be too dry here. I've been planting annual vines temporarily hoping the dutchman's pipe vine will begin to take over. This year I will plant purple hyacinth bean.

I did add a clematis, 'Comtesse de Bouchard' thinking it would be pretty weaving in and out of the dutchman's pipe. Last year moonflower also did well on the trellis. Helenium and indian grass were great fall focals. I was surprised the indian grass bloomed its first year.

Last summer 2010, above. The bed is filling in nicely. Now we have a nice privacy buffer instead of a barren strip of grass. But that's not all, this bed attracted many pollinators last summer and every day I was able to take time to look, I was rewarded.

This year I will extend the bed further down to the sidewalk and add a third arborvitae. I haven't planned the rest but hope to keep this post updated with my progress. Thank you for joining me in my garden in the making.