Landscaping Thoughts

Now it’s time to start selecting plants from my current home that I want to take with me.  I have many flowers that were given to me by friends and I want to be sure to take samples of each to continue the legacy.  When we fixed up the rental we cleaned out and tilled some old flower beds (once we found them! Some were filled with gravel, others overgrown.)  They are now ready to be filled with my transplants, so while the weather is right I’ll dig up some of my black-eyed susans and daylilies, coneflowers and gooseneck loosestrife and take them to their new home.

For all of the derogatory remarks I’ve made about our rental house, a great gardener once lived there.  I have discovered beautiful irises, peonies and naked lady lilies among other beauties.  I’ve moved many of them out of the way of the new road and put them in existing beds for the time being.  A major part of fixing up the rental was giving it more curb appeal.  Besides mulching the old flower beds, I had an overabundance of liriope that I dug up, divided and planted around the front of the house and down the fence line.  It leant some continuity and consistency to the look of the property.  And all it cost was my labor! 

On every spec home we built (back in the day), in addition to our extensive landscape package we made sure to add some color near the front door.  This makes such a difference in the buyer’s (or renter’s) first impression.  Although it was the middle of a heat wave last July we planted some cheery yellow daisies on both sides of the front stoop.  I am certain that it had a positive subliminal effect on those entering.

Moving from a wide open lot to a wooded one should greatly increase our energy efficiency, shading our home in the summer and allowing in the sun in the winter, while sheltering us from some wind.  We don’t intend to have much lawn, vastly reducing the time and energy spent on mowing.  We intend to have a terraced patio with a path leading down to the gazebo and a fire pit somewhere in between.  I also want a patio garden outside of my office.  

It seems too soon to be thinking in this detail but the more we can envision what we want now the better it will all come together once the actual work begins.