How does your garden Grow??

This week I'll do another dramatic transformation of one of my projects. This one is still a work in progress...we've been slowly chipping away at this garden since 2007. I met Kelly who was a referral from another past client of mine. She had bought a house and in the back was this mess (these photos aren't even remotely close to how bad it was.) of plants, weeds, and invasives. She was a novice gardener and was completely overwhelmed with the disaster behind her house. I'll admit now...I was overwhelmed too with the mess.


As we pulled and cleaned and pulled some more, an abandoned formal english herb garden started to appear. The photos here of the before were taken when this was discovered. There were some great plants hidden in the mess of bittersweet, stinging nettles, and overrun crap. Later I learned, the previous owner had worked at Blithewold, the arboretum in Bristol, RI. But, she had developed a phobia of going outside and the garden suffered because of that. So, we took an inventory of what was there and Kelly had me draft up a plan using the things she had and some new things she liked.

The entire garden had been surrounded by a wall of yews and the east side of them were removed to reveal the water view behind them. From a cultural standpoint, this was a good thing so we could open up the garden for air circulation and light. 2008 to this fall, we moved plants, shifted things to temporary places, and kept pulling out things we didn't want. Kelly was great through this whole project and I have to say the level of trust she put in me was huge. But, she has become a wonderful and talented gardener through all of this. I have been with her the whole way digging with her and teaching her what to do and how to take care of her new emerging landscape.


These photos below were taken on a whim with my phone in the middle of October. I do really need to take some real photos for the website because I think this garden is destined for some greatness. Her pink Knockout Roses and Geranium 'Rozanne' have been blooming like crazy all summer long and are still rocking and rolling as of last week when I stopped by for the last time this year. She couldn't be more happy with her garden and she tells me all the time how much joy they bring her. Once again, that's the real reason I do this job.


We've got about 85% percent of the moved plants moved and parts of the garden are completely planted. I think we just have to fill some holes with things we couldn't find or holes that housed something that had been moved this year. Next year, we're going to work on the shade side where the last wall of yews are now. It's close to being done and I think we can do it next year.

This corner below....is both of our favorite spot in the garden. The camera cannot capture how cool this little nook is.