when we met to discuss designing the planting for large backyard flower beds at their first home. About two years was spent doing the design and acquiring and installing the plants.

Then the Mom announced she was pregnant with twin boys and they were starting to look for a larger home. During our next conversation she casually mentioned she had built a clause into the sale contract for the old home. The clause permitted her to remove any plants she wanted for the new home until the sale of the old home was closed. Most of the plants moved easily. A few were just plain hard to move. I remember a False Indigo that required a three foot diameter root ball. [It was, however, glorious when it started blooming again.]

The following photos are of the new home and garden. They were taken 3-5 years after the move. The first photo shows the patio and the arbor that supported Lady Banks Yellow Roses. The patio was resurfaced with brick edges and green slate pavers.


A small brick water feature was added to the patio to showcase the owners favorite fountain.

Two semi-circular flower beds flanked the step-down from the patio to the lawn. Both beds were planted with Peonies, Iris and Daylilies.
But both beds also contained a large specimen planting. The bed on the left was home to a very unusually shaped 'Angelica's Thunderhead' Japanese Black Pine.

The bed on the right was planted with three White Meidiland Roses.

Sitting on the patio afforded you this view of the back garden.

Walking along the back border afforded you these views:
Black Eyed Susans and Fairytale Pink Daylilies


'Barnsley' Lavatera


Shasta Daisies

Russian Sage, Barberries and Spreading Yew

Look closely at the next to the last photo and you'll see something you have seen in an earlier post of mine. It is the brick mowstrip that was used in the garden with the subject line "The 46 Year Back Garden Renovatiion."
I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Simply exquisite, John. Who maintained the gardens?

We [as a company] did not do maintenance for any of our customers. And, for the most part, caring for their gardens was the responsibility of the owner. Some of them, of course, hired someone to perform maintenance. And some of those clients gardens received very good care.
Most of those who did not find a reputable maintenance crew ended up doing it themselves. These were clients I liked the most. They eventually realized no-one would care as much as they did and at that point they stopped being clients and started being gardeners.
With regard to this particular project the "maintenance" man was me. I would go there early in the morning and work for an hour or two before going to the office. And I gardened there on Sunday because it was better than church.
Almost every Sunday morning when I was there I would see the Mom run out the door with her daughter close behind. She would be saying, "Come on, honey, we're going to be late to church!" The daughter asked me once in a while if I would like to go to church with them and I always replied, "Oh honey, when I'm in a garden I'm in church." On one occasion they ran out the door, the daughter commented on me going with them and I replied just as I had before. The daughter suddenly put on the brakes and said, "I want to go to church with John!" Mom gave me the cold shoulder for two weeks because of that.

So many people over the years have told me, "Oh, I can't grow anything. I do not have a green thumb." They say that and then they give up.
Daniel J. Hinkley is a well respected horticulturist and plant explorer who responded to that kind of attitude with a better attitude. He said, "I never give up on a plant until I've killed it three times!"
So---Don't give up !!!

Smart kid!

The landscaping at the new home is just lovely, @jathton. I can only dream of such landscaping.

hello, your garden is really beautiful, good trail!