The old dogwood in the days before the Secret Garden

This is what the “upper garden” looked like a year ago.  Virginia creeper was holding up the rickety fence that separates my yard from the park.  There were remnants of the decades old russian sage that had gone to seed again and again, as well as the lambs ear that still pops up.  Last August two friends helped me put in crushed limestone paths that helped form the bones of the garden.  I rescued the aluminum arch by the back gate and paired it with another I found in the side yard.  I planted white clematis this spring and I’m hoping that this will create a tunnel into what I now think of as my secret garden.  I had supports for dutchman’s pipe vine built last summer and I found five hardy plants on sale at a garden center at the end of the summer.  They survived and I hope by the end of this summer will form a wonderful green wall that hides the garden and provides a green backdrop for the other plantings.  A neighbor gave me a butterfly bush that she no longer wanted.  And I found some straggly looking caryopertis.  I also found some pink day lilies and four lilac bushes–all on sale.  All survived.  I’ve been busy planting more day lilies and some asiatics.

As of May 25, this is what that same corner looks like.  Beyond the table is a mock orange, three delphinium, and three tritomas–all planted way too close to each other.  I’ll move them as soon as the new fence goes in.  You’ll notice that most of the virginia creeper is gone.  I don’t miss it.  The dogwood, which I think is a red twig dogwood that is so old it no longer has any red in it, is in bloom, as is a small one I planted last fall.  In a couple weeks a kousa dogwood will be planted in the island that extends behind the garage.  I wonder if the tardiva will balance the dogwood.  Or will the two trees cry out for something other than a bird bath between them.  My plan right now is to fill most of the island with lilies.  But who knows.