This will be the last few minutes before the house and garden are filled with home repair workers. The coffee and toast never tasted so good and the quiet has been meditative. Workers have been here since last Wednesday~ it's been chaos central. Like many simple home repair jobs this one has grown larger. We were having the heat and a/c duct work replaced in our crawlspace when the job supervisor found a leak in the old cast iron drain pipes. A plumbers was called and the almost 60 year old pipes had to be replaced. The plumbing repairs are finished and today the hvac work should be complete. We call this home repair dominoes...(I've written about this phenomena before~go
here)
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| Detritus |
The garden was also invaded! The plumbers used it as a staging area for both new and old pipes! I've discovered something interesting about workers. A ladder laid across a small path that leads through a prize woodland garden does not mean "path closed". It means jump over and smash as many plants as you can. In my younger years, I would have been pulling my hair out, but, gardens can be repaired and perennials nearly always recover.
A sense of humor is essential for homeowners and gardeners.
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| Lovely Fairy~recovered from a shearing |
In the midst of the noisy chaos, I have found peace in the garden.
My friend Sarah and I sat on the Waiting Bench and marveled at how beautiful the asters looked. Sarah is a neighbor and knows the gardening conditions at Clay and Limestone. She is a garden designer and coaches me when I get stuck. We sat, we talked, we walked around the garden and then we made a plan.
I'd asked her to help me think through options about Hedge, the Behemoth. I so wanted to replace him with a border of evergreens, deciduous shrubs and perennials. Alas, there can be no bulldozing of Hedge. We decided that hand digging out sections made more sense then my hoped for simple solution of toppling him.
It wouldn't have been simpler after all! The damage to the 75 year old Bur Oak would be tremendous and the hillside would have to be rebuilt. Instead, a smaller section near the Susans Bed will be replaced with ilex or another evergreen and he will be thinned. He has grown so wide that a third of his width along the street side can be removed without compromising privacy. Privacy is the only thing my dear Mr I (go
here for that story) has ever wanted. So I shall make sure we keep this garden private.
One area of greatest concern for me, has been a particularly wild section where the vincas have taken over. That's where we'll bobcat. I've never shown you that part of the garden~ Glimpses, yes, but, not a full on look at the vinca kingdom. The limestone bedrock is close to the surface and laced with tree roots from numerous shag bark hickories and oaks. It's a part of the garden that has killed many different shrubs and trees.
The very good news is that Rough Leaved Dogwood (
Cornus drummondii) loves it there! We plan to let it colonize even more. Junipers will also survive~and they'll be used for privacy. We'll bobcat the area clean and add an 8 foot round stock tank pond. Yippee! Finally Pam (
Digging) I'll have my big pond!
Sarah helped me renovate before. You might remember that the Garden of Benign Neglect got a much needed update and before that a flagstone walk was added to the front porch. I trust her design sense and I know she'll get the best crew. Even though I have a pretty good idea of what it will look like, I can't wait to see the sketch! A plan is real when you have a design in hand.
I can't wait to show it to you! We'll meet for coffee and scones on the porch!
xxoogail
Ps It finally rained~
