The Evolution of A Foundation Garden

In the late winter of 2006, we ripped out the overgrown shrubs from the front of our home, and started with a clean slate. In April, as replacements, I added two bluepoint junipers, three crimson pygmy barberries, a harry lauder's walking stick, a red twig dogwood, a japanese cypress and a few blue fescues to round things out.

As the years passed by, I continued to extend the beds further out into the existing lawn; my goal being a cottage-type garden (and to reduce my mowing area) that requires minimal upkeep / pruning as well as four-season interest. I concentrated on dwarf varieties, so as not to end up in the original predicament of having to remove overgrown shrubs too large for their space.

Five and a half years later,  I am (mostly) successful with my plan. The harry lauder's walking stick was, I'm afraid, not the best choice. it has filled it's space in the center of the bed and then some. I fear I will need to move it this Spring (possibly to the back yard); this will be no easy feat. The blue fescues also have all but disappeared into the lawn, due to my lack of vigilant edge maintenance.  But all the other plants have come into their own; I prune the barberries a couple of times of year and a major pruning of the dogwood taking place in Spring.  The evergreens take care of themselves and hopefully (!) have reached their mature heights.

Here are some photos showing before, during and after of the front yard:

Before - Late Winter 2006 Clean Slate

During - Approx.  May 2008 (?)

After - Oct. 2011 Continuing to Evolve . . .

As winter approaches, I look forward to the ever-changing palette the garden displays. Speaking of winter interest, I recently stumbled upon a great book called "The Garden in Winter" by Suzy Bales (click link):

http://www.suzybalesgarden.com/suzys_books.html 

This is a fabulous book, especially for anyone in a northern climate, who thinks that gardening ceases in winter. She really opened my eyes to the beauty of the winter garden, as well as eased my anxieties about the unpredictability of plant behavior in this season. I read a lot of gardening material; this is one of the most refreshing gardening books I've seen in a very long time. Check it out!

Pet Portrait - Frankie

I just completed this pet portrait of a friend's dearly departed dog Frankie, using black ink and inktense colored pencils. I never met Frankie, but he sure looked like a sweet dog, and his owner loved him dearly. When I gave her the portrait, she immediately noticed something in the picture; and she said to me, "was that intentional?" I didn't know what she meant. And then she pointed it out - the heart-shaped ear(!) To her, it was as if Frankie was communicating a message from beyond. And who's to say he wasn't?

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things . . .

I'm a little late starting my Halloween decorating; every year, my dining room table gets virtually taken over by Halloween items I've collected over the years. I finished this year's display tonight; here are some photos of a few of my figurines (although I'm hard-pressed to identify a favorite; they all have personality)!

What doesn't say Halloween like a cat popping out of a pumpkin's eye? OK, so this one probably wins.
 See that little Pumpkin Head on the Block with the heart on it to the right of the cat in the middle picture? That was made by my good friend (and awesome artist) Sandy Mastroni. Visit her blog at: http://smastroni.blogspot.com/ or her etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/sandymastroni
One of Sandy's holiday snowman-themed creations is prominently featured in Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Crafts Magazine on newsstands now, so check it out!

Hallow'een Greetings

 OK, it's no surprise to people who know me that Halloween is my favorite holiday. Maybe it's the cats (ya think?), maybe it's the pumpkins and gourds, maybe it's just the fabulous colors (I'm a big fan of orange in particular) but I LOVE this holiday. I am totally inspired by the images associated with Halloween, especially the vintage ones. Here's a little vignette I created  . . . an image of my front steps. Speaking of Halloween, we're hoping to get to go to The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze in Sleepy Hollow NY this season:
https://www.hudsonvalley.org/events/blaze?gclid=CKO83cDs7qsCFY515QodNlnDKg
We've been told it's really spectacular . . .

The Autumn Garden Takes Shape . . .

We've finally had a stretch of beautiful sun-filled days, albeit with temperatures above normal for the area. As much as I like the cool temps this time of year, I'll take these warm days as well. I had a few days off work, so I was able to do some planting of bareroot plants (Orange Slice Oriental Poppies and Wild Blue Baptisia). Unfortunately, the poppies came mis-labeled; the instructions said to plant with the crown just above the soil line; I had heard you need to plant poppies deeply for success. A call to the nursery proved me right; but I had to dig up my roots and re-plant them. I'll know in the Spring if this was successful or not. A good lesson not to doubt your instincts!
Plants doing well in the garden at the moment are the Bishop of Llandaff dahlias,  which are bursting with flowers now, compared to just a few weeks ago.  I love the contrast between the dark green leaves and the bright red flowers:

 The few garden mums I have scattered around the yard are also in fine form; I kind of like them in their more natural form,  rather than the rounded pots you see at all the nurseries this time of year (although these started out in just that way some year's back):

 And finally, in the vegetable garden, the nasturtiums are just about taking over the raised beds. They were doing well throughout the summer, but with slow and steady growth; as soon as the days started to cool down, they took off. The flowers will make nice additions to our late-season salads:

This is a busy time of year for the gardener; but an enjoyable one. A time to clean up the beds and prepare them for the coming winter; and also to assess what worked and didn't work. I've already decided I have a Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus Contorta) that will need to be moved in the Spring (it's already about six feet tall and wide). I may need the heavy equipment for that one, so it should make an interesting blog entry when the time comes! Stay tuned for more gardening adventures . . .

Stratford Fall Festival 2011

The 6th annual Stratford Fall Festival and Dog Walk was held today; the weather was fabulous (pushing 80 degrees!) and the crowds came out to celebrate with us for a good cause - to benefit the homeless animals in town. It was nice to see my drawing on the finished T-shirts; unfortunately the dog represented couldn't attend today's event due to an injury recently sustained. Get well, Trixie!

 I was having a good time drawing quick watercolor sketches of the (four-legged) attendees, and Bill was in fine form as usual, running the caricature side of the tent - drawing both dogs and people, including a three-legged dog, who was adorable, and quite a little spitfire I might add)! Here he is just beginning a drawing of a cute little boy . . .

It's a pleasure to be able to take part in this event, and for such a good cause. Next year promises to be better than ever; it's grown so much that there's talk of moving the festival to an even bigger venue (Boothe Park) to accommodate all of the dogs and people from the surrounding communities who love to come and play every October in Stratford.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Once again, it's raining today. After a brief respite this past weekend, we are inundated tonight with more rain. The Northeast has been absolutely soaked over the past few months; my garden started out lush, and is now quickly turning to mush. Moldy, musty mums, fungus-ridden leaves on the trees. It's been a tough summer in the garden. Depressing. Where are those cool, CRISP days of fall? The bright blue skies, the crunch of leaves underfoot?

While the weather held out this past Sunday, we took a nice little road trip up to Jones Family Farm in Shelton CT:
http://www.jonesfamilyfarms.com/
This is one of the most beautiful pieces of farmland left in CT; they boast a top-notch winery, pick-your-own fields and a huge pumpkin patch (Pumpkinseed Hill Farm) with vistas that overlook much of Fairfield County. It was pretty spectacular, and the leaves haven't even started turning yet! We'll definitely make a trip back there in the coming weeks . . .

Here's just a small sampling of the huge varieties of pumpkins and gourds available for both eating and decorating. The pumpkin patch, with hayrides and a corn maze, is open through Oct. 31st.