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Spring 2009 brought new surge of activity around our new home ...
On July 3 we ventured up to a large nursery north of Columbia and purchased a really cool little Japanese Maple to put beside the water feature (photo and photo). We also picked up a replacement Hosta for the one that didn't make it through the winter.
Late June: the rest of our new porch furniture arrived and we went down and picked it up. We've already enjoyed it a few times and are very pleased with our choices.
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In April and May, we accomplished the following:
 | We purchased and put in about 38 plants to go with the 10 that we had already planted to date ... the showpiece is a Green Cascade Japanese Maple tree in the upper planting area. |
| We had a sprinkler system installed ... 8 zones in the yard, one in the lower planting area, and one in the upper planting areas ... and Greg insisted on a rain sensor (don't you agree that it looks silly when you drive by a house and its sprinklers are running during or shortly following a rain shower?) |
| We had grass installed! We decided that we wanted a zoysia yard, but we didn't like the price tag for 16-18 pallets of zoysia sod, so we elected to put in strips of zoysia sod with a mix of bluegrass and rye seeded in between ... from the photos below you can see that there is still a lot of straw in the yard, but a few more mowings should take care of that ... and it'll take a few years for the zoysia to completely take over, but we think it will be worth the wait. |
| We re-installed the water feature that we had at our previous house ... we looked at creating a new one from scratch, but really liked the splash of blue, the soothing sounds of the water cascading over the pot onto the rocks, and the relatively simple and low-maintenance design, so we kept it! (photo) |
| We purchased some furniture for the front porch ... our deck is great, but it's on the west side of the house and is a bit warm most summer evenings ... and most of our favorite landscaping features are on the east and south sides of the house ... so we're sure to be spending many evenings on the front porch ... we purchased a black metal glider, a tile-top end table (hey we have to have someplace to put our beverages!), and a pair of sling-back adjustable swivel rockers with ottomans (on order, should arrive in July). |
Below are a few photos:
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In case you are interested, here is a complete list of plants in the yard (listed newest first for each general type):
| Trees | Shaina Japanese Maple | 1, planted 7-3-2009 | in the planting area between the front porch and sidewalk (photo and photo) |
| Green Cascade Japanese Maple | 1, planted spring 2009 | we were originally looking to put in a Crimson Queen, but this variety seems to like direct sun better (of which it will get plenty in the upper planting bed), and we decided that the bright green leaves would look better against the relatively dark background of our covered front porch (photo and photo) | |
| Dwarf Spruce | 2, planted Dec 2008 | we used them to bracket the main archway leading to the front door ... they are supposed to only get about 4-5' tall and 2' wide, which will be perfect for that location (photo) | |
| Snow Fountain Weeping Cherry | 1, planted fall 2008 | in the area surrounded by the two new planting areas (photo, far left and a bit in the background) | |
| Autumn Blaze Red Maple | 1, planted fall 2008 | on the street corner so it will be a major presence when it matures (photo, front left) | |
| Bald Cypress | 1, planted fall 2008 | in the side yard next to the lower driveway (photo) | |
| Shrubs & Bushes | Burgundy Cotton Crape Myrtle | 3, planted spring 2009 | we grew to love these plants during our years in South Carolina ... placed near the house in the lower planting area (photo) where they will get plenty of summer sun (the hotter it gets, the more flowers they produce all summer) ... purplish leaves and white / pink flowers |
| Azalea | 6, planted spring 2009 | as above, we have good memories of the Azalea bushes that were in our front yard in SC ... these are an evergreen variety and aren't supposed to do well in bright sun, so we only put two in the lower planting area (photo, near the boulder) and the other four on the north side of the house (photo and photo) | |
| Golden Globe Arborvitae | 6, planted spring 2009 | we chose these because they don't get too big and therefore will not require a lot of pruning ... these have a bright yellowish-green color that is a nice contrast to the other colors in the area (photo and photo) | |
| Hetz Midget Arborvitae | 6, planted spring 2009 | as above, but a deeper green (photo and photo) | |
| Firepower Nandinas | 4, planted spring 2009 | evergreen, but are supposed to turn deep reddish purple in the fall and winter ... planted around the Japanese Maple in the upper planting bed (photo), including one nestled into the crook of a boulder | |
| Dwarf Korean Lilac | 1, planted spring 2009 | to add another touch of color in the spring ... planted to the left of the entrance to the front porch (photo, very far left ... tough to make out against the other plants in the background) | |
| Sky Pencil Japanese Holly | 3, planted spring 2009 | planted along the back retaining wall to create a visual fence (photo) | |
| Purpleleaf Sand Cherry | 3, planted spring 2009 | planted with the Sky Pencils along the rear retaining wall (photo) | |
| Dwarf Burning Bush | 3, planted summer 2008 | house-warming gifts from Greg's sisters ... originally planted in front of the side door to the upper garage (in the hope that they would eventually hide the garbage container ... photo and photo), but we were told that they would get too big to be planted that closely together, so this spring we replanted two of them to bracket the outside air conditioning unit on the north side of the house (photo and photo) ... you can clearly see in the second set of photos that they are healthy and growing fast! | |
| Wine and Roses Weigela | 2, planted summer 2008 | one was received as a house-warming gift from Greg's sisters, the other was purchased to match it ... planted on the SW corner of the house, where the lower driveway meets the sidewalk that leads to the back patio (photo) | |
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Other Plants |
Hosta (various types) | 4 planted spring 2009, and 1 planted 7-3-2009 | all in the planting bed on the north side of the house (photo and photo) ... we purchased 5 last fall and they spent the winter in the garage, but only 4 of them came back up this spring so we replaced the 5th one |
