adding some color to the house.

[manleyhouse]

last saturday was spent in search of some color for the yard. while the yard is in darned good shape, it's all very...green. green yard, green house...greengreengreen.

i wanted some color, so jeffreyp and i picked up a lilac bush for the back corner of the property, as i've had lilacs everywhere i've lived and love them dearly. (it's the green bush in the middle of all of the other green bushes.)

i've also been trying to figure out what our mystery plants are. the smaller one with the purple flowers smells very minty, but it's not catnip. it's groundcovering, and taking over much of the area by the back fence. the other larger tri-leafed thing is just a total puzzle. i know i've seen them before, but i don't know what they are.

so, as far as i got on saturday was planting windowboxes with kittyhelp, which now look pretty on the front porch until jeffreyp has time to make brackets so we can hang them off the front.

in future projects, i'm thinking of getting a bushy tree of some sort for the front yard where the sidewalk meets the driveway and transplanting some of our 70some hostas to make room for a raspberry thicket along the garage and patch the holes along the landscaping by the driveway. we still need to figure out how to fill the hole make by the dead yew bush out front, and i'd also like to put something by the clothesline pole in the back of the yard (a trellis for morning glories) and a raised garden bed along the fence by our neighbor's garage.

the raised bed would likely be garden space -- i definitely want strawberries, and tomatos would be tasty, too. possibly some rhubarb or carrots. jeffreyp set out some of our landscaping plastic by the pole in the back yard, but now i can't decide if that space should be garden (herbs?) or flowers if i put the morning glory trellis in there.

thoughts?

(posted by alyska.)

Comments

[eevilyounggirl.livejournal.com]

Maybe make another window box and set up an herb garden right outside the kitchen window. That way it's hell of convenient, and if it's raining or otherwise icky out, you can just scoop some fresh herbs without actually having to go outside. Plus, herbs make a pretty window compliment and don't take that much room, deep-wise. Then you can put carrots/tomatoes/bell peppers (they're really great fresh/whathaveyou in the garden and have an alternate spot for your herbs.

Whatever you do, if you grow oregano, pot it separately and keep it away from other plants. That shit'll take over your garden, and while having massive amounts of oregano is nice, it's also nice to have, you know, other things.

[alyska.livejournal.com]

hai. i've had oregano and thyme take over many an herb garden when i was a child.

the weird part about our house is that the kitchen "window" isn't actually a window anymore. it's just an open frame over the basement stairs (they added an addition on the back in the 60s.)

though the though of having another box or two right outside the back door appeals to me. i'm going to go windowboxcrazy!

i'd also like basil if i can find some decent plants. homemade pesto is taaaaasty.

[eevilyounggirl.livejournal.com]

I had basil last year that I grew from seeds, I kept it inside in a pot. It died, though, when I moved and forgot to keep watering it.

Outside the back door sounds like a good place, too. Why waste your precious garden space with something that's so small? Plus, if you keep them in a box, you can take the herbs inside when it gets cold out and have herbs all year!

[indigo-eyz.livejournal.com]

The stuff with the purple flowers looks like creeping charlie to me. It's also called ground ivy and is considered an invasive weed by some people. We have it in spades in our shady areas. It smells like mint when mowed. I can't ID the other stuff, but I know we have it as well.

[claw-machine.livejournal.com]

squee! no suggestions here, as i'm dumbfounded as to what to do in my yard. i thought there was nothing, but in one month have discovered daffodils, a peony bush, lilacs, and those those little purple pom pom plants. i just like reading and seeing what another youngish couple is doing with their newish house. heh.

[alyska.livejournal.com]

once upon a time, i created squirearchy, but no one ever posts in it.

if you'd like i can point out the house journals of a number of inferno types.