How 'bout this?

Sorry it's blurry. The paint is dry, now. It looks darker irl (it was supposed to dry darker)--but I don't like it as much. It's just sort of bleh. But I'm curious--is it looking darker to you?
(PS--rain still threatening.)

Stay tuned--as a result of Anne and Wende's input, I went out and got a quart of my second colour choice, the browny/goldish green. I'll post the results (once it has dried, this time!)

How do you test colour on a fence?

It's a serious question!

As I mentioned a long, long time ago, it will take 10 gallons to put one coat on this monster.

I bought a quart (or litre, as I should call it) to test out my colour pick. What do you think?



(Unfortunately, the sun wasn't shining when I took the after pictures--it's threatening rain, again!

Here's a picture from a wee bit further away:



And here's one of the other side: the one folks see when they walk by.



I like it.

I went to paint behind my High Bush Cranberry, but there's mould on the fence. A quick google search has led to the conclusion that I'll need to power wash the fence with some sort of cleaning agent. (sigh).

What do you all think? Is this the way to go?

I'm a wee bit worried that the barks of my tall-shrubs-pretending-to-be-small-trees won't show up in winter. But I don't quite see any way around that given the colour of my house.

Am I Gardening, Yet?

Today I had a pruning mishap. I accidentally loped off 1/2 my rose "bush."*
Before (taken a few days ago):



Today:



So, I took a stab at propagating the stem I'd lopped off:



Instructions courtesy of a link provided by the folks at The Garden Web Rose propagation forum, and now in the side bar. Should sprout roots in 21-28 days.

Then, I planted these, unearthed in the Thuja excavation:



They may be Bergenia.



I clipped off a bit of the old Thuja foliage and tucked it between the leaves and the ground for "mulch."

So, what do you think?
Am I a gardener, yet?

*Why is bush in quotations? Well, two canes do not exactly equal a bush. In fact, it may just be a climber.

Weekend Project

The beast is out of the ground.


It took a week. One wheelbarrow of dirt a day. We never did find any large "taproot" holding down the poor old thing.

Now I have to decide: how much of the tree right at the front do I want removed?
If we take it all, I will miss it dreadfully.

Perfection in a path.

Unfortunately, I can't copy and paste the image I saw. Let me see if I can describe it.

It's a straight line. But the paving is broken, either white slabs, or even concrete, in soft rounded shapes. Grass grows between the pavers adding further softness and a bit of height.

The brilliance is in the edging. Soft grey bricks, laid endwise, on a slant, on both sides of the path. The slant points the direction of travel. They are in scale with the gaps between the pavers. They add yet another height.

It's a "garden" in hardscape microcosm. It expresses unity--the edges recreate the same line as the path. I imagine it echos some colour already on the house. Their being upright echos the verticality of the grass. It expresses variety: of shape, there is a diamond shape, a round shape, a tall and slender shape; of colour, white, green, grey; of height. These heights echo the very construction of a garden itself--overstory (or trees) understory and plants nearer the ground. And the echos add yet more unity, creating harmony.

Can one design a garden based on the construction of a path?

The Weekend Projects

So, I bought myself a pruning saw.

Several ice packs later, we have this:



Then, on the eve of Canada Day, we put up the flag.



I know the flag is too small. It won't likely survive the winter and then we'll get a bigger one. I like looking at it from my now exposed front window.

The Problem with Gardening Books

I have been reading with avid interest the discussions at a design and landscaping forum. One thought is bubbling to the surface: would you rather have a beautiful, lovely garden with a house plunked down in it--or would you rather have a house with a lovely garden?

Most of the books focus on the former. Gardens are entities in and of themselves. They should "relate" to the house, no doubt, but no one, not even when discussing the front yard says "the house is the focal point" of the landscape. And yet, isn't it? At least when you view it from outside.

The house has volume and space, it has forms and lines. Should that volume be reduced or enhanced by your design? Should the lines be softened or emphasised? It all depends, of course, on the type of house.

One concept that has ignited my enthusiasm is the idea of "enframing" the house. When garden books talk about "framing" they are talking about framing a view, or a focal point and almost never the house itself. The concept is instantly clear in this photo (which I stole from one of the threads at the Garden Forum.)



I have been advised that my plan is too boxy and that I need curves, that I am too inexperienced with gardening and plants to worry about design issues at this stage, and that I ought not to fight the "just off" symmetry of the house, but go with something asymmetrical, like a deciduous tree with perennial underplantings and a shrub or two on the left side of the house.

No matter. I am going to persist with the planning until I'm confident enough in the design to begin planting.