|
|
Gardening: Creating Your Own Private Paradise
What comes to mind when the word "gardening" crops up (no pun
intended) is a lady in her golden years happily oblivious to the
outside world, efficiently caring for flowers, shrubs and all
other kinds of plants, in her own Garden of Eden.
...
Landscaping: 3 Ways to Use Concrete in your Yard
The mental images that the word concrete invokes may not be of
something you'd want in your yard but in fact, the landscaping
industry has begun to incorporate concrete materials in their
designs the past few years with surprising results....
Preparing to Build Wooden Fences in the Landscape
While chain link fences are use in some landscapes, most people prefer to make use of wooden fences when building an attractive landscape. This is because wood is a rather versatile material that can be made to look a variety of ways. Installing...
The “Minimal” Garden
Some people who lead busy professional and personal lives, don’t feel they have the time to invest in the constant upkeep of floral and other gardens, but would still like to do something about landscaping or decorating their property. And there are...
Things to consider while designing a guest bedroom.
A bedroom is a place where we relax. Depending upon the age
group normally bedrooms are categorized as master bedroom, teen
bedroom, child/kid bedroom.
But a home building may also have a provision for a guest
bedroom in it. If the architect...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Birth of a Small Container Flower Garden
The Birth of a Small Container Flower Garden
This is the first in a series of essays on how I am converting a small (12' x 16') yard in Cody, Wyoming (USA) from a barren wasteland of pea gravel and total shade to a useful summer room that is a delight to the senses. I am doing this from April to October, with a budget of about $100 (US) per month. Please come along with me on this journey. I expect it to be fun, educational, frustrating and I'll love your company.
When you think of Wyoming, you probably picture vast forests, beautiful meadows, big game and Old Faithful. All that is here, but it's not in Cody. Situated at the eastern gate to Yellowstone National Park, Cody was founded in 1900 by Buffalo Bill Cody. His Irma Hotel (two blocks from my house) is still in operation.
Cody is in USDA Zone 4 and gets about 13" of rain per year. I am writing this on April 15 and so far we've had about 2.5" of moisture. We are in a "rain shadow" created by the mountains in Yellowstone. Moisture coming in from the west rises up to the Continental Divide and drops right there. I can see this in action when I stand in my kitchen window and watch the huge clouds evaporate as they sail in from the west.
We moved into this rental house in January. The yard looked like any yard in January - brown and bare. But I looked at all that pea gravel and no sign of grass and the row of shaggy unkempt elm trees and knew what I was facing. So I began to plan.
Of course the first stop is always the gardening books and magazines that are full of dreamy photographs of gardens in places where it (a) rains and (b) the owner invests the price of a college education in their landscaping. Sigh. But if the folks on that TV show that takes design inspiration from rooms done in the highest style and reinterprets them with items from yard sales and import stores could make a polyester satin purse out of a vinyl pig's ear, I could too!
So here is the basic plan, and what I have achieved to date.
The yard is out the kitchen door, with a lovely view of the driveway and the street. The neighbors have an enchanting vista out their living room window. My
husband and I will use the space for cooking, eating and relaxing. The house shades the yard from the east, the row of elms and the neighbor's house shades it from the west. The southern exposure on the street side gives about 3 hours of sun on the very edge of the yard, and the northern exposure is a nice view of the sky and the row of unidentified shrubs along the fence.
I'm doing the garden entirely in container pots. Pots on the ground, pots on other pots, pots hanging from the trees, pots on the roof of the cellar entrance. This way I can control the soil quality and keep the water ON the plants instead of soaking into the thirsty ground. This also will let me rotate plants as they come into bloom or fade, and most importantly, lets me move plants from one spot to another if my original idea didn't work.
So far I have bleeding hearts, hostas, lilies of the valley, grape hyacinth and another bulb I can't remember. There's one pot of yellow tulips salvaged from an end-of-season sale that's doing remarkably well. Finally, there are three large pots of bush peas. Soon to come are some ferns and tuberous begonias. There's no furniture, but we have two cast iron hibachis, so we can cook and eat like John Coulter did when he came through here in the early 19th century - meat roasted over the fire and butt firmly on the ground.
Who was John Coulter, you ask? He was no gardener. He was the young man who left the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery before they got back to St. Louis and walked back to the Rocky Mountains to discover Yellowstone, via what was to become Cody, WY.
Written by Mary-Denise Smith. © 2004 Electronic Perceptions
This article is provided courtesy of The Garden Source Network - http://www.garden-source.com - a large gardening network devoted to helping you find all the gardening materials you need, such as Seeds, Live Plants, Roses, Trees and Beautiful decor. This article may be distributed and published on any website, as long as this statement and URL remain intact, and the website address is linked properly.
About the Author
Need flower and garden products? Visit The Garden Source Network today!
|
|
|
|
|
Landscaping Ideas | Landscape Design | Landscaping Pictures |
Information for homeowners on hardscape and softscape elements in landscape design. Includes a chat room and forum. |
landscaping.about.com |
  |
Gardening - Landscaping |
Design a landscape that works best with your yard, deck and home. |
www.homeandfamilynetwork.com |
  |
Gardening |
Find all the information you need to plan and design a beautiful garden for your landscape. Get zone maps, garden plans and the plant and flower index to ... |
www.homeandfamilynetwork.com |
  |
Landscaping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an ... Landscaping also refers to building a model landscape such as model train ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Landscape architecture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
The activities of a landscape architect can range from the creation of ... Landscape designers, like garden designers, design all types of planting and ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Gardening Landscaping & Design - Landscape Gardening for Patios ... |
Learn more about landscape gardening and design for patios and decks from Home & Garden Television. |
www.hgtv.com |
  |
EERE Consumer's Guide: Landscaping |
On average, landscaping for energy efficiency provides enough energy savings ... Use energy-efficient landscaping strategies based on your regional climate. ... |
www.eere.energy.gov |
  |
Planning the Home Landscape |
Advice and tips for planning, preparing, and constructing a new landscape area. |
aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu |
  |
Landscaping Ideas, Designs, Pictures and Plans for the Home. |
Respond?s community provides landscaping ideas for the home. Find landscaping designs, pictures and plans to help you design the best landscape for your ... |
landscaping.respond.com |
  |
Landscape Design Services and Earth-Friendly Garden Products for ... |
Landscaping resource for the do-it-yourself homeowner featuring interactive online landscape design. |
clearwaterlandscapes.com |
  |
Landscaping & Design |
Turn your yard into a spectacular showpiece, whether you're planning all-new landscaping or hoping to update a flower bed. |
www.bhg.com |
  |
Great Lakes Environment: Greenacres-Green Landscaping |
A key source of Great Lakes environmental information. |
www.epa.gov |
  |
Landscaping - Outdoors - homesite.com.au |
Landscaping - homesite.com.au, Australia’s No.1 home and garden web site. |
www.homesite.com.au |
  |
H2ouse.org : Tour : Landscaping |
Attractive gardens and landscape add to the value of your home and bring ... Upgrade the look of your landscape by learning the how-to's of proper lawn care ... |
www.h2ouse.org |
  |
Landscapers | Landscaping |
Get matched to local Landscape, Decks and Fences contractors for your home improvement projects. ServiceMagic's network of Landscape, Decks and Fences ... |
www.servicemagic.com |
  |
Complete Landscape Design for Do It Yourselfers |
Do it yourself tips, tricks, guidelines, and resources for home landscape design. |
www.the-landscape-design-site.com |
  |
Landscaping Ideas | 2854 + Landscaping Pictures |
Landscaping Ideas To Make Your Homes Beautiful. ... Click here to access all 4290+ landscaping photos, and get instant access to valuable savings coupons to ... |
www.landscapingideasonline.com |
  |
Landscaping for Energy Efficiency |
Are you looking for cost-effective yet eye-pleasing ways to lower your energy bills? Planting trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, and hedges could be the answer. |
www.pioneerthinking.com |
  |
Edible Landscaping Online |
Only the most productive disease resistant varieties make it onto the approved list here at Edible Landscaping. Our plants are guaranteed to arrive healthy ... |
www.ediblelandscaping.com |
  |
Free Landscaping Ideas, Landscapes, Front Yard, Garden Landscaping |
Landscaping ideas that transform your boring, unattractive yard into the picture perfect oasis you've always dreamed of. Find out h... |
www.greatlandscapingideas.com |
  |
|