ANATOMY OF OLD SUN GARDEN - 2 of 2

I initially had transplanted Lily-of-the-Valley in the red rectangles under the Spruce on the other side of the path from the Sun Garden. Given it is a big tree, I assumed it would be shady underneath, but the way that the sun comes up keeps it quite well lit and by the end of the summer I had switched to adding sun-loving Heliopsis.  

Now the Heliopsis runs not just the length of the Old Sun Garden but curves around the path to encircle the New Sun Garden as well.  Using these tall, bright, long-blooming perennials as the border will really pull both the Old Sun Garden and New Sun Garden together into one Sun Garden.

Having taller plants on both sides of the garden should contribute to the feeling that one is cutting through the garden when walking the grass path. The Heliopsis may also keep people in the front yard from seeing too much detail in the Sun Garden; I want people to have to come into the space to really appreciate it.

In those red rectangles I also added 15 orange Hyacinths, as I did at the opposite end under the Cherry tree, to tie it all together.

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Sharing with Tuesday Garden party &  Garden Tuesday

FLAGSTONE PATH

Two years ago in 2010 we noticed what the woman at the garden centre humorously dubbed a 'cowpath' between the bottom of our staircase and the steps down into the water.  Bare patches of mud in the grass from heavy foot traffic were making their mark so we added the darker stone  - just a suggestion of a path.  I quite liked it.

Very minimalist.

2010

Last year we added in the rest of the stones when we realized we still had a pile of flagstone from the backyard left over in the city.  The stones are all on the ground but not all securely dug in quite yet, though it is top of my list to finish this up now that I have added the ground covers between the stones.

April 2012

I have added three varieties of Creeping Thyme near the front in full sun and toward the back some Scotch Moss  and its darker cousin Irish Moss. 

Since I don't know for sure which will survive best from this mix I only planted about half of the space between the stones and plan on waiting until next year before I fill in in the rest, after the results from this test are in. 

With our move now scheduled for this summer I may have to fill in everywhere before I go.  I can already see which ground covers I prefer since the spring's planting.
In order to give the perennials a better chance I am carving out the grass between them.  I'd rather have some dirt showing in the short term than have the plants struggle against the grass. 
Tedious work, but someone has got to do it - and that someone is me. 

In retrospect, leaving grass between the stones would have been fine, but I wanted to play with ground covers, so be it, there is no going back now! 
I hope it looks amazing one day...

GARDENS FOR SALE

We have decided to move to Winnipeg, a Zone 3, so I'll have to investigate this list of recommended zone 3 plants, at first glance I see a lot of familiar friends since I'm already in Zone 4 at the cottage.  We are keeping the cottage though, just love it too much to abandon, so the journey here is not over.

It also means I'll need to figure out how to change the name of my blog to something less attached to the location of my gardens, after all gardening is a passion I'll take with me wherever I go.

This means I'll need to prioritize some of the projects I've got half completed.  Focus and prioritization in the garden has always been a struggle.  I know from both a time management and a design perspective it can be a good idea to focus on one project and complete it before staring another, but I tend to get distracted by ideas.

For now I will prioritize the larger structural things I want to do, and focus less on the maintenance.  You know, ensure the 'bones' are in place.

• flagstone path to the lake - tedious to dig out all the grass between the ground covers, but I better hop to it!

• Getting in a moss border to defend against the grass on the Lakefront Garden.  This is a doozy in terms of workload; I guess I better hop to it. 

Any thoughts on if this is a losing battle before I begin in earnest? Will I need to add in a plastic barrier to really keep the grass out? I don't like the look of them in this natural setting, but perhaps if I grow the moss over top of the edge...

• Extending the  lakefront garden to incorporate the space up to the old tree.  Better to do it now before the lilies are in bloom.

Yes, it is just some tall grass now, but soon it will be more daylilies (and possibly some daises, and...)

Odds are that I will not be able to just focus on these big projects, but if I can at least prioritize them for the next while...

{March 2014 update: Success!  I extended the Lakefront Garden to the old tree, and replaced the grass with ground cover in the flagstone path. I am a bit iffy on how far I got with the moss border though...}

COTTAGE STAIRCASE

I've got a few things I consider our features at the cottage that I'd like to introduce you to. Let's start with the awesome stone staircase down from the driveway.  We can take no credit for it, it was here when we bought, but I am making sure I plant around it to really make it the focus it deserves.

When we first bought there was not as much periwinkle on the left side, so I am filling that in all the way down the stairs and the path that runs from it down to the water.

Here you can see how the stairs connect to the path to give you an idea of flow.  We planted a bushel of large trumpet daffs in the fall of 2008 throughout the property and plan to add another this fall we love them so much.  I'm working on that periwinkle gap beneath the pine...

And now you have an idea of how the whole stairs/path work. 

In the foreground you'll see about 200 red trillium that I have gathered from the woods and transplanted on either side of the path at the bottom.   There is a myth that this is illegal in Ontario, but it is not so.  Picking them, while also not illegal, is not something I do since it damages the plant, which after all takes a very, very long time to bloom.

Below is a glamour shot of our staircase.

The daffs on the right side are Kedron that I planted last fall from Vessey's.  I absolutely love them and will be doubling my order again this fall to really get an amazing show.  Each bulb has 4-6 flowers and they smell wonderful in a citrus kind of way. Quite different from our trumpets and blooming later, though with some overlap as you can see from the trumpets to the left of the stairs.

Below is a closer look at the Kedrons.  Imagine twice as many next year!