” Oh yes. It’s important to know when you’ve been beat.”
Those words from Mirror Mirror have kept me internally chuckling as I disassemble the front garden at my home. I am absolutely in love with the wild side of things, and I have been secretly hoping to recreate that wild garden look at my house on the hill.
Nope. The hill simply won’t have it.
Perhaps, it is the fact that our house is built on a rock….literally. We live on a giant granite outcropping. rock. Perhaps, it is the fact that there is no soil (except rock). Perhaps, it is the fact that the struggling, half alive “garden” just looked odd. Whatever the reason(s), I admitted defeat. Yes, it’s important to know when you’ve lost the battle…..and boy, did I lose.
The past six months, I have been nursing a “garden” that looked more like a Frankenstein version of an almost dead, poor excuse of a bunch of random plants sewed together by river rocks, desparately trying to hold in soil and mulch from washing away. Even my greatest gardening fans (my parents) were saying kind words like “Wow! It looks like you’ve *tried* to start a garden up here.” and “Boy, it sure is rocky up here.”
Yes, it’s always important to know when you’ve been beat.
So, on Saturday, I disassembled the eye-soar, much to my husband’s delight. I’ve taken the beautiful natives and have organized them in a neat, organized Craftsman-styled garden against our home. Let me just say this….creating an well-organized garden with a mind like mine is HARD!!!!! I don’t think I am well-organized at anything, let alone the natural world.
I took the beautiful river rocks to the empty space first. I made a semi-beautiful, semi-organized random placement of the beautiful stones. My dear friend Rhonda brought the rocks by hand from her little happy house on the river.
After the rock placements, I spent some time on Pintrist searching for Craftsman-styled landscapes. If you ever want to feel really bad about your home decorating and gardens, go to Pintrist. Pintrist has a weird way of giving you fantastic expensive ideas that you will never use, while helping you feel like a complete and utter failure. Honestly, whose house and garden is THAT perfect and organized????? Geez…..I am glad I didn’t quit my day job! But, after I soothed my wounded pride, I came up with a plan.
I placed a gorgeous Holly with beautiful red berries right in the middle of the garden space, as a lovely plant specimen. My daughter’s name is Hollie Grace, so it seemed fitting to have a Holly in her honor. I spaced out the plants in an organized fashion, focusing on colors and textures. I planted the heat-tolerant Lilacs, native Lanta, Gregg’s Mist and Salvia. All natives that will attract butterflies. I mixed in some Oxblood Lilies (ofcourse) and will use Crinum to drink up the rain water around the rain chains. I also planted some drought-hardy herbs, like Lemon Thyme and Chives, inbetween the river rocks. I plan on added other petite growing groundcover.
No, I don’t have pictures. Like I’ve said before, I am not Pintrist worthy. I can varely find my car keys most days…..let alone figure out how to upload new pictures onto this blog. You will have to imagine that my little garden on the hill is, indeed, a well-organized garden.
Yes, it’s important to know when you’ve been beat…..and then, you dust off your pride and get back to work. Your well-organized garden oasis awaits.
Happy Gardening,