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For years, there was a 700 square foot area of "common ground" near our townhouse
that was completed neglected and ignored by our Homeowners Association.
The area was overgrown with weeds and pachysandra.
I decided to make this area my "project" and began clearing it for planting.
This involved my digging down by hand several inches in order to manually remove all the nasty pachysandra roots.
Finally, after spending a few weeks' time, I managed to clear the entire area, remove the roots and was ready to begin planting.
Because of the trees in the area as well as several along the path nearby, the area was in shade for the majority of each day.
I chose full-shade plants which all did very well.
In 2014, one of the trees in the triangle area plus two trees which shaded the area were severely damaged in a storm and then removed.
Following that, my neighbor chose to remove another tree which was a major contributor to the shade to in the area.
Unfortunately, this year the remaining tree in the triangle area was also removed.
What had been my "shade-garden" had progressed from full shade to full sun.
So… now I needed to start over.
Thankfully, this year I didn't have to dig out pachysandra roots.
I simply had to remove all the shade plants and have the grindings from the final tree stump removed.
Here is how the area looked after I removed the plants, the stump grindings were removed and I brought in ~30 cubic feet (850 lbs) of top soil/potting soil to use as filler.
Next, I set the plants I chose out according to the design layout I'd created.
Oops - looks like 700 square feet is a little bigger than it seemed when I was working with my pictures on the computer.
Time to pick up more plants at the garden center in order to fill in those bare spots!
And… after two days of planting - this is how it looks!
This area has now been christened "Faery's Corner".
I still need to mulch the area and then it will be a matter of ensuring the plants are watered through the long hot summer so they can become well established.
The full-sun plants I chose are deer resistant as well as drought tolerant once established.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my special project!
that was completed neglected and ignored by our Homeowners Association.
The area was overgrown with weeds and pachysandra.
I decided to make this area my "project" and began clearing it for planting.
This involved my digging down by hand several inches in order to manually remove all the nasty pachysandra roots.
Finally, after spending a few weeks' time, I managed to clear the entire area, remove the roots and was ready to begin planting.
Because of the trees in the area as well as several along the path nearby, the area was in shade for the majority of each day.
I chose full-shade plants which all did very well.
In 2014, one of the trees in the triangle area plus two trees which shaded the area were severely damaged in a storm and then removed.
Following that, my neighbor chose to remove another tree which was a major contributor to the shade to in the area.
Unfortunately, this year the remaining tree in the triangle area was also removed.
What had been my "shade-garden" had progressed from full shade to full sun.
So… now I needed to start over.
Thankfully, this year I didn't have to dig out pachysandra roots.
I simply had to remove all the shade plants and have the grindings from the final tree stump removed.
Here is how the area looked after I removed the plants, the stump grindings were removed and I brought in ~30 cubic feet (850 lbs) of top soil/potting soil to use as filler.
Next, I set the plants I chose out according to the design layout I'd created.
Oops - looks like 700 square feet is a little bigger than it seemed when I was working with my pictures on the computer.
Time to pick up more plants at the garden center in order to fill in those bare spots!
And… after two days of planting - this is how it looks!
This area has now been christened "Faery's Corner".
I still need to mulch the area and then it will be a matter of ensuring the plants are watered through the long hot summer so they can become well established.
The full-sun plants I chose are deer resistant as well as drought tolerant once established.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my special project!
