May Garden Update

With my previous post about the garden, I rearranged some of my foundational plants and bought some new plants. I bought three additional lemony lace elderberries to go along the side fence in my shade garden. The shade garden exists because my neighbors have arborvitae that was left to grow to its full potential. So the shade garden will be elderberries, Hosta, and heuchera. I bought two large Heucheras in pots with the intention to split them down into at least six plants. I also decided to keep the currant bush that I removed to plant one of my large boxwoods. In addition, I bought a third Japanese maple from The Tree Center. The third maple is a Bloodgood which is more regular size and goes in the very back of the yard, centered with the middle circle and the patio circle. I had a circle that was edged with the concrete edging that the previous owner used for a wood burning firepit. Someone suggested that it might have been a tree ring initially. Sure enough there was about a six inch tree trunk under the stones but it was a very skinny trunk with no deep roots. I took an entire day and moved the concrete ring (all one piece) a mere two feet over just so that it was centered with the patio. I’m sure people thought I was crazy but its what I wanted, so I made it happen. I was just going to keep the circle as a fire pit area but decided to turn it into a little garden after I removed the small tree form pine bush where I put in the Bloodgood tree. So that circle has the pine in the center which will stay small and it will have some boxwood that will eventually be a hedged circle.

I plan to use a propane gas fire table rather than a wood burning pit. Fire tables and kits are expensive but I think it is worth it to have that rather than burning ashy wood that can bother the whole neighborhood. I found a kit online that allows for the use of a whisky barrel as the fire table, so I am going to use that and hopefully make my own square concrete tabletop with wooden base.

I’ve had some issues with a neighbor who uses their backyard for parking. A flood light fixture was installed on the back of their house and the flood light remains on all night long. The flood light is high enough on the house that it just becomes a spotlight in my yard and shines through all of the windows on the rear of my home. I sent an email to the city about whether they could make a determination for a nuisance or light trespass. I have been frustrated that I am putting a lot of money into my yard and I won’t be able to enjoy it at night. More recently, the light has been off more often then on, so I may wait a bit to follow up on the inquiry.