Perennial Garden
My landscaping plan is a design-as-you-build concept. As we began to implement my careful design, everything changed. It is interesting to see how we viewed the yard as we began to use it.
In the past I have had extensive flower beds of annuals that would take at least three days each year to plant. This new yard will have perennials only flower gardens. I am experimenting with many different kinds of plants to see what will winter over, what will survive the wind, and what will thrive in the sand and gravel soil. Since the perennial garden will be part sun/part shade and is zoned 3 or 4, it has limited my choice of plants. Hostas and Ferns will predominate, for color I chose Asiatic Lilies and Himalayan Poppies, with ornamental grasses and herbs lining the edges.
As we hoed, raked and turned over the soil, it kept giving birth to huge rocks. Soon the rock pile overtook the alloted space, so we had to haul rocks to the opposite side of the house to a new pile at the edge of the woods. After hauling endless loads of rocks, it finally occurred to me that if you can’t lick ‘em join ‘em, so we began incorporating rocks as edging for the flower beds and walkways. This didn’t diminish the piles, but at least kept them from growing larger.
The new perennial garden rests alongside the front walk and front porch nicely edged in rocks, and between each of the 50 plants the soil is covered with wood chips and bark. Now we shall see how well it fares. A gardening friend shared a rule of thumb to use with perennials; the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap. I hope this is true for my new garden.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
