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The Garden at Hackberry Point
Our house and garden are located on a small point on Worton Creek that we've named
for the numerous hackberries (Celtis occidentalis) that cast welcome shade and feed wildlife in winter here. While
I'm not new to gardening, my garden here is new, since we've only recently finished a major renovation of the house,
originally built in 1970. We moved here in late 2004, but until we had gotten permits, completed plans, and the bulldozers
were cleared away, I had to content myself with gardening well away from the house. I also had huge numbers of plants cooling
their heels in holding beds and containers that moved down with us from Pennsylvania, and these needed regular attention
as well. Before we moved here, for 30-plus years the property had been maintained solely with lawnmowers and string trimmers. As a result, it featured lawn, an assortment of shade trees, and not much else. The lawn even covered a couple of very steep slopes that were dangerous and completely unnerving to mow. These, I replanted while work on the renovation was underway, and they are now covered with a mix of drought-tolerant shrubs and perennials. While not filled in yet, they're already much easier to maintain. The gardens closer to the house didn't get underway until the spring of 2008, and they'll take time. Here are a few pictures to illustrate my progress thus far. I am a complete plant fanatic, and absolutely believe in the value of the design principle of wandering around with a plant in one hand and a trowel in the other. As a result, the design is cottagy. I'm sure I'll be doing lots of editing on combinations with my spade as plants establish and fill in, but that's half the fun!
The Front Garden "Before" As part of the final grading I had the soil covered with a thick layer of mulch to protect it and keep weeds down until I'd finished planting. I started the design of the garden by laying out paths through it using slate pavers salvaged from the front yard before the renovation. We also had uncovered a large millstone on the property that became the centerpiece for the garden. The site was graded and ready by April, 2008, but before I could plant anything, I spent a considerable amount of time raking back mulch and amending the soil with organic matter. This was to improve drainage and aeration and alleviate some of the compaction problems caused by construction vehicles. The Front Garden, July 2008 Although still far from lush and beautiful, by midsummer, the garden is beginning to appear. The overall design is cottagy, with meanding paths that provide access to all the planting areas. I've amended soil and planted the garden in sections and haven't yet filled in the whole front garden yet. Once I've finished digging organic matter into a particular section, though, I begin moving in the plants. In general, shrubs and the few trees in the planting went in first, followed by perennials. Annuals, designed to help give the garden a more filled in look the first year, went in last. I'm sure I'll be doing lots of moving around and recombining as everything fills in, but that's a process I enjoy. Stay tuned for more pictures of the garden.
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