All in Gardens

Foundational Garden Plans: Back Yard

Foundational Garden Plans: Back Yard

Sally Norman
Gardens

If you are following along in this mini post series about our garden, this is the third and final post about the foundational plants and projects we have tackled thus far. Our vision for our backyard was more varied than the front since we use it more frequently and for more things. We will entertain on our patios; want to grow edible, as well as ornamental plants; have a treehouse, trampoline and lawn space for kids to play in; need to address erosion caused by rainfall; and have areas with dense shade. We also want to maintain a sense of thoughtful cohesion throughout.

Foundational Garden Plans: Front Yard

Foundational Garden Plans: Front Yard

Sally Norman
Gardens

As I wrote about in my post Foundational Garden Plans at Withy Holm, I have divided our 1 acre lot up into different gardens to accommodate the differences in space, sunlight and uses in various areas of our yard. This post will cover our front yard. The goal of the front yard is mainly privacy since we live on a very busy road. Several others along the road have used large evergreen to create hedgerow “fences” for privacy but I knew that I wanted a different look and more plant variety.

Foundational Garden Plans at Withy Holm

Sally Norman
Gardens

We bought our house, which I refer to as Withy Holm, in November of 2020. It basically checked all the boxes on our “essential needs” list, despite needing a lot of work, and was situated on a one-acre lot. My main goal, besides creating a mother-in-law suite on the first floor, was to add character to this rather bland 60’s brick colonial. Part of that vision included productive use of our yard for growing flowers. I was also interested in growing herbs and produce, but flowers are my main desire.

Hydrangeas, By Naomi Slade

Hydrangeas, By Naomi Slade

Sally Norman
Gardens, Art and Style

In the process of planning the foundational perennial plants for my gardens around our home, I knew I wanted to plant a grove of hydrangeas along the east side of our house. That area receives sun in the heat of the day, but also has a lot of shade. I envisioned a white fence, arbor and gate that lined up with the front of the house. There is a creek that runs along the east side of our house all the way to the very back of our property on the north side. The summer before we moved in, the county had made significant changes to the creek along there to help manage rain run-off and mitigate flooding. However, this means that this side of our yard basically drops 30 ft. down to the creek bed.