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Sunday, June 30, 2013

How does my garden grow?


Here's an updated shot of progress in the garden.  It's been so exciting adding elements and watching it all develop!  Last Saturday, my DH and I trekked over to Lowe's and found some great bargains - that metal archway, which makes such a nice entry, a cement bench, some large ceramic pots, and several plants that grow well in shady areas.  Everything was priced too low to pass up and I kind of went a little nuts!  My favorite part and the centerpiece of it all is this:

... my very own pond!  Ever since we moved here, I've thought about putting a pond somewhere, so this is like a dream come true!  At first, I thought it would be too difficult and had settled on just having a large ceramic pot filled with water with a water lily growing in it.  After pricing the pots (they are EXPENSIVE!), I looked for other options.  This little 50-gallon pond was perfect!  We spent the better part of this past week digging out the hole, and now we're arranging rocks around the edges.  I really wanted the sound of trickling water as well, but wasn't sure if that would be possible with no electricity nearby.  I was able to make it happen with a little (very affordable) submersible solar powered pump I ordered from Amazon.com.  There seems to be enough direct sunlight down there, and this has a rechargeable battery back-up and an on-off switch, so it doesn't have to be running all the time.   I tried to create a little waterfall which you can just make it out in the picture below.  It really looks and sounds just the way I hoped!  The entire pond and pump cost less than $150 - not bad for a dream come true!


Not too far away, we'll have our little cement bench to sit on and this tilted pot with lobelia spilling out of it.

We also picked up some of these lovely caladia.  This one has great color and does well in the shade.  Can't wait to get them all in the ground!

The large trunks of these tulip trees are on the border of the garden.  We decided to incorporate them into the design by making this the "fairy garden" area.  There are perfect spots near the ground for little fairy  house doors and I have hopes for adding whimsical little lights and things among the low-growing plants here.  I have so many ideas and plans, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself.  In the coming week we hope to get the plants in the ground and the pebbles into the lined pathways.  We can add more plants and decorations as time goes on.  If it looks really good by mid August, maybe I'll have a "Garden Grand Opening" and invite some friends over to see it!

1 comment:

Norma Schlager said...

It's going to be gorgeous! Will you have to keep filling that pond? I also love the sound of trickling water and bought a darling table top fountain for my deck a few years ago. I love to sit by it and read on a nice day.