I’m really enjoying this little corner—or curve—of the patio. When we moved here, the stuff planted in this spot consisted of three or four dying arborvitaes that completely cut off the patio from the backyard. I got it from a privacy standpoint, but these things were no picnic to look at. We had all of them torn out, which left behind a perfectly decent planting bed after we finished cleaning up after the landscapers—the same guys who left all those rocks in the planting bed in the front yard. (Have I mentioned that if you hire people to do this sort of thing, you really need to watch them every minute? Because you do.)

The first year, I tried planting vegetables there. The lettuce did just fine, but the deer ate all my tomatoes. Then I switched to herbs. Those didn’t do all that well last year, so I planned to yank them out and start over. To my surprise, they came back with a vengeance—purple sage, thyme, pineapple mint and more Greek oregano than I could ever possibly use. (I’m already drying a big batch of the latter.) And the white dianthus and purple columbines came back in stunning shape. So, this year’s plan is to let everything be (although those herbs need to be reined in again), and fill in with taller plants to give the bed a little height—yellow, purple and white coneflowers. I’m also expanding the space a bit to make room for some dwarf Galliardias and see how they fare.

I have to say, it’s a much nicer view than it used to be, even if it does mean it’s a clear sightline to our chemical-happy neighbor’s yard.

Speaking of Crappy Neighbor, I’m pretty sure the one vulnerable bed of sweet woodruff is—as Billy Crystal said in Princess Bride—not dead, just mostly dead. I had one of the kids mow some of it down. And I’m kicking myself now for the hours I spent weeding the grass out of there after the spraying incident; I had a feeling I was on a fool’s errand. Ah, well. So it goes. Maybe this will give me a chance to try some new plants back there next year.

Posted on Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 7:18 pm. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.