Take My Money, Please
I have long been looking forward to the opportunity landscape, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, it is typically the crowning moment in the building process - the "icing on the cake" in the creation of the new abode. Also, unlike the tedious chores of painting, and tiling, and polyurethaning woodwork, landscaping allows for a bit of creativity to be tossed in with the hard work. And, of course, landscaping is done outside, which means we're not stuck inside on beautiful days working on the house and lamenting the fact that we aren't able to enjoy the great outdoors.
As with so many of the other house building tasks, landscaping has an underlying complexity that really isn't brought to light until you actually set about engaging in the activity. Simply put, there are a heck of a lot of plants out there. So many, in fact, that it's tempting to take the easy way out and settle on the typical collection of evergreens and junipers, with a smattering of the trendy "weeping" trees, to fulfill the landscaping needs. However, the same drive that compelled me to seek out a unique house design won out over convenience, and the hunt for the perfect plants ensued.
Compounding our landscaping task is the fact that most of the area that we need to landscape is partially or fully shaded throughout the day. Suffice it to say that most of the "beauty" plants - those that flower and/or have interesting foliage - require full sun. Discounting the "full sun" plants from consideration is both a boon and a bane. It helps to cut down on the number of possible plants to consider, but it also limits the combinations one can work with. With that in mind, our first plant-buying road trip was to a place called Fernwood Gardens which specializes in plants which thrive in shade or partial shade situations.
One of the unique features of Fernwood Gardens is that rather than simply having a bunch of potted plants sitting around, the owners have created a showcase for their wares - the property is a living garden displaying a most impressive collection of shade plants. We carefully walked amongst the setting, jotting down the names of the plants that most thoroughly caught our attention. We then went about picking through the rows of plants that were for sale, looking for our pre-selected treasures. We soon came to discover that just because they had something growing in their gardens, it didn't mean they had the same plant available for sale. And so, we had to compromise - finding a few of the plants we had originally targeted, but improvising our selections for most of our purchases. I passed on the opportunity to purchase a Lady Slipper for $60. I'm not really sure what the story is on Lady Slippers and why they are so expensive. Later that week, however, I chanced upon one growing wild on my neighbor's land. Hmm... perhaps a little late-night plant "relocation" is in order.
When all was said and done, we picked out a total of 21 plants, which set me back $160. When placed in the back of my vehicle, the 21 plants looked to be a rather impressive collection. However, when they were planted in their 20 foot by 5 foot plot, they looked pitifully sparse. Add about $50 worth of bark mulch, and you have a $200 landscaping "island" which merely touches the surface of the house's overall landscaping needs.
The cost would have been even more were it not for the fact that we are doing all the labor ourselves. Or, rather, Denise has been doing all the labor. One of the fringe benefits of having Denise move in was the fact that she owns a rototiller. Not only that, but she enjoys using the rototiller. Not one to deny her of such joys, I gladly stood back while she let loose with the dirt munching monster. My excuse, a legitimate one, was that I had to work and she had the afternoon off.
This strategy worked quite well for the first landscaping project, but backfired a bit as we delved into a bigger portion of the task. Eager to get things started, Denise brought out her rototiller one day while I was away at a client site. When I came home, it seemed as though half the front yard, which I had paid so dearly to have turned into a lawn the year before, was now turned back into a dirt patch. Upon further reflection, it's apparent that "half the lawn" is an exaggeration, but it remains to be seen just how much of an exaggeration it is - the front yard landscaping is still a work in progress.
Our next foray to a nursery was done one Sunday during a cold, rainy afternoon (hard to avoid lately since the weekends have all been rainy). Our quest for holly bushes was thwarted due to the fact that they only had male bushes, and you need both a male and female in order to get berries. But they did have many plants that we were interested - so many, in fact, that we wouldn't have been able to fit them in our vehicle. So, we tagged them for later retrieval and told them we'd come back with a friend's truck. The truck is ailing, the plants are still there, and so the big rototilled "landing strip" in our front yard remains barren.
Whenever possible, we are saving money on plants by "borrowing" them from elsewhere. That's not to say we are raiding our neighbor's flower beds. Rather, if something we covet can be found in a field or on the side of the road, we take the liberty of "thinning" some of these plantings. So far, this has included a collection of day lilies that we placed around the pond, some beautiful lupine we've placed throughout the property (and will hopefully spread), and some ferns which we dug up from our own property and moved to empty areas.
As unnerving it is to pay $26 a yard for dirt and $24 a yard for mulch, I have a feeling this will pale in comparison to the sticker shock we are about to receive in the form of an estimate for stonework we are planning for the entry way. Our goal is to have a fieldstone pathway in front of the porch, and a fieldstone walkway leading down from the front porch to the driveway below. I briefly thought of doing this work myself, but quickly realized that there would be no easy way to cart around fieldstones weighing hundreds of pounds. So, I will leave that fun to the professionals.
Given the amount of work to do and the cost involved, this landscaping will no doubt be a work in progress for many years to come. As things progress, plants grow, and our creation begins to take shape, I will report back on the results. In the mean time, any bits of wisdom that knowledgeable readers may have to offer in terms of plants and landscaping are wholeheartedly welcome.
Copyright © 2001 by Greg Closter (closter@acadia.net)