By the spring of 2009, the landscaping finally became what we had always hoped it would be. This first photo is of the area just behind the main pond. The columbine are back for the third year, bigger and better, and the groundcovers and flowering shrubs have filled in nicely. The red maple suffered a severe trauma in the spring of 2007 when we had an extremely late frost, but is coming back better than ever.
The area above the cascade stays shaded most of the time due to the old dogwood tree that grows at its side, so we transplanted a struggling Rhododendron from another part of the yard and filled the area around it with assorted hostas. As you can see, this worked out nicely. Rich is still working on a low stone wall along the right side where we have a run-off problem and another along the back to give us a raised area for more plantings. SO, the piles of rocks remain as they have for several years. There is no doubt in my mind that this will always be an ongoing project. And that is just fine with me!!
On the other side of the dogwood, above the waterfall, is an very beautiful azalea which grows low and spreads, making the perfect backdrop for this area. Behind it are several pale pink azaleas, late bloomers not yet blooming when this was taken. We are hoping that the rusty metal heron to the right is the only heron that we see by our pond. Several friends have lost all their fish to these birds.
This was taken standing on the lawn to the left of the pond. The "monkey grass" was given to me by a friend who was thinning out hers, and has made a great border along this side. The wigelia and the other pink blooming shrub have made a nice showing in this area.
Song: "Hey Jude"