Cottage Landscape: One Year Later

Hey, readers, if you like a good before and after, and/or are a garden enthusiast, today's post is for you. It's a bit detailed, so I understand if it makes some of your eyes glaze over. 

Today I'm taking a look back on where our landscape was when we moved into this cottage home in early October 2021, and recapping the landscape transformation since. Here it is in a nutshell:

Yea, that collage above sums up an entire year of time, money, love, hope, delight, frustration, and renewed hope. An almost 100 year old pin oak tree hovered over our home in a most precarious way when we bought this house in 2021.

Not only that, but overgrown boxwoods were smothering the front entry of the home which, let's face it, wasn't a house big enough for all the landscape surrounding it (and overshadowing it, as the tree did, below). 

So we had the tree taken down, and transplanted the boxwoods as a border on the corner of the property (10-28-21 and 11-8-21, respectively, as pictured in the collage in the lead photo). By May, 2022, we had to remove one transplanted boxwood that suffered winter burn in late March. 

July was a record month of rain for us (over 10"), and I lost another boxwood on that border which, apparently, had its transplant hole dug too deep. The plant suffered root rot by literally sitting in a puddle of water that had run off the slight slope and never drained properly. 

September is a great month to grow grass, right? We had all the boxwoods ripped out and did just that.

I was pretty sure neighbors thought I was nuts, taking pictures of my grass growing. But, as you can see, even from October 12 (the first time the new grass was cut) to October 28 (lead photo), the grass is looking pretty good. Renewed hope.

Those boxwoods and grass on the corner weren't the only changes made in September and October. I had the baptisia dug up from the front area of the house (see collage below), and planted grass there too. They always bothered me by their placement in the landscape, but I loved the plants.

I had the baptisia transplanted to the north side of the garden (previously a shade garden). Below, you can see the transplanted baptisia in the lower frame of the collage where the straight arrows are pointing. The squiggly arrow in the top frame is where two volunteers sprung up (a delight!) in the same location - a crepe myrtle and weigela. The bottom frame shows where the two were divided. Only the weigela was dug up and transplanted; the crepe myrtle stayed where it was. I also pulled out most of the sensitive fern and much of the lily-of-the-valley that had randomly sprung up, as described in my spring update, and later in my mid-summer update. More grass was sown to connect this portion of the garden.

The soil where plants were pulled, transplanted, and grass was sown was amended with a 50/50 mixture of compost and top soil (crappy top soil, I might add, much to my frustration). Rather than rely on the landscapers to provide the grass seed this time, I used Scotts ezseed®. I was not happy with the seed used last fall (falcon fescue), as it had a LOT of weeds, crabgrass, and other junk in it. I highly recommend Scotts ezseed® (no affliation, but it works).

Another frustration endured this past summer with all the rain we received in July was the loss of both of my oak leaf hydrangea which flanked the Hinoki cypress in the north garden bed. In the collage below, you can see the total wilt of the one on the left (top frame). The one on the right was rotting inside also. I was somewhat relieved to read Steve Bender (Southern Living's Grumpy Gardener) write that it was a common occurrence this year in Southern gardens.

Those hydrangea were dug out in late July. In the bottom frame above, that boxwood in the left of the frame is the one that ended up waterlogged and dead by September. 

There were some successes though! My Mexican sunflowers grown from four year old seeds did terrific. They started blooming at the end of July and would still be blooming if I hadn't cleaned them out in September (to transplant a peony in their spot). They are butterfly magnets.

In general, the south, sunny side of the landscape beds did well overall, so much so that I had to trim along the gravel path in early September to keep from ducking each time I passed. Lavender, butterfly bushes, the sunflowers, vinca, celosia and the beautyberry all thrived here.  

My front annuals did really well too. The last week of September was a busy one, cleaning out those  and other beds, transplanting a peony (where the Mexican sunflowers were), basically getting ready for my landscapers to finish. I squeezed between and weeded that nearly 90' stretch of back-to-back fencing between ours and a neighbor's fences that you see below. No before picture, darn it, but the weed piles are there. I really only intended to weed the corner. Two hours later....

My landscaper team helped to cut back what I didn't get to. They also brought in fresh mulch and my pansies.

I planted my grocery store tulip bulbs in front of the cluster of pumpkins you see in the collage below (left side).

Now, one year later, I've got a watchlist of plants I'm seeing a bit stressed. The collage below captures those. First, my Hinoki cypress appears to be somewhat stressed on the left side, though not well seen here. Also, a couple more boxwoods are looking chlorotic, as you can see. One coneflower didn't survive (where the goldfinch is feasting). I really think most of these issues are water related from this past summer, but with so many landscape changes, it's hard to know for certain. I'm on a mission to keep amending the soil to try to preserve the plants that have survived so far.

That tall oak tree you see in the right frame above is my neighbor's, across the street. That was the twin to the one we had taken down last year. When the leaves are off we have a glimpse of the capitol dome above the neighbor's roofline. The photo below is from early spring, 2022.

I've decided to put off having the slate roof cleaned, afraid any cleaning solution might further complicate my landscape concerns. I suppose if all else fails, I'll keep growing grass. 

All I can say is, I'm glad my cottage home doesn't have a landscape any bigger than it is. Mr. P. is just not that into it, except for commenting whether or not he likes something. He does like the grass, and actually wanted that last year. I guess I took the long, stubborn route there. If you have any tips you may want to offer for my watchlist or anything else, I'm open to them (even though I may stubbornly not apply them for another year or two). I can't wait to see what I accomplish next year

Thanks for your visit today. I hope you'll let me know you dropped by with a comment. I do appreciate them, and try to answer each one individually.

Rita C. at Panoply

A special thanks to Linda from Life and Linda Love Your Creativity Party #174 , to Debra from Common Ground All About Home #169, Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home TFT and Suzanne from Pieced Pastimes Saturday Sparks Party #539 for featuring this post!

Parties I Share With: Pieced Pastimes, Love Your Creativity, BNOTP, All About Home Common Ground, All About Home Follow the Yellow Brick Home, A Stroll Thru Life, My Wee Abode, My Family Thyme, French Ethereal SYS, My Thrift Store Addiction, Our Hopeful Home, Eclectic Red Barn TFT, Southern Sunflowers Home Matters, Grace at Home, Karin's Kottage, County Road 407 Farmhouse Friday