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My wife and I purchased two lots totalling a little less than 8 acres back in 1995 and have since built our house on the property. It was started in June of 1997 and finished in April of 1998.
I have always wanted a fairly large piece of land to garden on as both my father and grandmother were avid gardeners and I caught the love of gardening from them. The property is located on about a 10 acre lake and the front of the house faces south towards the lake. Most of the property that I have to take care of (mowing/weeding/weed eating, etc.) is between the house and the lake and extends a good distance to the west for a total of about 5 acres - be careful what you wish for as you just may get it.
The back part of the property is about 4 acres and drops off precipitously some 5-7 yards behind the house down approximately 100 yards to a creek. I cleared most of the property over a 1 1/2 year interval by hand with a chainsaw, bow saw, and loppers. I did this to minimize the heavy equipment damage to the existing flora and to attempt to get some exercise. I have a zoology background (taught zoology at a Texas University back in my younger days), but knew a minimal amount about botany, so I also used this time to learn the common and scientific names of the trees and shrubs on the property.
We had the original landscaping around the house put in a month after we moved in by a reputable nursery and have been very pleased with the results. I have lost only a few of the original plants (mostly azaleas that died because of the high pH due to where the brick layers dumped their mortar). This is probably my single biggest problem in the garden - too high a pH. Our water supply is groundwater which has a very high calcium carbonate content and thus a very high pH. Keeping enough water on the plants the first few years while they were establishing themselves resulted in a high soil pH which very few of the southern plants liked (azaleas, camelias, dogwoods, hollies, etc.). I have temporarily solved this problem with massive quantities of aluminum sulfate.
Since putting in the initial beds, I have put in several new beds along the driveway, in the back, and along the lake in the front. I have also put in a combination herb/rose garden just outside the kitchen. Right now I have been focusing on putting in the "bones" of the garden, the trees and shrubs, in the new beds with perennials to follow in the future. The house is a raised Lousiana cottage and I want the gardens to scream "I am in the deep south", so I have been putting in a lot of dogwoods, redbuds, magnolias, gardenias, camelias, hydrangeas, azaleas, and viburnums to mention just a few.
Just this last year we purchased another lot to the west and have put in a small (< 1/2 acre) pond where the property drains into and I will be putting in a lot of plants around the pond.
I have also put in a vegetable garden this summer that made it in time for a fall garden. The garden is 50 by 50 with raised beds two railroad ties high. The outer part of the garden is a raised bed, but only 1 railroad tie high. I remember Jim Crockett, god rest his gentle soul, saying that one should always have flowers in a vegetable garden, and the outer part will be planted with annuals and perennials this spring. I will update the progress of the vegatable garden yearly.
I have arranged my journal according to the major types of plants (trees, shrubs, perennials, etc.) and then subdivided them into the various habitats/usages such as dry/wet, fall color/foliage/flowers/fragrance, etc. Thus, someone going to my journal to look at my successes/failures will very quickly be able to find out my experiences in a particular garden task. Plus, they will be able to get an idea of some of the plants that can be grown in zone 8a in the south that they might want to use in their garden. I will be posting additional photos of the property and existing beds/gardens soon. I will subdivide these into spring, summer, fall, and winter and will try to update frequently.
December, 2002
I have been very negligent in keeping up with the journal as I have been spending most of my spare time with my mother-in-law, who is in bad health. However, I am going to start putting more time into it.
Entries and Updates
Jul 5, 2000
View of the house from the southeast. The circular driveway bed has chrysanthemums, barberries, dwarf nandinas, and a purple leaf plum. The big tree to the right of steps is a white pine. Hanging in between each of the columns are copper baskets with Boston ferns and below each of the ferns are planters with red pelargoniums. The large shrubs in front of the porch are Burford hollies with dwarf nandinas planted in between them. The groundcover is mondo grass. There are two dissectum Japanese maples, one on each side of the house towards the outer edge of the beds. Gardenias, formosa azaleas, and Sweetbay magnolias are on either side of the house. On the right side are two Mary Nell hollies. The large trees to the left of the house are red oaks, and the large trees behind the house are white oaks.
Jul 5, 2000
View of the lake and house from the road leading up to our driveway (southwest of the house). This is where woody plants with fall color will go. The lake is down about four feet due to a severe drought in 2000. The trees along the bank are a mixture of red and water oaks, magnolias, beeches, hophornbeams, sumacs, chinese tallow, and southern sugar maples. A number of these will come down in the future as the added shrubs/trees mature. The small shrubs are beautyberry volunteers. I have added 3 dogwoods including the pink flowering variety and 3 redbuds. I have also started putting in water plants including pussy willows, corkscrew willows, elephant ears, cattails, and Louisiana iris.
Jul 5, 2000
Southwest view of the house from the driveway showing the front beds. The trees in the foreground are red and water oaks and a wild cherry. The large tree on the west side of the house is a red oak. The large shrubs in the beds are southern wax myrtles and the smaller shrubs are azaleas, pee gee hydrangeas, burgundy loropetalums, oregon grape hollies, oak leaf hydrangeas, saw palmettos, and lilac chaste trees, although you can't make out which is which from this photo. The ground cover is asiatic jasmine and I have also planted some confederate jasmine to grow in amongst the asiatic jasmine. However, it's coming out as it definately wants to go vertical over anything in its path. On the far left of the house is where my herb and rose garden is located.
Jul 5, 2000
West view of the driveway and the lakefront. The fruit orchard is just out of view. The front woodland garden is in the back right. The lake bank is where I intend to put in a number of trees/shrubs/perennials with fall color.
Existing plants with fall color include several southern sugar maples (very dependable yellow), staghorn sumacs (brilliant red), and Chinese tallow trees (red/burgundy with white berries that look like popcorn, hence "popcorn tree", the other common name). I also saved a couple of native blueberries that provide very pretty fall color when I first cleared the property.
I have added some red flowered dogwoods, redbuds "forest pansy", Japanese maples, Virginia sweetspires, a golden rain tree, and a Chinese pistache for fall color. I have just ordered several Japanese maples, bald cypresses, sourwoods, black gums, tartarian dogwoods, sasaffras trees, a Persion parrot tree, and a Japanese stewartia for more fall color. This is where the camelias and viburnums (particularly ones with fall color) will go.
Jul 19, 2000
View from herb garden looking west. In the back is the front woodland garden. I haven't done much with it yet other than to put in a few native azaleas. I will be putting in all native plants here including mountain laurels, more native azaleas, native understory trees, etc. There are already about 10 dogwoods. I will also be putting in a lot of native ferns as there already are several patches of brackens and christmas ferns.
This view has changed considerably as the trees in the far back have been removed and a small pond has been put in for water gardening in the future. I will eventually eliminate most of the lawn with additional beds.
Jul 19, 2000
View from garage looking south. The shrub in the front is a native beautyberry. The front woodland garden just starts on the back right of the photo.
Jul 19, 2000
View from front porch looking southwest. The large shrub on the left is a southern wax myrtle. The front woodland garden is in the background. The smaller trees just in front of the woodland garden are several dogwoods and a native plum, which, by the way, is a great smaller tree. It is covered with extremely fragrant white flowers in spring that fade towards pink/red, produces edible plums in the fall, has pretty fall foliage, and exfoliating bark, but you never hear about this tree in the gardening books. I have several more on the property.
Apr 5, 2001
View of the lake and front beds from the front porch. The formosa azaleas are blooming and you can see the purple leaf plum in the circular bed - a lovely tree with pink blooms in the spring. My next door neighbor and a friend of his are fishing for bass in the lake. The trees are a mixture of water and red oaks and white pines.
Jan 15, 2002
Fall view of the new vegetable/cut flower garden looking south towards the lake. I have planted Lady Banks roses on the arches. The vegetable part of the garden is two railroad ties high and the surrounding flower bed is one railroad tie high. The flower bed will contain cut flower plants.
Several of the trees south of the vegetable garden will be coming out and I will be putting in more beds. I plan on taking out just enough of the trees so that I can still grow some paths of grass through the beds. The trees to come out will be hornbeams, hophornbeams, water oaks, and sweetgums, which won't really be missed as I have so many more throughout the property. I left them there when I first cleared the property under the philosopy of "I can always take it down later, but it will take a long time to put it back up". Along the property line to the east will eventually be a conifer/evergreen shrub/perennial bed.
Jan 19, 2002
View to the west of a new pond added in the fall of 2001. This will eventually be the water garden. I will probably get started putting in the "bones" this spring, but not in a big way.
Jan 19, 2002
A view from the upstairs bedroom of the southwest front of the garden.
Jan 20, 2002
Upper back deck with arbor. I have planted 4 kiwi vines that, hopefully, will cover the arbor. On the right side of the picture is a bed containing dwarf cryptomerias - really beautiful plants. During the growing season, my wife attempts container gardening here. I say attempts as I am having a hard time getting her to realize that container plants need fertilizing and watering more than once during the growing season.
Jan 20, 2002
Lower back deck view to the north. Beyond the deck will eventually be the back woodland garden. I have cleared out the brush and have sprayed to try (ha!) and eliminate/control the japanese honeysuckle and poison ivy. The japanese privet that has overtaken everything in the creek bottomland is an entirely different matter. You can't cut it as it springs back to life immediately and it seems like every berry it produces sprouts. I wonder if anyone has ever used dynamite as a brush control?
Jan 20, 2002
I have put in brick edging around all the beds. Major mistake not putting them in when the beds went in. The lawn is zoysia and is not supposed to grow very fast. Wrong - particularly when you have prepared the soil in the beds. I have found that I can eliminate the zoysia that has encroached into the beds by using a 1/3 strength solution of roundup several times. It is not strong enough to have any impact on the asiatic jasmine or mondo grass that I use for ground covers, but will eventually kill the zoysia.
Jan 20, 2002
A view of the house and property from the opposite side of the lake.
Jan 20, 2002
Another southern view of the property on the west side of the driveway and part of the lake bank. The beginnings of the orchard are located here and the new pond is hidden from view on the north side. Around the trees closest to the road on the west edge of the property will eventually be my grasses bed as this gets a whole lot of sun and I don't water this part of the property.
Mar 20, 2002
Mexican plum in bloom. This is an absolutely marvelous small tree that has the following qualities:
1. White, fragrant flowers in spring
2. Cherry tree like bark on young wood, furrowed, exfoliating bark on old wood
3. Disease and pest free
4. Drought tolerant
5. Full sun to partial shade
6. Yellow/orange fall leaf color
7. Hard wood
8. Very pretty habit often with multiple trunks
9. Fruit that wildlife love and that makes great jam
Mar 22, 2002
Mexican plum - another view
Mar 22, 2002
View of house with Mexican plum and redbuds
Mar 22, 2002
Have you figured out I am enamored with the Mexican plum yet?
Mar 22, 2002
Mexican plum, redbud, and azaleas in bloom
Jun 7, 2002
Early summer view of the lake and purple leaf plum
Jun 7, 2002
Another lake view
Jun 7, 2002
Ferns and pelargoniums on the front porch
Jun 7, 2002
Southwest view - Burford hollies in the front, native wax myrtles, and a dissectum japanese maple
Jun 7, 2002
Southern half of the vegetable garden with annuals on the outside perimeter
Jun 7, 2002
View of the house with Burford hollies, wax myrtle, purple leaf plum, and chrysanthemums just starting to bloom. I get a late spring/early summer bloom and then cut back severely to get a fall bloom.
Jun 7, 2002
Another view of the house
Jun 7, 2002
Southern magnolia, crepe myrtles, and the vegetable garden in the back of the photo
Jun 7, 2002
Crepe myrtles and lilac chaste tree in bloom
Jun 7, 2002
A new addition - brick seating area next to the lake
Jun 7, 2002
My next project - roundup the grass and put trees and shrubs. I have already added some double file viburnums, redbuds, sourwoods, camellias, and a ginko. Most everything new in the future will require fall color as a prerequisite for going in. I already have a number of southern sugar maples that provide dependable yellow fall color.
Jun 7, 2002
View to the west. The new pond is just to the left of the picture.
Jun 7, 2002
Lilac chaste tree in bloom
Jun 7, 2002
Vegetable/cutting garden with Lady Banks rose on the arbor
May 8, 2008
View of the house from the perspective of the new bed. This bed is composed of perennial bulbs, tubers, and rhizomes including peonies, lilies, phlox, calla lilies, irises, daylilies, amarillises, and gingers.
May 8, 2008
View of the house from the driveway.
May 8, 2008
View towards the house from the driveway. New beds are located on the left since the original pictures of the property.
