The first of the expected Garden Catalogs have arrived!  Michigan Bulb popped into my mailbox with its’ spring offerings.  I am eyeing some more Pink Astilbe for the side of the house and perhaps some more Coreopsis for the back yard. 

I am also trying to decide on some grasses to add for some height and visual in the winter months too.  There is a really pretty Purple Love Grass that is light green but then turns bronze with a bluish tint in the fall.  I don’t think I’ve seen this before - it says hardy in zones 5-9 so I might give it a shot.

I’d  also like to get a Reblooming Lilac but right now I’m not sure where I’d put it.  I need to start planning the beds for either side of the back yard.  I’ve also seen some colossal hostas and Sum and Substance Hostas that are really pretty but I don’t think there is a shady enough area in the yard anymore for that.

The kid in the catalog is dwarfed by that Hosta!  Hopefully I can find a spot because I think it’s really cool.  The kids might be a bit frightened by its size. My business partner Anita has a large Hosta in her front garden, maybe it needs to be divided!  Not sure if they work the same that way as the regular hostas.

I have more dreaming to do and need to focus some on the shrubs and foundation plantings I need to add.  So so easily distracted!

This was the half melted snow that was left in the back yard.  It’s all gone now.  As you can see, I need more “winter Interest” or, shall I say, some winter interest?

My apologies to Monty Python…Right now our back yard is covered in snow.  But the photo above is from the summer of ‘07, and shows the beginning of the rear border (North side).  Not much there but some Hostas and Allium.  Hopefully, next spring will bring the Alliums planted this fall and some Hydrangeas.

This is from summer ‘08 (rear brder South)  and shows the purple Coneflowers, Sedum (Autumn Joy) and the Spirea “Little Princess”.  I also planted more Hydrangeas, Mums and Coneflowers.  I won’t be too disappointed if the Mums don’t come back.  I love Mums in containers but once I planted them - meh.   I do want to get more Sedum though, it flowered beautifully.

These are my Peonies (after bloom) in the far South rear border.  The old plant stand was there from previous owners and looked rather ratty.  After thinking about ripping it out and deciding it was too much work, (it’s mounted in concrete) I gave it a shot of spray paint.  It’s hard to see with the poor quality of the photo (sorry, no Photo Shop) but it’s not half bad.  Next spring I plan on filling the pots with flowers and greenery that spill down and I think it will give the corner some interest.

That’s Bishops Weed on the bottom of the plant stand, a real spreader but fortunately it’s contained.  I also scored some big rocks from my neighbor and will be replacing the broken edging in this area.  Hydrangeas are hoped for as well in this area. 

It may not look like much but if you saw the “before” you’d think it was a dream garden.  We had overgrown volunteer bushes (hope that’s the right term, I’ve heard it in reference to plants before) and the Hostas were lined up in a row, with trees coming up everywhere.

All this gardening thinking was prompted by a giveaway at Carolyn Gail’s “Sweet Home and Garden Chicago” blog (http://sweethomeandgardenchicago.com).  I was the lucky winner of some Muck gardening shoes and can’t wait to get them some use come spring.  Thank you Carolyn and Muck!!!  I also received some gardening catelog  postcards recently and will be ordering a slew of catelogs.  I love me some shopping, and couple it with gardening and I’m in Heaven! 

Here’s to Spring gardening plans.

With the trees removed, we were able to plant a vegetable garden in the back yard.  We grew tomatoes, basil, carrots and pumpkins.  The photo above shows the pumpkin plant - ONE pumpkin plant, which took up much much more space than the photo shows.  What a lesson in growing for Ross.  We harvested 2 good pumpkins (medium sized) for carving and three smaller ones for the front porch. 

Here’s Ross (Vanna style!) showing off the first decent harvest of tomato and basil.  We made some pesto and used basil for tomato sauce.   We got a late start - everyhing was planted in the ground on Father’s Day, next year it will have to be earlier.

We will grow another vegetable garden next year, tomatoes and basils are a must, but I want to expand and grow more items.  Any suggestions?  No more pumpkins though - hopefully we will have a lawn next year!

June 2008 - This was the view of the North side of our back yard.   A big old pine tree with no grass underneath.

This was the view of the south side of the back yard.  This cottonwood, huge and mighty allowed no grass to be grown and dropped branches the size of trees when there was a storm.  Last August a wind storm tore off a branch the size of a small tree that crashed down on the playhouse, crushing it, and narrowly missing our bedroom window.

Although I love trees, and we live in the “city of trees” - it was time for the trees to go.  We never used our backyard.

We received expensive permission from the city to remove the trees and had a tree removal service come do the work.  The backyard instantly went from full shade to full sun. 

We had plans to plant a vegetable garden and to begin researching perennials that could be planted in our new sunny back yard.  Then we planned to have the yard tilled and leveled so we could seed it and actually have a grassy, green lawn in the back.  On my next posts, I’ll share some of the perrenials we planted, the vegetable garden and finally, the tilling of the yard.

The back yard is a work in progress, one that will take years, I’m sure, to complete.  I’ll be sharing the progress here on Tomato Drill.