No Time for Coffee Break Tuesday

The day started off with a leap out of bed to hit the deck running.  We needed a bit more dirt for the front before the plants arrived at 10:00am, so the dirt guy was called yesterday and expected around 8:00 this morning.  He showed up early.  After doing his "blow dirt everywhere" thing, Matthew and Rusty headed out to the stone quarry to get an idea what my three large boulders look like.  And no, in case you're wondering: you haven't missed a post; I just haven't mentioned them before now, but they will become an integral feature of the landscape in the front.  I'll tell that tale tomorrow when I can take photos.

Alan and I decided it would be a good time to go grocery shopping while the day was young and before the plants arrived.  As we drove off, I took these "before" photos, just in case the plantings were delivered while we were gone.  The blank canvas of the front yard...

 

So.  We drive down to the gate, and what do we see but all our plants and trees, with Matthew and Rusty loading everything into one of their trailers.  Guess the plant supply guy was early today, too.  (His truck/trailer wouldn't have been able to turn around on our small mountain road so he had to unload on the outside of the gate).

 

I quickly snapped some photos, then off we dashed to the store.  When we got back an hour later, the front was nearly transformed with dozens of pots filled with plants, trees and shrubs.  Though, I think we will still need more before all is said and done.  Turns out, it's a really big front yard.

Now comes the hard part:  Deciding where to plant everything.  It's not easy, especially as I have to try to picture how things will look in a few months, and next year, then five years in the future.  About halfway through driving the guys nuts ("no, no, two feet to the left" and "nope, don't like that there at all"), I realized we will probably need more plants.  But, for now, we will build the bones of the garden, then figure out the rest as we go along.

Putting in the rhododendrons...

Still working on what goes in this small side corner...though the orange cones will be planted somewhere else.

I'm up on the top of our bank now...and see what I mean about how big the front suddenly appears to be..??  WAY too much blank space between everything.  I'm a French Intensive gardener...I don't want to see this much wasted space and/or dirt.  (And these two photos are really the side of the house, not the front at all...)

After the guys planted all the rhodies, the most gorgeous Weeping Cherry, a Magnolia tree, and a Japanese Maple, they moved on to planting the pines along the back fence--mainly because I was losing the plot and couldn't decide what needed to be planted next.  They had saved these six bushes from the front yard when the initial demolition went down, and now it was time to transplant them.  A back-breaking couple of hours later...

And, at last...all planted.  With any luck, they will adjust to being wrapped in burlap balls for the past two months and will now grow big and lush and be a perfect barrier along that portion of the fence to discourage the deer. Who knows..??  If the plan works, I might actually get some flowers in the backyard after all.

It's been pretty much a non-stop sort of day.  Of course, in between all the plants and plans, we had to do the dog walkies, though that wasn't a hardship today as it's been very warm and pleasant.  Perfect to be outside digging in the dirt.

Tomorrow we have to get majorly serious about what goes where.  After I post this, I'm going outside to wander amongst the pots and try to visualize things.  Once the boulders are delivered--first thing in the morning--I'll have a better idea where some things will go as the boulders are truly a feature of the front yard and I have plants specifically in mind to plant around them.  

[**Jumping up and down with excitement here...and just wait until you get a look at these babies...mwahhhahaha...**].

It's another busy day tomorrow, and I'm supposed to be ready to point, direct the flow and know what the hell I'm doing, so I'd better get on with things.  More photos tomorrow...