Container Garden Guide

A colorful garden and landscape was designed and hammered out of old barn yard on the countryside of Pennsylvania. With outdoor living already built in the owners loved the the open fields and the special appeal it provided.

The outdoor living had its real start with the construction of the swimming pool. It is located immediately outside the garden enclosure and forms an attractive focal point when you look from the terrace out over the garden. Each afternoon after work the owners loaded a truck with earth from the excavation made for the pool and used the soil to level the grade in the barnyard for the future garden. Today the pool is a great success. Swimming parties are followed by supper cooked on the grill.

The next undertaking was to lower the barnyard wall. Friends and neighbors dropped in with crowbars and hammers to break down the top of the solid structure. Refreshing drinks served on the terrace spurred them on. The jagged, uneven top was cemented over and the wall was then whitewashed to preserve the “old” look. By lowering the barnyard wall, the view of the surrounding fields was made visible from the garden, which was developed within the enclosure and from the terrace.

An unusual feature of the barnyard garden is the treatment of one of the entrances. The original height of the wall was retained as a pier to support a belfry made from the lumber in an old discarded bed. The search for a bell with just the right tone was a long one. It is now used to cheerfully summon the family to meals and to the telephone. Except for this use nobody is allowed to ring it. A luxuriant butterfly-bush and a clematis trained around the belfry add a graceful touch and clothe the bareness of the masonry. Holes were made in the belfry to shelter wrens.

In designing the flower garden simplicity was the keynote. Flower borders line the boundaries, leaving an open lawn area that is unbroken except for a central pool with its fountain. Without this feature, the lawn would appear too large and out of scale with the surrounding planting.

All the work of landscape and garden making was done single-handed. The rubble salvaged when the barnyard wall was lowered was used as a foundation for the low brick walls that retain the raised flower borders. These elevated beds add a distinctive note, and the flowers are seen to better advantage than if they were planted at ground level.

Among the flowers and tropical plants used are narcissus, tulips, pansies, Phlox divaricata and Anchusa myosotidiflora. These are followed by such popular kinds as day”lilies, Veronica, iris, phlox, delphinium, hollyhocks and lilies. Both inside and immediately outside the garden enclosure, golden-glow abounds in full measure and adds height and masses of bright yellow to the midsummer garden. This sturdy perennial is particularly appropriate in country gardens.

Potted geraniums and petunias are used here and there in the garden. A few are placed on the coping of the pool, others are massed at the base of the belfry, more stand in an iron tree to decorate the terrace. Cuttings taken from the geraniums in the autumn are wintered in the greenhouse, and in this way it keeps up a fresh supply each year. The small greenhouse is put to use for starting annuals from seed.

Similar Posts:

• Crowbars Hammers and the Backyard Landscape
• An Old Barnyard And A Beautiful Garden
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• Hillside Landscaping A Challenge in Design
• Design first, Construct second : A good landscape and pool project is necessary

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