Whimsigal's Profile

Hello Grows on You Community, I am a gardener who loves to play in the dirt. My husband and I live in a tiny shotgun house in the artsy, Cooper Young neighborhood in Memphis, TN. When we moved in two years ago, there was no fence and just 2 small patches of grass. Since our 2 labs have the run of the back yard, I decided the front yard would be my special place.

I had all the grass taken out, (thought my DH would faint), laid down tons of newspaper (to kill the weed seeds) and brought in a load of composted soil. The fence went up (which immediately made the yard fill so much bigger), and the planting started.
To give me more planting area, I made a curvy path out of stone we've collected on our trips. I love mosaics and decided to mosaic the posts between the gate.
Since I believe "variety is the spice of life", I've managed to squeeze in quite a few different plants: 2 banana plants that have grown to 9 (time to thin out this yr.), butterfly bush, butterfly weed, 2 knock about roses, vibrunum (2), 3 hydrangeus, hostas, shasta daisies, 2 clemetis, basil, grasses, angel trumpet (later died), and several varieties of salvia, and 3 blueberry bushes.+ others I can't name. Add a gazing ball, bird bath, windmill, 2 chairs and a table.....LOL, it's getting crowded. To make it worse, I spent 5 wk in China this summer, and when I got home the garden had burst with energy and needed major pruning.

So I have signed up for a continuing ed class on designing a small garden and will keep you posted on my new garden design.
I love lush gardens that enclose you like a cocoon, so I am trying to fill in my garden with tall, canopy type plants. On top of that, I want color and fragrance. I am open to any and all design ideas and new plants to try. Thank you for your help and encouragement, and especially your beautiful pictures to look at.