Change in the Garden

After writing about un-gardening last time, I've been thinking about how gardens change. We have a smallish garden to the west of the house which we have always called the Japanese Garden. In all, it's probably about 50 by 75 feet. At first it looked like the picture above - rocks, small ponds, a few trees and lots of sun. This picture was taken in 1995.

This is a year of 2 later of the center pond and its maple tree.

And this is the same maple tree now. It would be a lot bigger, but we've spent a lot of time shaping it and pruning it to keep it in scale with the garden.

Looking north to south, there is a nice grass path and various conifer. This was about 1998.

By 1999 the grass is gone and we have added a gravel path and lots of rocks. This is the view looking south to north.

And the same view looking north to south.

In another year, things have grown and the magnolias are flowering better.

If I had planned better, I'd have a bunch of current photos, but I decided to write this at about 10:30 PM and it's a bit dark for garden photography at the moment, so I'll make this a 2 parter and finish up tomorrow. I can tell you that the garden is now too shady for a lot of the things that were there originally. The low growing conifer aren't so low growing any more and most have matured nicely. Those that haven't have been transplated or just cut down. It is now home to hostas, ferns, gingers, mosses, woodland peonies, hellebores and a host of other things. No longer happy there are the pitcher plants, creeping willows (though the bunnies had something to do with that), the Franklinia and a small waterlily. In addition to the conifer, the garden is dominated by a couple of large magnolias and lots of Japanese Maples. As you reach the back of the garden, going up the hill, in addition to the conifer, there are 2 ancient and very tall pines that were here before we bought the place, some rhododendrons and a couple of Witchhazels. So, tomorrow, I'll post some current pictures, though it may be hard to get good ones, the garden having grown up as much as it has. Just wish I had thought of doing this before the peak of fall bloom had passed for the maples.

Jane