Ugh. Embarrassing. I'm kind of glad the camera ran out of batteries before I could snap a photo of the view from the a/c unit looking back towards the carport - junk city. Some previous owner of this place did a pretty craptacular job of laying down a path - the fieldstones they used to pave it are nice enough, but then they apparently tried to trowel cement into the cracks?? It's starting to get weedy and the cement is breaking and loosening in places, adding a certain treacherousness to the fugliness. Underneath one piece that I almost tripped over I found no base to speak of, just plain old dirt.
So SOMETHING must be done, and soonish, and the magazine articles got me to thinking about what that might be.
Fine Gardening recommends a gently winding (but not too wiggly) path through a side yard to generate a sense of surprise and discovery, an idea that I like. I'm thinking my path would bow out from the side of the house and go around the lilac. Although once again I wonder if I shouldn't replace the lilac to avoid stupid suckers messing with my paving.
I could send virginia creeper or bittersweet vine up the side of the house, with other tall shade-tolerant plants in front (such as what?? hemlock, delphinium, digitalis?) In the near left-hand corner I'd put a Japanese maple, it's a nice sheltered spot for one. Otherwise...most of the the left-hand side is apt to be bone dry given those cedars. Maybe no more so than the east side of the backyard, though, and plenty of stuff seems to deal well enough there. Including rhododendrons, even. Those would be pretty gorgeous with the afore-mentioned maple.
the only thing i've liked about lilacs is that their flowers make lovely smelling compost. i'm allergic and that's what your uncle did with the flowers for me. i thought it was quite considerate of him. otherwise i don't like them much at all.
ReplyDeleteauntie naomi