FROM A PROBLEM PERENNIAL GARDEN TO A LANDSCAPE SUCCESS

A LANDSCAPE PROJECT THAT STARTED AS A HUGE DRAINAGE PROBLEM...

...IN TWO YEARS BECAME...

...AN ENHANCED, DIVERSIFIED, HEALTHY  WOODLAND...

...WITH PRESERVED SPRING EPHEMERALS..

...AND A BEAUTIFUL HOME  LANDSCAPE...

Sunday,  9:00 AM.  64 degrees F at the ferry dock, 62 on the back porch.  Wind light at ground level, stronger at higher altitude.  The sky is overcast with clouds but the sun if trying to shine through.The humidity is 93% and the barometer is still trending down, currently at 29.93". It should be mostly a nice day.
   All my recent complaints and problems regarding my own perennial garden have to be put into a larger perspective of positive accomplishment, such as the landscape project reaching completion on Chequamegon Road.
   It began two years ago, in the spring of 2013, with a large new house erected on a heavily wooded lot just outside of the city of Bayfield,  Built at the bottom of a long slope, the drainage problem around the house was severe, necessitating a great deal of drain piping and gravel filled ditching around the front of the residence.  The problem became an opportunity to use the concept of a "dry river bed" as the basis for the entire landscape design of the front of the structure.
   Of course the front of the home is only the most prominent aspect of the landscape.  Other elements revolved around emphasizing lake views and naturalizing woodland areas, removing dangerous trees and pruning other trees, planting new native and ornamental trees, and creating some specialty gardens, such as rhododendron plantings that thrive on the lakeshore.
   The overal design philosophy is a naturalistic but not necessarily native landscape, with an English cottage garden feel.  The enhanced woodland remains native and full of spring epherals, additionl native understory shrubs have been planted, and the diversity of woodland trees has been increased.  But a wide range of hardy ornamental varieties of woody plants has been mixed as needed into the foundation and other plantings to add color and variety to the palette of plants, particularly around the house.
   The owners of the property have been actively involved in all aspects of the design, which assures that their personal esthetic tastes and long range maintenance desires for the landscape have been met.
   As this project nears completion, it is evident that it has been highly rewarding personally to the owners,  and professionally to myself.