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Birder's Delight
Plants that would provide foliar interest and attract hummingbirds, birds and butterflies were included in the beds. These perennials were interplanted with evergreen shrubbery to create winter structure. In the lower yard we included new raspberry canes. We chose everbearing varieties and the shady rockery was planted with hostas and sword ferns. An Aronia was planted where the Buddleia had been to encourage native birds. After finishing with the back, we turned our attention to the front and planted some upright native shrubs along with some perennials that could be enjoyed as cut flowers. This rockery in front is hot and dry; plants were chosen to match these conditions. The third photo to the right is the front rockery. Now the birders meet in the back garden, enjoying the hummingbirds and beautiful flowers. This garden took a hit from some extraordinarily cold winter weather. A few shrubs were knocked out; winters seem to be getting tougher the past few years here in the Pacific Northwest. They were replaced with hardy Spireas and evergreen Huckleberries. By the way, there is still a weeping Fir, a pendulous Blue Atlas Cedar, a Camperdown Elm and a lovely weeping Sequoia gracing the back garden. But because of new layout, they accent their own areas. And, all are being pruned to maintain shape and size.
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I've
often heard funny stories from other landscapers about yards that were
designed to have all yellow foliage, or landscapes that had been
planted with the plant material still in the containers. Now I can say
that the backyard of a Kirkland couple was filled with weeping plants!
Pendulous trees and shrubs made up the majority of the plant
selections. It made me smile. The question for this space was never "Do
I start over?" but "Which plants and what layout will work in the
renovated space?" And, to complicate things, there were two levels to
the back yard; an upper level which included all of these weeping
plants, and a lower level that included a rockery and a flat area
appropriate for shrubs.
As
I grew to know my new clients, it became clear that they loved the
outdoors. She is an active member of the Audubon Society, and he loves
hiking. They both garden. They grew fresh vegetables and berries at
their former Minnesota home and enjoy eating fresh produce. Here they
have a deck coming off the kitchen, but the lower family room looked
out on an area that was soggy and unusable--the back yard soon to be
back garden. A new patio area was in order, as well as removing several
weeping False Cedars that were 12 inches away from the house and over
30 feet tall. There was also a large Larch that would only get larger
within 15 feet of the house; its branches were reaching across the
pathway that led to the lower yard. This Larch remained for a year
after planting but has since been removed. The back dropped off to a
lower level and a design for planting this area was included. The top
two photos to the right are of the upper back yard.
The
solution here was to fix the drainage problem and provide seating space
so the back garden could be enjoyed. To do this, the area was regraded
and six inches of crushed stone for drainage was installed as the patio
base. Downspouts were redirected. Then, 
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