A Small Perennial Garden in an Ugly Spot in the Backyard

Three years ago, ahem, I wrote a post about the five ugliest spots in our backyard. Since I don't even want to go to the place where I describe our quickly-spiraling-downward-backyard let's focus on one little area that has seen a bit of progress.

 

This is the picture of Ugly Spot #5 that I shared back in May of 2011. It's the little spot between the fence and our lower deck. It was barely growing any grass and just looked awful. I decided to take action. Either last summer or the summer before (where does the time go!?!?!) I went ahead and dug out the grass, added some rich garden soil, and planted some perennials.

 

I chose two climbing perennials to draw attention away from the ugly, old window as well as the hydro meter and cable lines. One is a climbing hydrangea that was a tonne of money (and that I almost killed but miraculously brought back to life) and the other is a white clematis.

 

 

I chose a peony for the middle of the garden because they get quite full and leafy to disguise the window. Oh, and they're kinda pretty.

The rest of the perennials I chose were kind of random. I think I planted some coneflowers, asters, and phlox. I suppose it will be a surprise if / when they flower this season. 

The space still looks pretty ugly. But, it's definitely better than it was before.

 

The climbing vines are growing up wooden stakes at the moment so I picked up two adorable trellis' on my last trip to the grocery store when I was supposed to actually be in the grocery store and not in the garden centre. Wink, wink.

I think I might have to tweak the spacing of everything once the perennials are a bit more established. But, I think I'll worry about that later.

For now, my helper and I are just trying to keep the plants alive.

Eventually I'll try to find some pretty garden edging. I don't want anything too formal so I pinned this picture of a flagstone edge that I really like. I try not to look at too many pictures of nice gardens and yards though. It gets a bit discouraging when you're trying so hard but your lawn is still invaded by dandelions, moss, and chinch bugs (true story).

Dear picture: please stop rubbing it in that you have a nicer garden than me. It's not nice.

In other news:

 

- I've got a few posts in the works about how our deck is coming along. I've made it my life's mission to give it a little makeover this summer. 

 

- Alex is tiling the basement fireplace as we speak! If you were one of my dear blog friends who inquired about the tile name and manufacturer after my last post - stay tuned. Alex stashed the invoice for the tiles and we still haven't come across it. Wow, we're so organized. ;) 

 

- Our whole little family got slammed with the stomach flu and then a super bad cold. These past few weeks have been tres sucky. But, it's been sunny for three days in a row (THREE!!!) and I think we're finally all on the mend. Yippee!