Looks lovely...so lush and verdant!

What a lovely garden. It's a dream come true for me! We went to the Cleveland Botanical Garden recently and they had some woodlands gardens, but nothing as beautiful as yours.

How do you keep all the woodlands weeds out?

Ash tree seedlings, maple seedlings from the neighbours' trees, wood sorrel and a bit of garlic mustard are the main weed issues. A walk around the paths in the garden once a week or so, pulling any weeds I see is all it takes to keep the weeds under control. The garden is densely planted so there's not a lot of bare ground. Mulch comes only from fallen leaves and pine needles in the fall to allow a good build up of natural 'woodsy' soil. Weeds pull out easily. I don't find weeding a big chore at all.

What a wonderful retreat, it looks so cool and inviting and just look at your patch of Kirengeshoma WOW!!!
I've had my plant for quite a few years and it's still not much bigger than when I planted it. You have yours in a wet spot? Maybe that's why mine isn't doing much, mine's in a dryish area.

Annette

Annette - I think moisture is the key - I have some Kirengeshoma in a dryer spot too and it has done squat - in fact, I should check if it's still there as I don't remember seing it when Iwalked around today.... :-)

Such a serene setting! So where's the picnic table on the green lawn? :) That's a perfect place to eat outdoors.

Now I want to see your cottage garden.

Peaceful indeed. Nice.

oakleyok - unfortunately the woodland garden comes with a resident mosquito population :-) so we don't eat outside often! When we do, we bring a table and chairs out as needed and then put them back to maintain the calm green space.

I've posted lots of flowery cottage garden pictures on other threads here. But here are a couple of not-so-good overview ones from tonight. The usual caveats apply - i.e. it looked better a week ago and will look better in a week or two to come as we're in that transition period between high summer and later summer flowering...

From the end of the neighbour across the street's driveway:

The next big showy thing in the front bed will be when the Heptacodium tree by the big cedar bursts into bloom. It's got tons of buds this year so I'm looking for a really good show from it.

Looking up the driveway from the road:
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In a couple of weeks the end of the driveway border will be vivid pink with asters.

Looking towards the driveway border and front bed from across the herb bed:

The herb bed is 'quiet' at the moment because the daylilies have just finished and the pink roses at the right end have finished blooming but not yet developed the vivid red hips that they will display for the next few months.

So you can see that the front garden and back garden are quite different. The north and south alley gardens are transition spaces between the two.

Love both of them, but may actually prefer the green one. There is just something so peaceful and calming about it.

I have something similar, east side flowers, west side, mostly shady with just green lawn. I keep thinking about getting the hostas moved under the trees on that side but now just enjoy the simple greens of grass, shrubs and trees.

I remember your pictures now! Beautiful! Thanks for posting.

We have a nice area outside to eat also, but it's just too darn hot.

I like it! So peaceful and cool-looking.

Woodyoak, I just love everything about your garden. It is so interesting. You must really enjoy just wandering around your whole yard admiring the beauty you've created.

I've seen Kirengeshoma at my local nursery and have never bought it. After seeing your pictures I'm going to get it on my next trip. I have a nice wet-ish spot in the backyard. Thanks so much for sharing your photos of that plant.

I'm not sure I've ever seen pictures shot down your driveway. What beautiful borders! I love how the color of your house is so cheerful and works so well with both the colorful gardens and the serene green garden.

I really hope you post pictures of the Heptacodium when it's in its full glory both in flower and calyx. How long have you had yours planted? It's quite a specimen.

Lovely backyard. I love lots of different greens, they are so relaxing. Just walking the path would be a meditative walk.

Walking the paths in the garden is something I really enjoy!

thyme - Kinengeshoma doesn't produce dense masses of flowers but the ones that it does produce are so perky and cheerful that you can't help but love it. It is spreading a fair bit in the last year or so, so I think I'll have to rein it in a bit next spring. The 'wet corner' plants are all fairly vigorous so I might leave them to fight it out on their own but, probably some intervention is best at this point I think. I will probably post a picture of the heptacodium when it blooms. I can't remember exactly when I planted it - about 7-8 years ago I think. It's never produced much of a show with the calyxs after the bloom finishes, but the tan-colored peeling bark and interesting branch structure make a nice show against the big cedar all winter. Here's what the heptacodium looked like Sept. 25 2009:

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Thyme - I meant to include this in the post above - this is what the house looked like in Mach 1999 when we bought it:
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Woodyoak, shortly after I posted about your heptacodium I remembered your arbor/heptacodium picture. One of my favorites!

WOW! What an amazing transformation in 10 years! It's always fun to see the "before" photos. I don't even think I would know it was the same house from before and after if you didn't tell us. Did you stucco over the brick? The porch added makes such a difference in the "look" of the house. You have a great eye for detail, color, etc.

thyme - the heptacodium picture is one of my favorites too :-) There is now honeysuckle on both sides of the arbour, since we replaced the one that had died out on the right. The metal structure still shows through at this point on the right but on the left (which is hidden by the viburnum in the picture above) the honeysuckle completely hides the arbour structure. We've been keeping the honeysuckle closely clipped so that the arbour shape is maintained - but as a green thing so it looks a bit like an hedge that has been clipped into an arbour. I'm debating whether to take out the honeysuckles and just leave the bare iron arbour... I'll probably leave it for another year to let the honeysuckle on the right fill in so I can see if the 'clipped hedge' look will work or not.

The same craftsman who built the arbour for me is building an 8'+ tall tuteur for clematis that will go a few feet behind the left side of the arbour. I was hoping to have it in place by June, but due to illness in his family, it looked for a while like he wasn't going to be able to build it for me. But he called a few weekrs ago to say he was retiring but would build the tuteur if he could make it with stock he had on hand. So I had to change a few things but it is now almost done and should be ready to install next week sometime, so I'm excited about that!
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If you look at the picture taken looking down the driveway, you can easily see what we did to the house - we added a second bay to the garage and aded on to the side and back of the house - you can see the addition projects out and behind from the left side of the house. We replaced the roof on the original house when roofing the addition, to make a consistent slope for the whole roof. That meant the roof is taller and on a wider base than the original roof - and that's what created the front (and back) porch. And, yes, we stuccoed over the brick so the addition and the original house looked uniform. I love building things! DH does not though.. :-) I arranged all the renovation ad addition with the architect and contractor. At the point when the roof came off the old house, DH came home after stopping by the construction site on the way home from work looking very shocked and said 'the roof is gone!!' I said 'of course; I told you it was going to have a new roof...' He said 'I thought you meant new roof SHINGLES!!' :-)

Woodyoak, you may have the perfect garden house! All those lovely, huge bay windows, and now that lovely porch you have added. It's just gorgeous. The color of the house perfectly compliments the garden, and the back yard is lovely. Everyone is right, it's just so serene and restful looking!

Beautiful garden and grounds. Everything is integrated so well.

Ahhhhh Woody, a kindred spirit, a gal after my own heart.
Sometimes it takes a woman to get what needs to be done, DONE.
Sort of like my dh and me, we're reading the same book but he just picked it up and I've finished it or is it we're just on different pages ;).

Hmmmm, I'm still looking for the crowbar, I need it to do a little remodelling project I was going to do last fall in our living room. A kind of now you see it (eyesore) now you don't. Never mind, I know my dh will like it once it's done.

Lucky you, your tuteur is gorgeous.

Annette

The teuter is gorgeous! What kind of material is it being made from. Will it patina? Will you paint it?

You can really tell from the before and after photos of your house the changes it went through. It really does look like 2 different houses. DH and I have been through 2 house-building projects. But they were being built from scratch and we weren't living in them! I wouldn't be able to imagine coming home and having a roof completely gone! That takes guts!! No guts, no glory, right!?!? And what a glorious home you have made. Well done!

thyme - the tuteur is iron. It will be painted a 'hammered' black (sort of a mottled charcoal gray that looks black at a distance. The iron arbour is the same color and was made for me by the same guy. Mario's attitude is 'if you can draw it, I can build it' - I like working with people like that!)

We certainly didn't live here during the renovation! The renovation was supposed to be finished before the sale of our previous house closed - but, of course, it wasn't finished on time. So we put everything in storage for two months and moved into the 'granny flat' at a neighbour's place until this house was ready. Lots of fun... :-) I'd love to build from scratch but this renovation/addition is as close as I'm likely going to get. The process just about killed Randy - I had a ball though and would do it again in an instant if the opportunity arose! :-)

I love the transformation - congratulations on a design well done.

oak, are you an architect? I am really astounded that you could see the resulting handsome design when you first saw your house.what an amazing and tasteful transformation! i see alot of interesting plant material too.

have you thought of water in your back area? off to the left- a small pond w/ waterfall( for the sound and so mosquitoes won't birth there)?the shed is such a handsome architectural element and would balance the pond from across the yard.

you have pushed me over the edge. I am finally going to stop round-pedding my kirengeshoma in a square hole. tomorrow i am collecting all the half dead k plants from around the 'retum and putting them in the one wet spot.
finally. enough time wasted already!!
th so much for the inspiration and congrats on your major handsome accomplishments.
best,
mindy

Mindy - I'm not an architect, but it was pretty easy to see what was basically wrong with the original house - the garage side was too 'stubby' and didn't balance the mass of the house side. We did hire an architect because I wanted to make sure all the technical stuff would be correct. It was good to have someone with the right expertise to work through various possible options - but we drove each other crazy by the end of it ! :-)

The garden has evolved piece by piece over the past decade. Most of the major elements are in place/have come together now. It's still got a lot of maturing to do and I will continue to tinker and refine - there are still a few problem areas. Elsewhere in the garden - in the front and alley gardens - there are still major changes going on. Painting the shed green just happened this summer and has added a lot of coherence to the backyard scene. I'm a strong believer in the 'genius loci' - to a large extent it feels like the garden tells me what it wants to be/what to do next.... Obviously, that is not literally true:-) and what is really happening is that the garden reflects trial and error and what I've absorbed from reading/study (I read a lot of garden history books - just finished reading a biography of Alexander Pope last week. Every gardener should read his Epistle to Lord Burlington :-)
....
In all, let Nature never be forgot.
But treat the goddess like a modest fair,
Nor overdress, nor leave her wholly bare;
Let not each beauty ev'rywhere be spied,
Where half the skill is decently to hide.
He gains all points, who pleasingly confounds,
Surprises, varies, and conceals the bounds.

Consult the genius of the place in all;
That tells the waters or to rise, or fall;
Or helps th' ambitious hill the heav'ns to scale,
Or scoops in circling theatres the vale;
Calls in the country, catches opening glades,
Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades,
Now breaks, or now directs, th' intending lines;
Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs
....

Your Kirengeshoma will thank you for moving them to a moister spot. Ponds and water features do not attract me. I grew up on a property on a lake with wild water liles and other very attractive natural scenery. Rather than bringing to mind fond memories, a backyard pond would seem a travesty and a reminder of things lost. Not to mention, a pond is too much work....!

Here is a link that might be useful: Espistle to Lord Burlington