The Shade Garden Grows

If you sit on the shade garden wall, you can see the flowers up close. Last year I learned that white trilliums turned pink as they aged, but I never realized how beautifully streaked they are. What a delight to get such an intimate look. A few plants have been moved into the bed before it is finished much like what happens when you move into a new house. Somehow things take a little longer, and projects get just a little bigger than the original plans .




Shade garden work moved to the top of Ed's to do list today. Plastic mulch and wood chips were placed around the outside edge of the wall. The first run of the lawn mower revealed that something needed to be done about the grass next to the wall. Stones waiting on the lawn needed to be moved. Placing them on the wall seemed to be the simplest solution. It was a great day for wall building. The weather was cool, cloudy and comfortable. Buds are opening on the locust tree. Leaves will follow quickly so our shade will be arriving soon making this a great place to work on a sunny day.

Half An Oval Plus

The trunk of the locust tree is inside the line between the two ends of the wall. That means the wall is more than half done. Each days progress adds greatly to the sense of pending completion. Soil in the hole was the first task today. One pie shaped wedge is ready for planting. Now more soil must be added before wall work can happen. Sifting soil is a task. Building wall is play. If tomorrows rain materializes, the aching back will rest from all this work and play.

Tree swallows were in the air here today. Their return is always welcomed. Sheer joy is the only way to describe the flight of tree swallows. Constant turns, climbs and dives is their style. For them flight is much more than a way to get from here to there. Blue birds have been in and out of the nest boxes. We will watch to see if they can hold their claim under the pressure from the swallows. Last year we watched in horror as a diving swallow knocked a blue bird from the top of the nest box. They will have to work this out. All we do is watch.

Splat!

This section of new stone wall is to define a raised shade garden under the locust tree. Careful planning determined the height of the wall on the sloping lawn. A place for us to sit was the plan. The locust tree is the only tree in the former pasture that now is our lawn. Where else could we hang the bird feeders? The tree provides cover for the birds in the summer. Its perches function year round. For our seat perhaps portable cushions will secure a clean location. We will not want to sit here for long periods of time. When we approach the birds fly away. In time they return.

Shade Garden Wall

The locust tree marks the location of our first pile of leaf mold. Loads of well rotted leaves were lifted from a village site and brought here. The locust tree grew from seed. Soon its roots claimed the compost pile. This is the only tree in our lawn. Finally it occurred to us that we could have a shade garden. The stone wall will allow us to fill to the level of the old compost pile. It will also give us a place to sit in the shade.

The tan colored stones in the wall were just removed from the ground. Ed found them while digging the ditch next to the driveway. Rain will wash these stones clean. Then they will match the rest of the wall.



Each wall is actually two walls. The stones are placed so that they are falling toward the center. Its the same principle that allows two drunks to hold each other up. The voids between the two walls are filled with screened fines from the gravel bank and small broken pieces of stone. If these spaces are carefully filled, there is no place for the wall stones to fall. Their only choice is to stay where placed.