Lots of water

   Now to the water garden.  From 2000-2002 I built three separate water features in this garden.  There is a corner waterfall, about five feet high, dropping almost vertically.  About sixty feet away is the large waterfall, actually two separate three-foot vertical drops of water.  Between these two is what I call the "weeping waterfall," though I show no photos of it--as I need to replace its pump and do some rock rearrangement next year.  The photos are actually in reverse order, as Google "improved" its blog system, royally screwing it up in several ways.  So, the first three photos (of course, the last ones) show the corner falls that I took from on top the screenhouse shown in the second actual photo.  The water at the bottom of it splits into two streams that then fall over two short drops into small pools, and then the water flows out of them until it reaches the big pool (which, of course, feeds the corner waterfall).  The entire system has 43 tons of concrete (for the foundation of the big fall) and decorative stone.  I hauled it all up a hill, a 20-foot vertical climb, 200 feet from my driveway.  With a wheelbarrow--700 trips!  The happy frogs could not care less.  Two of the photos of the pond show water lilies, but they no longer are in the pond, as the shade got too deep for them.   So I replaced them with a large, lightweight volcanic stone that is covered with moss (and which is usually occupied by a frog--or two or three).

The stumpery

      Just to the north of the bog garden is my stumpery, a place of interesting dead wood.  Such gardens were popular in England in the 1800s.  Prince Charles is supposed to have one, though he has not invited me to see it (yet).  I visited one in the city of Invercargill in New Zealand in 2018.  The first two photos show that garden.  I hope to expand mine as I find more and more interesting wood.

 

Moving north

   These photos are from the area just to the north of the photos of the previous post.   The black box in the second photos covers a pipe and faucet.  The third photo shows more of the limestone rocks I collected last year from a building being torn down--and which showed up in earlier posts. The fourth photo shows a hanging fixture I made that was designed by Leonardo da Vinci 500 years ago.  The last photo overlooks the whole area, including the door to a shed I built into the hillside in 1987.

New photos

     I just downloaded some new photos, which will replace some of the ones I recently posted.  So, please pardon the repetition, but these are better, I think.

 

New photos

      I just downloaded to my computer of some new photos of the garden area just posted in the last few weeks.  Frankly, I forgot that I took them (I take a huge number of photos).  So, please pardon the repetition--but the new photos are better, I think.

Hosta hillside

 Note: I am having difficulty creating a new post, as Google tells me I am out of storage space.  This problem might take a while to solve, plus I will be out of state for a few days.  So, please accept my apology for the trouble.

This area of hostas was established about 25 years ago.  It is on a hill sloping both to the back of the lot (to the west) and to the right (or north).  The wall of railroad ties was just replaced this May.  The cobblestones at its base are sandstone.  I collected several thousand of them in 2009 at a factory site on the south side of Milwaukee, which was built in the 1880s.

     The first photo was mistakenly placed in the last post.  The last photo shows the area from the reverse view.

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On to the back

     These photos are from the far SW corner of the property, and following posts will move to the north.  At this point the lot is sloping uphill both to the west (towards the back) and to the north.  The back of the property is 150 wide, and the hill sloping north rises about 15 feet over that length.

     Note: the second photo is not supposed to be there, and I cannot find how to remove it for now.

     The first photo shows the entrance to the gardens in the back, and the second and third show the area where there are two small sunken gardens.  The fourth photo shows that area from the back of the lot looking in the opposite direction east southeast towards the house.  As it was taken in 2016, the lawn has been reduced considerably in 2019.

     The last photo shows where the path splits, with one part leading north.  Several rocks covered with moss are at that junction.