Taking a tour

     On the post of March 9th, I displayed some maps of my property.  Now, I will take you on a "tour" of the gardens.  This will take several posts over the next few months.  So, when reading those posts, go back to the post of March 9th to "follow me along" in the gardens.  The "tour" will go clockwise, with this first post being of the front of the property, with all photos taken from the street.

     Some of these photos were taken a few years ago, so a bit has changed.  The biggest change is the removal of a green ash just in front of the house.  And in a few weeks, the ash along the right side of the drive near the street will bite the dust.

     I built the fieldstone terraces in 2007, using nearly 2000 stones.  I got them from my neighbor's property across the street, making a tiny dent in the millions of stones in 700 feet of a fenceline built during pioneering days of the mid-1800s.  She was a widow, and she was happy to give them to me for free, as in exchange I let her view my yard everyday, the view of which she loved.

     The first plant in the ditch next to the lawn is Lysimachia nummularia (Moneywort).  The dark green planting in the triangular area is Muehlenbeckia axillaris (Wirevine).  The plant in the first terrace is Sedum floriferum 'Weihenstephaner Gold.'  The top layer is planted with Vinca minor.  The groundcover on the right side of the driveway is Euonymus fortunei 'Coloratus' (Purple Leaf Wintercreeper), which I mow with a lawnmower each spring to keep it from getting too high and coarse.