08-24-2017, 12:26 PM
Thank-you. It is my gift to the shelter. I started 5 years ago when there was just dead grass in that stretch. I removed the grass and dug the soil. Then I started bringing shrubs and perennials and some pansies for colour. Some stuff made it and some things have had to be replaced. We lost all the butterfly bushes in the ice storm. We lost some stuff in the drought last year. I just keep replanting and working the soil. Some things have survived from the original planting. The Rugosa Rose is still going strong. This year I will prune her and clean her up so she can look beautiful in the spring.
The wall changes everything. It stops erosion of the lower end and holds the moisture in the bed. It also gives me a bigger garden to plant. I am so excited because I can do so much more.
Right now I spend time every Monday working on the garden. I weed and tend my plants and I bring some new things to plant. It is a slow project, the work of many years. This year it feels like it is finally established as a complete garden. From now on it will just keep looking better. I want hostas all along the wall and all around the whole garden, even at the back. The green works well with the wood and hostas really pull the garden together. I want bright perennials that attract bees and butterflies. The little clumps I am putting in now will fill in and spread. Some of the things I planted will keep their leaves all winter so the garden will be a four season garden. It should still look interesting in the winter.
I planted a new butterfly bush with magenta coloured flowers. I saw a Monarch butterfly eyeing it. I also have milkweed growing so the Monarchs have somewhere to lay their eggs. We have had rain and it has cooled off so newly planted things should do well.
I will post more pictures soon.
A little known fact is that most of the plants have been carried over to the shelter (on the other side of town from me) on public transit. I have climbed on a bus or a streetcar carrying bags of shrubs and plants or arms full of flats of pansies.
I get to meet all the dogs in the shelter since they walk past the garden on their walks. I love them all.
The wall changes everything. It stops erosion of the lower end and holds the moisture in the bed. It also gives me a bigger garden to plant. I am so excited because I can do so much more.
Right now I spend time every Monday working on the garden. I weed and tend my plants and I bring some new things to plant. It is a slow project, the work of many years. This year it feels like it is finally established as a complete garden. From now on it will just keep looking better. I want hostas all along the wall and all around the whole garden, even at the back. The green works well with the wood and hostas really pull the garden together. I want bright perennials that attract bees and butterflies. The little clumps I am putting in now will fill in and spread. Some of the things I planted will keep their leaves all winter so the garden will be a four season garden. It should still look interesting in the winter.
I planted a new butterfly bush with magenta coloured flowers. I saw a Monarch butterfly eyeing it. I also have milkweed growing so the Monarchs have somewhere to lay their eggs. We have had rain and it has cooled off so newly planted things should do well.
I will post more pictures soon.
A little known fact is that most of the plants have been carried over to the shelter (on the other side of town from me) on public transit. I have climbed on a bus or a streetcar carrying bags of shrubs and plants or arms full of flats of pansies.
I get to meet all the dogs in the shelter since they walk past the garden on their walks. I love them all.
![[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rtQnRVnpHuw/Upv4HXYM20I/AAAAAAAAAqo/K5MmSTvkZdA/w296-h229-p-no/IMG_9091.JPG)
Catherine
