I thought I would show a little of the yard at Radiance Manor. A prequel of sorts of the gardens that will come later.
I just finished mowing prior to taking these. Here is looking out the back door:
It is amazingly green around here for the end of August, can you believe it? I bet that means we will have spectacular fall color! Anyway – I brought over my friend the bowling ball as the first garden decoration 😀
This whole house has been neglected for years and the yard and garden beds were no exception. Much is overgrown. Here is the entrance to the back yard. We need to fix the gate.
I am not a fan of hostas, so I won’t be keeping these most likely. I have a friend who wants them, so hopefully they will get a new home. I might keep one and move it, but I have other ideas for this space.
This is what I call the shade bed:
What a mess! Lots of maples growing in there and some grape vines, I think. I see a lot of these, which I think are columbine? Or a weed LOL
There is Virginia creeper in there, too – that is lovely for fall color.
This part of the yard is also shady:
Those cedar will be coming out as they are way overgrown. I have lots of ideas for a shade garden in this space. You can see the outline of the old beds. If we take out these cedars, that is likely where a garden shed will go.
Then there is a large corner that gets the most sun. I guess this is the sun bed, then LOL!
I honestly don’t even know where to start here. I haven’t done much except poke around. There are these enormous weeds – these are at least 8 feet tall:
At first I panicked because I thought they were giant hogweed (which will give you severe burns if you touch it), but it isn’t. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not hogweed, thank goodness. If you want to see something scary, google hogweed burns.
There is some goldenrod:
With a ladybug! Yay! (Achoo).
There are some daylilies in this bed and tons of lily of the valley along the side of the house, too. The nicest plant right now is this hydrangea:
Aren’t those blooms gorgeous? You can see where it is in the very first picture. I have never had a hydrangea live for me. I tried growing them when we lived in Illinois and they kept dying. I don’t always have a green thumb. Hope I have better luck with this one!
It’s going to take years to get these up to snuff and I have to sort out a lot of ideas. I am getting a better idea of where the sun hits as we spend time working on the house. I can’t wait to actually get out there and start doing stuff. We just have been doing the lawn for now since the inside is the priority. The only thing I really need to do is make some spots for the plants I want to take with me. I will probably just have to dig them a spot and then move them again next year.
Those hydrangeas are beautiful! They must like it in that spot.
I have the same giant plant springing up everywhere in semi-wild/wild areas. Overnight it seems like they grew to over 10 feet tall. >:O Can’t find an image online, so if you find out what they are, please tell me!
I think it looks like some member of the thistle family, but I don’t know my weeds or wildflowers very well.
I have one hydrangea like that! I do love it.
Funny you don’t like hostas– I don’t like them much either.
My overall thought is that you have a lovely space for your garden!
There is a huge potential in this yard, that’s for sure!
I took the hostas away from my house as soon as possible. I’ve never liked them and I’m not sure why! Poor hostas. I’ve had several varieties of lilies where they were but even though I like lilies, I’m still not sure I like them there either.
I bet all that seems overwhelming right now but I’d guess that as soon as you have the opportunity to get out there and clean things up a bit you’ll feel better about going forward. How fun to be able to have that much space to work with!
It’s funny because hostas are so ubiquitous and I have never really liked them.
I am pretty excited to get working in the beds. I have way too many ideas and need to prune them down – kind of like the beds themselves LOL
How gross – those pictures of the burns from the sap of the hogweed! Lots of outdoor work ahead for you, but you are so good at it. Have a good rest of the Labor Day weekend!!
Isn’t that plant scary? Eek!
You have a lot of work to do but girl are you going to have fun doing it.
I have a few hostas in my garden but not very font of them, it attracts snails and they always eat the plants so they are never very pretty.
I also do have a hydrangea which I love.
I don’t get that many snails in my garden. The pests are mostly beetles and aphids. There are 2 different kinds of hosta at this house. Two are out front and probably will be the first to go. Might replace them with rose bushes 😀
Once you cut that back, you will have a perfect blank artist’s canvas for a beautiful garden!