When I first moved into 7214 Thirteenth Avenue back in 1994, the back and front yards were rock hard clay with pebbles. The grass that was present looked like what hair looks like when it first tries to return to scalps subjected to chemo.
One of the very first things I did was to lay in this circle bed on brick at a time. My first project. And from there I began conditioning the soil and trying out various plants. Most of which failed to thrive. Finally, after nearly 15 years at it, a couple of varieties of Loosestrife took off. And at times they look beautiful, but overall they fail to maintain themselves in the inevitable "droughts" of mid to late summer. So, I have decided to re-conceptualize the circle garden.
My plan is to keep the things that I like in it. I have a great Hosta, some amazing Asiatic Lilites, struggling Epimedium, Anemone, a purple Sedum... But first I have to remove the Loosestrife.
This is no easy chore. The roots are so ubiquitous that I have to dig up one shovel full of dirt at a time and then tediously extract the roots and bids and anything that even remotely looks like it could spring to life later on.
The good thing is just how rich and wonderful the soil now is. I am very proud of this.
From here comes my new vision of circles within the circle.
Here the first circle is conjoined to a smaller one.
Eventually, another small circle will be placed to the left of these.
Today, I continued to remove the roots along the back edge. Re-planted the Asiatic Lilies, and added to them about 30 daffodil bulbs. The large circle is the home of the great Hosta, and I returned about 40 beautiful deep purple crocus bulbs to that circle, too. In the companion partial circle I replanted the Purple Sedum, and more daffodil bulbs around it's perimeter. A lesser Hosta is in the crux on the right side, and a long suffering Fern now lives in the crux on the left side. I think the radiant heat from the stones will benefit it greatly.
And now it's done for the next year!
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