Do NOT Copy

Do NOT Copy

The Garden I Left Behind

I have talked to you often about the garden I left behind as well as babbling on about plants that made the trip with us on our last trip before the fire sale. Well, I finally got access to the old pictures that were on the computer that crashed. Now I can finally share them with you. Unfortunately we had to send the computer to the scrap yard as it was unsalvagable.

We moved into our second home when my youngest child was still a baby, just a three months old. She has no memories of our first home. We decided we needed a bigger yard for our children and a bit more space, so we moved about 5 miles away. It was the 30th of May in 2001 when we moved in.

We had looked at the house in March when the yard was still under snow. I fell in love with the inside, it was perfect for us! We put in an offer right away. It was only on the market a couple of days before came.

Imagine our shock when we saw the grass did not come back. Wasn't that the whole point of not buying new construction? Our first home had been new construction and we looked at established homes so we wouldn't have to do landscaping or finish a basement. The yard and landscaping were supposed to be in already. It looked wonderful in the winter with lots of trees and everything. Did I mention that most of the trees were dead too when spring came?

The back garden area was wonderful looking. I loved the bushes that hid our back yard from the street behind our house. It was a great place on a corner lot and it was close enough to walk to the beach. Inherited shrubs in the back mulch garden included a staghorn sumac in the center of the garden, 2 sensation lilacs, a white lilac, and red weigela, along with a few plants I never did figure out what they were.

The kids had lots of neighbor children to play with too. My son met his best friend when was about to start kindergarten. They seemed to be attached at the hip always either playing at our house or theirs every day after school.

After we lived there for a while and got to know the neighbors, we were told the people that sold it to us had lived there less than a year. The original owners were gardeners and the yard was always the best yard in the neighborhood. (I could tell from all of the earthworms that completely covered our driveway after the rain in spring.) It was just a shame a year of neglect could ruin all of that hard work. We intended to bring it back to it's former glory. After a bunch of hard work I thought it was right back up among the best.

We enjoyed most of the plant choices of the original owners, but the sumac was a total thug. It kept trying to take over the entire yard, sprouts shot up everywhere. I managed to talk Cheesehead into helping me rip it out even though it had beautiful form. To fill in the gap, we added some arborvitae that were passed along from some of Cheesehead's friends at work.

We added a couple of new garden areas including my prized rose garden. I had 3 climbing roses and 2 bush roses as well as creeping phlox at the entry path. The roses managed to thrive all summer and looked gorgeous each and every year. Somehow I was never able to keep them alive through the winter though. They got replaced each year. It sure was hard pulling out those rose bushes! But my was it lovely smelling to sit on that little bench under the arbor. When we were getting ready to move we planted 3 clematis to climb the arbor and two knock out roses to fill in the space.

The corner must have gotten too much salt spray from winter plowing, we never could get grass to grow in there so we expanded it into a large rock garden. We added a raised perrieneal garden as well as a wide variety of flowering shrubs.

There was a wonderful ornamental crabapple tree. The fragrance by our front door was always so sweet in the spring time. It was like heaven on earth between the flowering crab apple and the carol mackie daphne that grew next to the door. I put a bench there too. We also added plants that lined both sides of the driveway. Why in the world would you have all that rock but no plants anyway?

Near the door all plants the original owners had put in had vanished but the tulips they had planted. I filled it with color and various textures. Anything that survived our long absence before the fire sale came with me from this area. So far the monkshood is the only plant that died from the transplant process.

I added a pink weigela in an open space in the front garden, but the rest of the plantings were put in by the original owners. I think the green we chose looked better with the vinyl siding than the original color. I matched the new exterior lighting to the trim too. Looking back, I think we overspent on the improvements we made.

The back yard was spacious and we enjoyed outdoor entertaining here. It tended to get very hot in the afternoons in summer. We had plans of adding some sort of shade structure but never got around to putting one in.

This was the second garden shed we built. Somehow I never managed to get a picture of the whole shed. I am not sure what I was thinking when I planted these things in there, it was such a small space. They got very overgrown after we moved out. We like to landscape around all of our outdoor structures to add more enjoyment to our time spent outside.

Can you tell Cheesehead likes using landscaping blocks?

It was heart wrenching to have to move from our dream home just over three years ago. We had put a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and money into that place to make it perfect for us.

We moved into our "new" home three years ago this July. I guess I still call it new because we never really got the closure of selling our old home, signing papers, and the whole 9 yards. It was finally foreclosed on after being on the market for more than two years. Technically we've only really been rid of the burden of that house for 7 months. I'm sure glad that never ending saga is over!

Right now I wouldn't change our house for the world, it's really starting to feel like home.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

10 comments:

Dawn said...

If you don't mind me saying....wouldn't you like the woods to the suburbs anyday? It's a beautiful home and served it's purpose ( I like to say about our former home, a mobile) I love my woods and private ways with all the noise and sound I like to make!

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

You sure did put in a lot of work to make it beautiful. I bet your neighbors were sad to see you go. I'm sure it must've been hard to move. Our home is small and we're a bit crowded but I just can't imagine leaving here. I think I'd be taking plants too.

Anonymous said...

It's always hard to leave something behind that you've put your own touch on. At least you have some beautiful memories & photos to remind you. :)

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I haven't been following your blog long enough to know why you moved. It sounds like the foreclosure happened after you moved. I had thought it was before. I just know it was not a pleasant experience for you, and you were glad someone moved in to the place.

I'm glad you were able to retrieve the photos. You did a lot of work there, and the beds looked great! Your shed looks like it had the same color as the one we repaired.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Cinj that must have been sover overwhelming and depressing .. to love your new home then have to move and have the financial burden hagning over you head for so long.
The work you put in was so wonderful .. it looks beautiful from the pictures.
I hear you about the Sumac .. but I can't give mine up , yet ? LOL
So I keep pulling out the rascals ;-)
Sometimes posting like this can help bring closure .. and you love the house you are in now .. it will all feel so comfortable, perhaps it will help soothe those raw nerves over your experience I hope.
Joy

Lona said...

It is always hard to leave behind something we had worked long and hard on, but you are out now where you can create it all new.It will get there Cinj. I always have more time than money or have room for ;-)

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

You did some wonderful things at your former home, but I'm sure your current garden will be far better than the last, as you've learned from mistakes and successes. Now you can leave all that anxiety over the old house behind and move forward with a lighter heart.

Unknown said...

Dawn- Of course I do now. It was really hard moving away from home like that though. Leaving my family and friends behind.

Catherine- Moving is always hard. I think it's easier to give stuff away than it is to move. I'm glad I did though!

PG- Yeah, but I love this place now.

Sue- No, we moved because of a job transfer. It sure is good to be able to put that chapter behind us.

Joy- Yeah. My depression didn't help make it any easier either. I also got court papers in the mail today with the sold info and the new owner's names so I'm sure that will help.

Lona- It sure was. I work hard on everything though so this place is becoming more and more comfortable every day.

MMD- It's a great learning process. Each home teaches me something new like you said. Things are really starting to look up and things are falling into place. I've been getting so much accomplished here too, it's really making me feel much better.

Nola said...

My memories of my former home are just like yours ~ bittersweet! I put myself into the house and the yard and it hurt to leave, I hope the new owners love it as much as I did!

CiNdEe's GaRdEn said...

Your home was beautiful. I am sure it was hard to leave. We moved from our first home and it was very hard too. I had started the yard there and watched it grow. Sometimes I still miss it and that was 19 years ago(-: But I am glad we moved and I love this home and garden even more.