My Garden Before and After

It's been three years since we took over this garden. I think we're finally "done." It's been a lot of work to get it to this stage.
It's hard to remember the garden looking like this when we first moved in. Pretty sad even though there were a few large shrubs to work with. And what little lawn we had was mostly crab grass.
Here's the same border today. Filled with hosta, irises, violets, day lilies and heucheras. We expanded the beds, added yards and yards of top soil and worked on the grass.
The north side of the yard is a shade garden where nothing grew except a few scilla before the maple trees filled out.
Now we have a gorgeous shade garden complete with a tranquility fountain which isn't installed in this photo taken in the spring.
When we built a fence along the back property line, it created a tiny area hidden behind the old fence- but I had a plan.
It has become my "secret garden" where heliopsis, day lilies, roses and peonies shine.
The first spring, we took the area behind the garage and built a raised vegetable garden.
Then we bordered it with some of the existing picket fencing from the back perennial border.
We grow a ton of vegetables there!
The patio area was wide open to the front of the house and the driveway. The first thing we did was build a fence around it.
The path now leads from the patio to the vegetable garden on the left. The beds are filled with geraniums, hosta, phlox and roses.
The climbing roses are happy growing along the arbour leading into the vegetable garden.
Heather (New House New Home)
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Dianne Gleaton Dianne Gleaton on May 04, 2016
    Gorgeous gardens. What is the blue flowering vine in the last photo? Enjoyed your beauty!
  • Erin Erin on May 06, 2016
    what state/zone do you live in? Thank you
  • Ana Helga Marty Ana Helga Marty on May 08, 2017

    What plants did you use for your shaded garden? I need some ideas!

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