Wow!! What a daunting chore - with fabulous results!! And I'm procrastinating about just moving a few plants and winterizing my beds. Thanks for the inspiration.

Bonnie

My back hurts just looking at those logs & rocks! Great job. And I'm envious of your 7 blue poppies! I can't wait to see them next year!
Maggie

Wonderful! I love what you have to work with and how well you work it! I will be another one looking out for your pics next year!;)
Oh,and love the bear,he is adorable!:)

Beautiful, tiffy. Nobody ever made rocks look better than you do it.

It does sound like a Herculean task to undertake. Like Bonnie, I'm just at the point of yanking annuals and moving a few perennials, and can't seem to get that done.

Karen

Well, it was one which gave me some thought every time I rolled a rock from the woods or lifted a trunk of wood not to mention carrying the loads of compost and soil. Keeps me going at 50!!

This is the first garden I see in the morning since it's viewed from the bathroom window. :O)

In regards to the plants which were not winter sown, they were all bought at reduced prices. I don't think I've paid full price for any plant in the last couple of years, so the Variegated Hydragea, Cimicifuga, Rodgersia, Umbrella plant, Chocolate Joe Pye, etc were all waiting in other beds to be placed here. As an example, I bought the Chocolate Joe Pyes for $1.00 each. They were priced as such because the garden centre selling them didn't know what they were. Nice!!

It will start to bloom in the spring with the Umbrella Plant and finish in the fall with the Cimicifuga and Joe Pyes so there will be something blooming all season long.

Now I move to another shade garden which must be finished and am starting to create a few more full sun ones. Just have to crunch some more muscles and get some more 'trunks' from up the road! LOL!

Can't wait to see the results next year, tiff - you did a lot of work - don't hurt yourself, now....

Carrie

THat looks great! I love the log pieces, too! We had a spot in our front yard that kept dying every summer. I knew something was buried under there so this past spring, we dug "it" up. It ended up being a huge chuck of rocky builder's concrete that broke up into several pieces that I promptly used as a border in a flower bed. Mine isn't as pretty as yours but it works! lol Great job!

Nice work, I tried a smaller one myself in the spring (got tired of seeing green) and wanted a splash of color. I put an arbor in I found at a garage sale for $5.00. Tonight I was out there planting things that have been laying around in pots. I can't wait to see yours again next year with all that you planted it will be beautiful!

tiffy: The colors on that variegated hydrangea are outstanding! What type is it? Does it bloom much for you?

Karen

Nice Job! That is a nice bed Tiffy.... I see Lots of love went into into that bed. Barb

Thanks everyone! I'll have to post pics next years for sure.

Karen,
It's Macrophylla Variagata - a Lacecap.

I've been at my wits end with this Hydrangea. It was on the front lawn and was replaced there by Hydrangea Paniculata Grandiflora which blooms on new woods and has done amazing this year. When we moved it, DH asked what to do with the tag and my response can't be written here as it might offend someone... In three years it never bloomed and grew so little. We moved it and it actually started to grow in the holding bed which is similar in sun/shade consitions. The soil in the new garden is of course, better so I'm expecting it to grow well there.

I've also discovered this year that deers like the flowers of these Hydrangeas but in a sense, that's OK. The reason I am keeping it is the foliage. You can kind of see it in the photos, but the leaves have a solid green, yellow, and a blueish green as well in some areas. If it ever blooms, I'll save some seeds, but then again they are so easy to propagate from stem cuttings.

There's more photos on Dave's Garden if you want to check out that site. It says they are only hardy to zone 6 but I'm a USDA zone 5 so you'd be fine if you found one. :O) FYI, several places I googled state that the variegation in the leaves is more pronounced in the shade.