Will,

What got you started on this venture?

You have come a long way in a year.

It appears your space is limited just as mine is. Never the less you have created a full time job for yourself.

I quit adding up the cost as to what I have spent over the last 10 years.

I would still do it again.

Dave

Limited space, but blessed to have what I have. I think in metropolis areas in the near future, residential lots will rarely be sold larger then .2 acres or so.

At this point, I am 'squeezing' everything I can out of it, planting trees in the greenbelt itself and pushing the shade boundaries ever further. I'm sure there will be plenty of failure, but along the way I think I'll find some cultivars/species that may be more attractive with part shade.

I got started on Conifers from Bob Finchams' website and then subsequent visits to his 'arboretum'. I've done the whole gardening 'circle' at this point, annuals, perennials, deciduous shrubs, evergreen shrubs and now finally conifers and Japanese maples. Just from a short two years landscaping my land and as a green thumb, I've found that JM's and conifers are the 'all-stars' of gardens if you know what/where to grow and can get your hands on a few of the select cultivars. They just have so many benefits, long lived, rarely need pruning, etc. not that I need to tell you that advantages. I just think they are severely underused in residential landscaping. I think with future water shortages, gardens with native plants or conifers will become ever more 'in' and 'green' as well. If someone can buy a hybrid car, why would they have a huge 2 acre lawn full of water-greedy grass?

I think lawns have a place, but I think the day where landscaping was centered around the lawn is drawing to an end.

Will

I predict future transplanting of things poised to eat the paths, such as the weeping Japanese cherry.

I also predict that this project is not going to end as long as your interest holds up.

Can I just give the weeping cherry a nice hard pruning each year after bloom? Some of the plants I've put in are certainly just 'spacers' and filler. Down the road, I'll make decisions on who gets voted off the island and who gets to stay.

You're also right about it not ending. Perhaps I should say this 'stage' is ending. I wanted to get everything in the ground and properly groomed before Spring struck and I should be a few days ahead of that deadline. I have future plans but most of them are just 'day jobs' compared to this beast of a project. It's certainly the most ambitious thing I've ever attempted.

super work will

ken

I think it's unstoppable. You've done so well with everything. That's art-deco man and it's a HECK of a garden. I am extremely surprised. And pleasantly surprised as well.

About that Cherry, keep limbing off the outer branches so it attains a very large height. Keeping it 'uniformly' pruned as it continues upward. It will become a very beautiful tree over time. It will have stature similar to Larix kaempferi 'Diana' if you allow your imagination to correspond...

Your nursery will be available of course as verbally suggested so just keep pruning the conifers you wish to retain and then you'll have an ongoing supply of scionwood, too. Definitely part of bboy's thoughts.

Your Cherry could have drooping flowers just above your path , etc - etc -. Here's one with an imaginative flow:
Dax

{{gwi:652810}}

Lopping back of cherries results in awkward branch angles - and as with any tree - ugly stubs. Repeated lopping of the top of any new tree will reduce overall subsequent size increase until the lopping is discontinued. If you want more height from this one, without waiting for it to mound up on its own select a shoot and train it up a stake.

The best approach is to plant it where it has room to develop without getting in the way.

Will, you have done an enormous amount of work in a very short time...beautifully done!

Barbara

Will,hope you will post some pics when the maples are coming out...and... buy some more land! T.

What a transformation! And a great deck to enjoy it all from.

As bboy said,"Lopping back of cherries results in awkward branch angles - and as with any tree - ugly stubs".
Right on! Stubs are the first sign of an amature. Weeping Cherries should be pruned from underneath, and then working up so as to make the 'umbrella' rather thin. In addition, if a branch is too long and touching the ground, it should also be pruned off where it begins, not stubbed off. That leaves a wavy edge to the umbrella, which is much more pleasing to the eye than if cut off even all around. When a vertical sprout happens coming from the trunk determine if it's above or below the graft. If below, cut it off as soon as possible. Rub it off if you catch it soon enough. The quicker you catch it, the less it will resprout. If above the graft, let it go. if several, determine which ones you want to keep and prune off the rest. In this way you will have a tree someday like the one above that Dax posted. Most people try to maintain a 'Dutch Cut' umbrella the same size year after year and are rarely successful.

You mentioned top dressing the 3/4 minus with pea gravel. Only add that which can be accepted by the 3/4 in gravel. Tamp it in and sweep of the excess.

A few years ago I added pea gravel to my 3/4 inch on my driveway when it was wet. It worked real well where it settled in. Then a few years later I added some pea gravel that was smaller than pea gravel. It was called 'Grand', about the size of BB's.
The end result was that the driveway up here by the house looks like finely done exposed aggregate concrete.

Your garden is looking very good!

Thanks for the tips botann. I originally planted the weeping cherry before I really got into conifers - at least in the backyard. I am going to try to keep it but if I don't manage it carefully or it starts to impede on the growths of others, I'm afraid it will have to go.

Tunilla: For sure I'll be posting pics in early Spring(just a month or so away!). Many of the Japanese maple cultivars I have are actually more colorful and spectacular in Spring then they are in Fall. I'm hoping it all comes together nicely.

Still a lot of work to do. I need to finish planting some 50-100 conifers/maples and push the back all the way to the property edge(and then some!). Also I am going to randomly pepper the landscape with pieces of obsidian(like the rock garden), and look for an affordable 'blue/purple' rock for the dry creek bed.

It's been a fantastic project though full of from-the-cuff design and flow left up to my untrained eye. It won't appeal to all, but I like it and that's what matters! :)

Will