A year passed. Our lawn began to improve and I decided to get adventurous with a few annuals in our front yard. Nothing exciting; five plants in all. That looked nice. Small but nice. The next year I increased the size of the "plot." More annuals. Nicer still. I'm not sure if the sun affected me or if the garden bug did but our third year into our house, I made my husband till up a garden area the length of our house! (Poor guy!) Needless to say, the poor man has been tilling since!
My gardens have a few "problems" - or challenges, depending on your outlook - to deal with. We still have quite a bit of shade and the soil is very heavy and leans towards clay. For a time now I've been experimenting with plants to see what will grow, what is pleasing to the eye, and what is low maintenance. Here's the outcome: my Minnesota garden(s).
The north side of my house is home to a small hosta collection. I've found that I enjoy the larger leafed varieties as they tend to make a young plant look just a little bit larger. I've had no problems with these plants until this year. I noticed that I've got a good deal of chewed leaves on all plants. I guess that this is the year I learn about the enemy - bugs. Other than that, the hostas have been a pure joy. They've grown quickly and are quite beautiful.
On the east side, underneath a HUGE maple tree, is my fern garden. At least, it use to be a fern garden! I now have hostas, vinca, pachysandra, bleeding heart, lady's mantle and astilbe as well as ferns. This garden section is still in its experimental stages and has a few problems. For instance, the maple tree has a tendency to steal the water and things are often on the dry side.
A favorite of mine is the mature lilac bushes on the west side. I envy
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