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Front
Lawn + Driveway |
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Patio
+ Patio Garden |
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Patio Garden
Reclamation |
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This
area is across from the rear patio and was thick with the "mapley
things". I don't know what
they are but they grow & spread
FAST. DH has pulled/chopped and hacked them all
out.
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Yucky
Maple ? Mess |
Close
Up of Yucky Maples |
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Real
Close Up of Yucky Maples |
Basic
Swakking of same |
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Late Fall
'05 -
With the early
(and ugly) onset of fall all we accomplished was cardboarding the area
& spreading top soil. I forgot to water down the cardboard
before placing the topsoil however with all the rain we got over the
winter I doubt it mattered much. |
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Gazebo
Before |
Gazebo
After |
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And Again
with Trumpet Vine |
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Pond + Deck |
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There
was part of the falling down arbor here which obscured the view of the
pond. Our intention is to put
a deck in the cleared area overlooking the pond. |
This
is pretty much the view we'll have from the deck. |
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Iris
with rampant Petasites in background |
Pond
from in front of Petasites |
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Another
shot from the Petasites/Sundial end |
Looking
from the *future deck* |
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From
the pump |
Another
shot from the Petasites area. |
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Koi
- look small here but about 16-18" long. We also have one 'kinda
baby' which is about 6" long and one 'really baby' which is maybe
3" long. As well several goldfish of varying sizes. We'll
protect the pond well for the winter so we don't have "snacking
types" thinking this is a buffet. |
Parrot
Feather + yuckky silt on bottom. The silt is a dilemna
as we'd like
to get the pond a little cleaner however
don't want to traumatize the
fish. We've
added snails and parrott feather and fairy moss -
all towards hoping to obtain more balance. |
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Lots
of Water Lilies - Yellow & Purpley Pink -
began flowering the end of June |
Iris
falling down creating more stuff in the pond |
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These
Petasites need to go. . . waaay
invasive and simply takes over all & any available space.
I want
tropical stuff here but not simply one plant --
gone wild. |
Another
pond shot in May. By the end of June you
can't see nearly as much
for all the "growth". |
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Fall
photo as you can see by the date. The iris are
fading and lots of yukky stuff falling into the pond
with the fall winds. I've no idea what should be
done with the iris but surely something. |
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May
'06 - Pond Clean Up
This was too
much of a mess and we couldn't stand it any more. We looked into
various methods
of doing it ourselves but finally gave that idea up and got the super
folks from Clearwater Pond in Errington
to do it. We are very glad we did as it was quite a job - even for
the experienced! |
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Pond
May 18 - Before Cleaning |
Red-Legged
Frog we found in the pond. A species of
*Special Concern* more info here. |
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Fish
Holding Tank |
Catching
The Koi - this is the male (white) |
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And
the clean out begins |
The
iris removal project! |
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This
is only one of several - look at the roots! |
Another
hunk of iris - mostly potted into milk crates |
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Took
a machete to get them split apart |
Getting
to the bottom now - finally! |
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Close
to the bottom - a lot deeper than we knew! |
Tod
bailing to get down to the bottom |
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Must have
been a good 8" plus of Mulm! |
Vacuuming
the remainder |
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Getting
close to cleaned out |
Mike
repotting the lilies + iris |
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Plants
back in place |
Clean
Pond |
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Clear
Water!
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However .
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Within two days junk had begun to settle on the pond per picture
below. As I write - its been a day past 3 weeks
since the pond was cleaned - the *green water* has returned big time
and we can barely see the fish.
It's free floating algae which may be caused by one of a few different
reasons. We're investigating and hope
to have the pond back to reasonable clarity by the beginning of July -
preferably without using chemicals.
(BTW - this algae doesn't bother the fish - works fine for them - only an
aesthetic nuisance to us).
We have waders and nets - both small + large - and we do go in to clean
out the stuff. The pond has pretty
good plant/shade coverage though - with the plant repotting - its been
lessened somewhat until the lilies
begin to grow again. There is lots of duckweed plus Parrot Feather +
Water Lettuce + Water Hyacinth
but it seems to be all down at the end that is already quite shaded. |
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One other
problem - though not really of concern at the moment - is this crack in
the bottom.
The pond loses maybe 2 inches of water over a day or two in the summer
with less in the winter.
We top it up and its not really an issue of concern but perhaps something
we would look at fixing
at some future point. |
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Today -
June 8/06 - I added more Water Hyacinth (to replace that which someone's
puppy felt made
wonderful toys)
some Fairy Moss and a Water Hawthorn. The Koi will love the Fairy
Moss to snack on.
Hopefully they will all help
with the algae fight. I'll get some photos shortly. |
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Deck
Planning 101 |
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From
the Pond Side pre Arbor Removal |
From
the Lawn Side *Before* |
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From the
Lawn Side after Clearing |
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Fence
gone - now to clear area + add decking |
The new
arbor is up but we've not got the deck area
done. Lamium is rampant
in this area. How to get rid
of it is the question of the
fall. |
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Beside
Garage |
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Reconstruction
of Main Arbor |
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The start
on the reconstruct of the garage side arbor |
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Almost
finished! |
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It's
done. While you can't really see them the two roses
that I do like
(and I'm not a big fan of roses) seem to be
springing back to life after
their rather severe haircut.
Billy put in a new walkway from the
gate on the
driveway side and we'll be redoing the 'pond entrance'
walk
next spring. |
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Bill
staining the arbor with solid stain. The rough cedar
didn't seem to go with the house. It's finished now + we
are really pleased with the result.
I'll take some photos when we've finished planting. |
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Behind
Garage |
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This area
is essentially North East. Once the Robinia leafs out in late May there
is only bright but indirect light
- early AM
& then a little more at days end. Thus it lends itself to
shade plants. |
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Overgrowth
Central - the Hydrangea is planted all
of a foot from the Camellia.
Heelllo? What were you
folks thinking? On the right is the
Privet Hedge
hiding the architecture. |
Here the
Hydrangea is gone (perhaps) thus the Camellia
stands alone with the
bedraggled fern. I'm thinking I'll take
the fern and move it around
the corner (to the left).
I'm still debating with self whether to
prune the Camellia
into a tree or whether to prune the top and create
a
fuller bush. |
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Privet
gone. We're thinking perhaps we will extend the brick right back to the wall
and do planters along here.
There is a vine that is 'woodland'
oriented and may do well here. |
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This
cotoneaster should be replaced entirely however
for now it will get a severe haircut
& we'll see how well it fills in. |
"
Inspire Photo " -- much more attractive. Big pots of ferns and
impatiens would likely do well in this
northeast protected location. |
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West
Side |
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This is the
fig tree that was beside the house. Once we discovered we had more
than one ---
we decided this one had to go.
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This area
is due for at least some attention this year. We want to fence in the
LPG tank with some posts and
lattice and plant along this side. At the far end (far right in
picture) is a Wisteria which still keeps trucking along
although it must be eons old from it's trunk. Next to that I'll put an
Aucuba.
Originally - pre-pruning of Apple tree and removal of Fig - this was quite a shady area.
Now - only shady at the far right side * not so * as you move toward the LPG
tank soooo
need to re-think. Also need to incorporate a path here as there
is an arbor on the far right
leading to the front lawn. (Pictures Below)
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Grape Arbor going on to
front lawn |
Grape Arbor going from
front lawn to West Side |
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This
arbor is also pretty old and likely due for replacement soon however we're
going to try to make it last another
couple of years. We'll stain it as we have the others (which will be
challenging to get around all the vines) --
giving it a bit of a *spruce up* if you will. |
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Sundial
Area
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New
Arbor for Sundial Area |
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This area
was totally overgrown and unkempt. Once
we cut away all the shrubbery
- our ideal of 'repair' was
quickly eliminated. The rot in the posts
was so
extensive all needed replacement. |
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Another
shot of the overgrowth on this arbor. |
And still
more overgrowth. |
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Reconstruction
begins. This shot from the lawn side. |
Reconstruct
from front (lawn) side almost finished.
Still needs the archway
detail done. |
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Photo
soon |
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Reconstruct
from sundial side almost finished. Again still needs the archway
detail done. |
Arbor now
completed and stained. Still need vines. |
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Someday
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Likely a
far distant time from now . . . we'd like to put in a small putting green
and a separate guest house.
The putting green thing isn't that much rocket science but the guest house
is - due to the septic field. I F - as
we understand will likely happen - we have 'city water' within the next five
years - then we won't be dependent
on the septic field & it's a whole new ball game. Until then it's
only a dream (or a kazillion dollars).
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Last Updated 01/09/2008
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