My New Garden

{My new boxwood garden in progress last spring}

As you may remember, last year, we started on a little home renovation project with the main purpose to add a new garage. With the new garage came the opportunity to add a new garden where we used to park behind our house. I have always wanted a vegetable garden but didn't want it to sit barren in Winter or look disheveled next to our terrace.

As I look forward to getting out in the garden again, I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you the before and after pictures. Keep in mind that I really don't want to ever get to the after stage as I like the process of planting and recreating, adding and updating.

Here are some before pictures as the construction for the new garage is underway. I have a small butler's pantry off of my kitchen that used to have a desk under the window. We removed the desk and made a doorway where the window used to be. I REALLY miss having my desk just off of my kitchen!

This is where a new garage now resides. 

And here is a different point of view, standing in the backyard and looking towards the street. Our garage now fills this space and my new garden was built just to the right of the bulldozer. 

The elevation of our lot drops off significantly from the front of the driveway to the backyard so we had to bring in huge loads of top soil to bring this area up.

The image below is one of my favorite inspirational pictures from the gardens at the shop Merci in Paris. I know my garden looks significantly different but this is the image I shared with our landscape designer to get the design process started.

I worked with a very talented landscape designer, Amy Priode, from Piedmont Carolina Landscaping. She worked closely with my husband and I to put our vision into a workable plan. We had two main structural issues we had to solve before moving onto the decorative (and fun) phase of design. We had to plan for the sea of water that runs down this path and into our backyard every time we have a downpour and we had to bring the level of the garden up by about two feet, no small task.

Here are a few of the drawings Amy presented to us offering different graphic patterns for the boxwood parterre garden. The site for the garden dictated the shape of the garden. It was a hard decision.

In the end, we actually combined a couple of the plans to create our garden. 

Here is the final working drawing (below).

And here are the photos of the garden just after it was installed.

I wish I had taken pictures when they were lining up the boxwood and making sure they were perfectly aligned, a very meticulous task. I bought the little expandable willow hurtles so that I could grow tomatoes in the middle and climbers such as squash, zucchini and cucumbers on the sides.

My long term plan is to plant an espalier fruit tree at the end of the path against the garage wall.

Sadie is starring at me because I am standing in the middle of the hydrangea. 

Here is the view looking down the path and into our backyard. We continued the path on the other side of the terrace.

You can see here to the right boxwood lining the path, an area that we created to let the water stream through when we have a big rain. We created several "catch basins" to take care of all the water.

Amy suggested we add Knock-out Roses and Limelight hydrangea on the other side of the path from the garden for color. They bloom all summer long and into the fall.

Sadie is never very far away when I am planting. Here I am planting yellow squash and cucumbers.

An iPhone picture from later in the summer.

I actually wanted to create this vegetable garden so that my daughter could experience the joy of growing her own vegetables something that i remember fondly from growing up.

My daughter Madison loaded up with her fresh picks.

One of my favorite Instagram photos from this summer...gotta' love the blue fingernails!

I hope you enjoyed my garden tour. Today is a beautiful Spring day and I have been working in the garden adding some Winter blooming plants.

Have a joyful Easter!

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Hydrangeas In Bloom

I love it when the hydrangeas in my garden are in full bloom, and I can put little arrangements in every room in the house - the powder room, the kitchen table, the front window, the entrance hall, the mantle.... No need to feel guilty about cutting the blooms. This year, it seems that the hydrangeas in my yard are more vibrant in color than in past years. They are absolutely covered with blooms ranging from a deep rich periwinkle blue to a really flirty shade of pink. 

This pair of lace cap hydrangeas were once the centerpiece for my Thanksgiving table. I couldn't bare to toss them out after the holiday so I planted them next to the driveway, not expecting them to live. When we excavated for the new garage last Spring, we moved them, not once but three times. I can't believe how resilient and beautiful they are now.

The ease of growing Hydrangeas is one of those things that I adore about living in the South.

I am not sure of the specific variety of my lace cap hydrangeas but they were pure white when I bought them and now they have these gorgeous periwinkle blue centers.

This is an Oak Leaf Hydrangea that lives under the shade of our weeping cherry tree. We originally planted three of these and only one has survived, most likely because it is beyond the reach of my hose.

This wall of hydrangeas was here when we bought the house twelve years ago.

Over the weekend, I planted a blue and white garden beside our new garden path- Delphinium grandiflorum 'Summer Nights', Delphinium 'Dasante Blue', Blue Star 'Amsonia Blue Ice', and White and Blue Garden Phlox. Wisteria climbs up the trellis to the deck above. 

Another view of the wall of Hydrangea that we inherited. 

Just out of the frame you can see a little of our new garage. In lieu of downspouts, we opted for copper rain chains.

Years ago when we first renovated our house, we painted the brick with primer to give it that aged washed look. We recently planted a climbing hydrangea that will climb up the chimney and give the new side entry a cottage vibe. I can't wait until it blooms. The blooms will look like a lace cap hydrangea.

Sadie follows me around all day and loves being outside with me while I am working in the garden or watering. Tonight, she found a new resting spot, my new teak bench from Homegoods.

On either side of the new stone walkway, we planted a pair of tree form limelight hydrangeas. They just started to bloom today.

If you look closely, you can see our weathervane on the new cupola. It's a Labrador. I had picked out a really simple design that looked like some of the old french weathervanes I had seen at flea markets and at the last minute, I decided to have a little fun and ordered the Labrador. Now, it's my one of my favorite details from the whole project.

I hope you have enjoyed my little garden tour.

Goodnight!

Sweet dreams....

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Sneak Peek: My Home Office

I think I am the slowest decorator in the whole world! 

You may remember a blog post I wrote over a year ago, Working Spaces: The Home Office. Many of the details have changed since I wrote that post but the prevailing aesthetic remains the same. I wanted this space to be a little more modern than the rest of my house. The room is decorated with all my favorite things and colors - warm grays, browns and a touch of soft blue.

Since I will be preoccupied with the High Point Furniture Market for the next 10 days, I thought I would leave you with just a few images of my latest home project. 

Still on my 'To Do List' is to have the shutter guy come and take down my plantation shutters and have them repainted in my new trim color. I bought the reclaimed elm console at market last year. The library lights are from Visual Comfort and are my favorite element in the room. The biggest challenge I faced when designing this room was the long and awkward shape of the space and the fact that the large bay window that we added when we renovated the house twelve years ago was off center. The new built-ins that stretched all the way to the ceiling helped rebalance the room and give height to this space that has eight foot ceilings. The slipcovered chairs swivel and are from Lee Industries, a favorite showroom at the High Point Market.

This little shelf that pulls out from the ends of the desk is essential for this room to work. Since the chairs swivel, you can not put a table beside them. This little pull-out provides the perfect spot for a drink.

I bought these petrified wood candle holders during the Fall High Point Market and the blue coral from Bliss Studio last Spring. I love to incorporate things from nature into every room. All the fabrics in the room are from Galbraith & Paul.

The drum tables from Lee Industries are another favorite element in the room. They are so versatile and can be used as stools, ottomans or little tables. I hope to find the perfect coffee table at market this week. I am looking for something long and narrow that is made from reclaimed wood and possibly metal.

My best friend, Sadie, grabs a nap in a patch of sunlight. I am also searching for something special for over the sofa, art or decorative object.

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