Ah, the “Back Four.” I spend so much of my time wandering around the wee little area, surveying it, you’d think I actually had some acreage or something. The last few years have seen some serious changes in this tiny space, though. Removing shrubs that were wrong for the amount of shade… Removing shrubs that were wrong for the amount of light… Removing shrubs that were too big for the size of the garden…

 

The remaining shrubs see me coming and they look a little scared.

 

But I’ve planted, too. Columbine and mossy phlox the first year. Hydrangeas and foxglove and moss a few years ago.

This year saw the addition of some dwarf topiary trees. The nice thing about them is they won’t grow beyond five feet tall, and maintenance is surprisingly simple. When they start looking a bit shaggy, I just give them a haircut with ordinary scissors. I love them because they are so whimsical and unnatural-looking, they tend to give some structure to the garden, even when I don’t get a chance to maintain it the way I’d like.

 

And over the years I’ve planted roses. A good antifungal spray, I’ve found, works wonders on keeping them nice and fresh though, unfortunately, I didn’t get to them soon enough this year due to rain this spring, so it all appears a bit sparse right now.

To make my outdoor room look a little larger, I’ve put herb planters (basic, oregano and rosemary) around my porch and at the far side of my driveway. And to add just a bit of additional structure to the yard, I have a small assortment of statuary tucked here and there. It adds a nice element of surprise for visitors to wander around the corner and discover something special there. I’ve tried to keep it all toward the more architectural angel side of things, for consistency… And also so my lawn doesn’t look like the summer version of the Griswold home in “Christmas Vacation.”

 

Before you go, there are two related pages you might enjoy checking out-- some beauty shots of a few of my roses here in summer 2007  (I’ll try to keep adding them as new varieties begin blooming) and the tale of making broken china stepping stones for my front yard. You can visit these through the links below: