This new garden area is still very new as I have just decided to start working on a border garden.
This is what the back border garden area looked like when we first moved in 2019.
After the tree work that summer:
I had been thinking about a back border for quite some time but didn’t have time to pursue it. I also didn’t want to put a lot of effort into something and then not be able to enjoy it if we moved (we got a business built almost in our backyard in 2020).
At the beginning of this season (2024), I had bought a ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maple tree at Walmart for just $20. And it sat in its 1-gallon grower’s pot all summer with nowhere specific that I had wanted to plant it. 🫣 Nevermind we have 13 green Japanese maples I dug up as seedlings at the other house in 2019 and have grown them out in giant containers. I like the ones that stay red all season. (The green ones were the boyfriend’s request because those are his favorite, but I am not sure I can keep them alive until we move to the next – and forever – home, date/year unknown).
Anyway, I finally decided at the beginning of September that the Bloodgood Japanese maple would be the ‘center’ of the back border garden. So I planted it, leaving room to maneuver around it with the lawnmower. And then something promptly dug it up, with me finding it like this 2 days later.
I know, you can’t really see much of the actual tree part because it’s a tiny little trunk and it’s green instead of red, probably because it was getting too much shade prior to getting planted here. I replanted it and put some large rip-rap rocks over the area to keep it from getting dug up again.
You can see in the background of the above picture there is lots of goldenrod. I wouldn’t mind leaving some of the goldenrod and planting some other things around it. I have some things in the works (propagations and seeds started) for things I will plant here. I am going to start behind the Japanese maple, clearing everything to the tree line, which shouldn’t be too hard. The idea is to make this back border low maintenance, so I won’t need to water it once things are established.
With the back border, I will start small (behind the Japanese maple) and work outward on both sides, a little at a time. So this will come together over the next 2-3 years.
Towards the end of last month, I moved some of the Japanese maples I had in containers, as I mentioned above.
I’m going to be honest. I’m not sure some of them are still alive (don’t tell the boyfriend that). I haven’t watered them as often as I should have this season, and these were moved from my lower garden area to a more full-sun area for most of this summer. Which also meant trimming roots that were coming out of the bottom of the planter and into the ground. Eventually I will get some pine straw to cover the weed fabric, and I may end up adding some low-growing plants in front of the Japanese maples, but for now, this will have to do.
The Bloodgood Japanese maple will be a lovely view when it grows and fills out more. It’s visible from our kitchen window at the dish sink.
There are finally some red leaves on it, and since none of the other (alive) green Japanese maples have turned red yet for fall, I am hoping it’s getting enough sun now to be completely red next season. I am seeing areas on the trunk and side branch with new growth about to emerge also, so I’m excited about that!
The deck view:
So right now, here are the only things in the back border garden.
- Bloodgood Japanese maple
- Green Japanese maples (variety unknown – potted)
- Common Goldenrod (Solidago altissima) – already there