The Plan

Faith Inspires

My 6 Garden Resolutions for 2013

Every year I write my list of New Year’s resolutions. I gave up including things like losing weight and making better dinners. I’m either going to do those things are not. Making resolutions won’t help. My resolutions now are more like a “To-Do” list. I think of the big projects I want to accomplish and [...]

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Updated planting scheme for my side garden entrance

Sprucing Up That Side Garden Entrance

Every garden is a work in progress.  Mine’s no different.  This year, the side entrance to the garden needed some serious sprucing up.  The shrub roses, normally filling the space with loads of pink flowers, got sick and needed to come out.  I decided to use the opportunity to refine the design a bit.  I [...]

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Flower Boxes for Improved Curb Appeal

Flower Boxes Can Improve Curb Appeal

The new flower boxes are my favorite improvement this season.  It’s amazing how much style they add to the house.  Best of all, I’ll be able to change up the color scheme and composition season to season.  I am already imaging how these boxes will be decorated for Christmas. Pink impatiens, petunias and coleus. Building [...]

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String line used to align boxwood and bricks

Planting the Boxwood

The hardest thing about planting boxwood is getting them straight.  What a pain!  It took me 3 days to plant my 225 boxwood.  Most of that time was spent  aligning the bricks and shrubs and moving the existing plants. I used a string line to first make sure the bricks were straight.  The boxwood were [...]

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Image of fence line after arborvitae and redbuds installed

The Plan – The Arborvitae and Redbuds get Installed

A garden is a continual work in progress.  My garden is no exception.  Every winter I day dream about what I am going to do the following spring.  This winter when I looked outside, I realized for the 1000th time that I need more evergreens.  So that is the #1 task on my “to-do” list. [...]

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Image showing how Hicks Yews planted to hide deck

Hicks Yews Help Hide the Deck

One of the things I want to achieve with my garden renovation is to help the deck sit more naturally in the landscape.   You can see in the photo below that the deck is pretty large and just kind of hangs out there.  I want to make it an extension of the interior space and [...]

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Transporting Arborvitae in the Ford Focus

Transporting Arborvitae in the Ford Focus

My Ford Focus never ceases to amaze me.  I am convinced it is bigger on the inside than the outside.  It’s primary function is to fill in for the pickup truck I don’t own. The Focus is always helpful for transporting new plants into my garden.  It’s capable of moving four 5-6 ft Arborvitae per [...]

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Boxwoods arrive in recycleable cardboard crate

Arrival of the Boxwoods

I love boxwood. So boxwood was a natural choice to line my flower borders. And today was the day they arrived. All 225 of the little guys. They arrived by truck. Packed in recyclable cardboard. It’ll be fun to figure out how to get that much cardboard into my recycle bin. Let the Planting Begin [...]

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My garden renovation plan

4 Things I’ll Change in the Garden for the 2010 Season

1. Add structure My garden didn’t start with an overall plan. An obvious fact at first glance.  I live in Michigan which is in the mid-west United States. It’s a Zone 5 garden. The winters are long.  The summers are typically hot and dry.  The garden needs structure to add interest during winter. Bottom line, [...]

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