I love looking at before and after pictures of yards and gardens, for they boost my confidence and renew my excitement in my own yard.  Martha Stewart Living magazine spoke to my soul one day, which lead to clever planning, shrewd negotiating, hard work and a successful outcome.    

A couple of years ago I was flipping through Martha Stewart Living and read a “season by season” article on Brandywine Cottage describing how to create both a spring and summer garden within the same area.  What caught my eye was that the picture was of a hillside that looked very similar to a hillside in my back yard.  Well, at that time, this area was covered in evil periwinkle, which is an excellent safe haven for cat size rats and was home to a variety of spiders, large and small, and if encountered, would most surely cause a panic attack.  Hence, after seeing this article my sense of encouragement for transformation of this area was heightened, I had renewed enthusiasm to tackle my invasive periwinkle, a task not be taken lightly.  This truly was an all or nothing commitment. 

Above is the spring garden at Brandywine Cottage and below is the summer garden.  Amazing, these shots were taken at the same angle.  I couldn't find the pictures online, so I had to take them with my camera, amature.  These were from Martha Stewart Living  April 2010 issue.

Next step…get hubby on board.  I sat the magazine on the counter for weeks, in an area that could not be avoided.  Yes, he would somehow get the hint that this was going to happen even though it was a big project that definitely didn’t come for free.  So how do I get him to see the vision and on my time frame?  Well, I love to admit that it generally doesn’t take long for him to jump on board, he was hope to discussion!  Unbelievably enough, there was a knock on our door from someone soliciting yard maintenance, which my husband answered, strange in itself, and he took him straight to the back yard and put him to work.  By the next day I had a blank canvas and my vision was on its way to reality.

Below are my before pictures, some of which are pretty pathetic. 

With challenge one and two accomplished, thanks to hubby and handyman, I’m ready to tackle challenge three...how do I eradicate the periwinkle completely and who is going to pay for the landscaping.  Ok, the real question is how do I spread out the cost of "improvements" so I can eliminate any chance of sticker shock.  Can I first stress how important it is to think in terms of divide and conquer when it comes to gardening?  Most plants spread, so why not share, it saves money and plants are always so much more enjoyable when they are free. 

Once an invasive vine has been removed it is important to stay on top of the straggling roots that sprout up, in hopes of regaining possession of the garden.  Round up certainly is a disappointment, I can't tell you how much money I have wasted on that and similar products. Threfore, every time I noticed a brave new growth I would dig out the roots, it took me only one year to be liberated of the obnoxious periwinkle. 

What I was left to work with was beautiful black dirt, a wonderful rock wall surrounding the area and a cluster of oak trees gathered within, I was finally ready to have some fun.  I first added the rock stairway up the middle of the garden, which turned out great, and was relatively simple to construct.  I then planted four large hostas and filled in with other smaller hastas, hellebore, bulbs, etc.  I was very excited for the next year to arrive so I could compare my spring and summer garden to that of Brandywine Cottage.  Check it out, this is the second year after inspiration became reality.

My Garden - Summer

My Garden - Spring

My Garden - Spring