The Back Yard

Now the rest of the backyard. As you face the back of my yard, looking away from my house, you are facing north, looking at the side of the north neighbor’s garage and a little bit of their driveway. To the left is the side of the west neighbor’s garage. To the right (east) is the side of my garage.

The bed on the west starts at the end of the Arborvitae hedge. It is about 28 feet long and varies in depth from about 2 feet to 12 feet. It has 3 Ninebark (‘Diablo’) bushes, the 6’ stump of a flowering Newport Plum, a Redbud tree, Roses bushes (‘Nearly Wild’), Siberian Iris, several varieties of Bearded Iris that I am trying to get going (with little success), several Heuchera (‘Purple Palace’), Hosta ('Golden Prayers'), a Daisy, Coneflower (‘Cheyene Spirit’), Geranium, Pink Allium, Summer Allium (common nodding onion), the red Trillium (although this area might be too sunny for it to survive), some mums, several pink Coral Bells (with light green leaves), Spring Anemone, Grape Hyacinth, Wood Hyacinth, Lily of the Valley (in the shade of the bushes), Prairie Smoke, Heuchera (‘Caramel’), pink and white Bleeding Heart, Dwarf Goatsbeard, and two types of large leaved Hosta.

In the above pic, we are looking at my west neighbor's garage. You can see the Arborvitea hedge on the left edge of the pic. The bushes are the Ninebarks.

The Redbud tree is toward the right side. On the right side of the pic, "in the distance", is the telephone pole which marks the corner of our property and then a different neighbor's backyard.

The bed on the east along my garage is about 20 feet long and 2 ½ feet wide. It has a Clematis (‘Sweet Summer Love’), Astilbe, Prairie Smoke, Spring Anemone, a gazillion Summer Allium (common nodding onion), Tulips, Snowdrops, several Heuchera (‘Purple Palace’), several pink Coral Bells (with light green leaves), Globe Blue Thistle, Lamium, several varieties of Bearded Iris (a shortish (15”) Delft Blue colored one, maroon (‘Saturday Night Live’), bronze, deep blue (‘Dusky Challenger’), and more variegated leaved blue).

The pic above is our garage. We don't use that door; hence the clematis in front of it.

The bed in the back is about 35 feet wide and varies in depth from 6-8 feet. It is bordered by some lannon stone slabs. It is up about one step. It has 2 Peony (deep rose, but not quite the same as the previously mentioned peony), tall Goatsbeard, Switchgrass (‘Heavy Metal’), Purple Coneflower, Ratibita Pinnata (Grey-Headed Coneflower), Summer Allium (common nodding onion), Poppy, Salvia, Lavender, Feverfew, Bee Balm, Chives, Daffodils, Tulips, Siberian Iris, and a Common Buckthorn on the right hand edge which screens the neighbor’s driveway. Just outside the bed to the right is a Mock Orange, which also screens the driveway. The back edge of the bed is the lot line and the north neighbor’s property is about 30” higher than mine. There is a short stone wall right there. In between the top of the wall and the neighbor’s garage there are aggressive orange tiger lilies and thistles. I do my best to keep them in check. In front of this bed, I have started an annex. The annex currently has Black Eyed Susans, Rose (‘Nearly Wild’), Siberian Iris, and Spring Anemone. The annex was expanded this year to accommodate 3 cherry tomato plants.

In the above pic, we are looking north at the side of my neighbor's garage. The light green bush with white flowers is the Mock Orange. The chicken wire on the right side is protecting some lettuce and chard. The tall plants with white-ish plumes are Goatsbeard.