Natural Fencing with ShrubsPart 2: Doggie Doo Dilemma – Add Natural Fencing With Shrubs
Putting up a fence can be very expensive; we have 150 feet – 250 feet on each side to cover. That’s a lot of fence. After researching different options, we decided on a black vinyl clad chain link fence on one side. It’s not the prettiest thing, but serviceable and the black does recede and seem to disappear. That fence will be run down the left side of the yard, behind our shed and under some big trees. Not so bad and it should be hardly noticeable.
The other side of the yard is wide open. We really don’t want to look at a chain link fence after all of the work that we’ve done in our yard. The decision for that side of the yard is to add a “natural” fence along the tree line. It’s the best-looking option, but not the most effective (at least for a couple of years). But I have a plan…
With approximately 250 feet of tree-line to cover with shrubs and hedges, it’s going to take a lot of plants. I’ve selected a selection of shrubs that are fast growers and evergreens. The plants need to fill in the area as soon as possible and stay green all year round. I also want to get them in right away so they get a little help with some nice spring rain. I’m working with Jim-Ken Nurseries for the install. I’ve hurt a nerve in my hand, so shoveling is out for awhile and that seriously bums me out. I love the digging and planting.
Here are the plants that will be used for fencing: read the rest of this post…
Doggie Doo-Doo Deposits
We love our new home on the lake – it’s perfect… well almost. It seems there is a rural, lake-home custom of letting your animals run free. No fences; most of the neighbors love to just open their front door and let out the family pet. I get it. We are out here in nature, fresh air and sunshine… ahhhhh.
And, even better, our big beautiful expanse of lawn, sloping gently down to the lake, is perfect. For the dogs. And the cats. It’s oh so enticing to every pet in the area to use as their personal restroom. (read: toilet!) Every day as we sit in our sun-room and gaze out over the yard and lake we get to watch dogs wander onto our lawn, sniffing out the perfect spot to relieve themselves. 
The male dogs are the best, with their need to mark every bush and corner (how big are their bladders anyway?!?). Then you have the female dogs - leaving nice round dead spots all over the grass. But none of that even compares to the big show – the DDD’s: Doggie Doo-doo Deposits. So nice. Especially love it as the weather warms up. Nothing more pleasant than stepping outside in my bare feet and encountering that. Well, I’ve never actually stepped in it. The smell stops you from several feet away. Fresh air no longer….
Now don’t get me wrong. We LOVE dogs and are pet-owners as well. read the rest of this post…
OK. We knew it could happen. Before we moved here from our last home in sunny south Florida we did our research and knew that there was that ever-so-slight possibility of snow. A very slight dusting, perhaps, every few years. We wanted to believe that. Needed to believe that. And so far, after four years that held true.
But, alas, yesterday our delusions were busted. It snowed. Not that “slight dusting” in the morning that is gone in around five minutes, but the real deal: SNOW. Big white, wet mounds of snow. It started yesterday afternoon and continued all night long.
Looking out the windows made me feel like I was back in Michigan. A place I vowed never to return to during the winter months and in the two decades since I’ve moved from there, I’ve keep that promise. Now it seems that my midwest roots have come looking for me. And I’m not a happy camper…
First of all, I hate the cold. Period. I love hot weather. Doesn’t matter if it’s hot and humid or hot and arid, I love it hot. And I love gardening in tropical and sub-tropical areas. Love having things blooming all year round. Love that riot of colors visually stimulating me everywhere I look. It gives me energy and makes me happy. I can’t explain it. It just does.
With my new home in SC, zone 8b, I realized it would be a bit different. read the rest of this post…
And so it starts… again! Another year here on the lake (year 5, can you belive it?) and still have whole sections of the yard to do. Who knew building a garden from scratch on an acre and a half would take so long? I really thought that by year 5 I would be into the tweaking stage. Nope, still in the creating and building stage of this lakeside garden.
The front yard is pretty much done, though. Good thing is that the trees are all in; the flowering shubs have one to three years in already and are looking great so this part of the yard looks pretty much done. Just the best part, the tweaking, is all there is to do here.
The plan for spring is to continue to add vines along the fence and fill in some of the open spots. Tall, spiky, towering blooms in the middle of the bed and shorter border plants in the front. With this one bed spanning over 100 feet, I still have a fair amount of planting this spring – just in the front yard alone. But I love this part: the tweaking. A garden is a fluid thing for me; ever evolving and changing.
But, oh, the back yard*. Lots and lots of stuff going on there; some major projects. Yum! I love the heavy stuff, building creekbeds, laying stone patios, adding raised beds surrounding all the hardscape. Yep – love it. But I’ll save that for another post.
(*Just a note to my fellow lake dwellers: I know that the yard that faces the lake is considered the “front yard” by many of you, but I just can not get used to saying it that way. Since this brick, formal looking house has a definit “front” to it that faces road-side, and the “back” is much less formal and faces the lake, I know I will keep on calling it (the lake-side yard) the back yard. Sorry…)
About Kelly: It’s never too late to learn new gardening skills. New to South Carolina and lake living, designing and planting my new garden is a continual learning experience. And a continual joy. This blog is about this new journey; new ideas, new plants (new to me, perhaps), new Zone (8b), new landscaping… just new all the way around. It will be fun to bring my past experiences in gardening here and see how it evolves.
