Meadow in the Making (Day 7)

By mid morning Schmitty and his crew had finished up all of the landscaping work at the “L” Shaped House and the planting beds were ready for mulch. Mulching by Mark showed up about 10:30 and got right to work installing the pine bark mulch with their amazing mulch blowing system. The small plants in much of the front yard made this method of application the best choice. The photo below shows the crew as they worked their way across the top section of the front yard.

The video below shows the mulch blowing operation in detail.

Meadow in the Making (Day 6)

Schmitty and his crew are working on the dry creek bed that runs between our property and the Wright’s on the East side of the “L” Shaped House. Matt Wolf’s plan calls for nine weathered limestone boulders randomly placed throughout the creek bed. The buff limestone bed begins at the driveway and “meanders”  to the top edge of the rain garden. We plan to encourage the moss currently growing in this corner of the property to climb onto the rock bed and boulders.

The extended video below captures the JLM crew as they work to place one of the last boulders near the top of the dry creek bed.

Buckthorn Eradication

Before and after photos showing the buckthorn eradication from our breezeway porch. This view shows just how thick the buckthorn had become in this area.

Landscaping…The New Trees

Matt Wolfe at JLM has put together a plan for new trees in the backyard areas of the “L” Shaped House. Both Deb and I like the plan and have decided to turn Matt and the JLM Planting crew loose.  Acting on the tree plan this fall also allows us to take advantage of Gertens Nursery special late season pricing. Matt came to the house yesterday afternoon and marked all 28 tree locations. The plan is to have the new trees in the ground early next week. I’ll let Matt speak for the plan in his own “voice” below…

• It may appear a little cluttered at first, this is because I’m planning for 7- 10 years out. As a result my symbols reflect approximate growth rates for that time span.
• You will notice that I’m using the Balsam firs as a back drop for the quaking aspen. This makes the silver/white bark of the aspen really stand out against the darker green of the fir trees, especially during the winter months. Additionally I have distributed the remaining the aspen throughout the yard in order to de-emphasize the “planned” appearance of mere groups of trees. We are taking the “natural habitat” theme one step further by distributing a few of the Firs and all of the Blue beech throughout the yard as well

 

• Yellow…Quaking Aspen
• Green…Balsam
• Orange…Blue Beech
• Arborvitae to shield the utility pole