The Newer Garden

Welcome to our garden!  We hope you enjoy being here.  Please feel free to ask any questions and take pictures if you'd like. Though we have been Hall County Master Gardeners for over fifteen years, please know that we do not at all consider ourselves as master gardeners.  We learned so much through Master Gardener training at our Hall County Extension Office of UGA, and we've continued to learn through our own gardening and helping others.  As true in so many areas of life, so it is with gardening.  Experience may be the best teacher.  We're convinced that successful gardening lies in scientific and artistic expertise, plain hard work, and lots of luck.

 

As you walk through our garden, please remember that it is very new.  We moved to this location less than four years ago after being in another house for over thirty-nine years.  We essentially had a blank canvas except for trees and the few foundation shrubs across the front of the house.  You will see four of those trees, which we love:  two Yoshino cherry trees and two different kinds of maples.  In front of the fence in our backyard are the remaining Leyland cypress trees. When we moved in, we immediately had five or six others cut down.   Additionally, we had cut down the Bradford pear trees that lined the property line on each side of our house.  Getting rid of two of the trees on the "10 worst plants list" was a meager beginning in landscaping our property.

 

It was then time  to tackle the barren clay bank across the back of our house that continued to wash away as little "rivers" formed at the base and then into our yard.  Good attention from DOT and a sizable payment to a local landscaping company finally took care of the problem.  Though the drainage problem was solved, landscaping was not.  The company planted a few shrubs, but gradually we moved many of those around and developed our own plan. Also,  there was no plant life next to the house on either side.

 

Our goals have included the following:

• Interesting evergreens to anchor the space:  Lenten roses, Southern lace Hinoki cypress, Teddy Bear magnolias,Soft Touch hollies, Leucothoe, and Chindo viburnum

• Ease of maintenance  (We are fast approaching being 80!)

• Interest for every season of the year

• A balanced mix of textures

• A variety of pollinator plants

• A concentration of these colors: yellow (Kathy's favorite), pink (honoring our 3 daughters), and white and yellow gerbera daisies, Moon Shine yarrow, Profusion zinnia, Lemon ball sedum, Golden Pacific juniper, Happy Returns daylily, Bartzella peony, Black-eyed Susans, and Green and Gold native plant

• A place where we can continue to teach our grandchildren (Ages 9, 11, 15, 15, 16, 21, and 23)

 

We hope you will share our appreciation for the metal art work on the back fence--the word love and the heart representing both our name and the value we place on love. The butterflies represent both our nuclear family of five and our love of butterflies.  (Thank you to Owens Welding for the art work.)

                                                                                                                             

-Lee and Kathy Lovett