Colours of my Gardens

I didn't know how much I love red Maples until I bought my condo.
I moved in May and spent that first summer making minor improvements to the insides and trying oh so hard to overcome my personal feng shui issues 'cause the address was an odd number ... totally silly I realise, but it did take me several months to overcome a definite sense of I don't belong here.

The next summer I got busy landscaping, important as the previous owners (university students) had merely been interested in how many people they could stuff into this place!

So, with the University's contribution I went out and dropped some bucks on trees. Now at first the brainless secretary in HR argued that I couldn't spend my 25 yr award on something as useless as trees, the money was supposed to be spent on a gift of "lasting value", you know like a golf club or a barcalounger. What? The university is supposed to be an Arboretum and they don't think trees have lasting value? DUH ...

As you can see I won this debate. Building on the empty garden beds I planted a couple of Peonies, a "Burning" bush, a dwarf Lilac, a couple of Weigelias, two different varities of Weeping Caraganas, a couple of Forsythias, some Rose of Sharon donated from a friend and .... a red Maple. That's probably the best gardening decision I've ever made!

Since then I have added a garden in the lower portion of my property planting a salmon coloured Rhododendron which flowers for too short a time, more Weigelia, a climbing Hydrangea which has yet to flower to cover the wall and a white snowball Hydrangea to hide the AC unit.

I also invested in several garden architectural pieces, a couple of tripods, two trellises and several other misc pieces. This summer I added a Hibiscus shrub in the same bed as the red maple, a rusty old milkcan rescued from the garbage and now proudly displayed on the front step, and a wrought iron flower urn to house the non-perrenial flowers I choose to purchase for the front step.


All in all I'm rather pleased with the gardens I've created for myself. Having lived in apts for 20+ years with no balcony or access to the grounds, I think I've created a somewhat lovely garden scape for myself and hope my neighbours enjoy it as much as I do!

TTFN