Before and After Fun

While going through my photo library this week, I took a few moments to look at shots of the garden from early 2016 when we started this whole crazy thing. I could hardly believe how much it has changed in such a short time. I thought it would be fun to compare similar photos from then and now, I look at it as a challenge to try to match up photos. I tried to select photos from the same time of year for both, so a shot from February of 2016 is compared to the same shot in February 2019 to be fair. Ready to play my little game with me? Come along!

BEFORE: From January 2016. I knew this area needed extra love as it is kind of the entrance to the bulk of our garden. Here, tire tracks in soft ground give away our efforts to drive the truck close to the plant storage area known as the plant prison. This was before we had our deer fence installed. Keep your eyes on the concrete pad to the right of the tire tracks. That is where the turquoise birdbath now stands.

AFTER: Basically the same shot January 2019.  

BEFORE: February 2016, FM had just taken down the plant prison walls and I was beginning to lay out the gravel garden.

AFTER: February 2019. While many plants are dormant or semi-dormant, the ground is pretty much covered in plants. Well, except for the gravel pathways.

BEFORE: February 2016, but this shot came before the previous - note the slats in the deck are present in this photo.

AFTER: February 2019. Also note the color of the shed in the background has changed.

BEFORE: This was taken January 2017, a year into the garden-making process. A few beds had been defined by this time, but not much has filled in, especially after the brutal weeks prior to this with feet of snow and ice.

AFTER: January 2019, a much different scene. The two bright green Hebe 'Karo Golden Esk' center left are good markers, they were quite small but visible in the previous photo.

BEFORE: January 2016. The mud seen here was made by heavy machinery used to construct our deer fence.

 AFTER: January 2019. The ground recovered and a path was put in, although this is a little to the right from where the previous photo was taken.

BEFORE: January 2016, the top of the driveway which had just received a first application of compost. The dogwood in the half-barrel has long since been planted in the ground.

AFTER: January 2019. It is now, past the end of the retaining wall, a full-sun rock garden area with a rapidly growing Grevillea x gaudichaudii, sedum, arctostaphylos, Acaena inermis 'Purpurea', Zauschneria californica, Cotula hispida and Dianthus simulans.

BEFORE: That retaining wall continues on a couple hundred feet in the other direction. This is from January 2017, a year after we moved in. Many of the plants above the retaining wall had already been moved or planted by me in the previous year. I had many deaths, however, after the brutal snows a few weeks before this was taken.

AFTER: The same area January 2019. This most challenging of sites is finally coming together. The retaining wall holds in moisture in winter when I want it to drain and thus turns rock hard in summer, so I've had to amend with copious amounts of crushed gravel and compost. It's full baking sun in spring and summer, but much of it is shaded in winter. It's been a challenge to find appropriate plants that tolerate these conditions.

BEFORE: The beginning of the shade garden 2016. The fir trees along the top of this berm were here, of course - but the limbs came down to the ground and the whole area was smothered in blackberries. When our deer fence went in, the trees were limbed up and the bulk of the blackberries removed. FM has been diligent about keeping them out and so far, we're winning this small battle. I had planted what you see here, 12 or so struggling azaleas that were formally behind the retaining wall. Unfortunately none made it, but that's ok. I tried.

AFTER: Same area February 2019. Many sword ferns were planted on top of the berm (rescued from the now orchard), Oxalis oregana has spread nicely, as has Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' of which the brown old leaves from last year can still be seen.

BEFORE: Behind the retaining wall, many larger azaleas were poorly placed, but the whole thing did receive its first layer of compost. This is from February 2016.

AFTER: The azaleas were moved to better locales and are doing ok. I have replaced them with sun-loving tough perennials and shrubs such as Cistus 'Paper Moon', Artemisia 'Powis Castle', asters, Ceanothus 'Blue Jeans' (at the top for better drainage), sedums, Echinacea 'White Swan' and many others.

BEFORE: The shade garden to the right and straight ahead on the berm. January 2016 just after a layer of compost was spread on it all.

AFTER: Many more plants have been added to the left, the shade garden just to the right out of sight and straight ahead also growing nicely. January 2019.

BEFORE/DURING: March 2017. We began the process of making paths through field grass and weeds, creating mounds of soil to expand grass beds like the Carex comans bed.

AFTER: February 2019 before we cut back the four large Miscanthus 'Cabaret' against the house.

BEFORE: The southeastern portion of the property after FM had mowed it in early spring 2016.

AFTER: Today this area is a very productive food-growing portion of our garden.

BEFORE: February 2016, the beginnings of the gravel garden at the base of the deck.

BEFORE - A LITTLE LATER: A couple of months later, April of 2016, the original fire pit which is now a stump table. I was silly to try to cram a fire pit in there, I guess my old "small garden" mentality still held sway on my gardening vision. I had to learn to think big!

AFTER: February 2019, those yuccas have really filled in.

BEFORE: April 2016 after the rocks from the original labyrinth were removed (reused throughout the garden), the 6" of sand pulled back to reveal a layer of landscape fabric, which was also removed with much swearing. I had started to envision this garden and place and dig in plants.

AFTER: To be fair, this was May of 2018, not April, so many of these plants are much larger than they would have been a couple of weeks earlier. 

BEFORE: I was shocked to see a photo of Sweet Pea in April of last year just after he literally wandered into our lives. He looked so little compared to today.

AFTER: January of 2019, fat and happy, Sweet Pea is the sweetest of them all.

It has been a wild ride these past three years and I'm so glad I took a moment to review some of the early pictures. It makes me really appreciate not only all we've accomplished, but each other and how much work FM has put into this place. I have, too, but we couldn't be where we are without each other. Plants and critters have thrived and that warms my heart on this cold February day. Hopefully spring will show itself soon and we can all get back out there and do what we love.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. We really appreciate your reading and commenting, we love hearing from you all. Happy gardening, everyone!