The Cement Girl

I added a garden to the front area. It doesn't look like much in person (or on film, to tell the truth) but in my mind it is lush, beautiful, and a little mysterious.

I may be over-selling the garden...

The first time I shared pictures of my front garden you were looking at a drab brown area. You can refresh your memory here http://chichi-notes.blogspot.com/2011/08/introduction.html, or just scroll down. Anyway, The area to the right in the picture is what a person looks at while sitting in the courtyard, where I like to drink my coffee. The no-mow discussions are still going on here so I decided to do something about the area that will be behind the lawn. My dream is to have some permanent greenery directly in front of the lounge window with a low maintenance garden facing our home, giving the impression of enclosure like in the gardens in Charleston and Savannah.

We are working on adding all of the things that will give a garden the Charleston feel. Courtyard...check; Iron furniture...check; walkway...working on it; cement girl...check.

 

I took this picture while standing in front of our double windows facing the street. The house is behind me, the driveway and walkway to the right of the picture and neighbor's house to the left of the picture.

 

 



Yep, we now have a cement girl, aka The Bird Girl of Savannah, in our front garden. She is placed to the right of the imaginary walkway as you approach the house and facing our courtyard. It is a very shady garden so she has hosta in front of her. I am not sure of the name of the hosta, they are from my grandmother's garden, a living memory. To the right of the cement girl are 3 Cinnamon Fern. Cinnamon Fern ( Osmunda cinnamomea) prefer moist shady habitats and grow 2 to 3 foot tall.

To the left of the cement girl, and so tiny they can't be seen until you almost step on them, are three Purple Tiers Hydrangea (Hydrangea s. ’Miyama yae Murasaki’). It will have wonderful deep purple lacecap flowers and will grow to about 3 foot high. I saw the plants in a garden center back in the summer and knew I wanted them somewhere in my garden.

Behind the ferns and hydrangea the area is filled (or it will be when the plants mature) with George Tabor Azalea (Rhododendron indica 'George Tabor') and English Ivy (Hedera helix). George Tabor Azalea grows to about 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide and blooms prolifically in the spring, covering itself with large pink and white flowers. The English Ivy is an evergreen plant that will fill in as a ground cover. In fact it should fill in so well that I will have to keep it clipped off of the tree trunks and azalea.

I didn't think about it until writing this, but I may have just created a smorgasbord for deer...