Structure, structure, structure. Lacking, lacking, lacking.
I’ve learned a lot since this picture was taken in 2003. Even then, I knew enough to title it ‘Back 40 needs structure’. The ‘Back 40’ part of the name was easy. This yard is so big that we refer to that corner as the back 40. As far as the rest of the name, ‘needs structure’, structure was sorely lacking.
I had wanted a flower garden when we started this area a few years before that. In the fall, I diligently cut back most of the vegetation I did have. The combination of just flowers and everything cut back gave me the farm field effect.
Flash forward to the first snow now in 2010.
Structure, structure, structure. Yes, yes, yes.
Certainly, God gets credit for the snow. But even a fresh snow in 2003 would not have helped. It would simply have morphed into a snowy flat farm field effect. At that time, I had jumped in as fast as I could to summer color. It worked. But looking out the window the rest of the year was boring. Let me make that Boring with a capital ‘B’. And it wasn’t going to get better till I invested in the larger ticket items I had avoided thus far.
No more! I know that I need something tall, like the pines. And something even taller, like the aptly named Miscanthus Giganteus grass. Even the annuals and perennials are not cut back if I think they will add winter interest, especially when snow covered.
Yes, it is fun to buy pretty flowers. When spring comes next year though, step back and look at the big picture. If it looks like my yard in 2003, think again!
This is an installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dare to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looks good even during a Chicago winter.
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