Don Brand's Garden.
Diversity in texture, heights and color

SLIDE SHOW WITH ALL PHOTOS

Background story

My wife, Linda and I moved onto an acre of bare ground in 1973.  During the first few years a small yard was put in.   Trees were the first to be planted with anticipation of the shade they would provide in the future.  A rose garden was added next.  In those early years we used annuals for color and fill.

In 1981, I made the decision to landscape the full acre.  There are a few things I've had to do to accomplish this.  First, I grew allot of my own plants.  Carefully choosing plants that would do well without allot of water.  It takes me about (1) week to get the whole area watered during the summer.

I use ground cover to hold the weeding down to a minimum.  This weeding problem was the hardest thing to overcome.  There were many years of pulling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of weeds every spring.  (I really dislike weeding!)  Patience was needed to accomplish this acre of material.

I would suspect that a first impression of the yard would be that a plant lover lives here, and that is true.  There are very few plants that I don't like.  But in my yard I have stayed with the plants that don't require allot of water and are somewhat low in maintenance.  A yard this size takes an awareness of labor management to say the least.  You won't see plants that need special care.

In the process of writing this piece I have noticed by way of my notes that I have over (100) different perennials growing in the yard now and over (30) different kinds of  trees.   Allot of the trees are flowering, and over (40) different shrubs.

The days are gone, when I would plant, and plant and I could still see bare ground.  I'm still planting allot of plants every year, but now I can look around me and see the maturity of my acre and enjoy the visual fruits of my labor.  Patience and hard work have paid off. 

Don Brand