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Duluth - Georgia - USA - Zone 7b
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In March 2002 I started off with a front and backyard filled with grass.
My objective ever since has been to move grass out and move plants in.
These pages are an account of how Colibrí Haven formed from year to year.
I will continue to add photos as the months and years go by.Colibrí
means hummingbird in Spanish. I do not have hummingbird feeders but
still have scores of the little guys visiting my garden due to the
selection of nectar-filled flowers I grow in my backyard. I also get
yellow finches, Cardinals and several other feathered friends.
The Pond Area
November 2002
From March to November 2002 I didn't do much to the yard but I did add a
birdbath and one semicircle flowerbed by the patio. |
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September 2003
By September 2003 I had created a shade garden to the left of the photo
and the start of my large, curved bed which incorporates four separate
beds and the vegetable garden. |
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April 2004
In February 2004 we started moving dirt around in the area where the
old compost pile was to incorporate a retaining wall and eventually a
fishpond. |
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May 2004
Here you can see the completed retaining wall and pond. I used a
black plastic liner which I buried halfway and then used stone to build a
wall around the rest of the liner. The Shasta daisies looked pretty
until they got so leggy that the fell over. I later moved them as
they were too tall and obscured the view of the pond from the patio. |
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August 2004
I planted 5 different kinds of "Stepable" groundcovers, Creeping Jenny,
Mazus retans 'Albus', purple Mazus reptans, Blue Star Creeper and Ajuga
reptans 'Chocolate Chip'. The Ajuga didn't make it thought the
first winter but the other creepers quickly filled in where they had been. |
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April 2005
As the house next to us is on a hill all their rainwater runs down the
hill and lands up in our backyard. Because of this I made a
depression running from the grassy area to the left, past the pond and
along the back fence to the corner of the lot. I had to put stones
down and plant Mazus to keep the soil from being washed away every time it
rained.
Later this year I will be removing all the bog Daylilies growing to the
left of the patio as they look pretty only 3 weeks out of the year and the
rest of the time they just look scraggly. |
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September 2005
I made a tropic corner around the pond by planting three elephant ears,
cannas, Angel Trumpet Flowers and iris'. I also planted a Musa
basjoo banana tree which is supposed to be okay with temperatures as low
as 20 degree F. I will mulch it well this winter and see if it
survives.
I had to get a plastic blue heron to fool the real herons into thinking
there already was a heron fishing at this pond because last year I lost
several goldfish to a hungry heron who came by for a bit of sushi.
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November 2005
I removed everything that was growing in the semicircle that goes off the
back patio. I then brought in 6 wheelbarrow loads of soil and 2
loads of compost to create a raised bed. I shaped it and brought in
several large rocks to form my Olympic Mountain Chinese garden. The
Japanese Maple is at the top of the mound and I planted several ferns,
Coral Bells, Columbine and Blue Star Creeper around the rocks.
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Copyright Reserved - Created September 2005 -
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Jane |