Viewing post #1238148 by Legalily

On the back of our house we needed a retaining wall because of the hill. Several years earlier my husband and his siblings (they owned a small trucking company and had a flat bed truck and loader - sure helps!) gathered large boulders for free from a new road project going in next to our town and there were still several left that we brought to our "country home". I mentioned to my husband one day that we should use them for the retaining wall and he immediately got out his tractor loader and started stacking them up with nothing preplanned and NO WEEDS PULLED OR WEED BARRIER! I immediately got rid of all the weeds and then, after seeing one in Colorado, decided hmmmmm, planting pockets! The first picture also shows that there is nothing at the top of the boulders which then became my West Garden. So this is the progression of my Boulder Garden as some of the plants are no longer there (they die once they're history and get replaced by something that can toughen it out a little ):

In the background off to the left of this next picture is what my Bath Garden looks like in full bloom.

This next one is when I added the West Garden at the top and our Border Aussie loves to be a part of it!








The next garden then is the West Garden which is just below that bathroom window! So I can look out in the morning and see the grasses and daylilies and a couple of lilac bushes along with the Bath Garden - it's no wonder I'm always running late The large square window is where the viewing is done!









I'm also adding a couple of pictures from the wild grassy area at the bottom of our back yard. I'm trying to gradually add things that can spread, Baptisia, Coneflowers, Shasta Daisies, and Joe Pye Weed. There is a lot of Queen Annes Lace everywhere , along with the poison ivy I want to add some Butterfly Milkweed and other prairie plants and grasses, but just don't want to burn it all off and start over! And of course there is always good winter interest!