Guest post: Mary and Bob's outdoor room
Photos courtesy of Mary Felter
Today's guest post is from Mary Felter, a friend and long-time Annapolis journalist. The description of the conversion of her back yard, and her pictures, remind us that gardens are not all about work, they are about creating a space outdoors where you can relax and enjoy life.
Bob and I replaced our 25 plus year old redwood deck,. which was being eaten alive by carpenter bees, at our house in Arnold, with a composite deck and new vinyl-type railings, adding a center stairway to the yard. We hired a deck company to do the work, since at age 65 we don’t “do” too much of this kind of work, especially when permits and concrete are required!
Then I hired Waltnut Hill, a landscape company in St. Margaret’s, which does really large projects (one includes a $100,000-plus landscaping job on a new house out on Bay Head Road!) But they didn’t mind putting in a dry-laid slatelike patio for us, and then doing the landscaping for us.
We already have nandina in the yard, so the woman landscape architect incorporated that into the plan, and since I love camellias from living in the South as a child, she picked out six WINTER camellia plants, which will bloom in the fall and we won’t have to worry about spring frosts killing off delicate buds.
(I’m suggesting that if people love camellias, they think about this variety. Lovely dark green leaves, which contrast nicely with the lacy nandina.)
She added blue hydrangeas next to the patio which also added to the new and happy location! Finally she put in "Plantain Lily" hostas and "Midnight Rose" heuchera and a few other plants I can’t find the names for – little spider like plants. We’re very happy with the results.
