Rose Garden Rehab

The following photos show the gradual changes made to the Fonda (Rose) Garden over the years.  This garden is a place for outdoor weddings as well as a visitor stop on the walk to Railroad Town.  It isn't visited often, but is considered one of the main gardens in the arbor.

In 2014, I cut down the two largest lilacs with a hand saw, dug out non blooming roses, weeded, dug out other random plants, removed the birdbath, and continued taking photos for reference.  It was a learning experience.

                                                                               Benches on the narrow path

  Wild look of roses

Overgrown lilac shrubs

Random ring

No symmetry in the plants along the brick walk.

Many roses had long canes and never bloomed.

In 2015, I cut down the two small lilacs with a handsaw.  I began redesigning the garden with the existing plants to save money on the budget.

The four center areas would have the similar plants, two sides with lambs ear and two sides with spurge.

Daylilies that were overgrown here dug and divided

Husker Red Penstemon and Knock Out roses were dug out and replanted behind the spurge and lambs ear

It looks pretty bare in 2016

I placed pots and hanging baskets with annual flowers to fill out the empty spaces.

In 2017, a board member donated money to create a better space.  The money was spent on shrub roses only because they were desired and very expensive.  I didn't want all roses because the garden isn't in full sun. This garden gets about 5 hours of sunlight a day which is not ideal for roses.

I added some donated ornamental grass, shrubs and mums.

Sweet autumn clematis vine was added to the arch instead of climbing roses because it would have more success in this environment.

In 2018, the ornamental grasses were removed due to interference with the drip line and because it gave the garden an informal look.  I added more catmint from other areas on the property.  All of the plants grew much larger this season and filled out the spaces.

 

In 2019, it looked like my efforts would pay off.  I added more shrubs, daylilies, and perennials to the garden and it started filling out nicely.

The constant weeding and care for this garden is exhausting.  When it rains, the water flows downhill to the southeast, taking all the mulch with it.  Overhead watering isn't ideal, but it's the only way to water this location other than the drip line that doesn't do the job.  It's an ongoing project.

If you're tired from reading this, then you would understand how tiring it's been to redo this garden.  Ugh!