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 Boulevard
Gardening
May 2003
• by Anita Sulley
What motivates
us to garden?? Basically, I think it comes down to two things. The
first is the special joy a gardener experiences working with nature
to create something living and wonderful. The second motivator is to
share the beauty with others or if we want to be really honest, there
exists somewhere in our inner core the desire to brag about our
success by showing others what we've accomplished.
There is no
better way to display our wares than the Boulevard Garden. The
Boulevard is that stretch of land on the outside of our garden before
the ditch. A good percent of the time it is in full sun, usually has
lots of rock, weeds and maybe gets mowed occasionally, but is not too
exciting. For a gardener this area is like a blank canvas. All that
is needed is some tough plants and our imagination.
When I started
to garden my boulevard, I started small. I cheated that first season
by dividing the area (all 240 feet of it) into eight equal sections.
Every second one was covered with landscape fabric and mulched over.
I built up the "garden sections" with leaves and garden
soil and began. Realizing I needed tough plants that liked sun,
didn't mind wind and were salt tolerant, I started to plant.
Today the
garden is filled with low growing junipers, mugo pines, and PJM
Rhododendron for winter interest. There is an assortment of easy
maintenance perennials, which include, Cushion Spurge, Shasta
Daisies, Daylilies, Sedum, Echinacea, and my all time favorite Hardy
Geraniums. There are lots of rock garden plants too, which thrive in
these shallow soil sunny conditions.
If you decide
to start a Boulevard Garden you will notice how many neighbors
you'll meet as you garden so near the ditch. And even if you do
this purely as a need to display your garden prowess, you will
be giving others a wonderful gift that they can enjoy each day
as they take their walks or ride their bikes around our neighborhood.
Anita
Sulley |
