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Up and Coming Petals (Front Garden)

We started improving our front garden in the spring of 2010.  We had a great hardscape to work with, given the retaining wall and the curving path to the front stairs, but the planting section included only plain old boring boxwoods, and one rosemary plant.  The area that was unplanted had been covered in white landscape rock.

We removed the boxwood, brought in a few yards of soil, and mounded it around a central rock path running through the middle of the space.   We planted some perennial herbs- rosemary, lavender, sage, oregano, and thyme- as well as a mix native and draught tolerant flowers. In Spring of 2011, our little herbs and flowers started to fill in. We added a few bright flowers to the mix- purple violas and columbines. Things filled in even more in Spring of 2012, as we kept adding plants over the course of the summer (hellebores, artichokes, calendula, hollyhocks, and a cherry tree.  Many others but I can't remember their names). Some of my favorite blooms from 2012: 


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