Developing the York House garden

My garden is one of the true pleasures of my life. When I moved into my new house about a year and a half ago, the garden’s potential excited me, but I knew that I needed time to assess how to develop it to its best advantage. 

Enormous glacial boulders surround the house, protecting it not like battle armor but like the muscled arms of a lover. Clearing those boulders of all but mosses and ferns was the first thing I did, and keeping them clear is an on-going project. 

I weed the boulders spring and fall to keep them looking good.

Last year I brought in more rocks, adding them in strategic spots to strengthen the stony theme. This year, as I wrote in a post last week, I added a drystone river that leads the eye down towards Lake Massawippi in the distance. 

I weed this boulder too.

This week I cleared great heaps of growth off rocks in the front garden.

I wish I’d taken a ‘before’ photo, or even a picture of the piles I cleared off. But I didn’t.

These rocks need a good rainstorm or two to wash them clean but soon they will stand out more clearly. They will make a visual connection between the boulders and a patio that used to look like this … 

A tired-looking brick patio in desperate need of weeding.

that now looks like this.

I still have to decide what to plant alongside this patio. Continuing the boxwoods that line the narrow bed along the side of the house is a possibility. I can see them there, underplanted with the sweet woodruff (galium odoratum) that is doing so well elsewhere in the garden. But is it too easy a choice?

Another possibility is iris, not Siberian but bearded iris (Iris germanica). I can see their spikey leaves standing out against the rocks and definitely will plant some in the open area shown below, at the base of one of the boulders where the daffodils are now.

Pale yellow iris would look good here, I think. And yes, I have daffodils blooming on June 1!

But I’m open to other ideas… so let me know what you think.