Whiteley Creek Homestead

stone walkway woodland garden

My completed stone walkway... I love it very much. Yes, I do. 

  

The stones take me home... to my front door.

 

After Tom Dix from Wood Spirit Gardens in Backus, Minnesota completed the walkway, he trimmed two Dwarf Korean Lilac Bushes that had grown well beyond their "dwarf" status and were blocking the front porch view. Next, he continued his magic by artfully creating a woodland garden on each side of the stone path. He scouted our property for moss-covered logs, sheets of moss, groundcover (e.g., thyme, sedum, hen and chicks), stones in varying sizes, perennials begging to be divided, root bound potted annuals that I had unintentionally neglected, and salvaged discarded plants from local greenhouses that rapidly began to thrive when planted in the ground. My little woodland garden quickly took shape with visions of fairies and gnomes making their home in the tree stump (right side of photo) created when Dick sawed off a dying jackpine that, in its prime, resembled a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Sweet.

This annual (lobelia), sprinkled with tiny delicate blue blossoms, is shown in the top photo planted to the walkway's left side. It was one of the "root bound potted annuals that I had unintentionally neglected" until Tom lovingly breathed new life into it. He was confident that it would quickly revive with water and space to grow. He was right.

 

It formerly looked sickly like this callie coral pink "calibrachoa" annual, which is one of my favorite (I have many favorites) annuals. I have followed Tom's lead by finding a new home for it in my lovely woodland garden. Callie will soon be sporting fresh green leaves and heavily-laden pink blossoms with happy yellow centers.

 

My woodland garden makes me very happy. Tom's sweet, gentle, joyful spirit remains in every nook and cranny.    

walkway sentry

I hired Tom Dix from Wood Spirit Gardens in Backus, Minnesota to tighten up the stone walkway leading to my front door. He moved chunks of stone closer together and filled in smaller spaces with rocks. As he worked, my hens were becoming a nuisance. The freshly dug soil was an invitation to scratch. That's what chickens do.   

 

My eldest granddaughter, who was visiting from New York, had a solution... a string strung between two sticks and a twig sentry to stand guard. Notice the sentry's skirt and flowing head covering that she made of leaves secured with pliable strands torn from a freshly trimmed dwarf Korean lilac bush branch.   

 

Yes, that ought to keep my hens at bay. As a backup plan... a few sprays of water from the garden hose worked like a charm, too.