WiseAcre Gardens

The house suffered a few minor scratches before the main event on Friday. When I left the site on Thursday the house looked like this:

By 8:30 Friday morning the excavator had already chewed up the entertainment room, the garage and most of the kitchen.

Within minutes the claw had ripped into the main house.

And a few minutes later the entire back of the house was chewed into rubble.

From the front things didn’t look so bad.

OOPS

Not everything was demolished. One addition was spared in the hopes of saving it.

Hard to believe but once the house was chewed up it fit into 9 dumpsters. The last of the rubble was hauled away by Saturday afternoon. The only reason it took so long was the trucking company couldn’t keep up with the excavator. It should have been gone the same day.

A few answers:

No it is not my house. I have to drive 8 hours to get here. The landscape was ‘mine’ and it really hurt to see 6 years of gardening wiped away. The good news is that I get to do it all over.

What is the 26 foot deep hole for? – The new house’s basement is going to have a really high ceiling. You can guess why the ceiling needs to be so high. I doubt very very much anyone can guess correctly. If you do, you have a better imagination than most.

I’ll be headed home tomorrow. The dig isn’t going to start until the end of next week and there’s something a bit more important I need to take care of. After 32 years it’s still a good idea to be around for my wedding anniversary next Thursday.  (think about that date for a minute) And no, it’s no joke.

I arrived at the site minutes before the excavator arrived. I was hoping to get at least a day to save as many perennials as possible before the monster started to tear things up.

All I could do is watch as the beast’s giant claw yoinked Viburnums at least 40 years old as if they were only seedlings in a pot to be thinned out. The Hemlock proved to be no match either and was easily pushed out of the way.

How do you remove a refrigerator from a house? The easiest way possible. Improvise with the tools at hand. Here’s the most efficient way to make a new door able to fit even the largest appliance.

It still takes 4 guys to move the fridge. Two to dance, one to watch and one to do the heavy lifting once the fridge is in the proper position.

Up, up and away.

The beast wandered off but it’s not finished yet. It’s due to return on Friday to finish off the house. Then the big dig can begin. When it’s over there’ll be a 26 foot deep hole where the house once as.

A purple sandstone walkway on Judson Street is finally finished. Now a few more boulders need to be placed and the beds will be ready for spring planting.

From the boulder I placed last week – the false stream bed is in place but needs more assorted river rock.

That Hosta has to go – that area is the sunny spot and I’m planning on more sun loving flowers there. A mass of coreopsis (Zagreb most likely), a smattering of coneflowers and Brown Eyed Susans and creeping sedum lining the borders. But that might all change. I reserve not to know what I’m dong until finished.

I’ve thought about digging out the island bed and lining it to hold wet soil. I’d like to plant some Ligularia and Yellow and Blue Flag Iris but the space is small and that just might not work out as I vision it.

On the far side of the ‘stream bed’ I can see a boulder in each corner. I’ve got a couple of nice weathered rocks in mind that will match the one along the walk.

I like the weeping pea tree in the island bed along the driveway. The bed is mainly planted with Iris, Coreopsis, upright Sedum with a couple of spots left for ‘undecided’. Like I said that Hosta has to go.

I loved this job. When the home owners said they wanted to eliminate the lawn – I was all ears. Originally the walk went straight to the front steps from the driveway. One requirement was that the garden had to be low maintenance. Rock is about as low as you can go. So a false stream bed was added to eat up space and to add a little interest for winter when the plants disappear.

The only lawn left is under the truck. Next year that area will be turned into a shade garden – I don’t have enough Astilbe planted yet

This is one of the last stone projects I will do. I’m afraid I really messed up my back beyond it’s ability to heal this year. I have a large patio to finish and after that I’m going to call it quits.

One last walk – finally finished. It only needed to be leveled off but had to with 2 months before I could pick up my bar.

I’m now working slowly on finishing the patio in Lisbon. I probably won’t finish this year. I got another kink in my back and am going to take a bit more time off.