Our Yard from the Southeast

To put the flowers--and other growing things--into perspective, I thought I'd post a few photographs to show the entire yard.

The road to the left runs east/west; to the right north/south. This is the only corner where you can see much of our yard; the others are obstructed by hedges or trees or Mike's garage.

At the extreme left is our Forsythia hedge, which runs from the lot's corner to the garage, more or less. The (tall, skinny) Arborvitae came with the house, though I moved them to their current locations. (They were much smaller 20 years ago.)

The large bush near our trailer is a Hibiscus (Rose of Sharon), with a small Maple between it and the shed. Between the Rose of Sharon and the Linden tree you can see both the Daylilies and the garden bed beside them. The little bush in front of the Hibiscus is a Lilac, while the larger bush in front of the Linden is a Flowering Quince. You can see the Circle as a small clump near the drive, beyond the Street Corner Garden (which is front and center, of course).

At the extreme right, at the end of the driveway, is the little Iris patch; the Maple beyond it was a Village project. The Front Garden is across the sidewalk from the Iris, though it doesn't show well in this photo. The Spruce and the tall Pines are ours, as is the Maple behind the Pines. The tall deciduous trees beyond everything are the neighbor's (mostly Aspens, I think.)

Why I Talk About Contractors in these Notes

Our house was built in Grand Ledge in the 1940s (where Soapy Joe's Car Wash is, now), and was moved to its current location in 1990. At that time it had no neighbors, and there was no east-west street. The abandoned field had last been planted with Clover, and smelled glorious.

The contractors who moved the house did quite a bit of filling to raise the lot to the street level. Some of it was systematic (they apparently put a deliberate clay layer beneath the front lawn) but much of it was just random fill.

The contractors who built the neighborhood around us also did a lot of filling, but our yard's contour--the backyard slopes down about 3 feet--is unlike any other neighborhood lot. The back line of our yard, and Mike's garage, are the local low points; fortunately, the Mulliken Meadows developers worked hard to control a potential drainage problem. (We certainly appreciate it.)