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| L: Back Yard (blue dot) // R: Front Yard facing N Spring Street |
The Roediger House sits on a roughly quarter-acre downtown lot, 120 feet wide and 100 feet deep. With the size of the house itself, and the generous paved parking area, there's only so much yard. In the back, having built out the kitchen addition in 2008-2009 all the way up to the 20-foot setback limit in the zoning codes, it left me at present with a long strip of strangely sloped yard, rising up to meet the ghost of a demolished retaining wall and also graded to create a reasonable drain field. Let's detour through a quick trip down memory lane to show the yard's transformations over the years...
Before demolishing the old kitchen and mud porch, the backyard had a very different look and feel. Above is looking north from the parking area in 2003; below is the view from the adjoining lot to the north of the house that same year.
Once the kitchen addition was completed in the spring of 2009, this is how things looked back there:
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| View of the north west corner of the Roediger House, 2010 |
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| As seen from the parking area after tree removal, 2012 |
I guess the first "thing" I did to that barren backyard was to build a very amateur patio pad for the firewood rack and my grill:
I also planted a couple of hibiscus shrubs and a butterfly bush...and that was about it until the fall of 2016, when I removed those and planted three autumn blaze maple trees. Then, last summer, I started with the northwest corner of the backyard and initiated a somewhat more intentional landscaping plan for the steep slope that runs up to the silt fence along the rear property line. As the summer came to a close last year, I began the next phase of landscaping that sloped area but only got as far as tilling and removing a lot of buried bricks (as noted in this blog post from last August).
Over the last three weeks, I picked up where I left off, retilling the top area, and I planted shrubs on that top level (above photo).
I also dug out a great portion of the clay from the slope and replaced it with topsoil.
I still tilled or spaded up a number of buried bricks, but also ran into this interesting buried stumbling block (that I decided to just cover over and plant around):
I've planted a nice variety of shrubs and flowering plants and finished up with petunias for the summer season.
A daylily has already begun blooming beautifully...
...and I am loving the color and vibrancy of the larkspur:
2 comments:
My husband, John, and I were headed to Quanto Basta for dinner and we parked in front of a house that had the most beautiful doorway molding. A handsome gentleman (Ray) was working diligently at digging up huge, old roots so I asked him about the age of the house and I met "Sumter", his sweet dog. After dinner, Ray was still working, but he stopped and chatted with us, gave us the online information about the house and invited us to come back and see the house. I was so excited about seeing inside that I did not hear him say "come back" so I "accepted his invitation". By the time my husband was able to get my attention, Ray had already changed his shoes and was taking us inside! To summarize, the house is beautiful! The architects did an amazing job at restoration and renovation! I love the eclectic decor! Thank you, so much, for showing us around your lovely home, Ray!
*John & Bridgett Stewart *
Bridgett -- you and John were a terrific interruption to my amateur yard labors, and it was a pleasure to meet you and to spend that bit of time with you. Sumner might have been more expressive at how much joy we took in opening up the homestead to your first-time visit, but I was every bit as happy. And I say "first-time visit" deliberately, in hopes that you'll come back again if you're in the vicinity. Your kind words are much appreciated. Please come again.
- Ray
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