Short History of Sharon's Gardens

I started gardening as a kid with a garden in the back yard. It was a lot of work, and other than radishes and lettuce, I got very little out of it. Bunnies like beans and they eat them. My mother planted some trees and then added some spring bulbs of crocuses and daffodils. My grandmother had a beautiful dogwood tree and other lovely flowers. I think mom and grandma started the gardening bug. When I was out of school and in Philadelphia, mom lived in Hershey in prime farming country and had a beautiful garden. That added fuel to the garden bug fire.

When I was in my early 30s, I finally bought a home with a small yard for a garden of my own. As a house warming present, my mom came and planted 1 pink dogwood and 2 red azaleas in my front yard and then I was hooked. I could not keep my hands out of the dirt. I got rid of the hostas and day lilies, and one yellow & green bush that didn't flower, and that tree out front had to go. I added rhododendroms, a lilac, a white and a yellow forsythia, a butterfly bush, other types of roses, a japanese maple, crocuses, daffodils, irises, various other perennials, garlic, some herbs, and an occasional tomato.

Then I moved to Dad's house after my stepmother moved. It had a lot more yard, and more challenges. There were a number of beds, but they are hard to keep up with the weeds. The grass was not the best and there were lots of weeds there as well. There were more yew bushes than I wanted, and the lower back was quite a jungle. The landscaping in the back was overgrown and the terracing blocks had tumbled down the hill. In the first few years, I did minimal gardening. I worked on the the house itself and had a busy work travel schedule. After a few years of planting a few perennials, I started with serious hardscaping, and took out many of the trees and bushes that were blocking the sun.

Current House and Garden - Starting Point
		We start with tree. It is a magnificent orange cut leave Japanese Maple and is several decades old.
		Sometime in the last 15 years another Japanese Maple was added out front. This one turns a beautiful red color in the fall.
		Same heirloom irises as previous house were planted here and there are viburnum as a border.
		Spring irises, azaleas, and viburnum.

Additions
Added barrels with some annuals for color
Removed yews in back raised bed, then added tickseed. The bees like tickseed.
Added Agastache aka Hyssop to the same bed. The bees love it.
The new landscaping looks great.
Added sunflowers which the squirrels and chipmunks have completely decimated. There is a butterfly bush and other perennials around and under those sunflowers.

Old House Starting Point and the First Plantings
		When I moved in there were 6 prissy pink rose bushes in the back along the fence. On the side there were day lilies and out front there were hostas.
		Add one pink dogwood in front and added two azaleas to the front hostas. The partially pink flamingos were a decorating present from some dear friends.
		Added some irises out back next to the house and a couple little rhododendroms. See there were more partially pink flamingos, too.
		Also Added some irises in back corner with another rhododendroms next to the house and a little rhododendrum.

Various Additions Through the Years
Added both a white and a yellow Forsythia.
And I love the early crocuses.
Replaced prissy pink with deep redish purple.
Added more roses including this beautiful coral colored rose.
More red roses.
And white...
Put in a Japanese cut leaf Maple.
Added new azaleas when the old ones died.
Tulips and daffodils added to front raised beds that I put in.
Added a Pink Almond
Added bybrid bearded irises.
Gotta have some sunflowers for the birds.
Added a butterfly bush for variety and summer color.
Those irises really took over the front bed.