Front garden

return to green garage gardens

The front 'garden' consisted of a cement stoop when we bought the property, bordered by a cement sidewalk. It required regular weeding to prevent the site from looking abandoned. In addition, the stoop was often used as a spot for people to sit and enjoy a snack or, more often, a beverage from the party store next door. We had to clean up the site every morning.

As we studied the site, we understood that it provided a wonderful spot for a garden. It faces west and gets full afternoon sunshine. We decided to remove all of the cement an add a garden, fencing and a bench for people to sit and relax.

The new front garden includes:

• 2 Hop-hornbeam trees (native), tall enough to provide shade, but not so tall that they would block the sun to the solar panels on the roof of the annex.
• 3 serviceberry bushes (native), providing white flowers in the spring, berries in the summer and a beautiful red/gold color in the fall.
• bushes along the wall to provide definition (need name)
• a stone walkway interspersed with leftover groundcovers from the alley (mazus reptans, Irish moss, elfin thyme and a low-growing form of sedum)
• a bench made from repurposed materials
• tall grasses at the fence (need name)
• catmint and coreopsis in front of the fence, in addition to seasonal bulbs
• a fence made by Disenos Ornamental Iron in Detroit.