This spring Steve removed one of the ginormous 40-year-old bushes from the corner of our house. It was the right time (shrubs only look good for so long), but it did leave our trash cans in a horrid state of exposure.
Ok, "horrid" may be a little strong, but we have four trash cans (trash, recycling, green waste, and another trash can that we don't pay for but came with our house and we occasionally use when we have heavy trash weeks) and they needed hiding. Steve found these fabulous fence sections at Lowe's that are used to contain air conditioning units and with a little retrofitting they became perfect trash can disguisers.
Steve and Scott pulled out the bush and roots, Spike and Sharon did a ton of prep work, Steve put up the fence, I put the weed- discouraging fabric down, and Sasha did the watering (never mind that she only managed to water the mulch). It was a little-red-hen-like team effort!
With the help of the
High Country Gardens website and catalog I think I managed to design a garden that will look good in winter (grasses), be colorful for most of the summer (Guara, Blue Catmint, and Black Eyed Susans - that's the
nod to Maryland!), and withstand cold Utah winters and dry, sizzling summers. I'm still awaiting the arrival of a few of the plants from my order, but I'm already starting to look at the garden with the same pride in my eyes as you see in Sasha's as she surveys her magnificent bark-watering job.
And here's the "finished" garden! This time next year the perennials will have started to fill in, the grasses will be high and billowy, and you'll say, "Trash cans? What trash cans?"
Ok, "horrid" may be a little strong, but we have four trash cans (trash, recycling, green waste, and another trash can that we don't pay for but came with our house and we occasionally use when we have heavy trash weeks) and they needed hiding. Steve found these fabulous fence sections at Lowe's that are used to contain air conditioning units and with a little retrofitting they became perfect trash can disguisers.
Steve and Scott pulled out the bush and roots, Spike and Sharon did a ton of prep work, Steve put up the fence, I put the weed- discouraging fabric down, and Sasha did the watering (never mind that she only managed to water the mulch). It was a little-red-hen-like team effort! 
With the help of the High Country Gardens website and catalog I think I managed to design a garden that will look good in winter (grasses), be colorful for most of the summer (Guara, Blue Catmint, and Black Eyed Susans - that's the nod to Maryland!), and withstand cold Utah winters and dry, sizzling summers. I'm still awaiting the arrival of a few of the plants from my order, but I'm already starting to look at the garden with the same pride in my eyes as you see in Sasha's as she surveys her magnificent bark-watering job.
And here's the "finished" garden! This time next year the perennials will have started to fill in, the grasses will be high and billowy, and you'll say, "Trash cans? What trash cans?"
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