Saturday, August 08, 2009

BATTLING THE DRAGON (topiary)

my best shot of the weekend... japanese anemone...this weekend i finally stopped procrastinating and battled the dragon yew topiary... here it is all done:
here it is about half-way done, when the rain forced me to take a break...
below is the "before" shot... can you see why i procrastinated? in case you are interested in the story behind this yew hedge... we were going to take it out, when it was only 4 ft tall, then i suddenly had a vision that i could make it into a dragon! 7 years later, the head is finally high enough to look ok (about 10 ft from the level upon which the bench sits.) i'm still playing with the number of spines and the tail. the deer have eaten the poor monster's legs. i'm hoping it will look really good with snow on it this winter...
my crape myrtle is really tall now... i think i'll really whack it back this fall...
i realized i haven't posted many views of the garden... entrance to the potager...
south garden, showing the square garden in the middle...
the square garden...
south garden path against the house...
the day lily at left is the only one the deer have not eaten. i think it's bermuda queen, and if i had to pick one to survive the deer, this would be it!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am loving that dragon topiary. Excellent job. Mary Ann R.

miss m said...

What a great & fun feature to add to the garden ! Shrub recycling at its best and a perfect opportunity to practice topiary.

Looking good !

Kerri said...

I'm so glad the deer left you that one beautiful daylily. She's gorgeous!
We had one eat the buds off little yellow "Butterpat" when the lilies were just beginning to bloom. That was quite a scare! No more damage though, thank heavens.
Yes, I can see exactly why you procrastinated :) What a challenge! But you've done a great job, and your dragon is looking good. Your hard work paid off.
Everything else is too. You have a beautiful garden. I hope I get to see it one of these days :)

Kerri said...

P.S. You have Japanese Anemones already? Lucky you. Just noticed yesterday that mine are budding. That really is a beautiful shot.

em said...

Mary Ann, Thanks! Hard work, that.

miss m, thanks, someday maybe i'll be happy with the dragon, but every year it's better than the last.

kerri, my elbow still hurts! this year our town is promising to cull the deer, and all the gardeners will be planting tulips with abandon! i'm happy with the texture and color of the anemone shot. they are blooming like wild! thanks for the comment!