Green your world or add a little privacy with Virginia Creeper.
Welcome to paradise, otherwise known as Alan Shepard’s stunning yard. Oh to have his skills and work ethic to get to this level.
Back in 2010, the Butchart Gardens-type vista you see before you today, was a bare backyard with a narrow sidewalk down the middle leading to the lane.
But when the Shepards, Alan and Verna, moved in 11 years ago, Alan’s dad, Bob, an accomplished landscaper and gardener, started designing, put shovel to the ground, and got the project launched. Since then, mainly Alan, has continued designing and creating and planting to where today the yard (front too) is truly a showplace.
My main reason for popping by was to pick his brain about the patio stone/bricked areas he has so artistically put together, and how to go about doing that, because I want to do something similar at my place.
I begin by asking him how he prepped the ground.
He gives me a sheepish grin and says, "I didn’t. The ground was pretty level, so I just started working on a pattern, and put the bricks right on the grass."
No landscape fabric even? Nope.
"I would now, but back then, I just went for it. Hunted down any and all bricks and patio stones I could find, and just kept adding," says Shepard, "Then to fill the spaces between the bricks I spread patio paver jointing sand over top, swept it in, then watered it all down. I kept adding bricks and sand, filling as needed, adding water, and wherever the water pooled I’d take a screwdriver and lift the lower bricks some, the sand would run in under, I’d add more, and eventually, I got it all fairly level."
This is my kind of patio. I was picturing digging the whole area down a few inches, covering with landscape fabric, adding a base gravel, packing it, adding sand, packing that, then finally getting to the brick part.
Shepard may have taken the "make Mike Holmes cringe" approach, however, he had excellent results.
"Acquiring the old bricks is a bit of a challenge," he says. "The old red ones stand up the best, and you don’t want the hollowed out variety, they break down too quickly."
Important to note that slope matters, so to keep water from collecting around your house, garage and garden sheds, design accordingly.
Yes, the professional preparation approach is better, but if you want to do this on a COVID budget, now we know how.
My yard development goals are much more humble, although I did spot something there that really caught my eye — the beautiful vines growing along the top of his fence, up the walls of his house, and generally everywhere. Not only are the vines gorgeous, but provide so much privacy as well.
"That is Virginia Creeper, and every bit of it you see here began with one or two plants I dug up and brought over from Wolseley a decade or so ago. You have to monitor it some, or it will eventually cover everything you own."
I have two acres, so that would be a bit much, but I think I may have the perfect use for it. I have a big old beautiful oak tree that I apparently drowned by having my basement sump pit hose empty at its base for years, but I’ve never cut it down. If I plant Virginia Creeper at the base of its trunk I’m thinking I’ll basically have a beautifully leafed out tree again in a few years, and what a lovely and unique work of art that will be. Might even hold the old rotting tree together a little longer.
Magnificent yard, Alan. Thanks for the visit.
Comments and column ideas always welcome!
lmustard1948@gmail.com
