1999: West Yard
Our pink brick house was built with two odd wings standing out from the front corners. In the original landscaping scheme, these wings were used as frames: a big clump of Pampas grass was planted in front of each one.
To me, this didn't seem right. I thought the wings would be natural entrances to the back. Instead, they were blocked by the Pampas grass and the back fence tied to the rear corners of the house, not the front corners. This also left the side yards unfenced. Property lines along those sides were vague, and the side yards were useless to Pirate, who was confined to the fenced area in the back.
So we changed this, enclosing both side yards, which we call the East Yard and the West Yard. The wing in the East Yard is blinded off, but in the west wing, we installed a gate, which we call the West Gate.
The West Yard is the only part of our entire property that is simply planted. A creeping fig is trimmed like a hedge on the brick wall of the house. The one tree is a Chinese Pistache, an admirably tough customer that wants neither food nor water. Joseph's Coat, growing on a trellis by the gate, is a climbing rose of many colors.
Two kinds of lily bloom in the fall each year. One is the Hurricane Lily (see Blooming Now for September 2004) and the other is the handsome Guernsey Lily. Both are heirlooms from Old House Gardens.
We fenced off the West Yard in about 1985 and installed the gate a few years later. The West Yard was demolished by equipment when the swimming pool was installed in 1997. It was restored to its present form in 1999.
