the west and north sides

Just a note about the images of the Big Backyard...the distances look greater than they do when actually standing out there.

So while I have made gardens in the Little Backyard (the roses, althea, and the large shrubs were already here) and the Big Backyard (ditto with the long day lily bed), I have done almost nothing to the west side and absolutely nothing to the front besides neglect it to the point that two of the roses died as well as a big althea and another is dying.

Standing in front of the barn looking at the west side. There are two oaks and a large white crepe myrtle (the one with the climbing roses in it that the arbor is next to) which keep this side in near total shade except in winter when it gets afternoon light. It's mostly ferns, english ivy, and azaleas. The one big oak had half a dozen small scrawny struggling azaleas under it so I built the curving bed around the other oak and moved them there where they promptly died. Bought new azaleas on sale which were so pot bound that out of 10, only 6 survived and only one of those remains planted there. The red crinum lilies that I dug up from the city house are in there now but one clump will be moved over to the shop. The chinese fringe flower shrub was already there as well.

Standing at the end of the driveway looking at the west and north sides.

Across the front which is also mostly in shade except out by the street...roses, yellow bells, purple coneflowers, crepe myrtles, altheas (also called rose of sharon), two huge yew trees one on each corner of the house, chinese fringe flower shrubs, yellow butterfly iris that I need to move, society garlic, gerber daisies, ruellia ground cover, easter lilies, ferns, red tip photinias which are so large they block the view of the house from the street. I put in the beauty berry in front which doesn't show up in these pictures).

The northeast corner.

The east side, the most neglected side, also in near total shade except in winter from the cypress and red bud in my neighbor's yard though it does get some morning light...another crepe myrtle, althea, and shell ginger. I pulled out the common cannas that were here and moved the tall ferns there on the left that were originally in the Little Backyard where the yellow butterfly ginger is now. They are just now coming back from winter.

When we moved in here with the exception of the yellow bells and the easter lilies and the day lilies almost every single thing that blooms the previous owners had in the yard was either red, pink, or purple.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of the yards. I'm headed out now to get those azaleas in the ground.  If you missed either of the first two posts you can see them here - the Little Backyard and here-the Big Backyard.