the courtyard

Thank you so much for all your wonderful birthday and anniversary wishes from last week!  Dan and I were so touched and loved reading your comments and emails!
Thank you!

I was so surprised to realize that its been two years since we landscaped and I've shown you the courtyard!

To take you back to the very beginning and provide a little "before-and-after," this is what the courtyard (as we call it) looked like when we bought the house.

This is the courtyard after phase I (the farmhouse) and phase II (the barn) of the renovation.  The first thing we did in the yard (after having all our antique maples looked at and trimmed by an arborist) was to install french drains around the entire house- you can see the gravel along the edge in this photo.  One of those not fun expenditures, but one that after it's done and your basement doesn't leak anymore you are so glad you spent the money!

Next we added the ion "planter."  You can read the story here.

Then we landscaped... here.  

This is what it looked like when I last showed you the space.

And this is what the courtyard looks like today...

The large iron orb with variegated euonymus hides the top of our artisanal well.

The courtyard and adjacent "living room bed" is planted in all white (with the exception of the light purple from the hostas when they flower.)  I have color in other shrubs and perennials around the property, but I love all-white beds and how calming it looks next to the antique farmhouse.  The lilac, which is original, also blooms white.

 Initially, there were native orange day lilies along the side of the barn. After the first season and I realize how quickly they started to look bad after blooming I transplanted them on the property and planted Bombshell hydrangeas in their place. 

The iron planter gets planted with annuals each year.  This year Kimberly Queen ferns (which take full sun by the way) and white Bacopa share the planter.  Behind the planter Limelight hydrangeas were planted to hide the air conditioning units.  A vintage armillary sphere peaks out from behind the Limelights.

The annual bed between the courtyard and the living room bed is planted with green-leafed white begonias, white geraniums and white impatiens.  The large rock in the back holds two small heart-shaped rocks- one place there as a gift for me by Dan and the other I found for him:)

You can see how the moonflower vine is making its way across the cross-bar on the new trellis!  

The funny story of the trellis here.

Right around the corner from the trellis, behind the limelight hydrangeas, is an espaliered apple tree (need to work on training the top a bit;) that is already bearing fruit.  It is seen from the kitchen window and the upstairs windows that look down on the courtyard.

The courtyard...

and, the living room bed.

So, once again before...

and after!

hope you are having a great summer!

don't you just love it when...

...something unexpected becomes your favorite part?!

That's what happened when I recently had this iron trellis made for the courtyard to go over the barn half bath window. 

It started with these two iron panels.  We found them almost 20 years ago at an estate sale in Dallas.  They were originally porch supports on a 1950's ranch-style house. These are the more desirable vintage supports since they are all iron;  the newer (1960's versions) had iron frames, but aluminum inserts.  In Dallas I hung them on a painted fence partition Dan made at the corner of our garage (photo below.)  It was built to block the view into our next door neighbors bathroom from our terrace- not pretty ;)  The staghorn fern was the size of my thumb when someone gave it to me!  Note the tongue-in-cheek "mount" that Dan made for the "staghorn" fern!  When we left Dallas I gave away all my outdoor plants.  I still miss them.  (Hey Prissy.... how's Mr. Staghorn doing?!)

The panels have been in the basement since we moved into the farmhouse.  I decided I needed some vertical height in the courtyard and one day remembered these iron supports.  I then designed a trellis that would encase the barn bath window that I could grow a vine on.  I've mentioned our wonderful neighbor down our road who does welding before, but he doesn't work on "cast iron" (did you know that is a totally different skill-set than a regular welder and very difficult to find these days?)  We were very happy to get the recommendation from an antiques shop of the nicest elderly gentlemen who welds cast iron.  We've used the man several times now to repair an antique urn, to repair both log rests on the barn room andirons, and one of the front brass legs that was missing on one of the andirons, and  to repair a bronze bird leg that broke when it fell off a table.  He lives in a charming town several miles away. While these particular pieces aren't "cast" iron, we have been using him lately for all our welding.  Note the piece on the right has one "leaf" missing.

This was my drawing for the welder.... the bottom of the pieces needed 34" legs to clear the window and be set in the ground with a cross-bar for support being close to the bottom and therefore not visible (i.e. not a visual part of the trellis); the missing leaf side goes on the right (I felt it would be less noticeable on that side);  the wall-mounting brace was 3" trellis to wall; there were 6" from the top of the pieces to the bottom of the arch and 6-3/4" to the top of the arch.  If braces were needed in the arch I wanted them divided into thirds.  Oh, and the inside measurements between the two iron pieces was 45".... be sure to take note of that measurement!   We discussed if a center brace would be needed for support, but I recall him saying it would be fine without one.  Good.

We discussed all the measurements with the welder, who is clearly an artisan, and I could tell he understood my drawing and what I wanted the trellis to look like.  He then asked me if I would like for him to make the missing leaf.  Told ya... an artisan.  Yes, please!

When he called to tell us the trellis was ready he told us it was tall at 11 feet!  And, sure enough it was really tall!  Except for the new weld, the new leaf was difficult to discern from the originals... same thickness, same leaf veining.

We drove up to the piece thinking it looked exactly as I had designed it...... except- what was "that"??  That piece in the middle between the two leaf supports?? 

This piece... the crossbar.

While first looking at the trellis we were questioning a particular measurement, so the welder went to get my drawing to check the number.... and as I'm looking at my drawing I said  "OHHHHHH.... I see where the crossbar came from!!"

Well.... turns out I inadvertently designed it!  I had drawn the "brace or curly bracket" into the drawing to note the measurement between the two iron pieces, not to be a crossbar!  To make it even more complicated our welder didn't have a metal bender, so he handcrafted the curly bracket by hand, inch by inch,  shaping it by hammering the iron on an anvil. .  After the initial scratching my head about it, I thought it was a charming little detail and somehow made the trellis look vintage instead of new.  Thank goodness I didn't draw a squiggly line or arrows between the two iron supports!!   Note to self:  be very careful what you draw or say in explanation!

The cross-bar clears the window at the perfect spot (the kind welder said he would come over and move it if it didn't)  and every time I see it makes me chuckle and smile thinking how the unintentional became my favorite part of the whole project!   The welder was also concerned how the arch wasn't uniform (equidistant across the whole arch), but went ahead and made it as I had designed it.  Thank goodness, as a perfect arch would have read as too new/contemporary and this seems older to me.  Don't you love a contractor who takes you at your word/drawing?!!

I have Moonflower vine growing at its base which blooms white and only at night!

If you hold your finger over the crossbar and imagine the trellis without it, you'll see how this little miscommunication really "made" the piece!

So, in closing... may all your pain be champagne, and may all your mistakes be good ones!

xxojoan

the courtyard: in progress and complete!

First of all, thank you so much for all of your support and house-love regarding the Renovation Style magazine shoot!  I can't tell you what your kind comments and emails have meant to me.

the courtyard...

If you'll recall from the last post on the courtyard, this is what the space looked like with the addition of the iron "planter."

Dan then added a stone border around the perimeter.

Big Blue and Dan leveled the terrain.

The iron planter was returned to the courtyard and planted with the Maiden grass.  A vintage armillary sphere (a gift from our dear next door neighbors in Dallas when they moved away) was added in the graveled ac bed behind the planter which will eventually be hidden by the Limelight hydrangeas that were planted between the planter and the house to hide the air conditioners.

Some floats were added- copper and fishing.  You don't see these until you step into the courtyard.  I like a garden to reveal itself as you pass through it instead of seeing everything all at one time.

 

 


Several rolls of grass have been laid in this photo.  Ahhhh.... progress!

This is the "living room bed" (we name everything!) that blooms all-white.  Again, the bare soil will be laid with sod.  Under the bay windows on the right (the living room) are three Annabelle Hydrangeas which will grow to 5 feet (hence the space between them.)  They are an old fashioned mop-head Hydrangea which are often seen around antique homes.  The tall tree on the left of the bed are white Lilacs which were already here at the house.  I thinned them out some as they were a bit out of control.  Plants were planted with a bit of space between them, but once full grown they will fill the bed.  Several of the "empty" spots in this bed are waiting for ferns, but ferns haven't made a big appearance at the nurseries here yet.  I'm trying to be patient!!

 I came back outside after getting us some water, and Dan told me he had left me a "note"..... the heart shaped rock on the left was waiting for me on this larger rock!  The next day I found a similar heart rock and left a "note" for him!
The large rock is surrounded by Liriope, white Bleeding Heart Aurora, and Icicle Speedwell and white Petunias (I've since also added white green-leaf begonias;)

While I was taking photos I realized I hadn't shown you my orb!!   I love this vintage iron orb- it moved with us from Dallas!  I bought it at the Canton Flea Market in Canton, Texas for $50!  It originally had a iron dutch oven hanging from the center of it (which we removed;)  This puppy is big, about 4 feet in diameter, and to get it home we had to strap it to the top of the SUV and drive 30 miles an hour the whole hour and a half it took to get back to Dallas!  We looked like we were trying to communicate with aliens!

In Dallas it was in the backyard path-garden as an object de art... a huge topiary sphere!  It was totally wrapped with variegated Wintergreen Euonymous- I had to cut it free to bring it with us.  The movers loved packing this baby... not!

 This is the view as you drive up the gravel driveway to the house, note the orb.  
(The first bed we designed and planted last Fall was the "front bed" and the stones under the front porch...  here )

Here at the farmhouse the orb actually has a job;  it is hiding the well-head.  It is planted with the same variegated Euonymous Wintercreeper and will eventually cover the orb.

You can see the little branches (and the tip of the well-head) being trained to grow around the orb.

And here is the finished courtyard!
I love the way that this once ugly, wasted space has turned into something so pretty!  It is especially pretty looking down on it from the second story windows.

once again....before




after!

life is like a box of chocolates...

 you never know what you're gonna get. 

forest gump

or "find" in this case!

It was on a visit to our local quarry to check out their gravel color (every quarry produces a different color based on the stones they are quarrying) that I made a wonderful find!  As we drove around the huge quarry looking for the gravel I found....

...this pile!  Be still my heart!
I love all things iron, so my heart started to beat faster as I pointed and squealed  "LOOK!" to Dan.  He's fond of iron too, so lets just say at one point the employees drove up to check on us since we had been gone so long and they were afraid we had driven over an edge of the quarry!

This was just a pile of "scrap iron" to them, but to me it was a gold mine!!  I immediately start a running dialogue of all the things that one could make using the large iron pieces!  All the while honing in on this one thing,...

... this huge iron piece!

In my eye I saw a fabulous planter for the courtyard, but in reality it was a machine part for the huge rock crushing machine.  Isn't it absolutely beautiful?!  Ahhh, the patina.

Seventy dollars later ($50 for the "planter" and $20 for the man to deliver it to the house) it arrives.  You can see how big it is as this is a full size pick up truck.

It is then chained to Big Blue to transport up the drive.

This is the "courtyard."
It faces West- the road side of the house, though it can not be seen from the road.   It is bordered by the barn on the left (the bump out is the half-bath which we added that is accessed from the barn room), the kitchen on the back and the reading room in the farmhouse on the right.  This area is one of our many outdoor projects (the gravel is being installed on the barn room terrace as I type)  that we are working on right now.  We started to landscape only last Fall starting with the front bed.   We are also working on putting in a bed to the right of the courtyard in front of the reading room and living room bay windows.  Everything in this "front drive" bed will bloom white.
The courtyard will be laid with grass and there will be Limelight Hydrangeas planted in front of the air conditioning units to hide them.  I will plant three Maiden grasses (Miscanthus sinensis "Gracillmus") that grow to six feet in the iron planter.  The large ornamental grasses will provide soft, graceful movement to an otherwise static space.

I find the planter to be a wonderful focal point for the courtyard.
Here you see the grasses sitting in the planter, hydrangeas sitting in front of the ac units and the front drive bed all waiting to be planted!
Gotta run...  the plants are calling!


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I'm being told people are having trouble leaving comments in blogger.  I've read that if you sign in with your google account and unclick the "keep me signed in" box that you can leave a comment.  I, too, was having difficulty leaving comments and this has been working for me.