Flower Gardens		Copyright H.Littlefield, 2006
	COTTAGE GARDEN The front yard originally had a white picket fence with a row of mums and a patch of dying lawn. In 2003, we decided to replace the lawn with a perennial cottage garden. We removed the mums, a giant tree stump, and a very old and gnarly rhododendren. We improved the soil with manure, compost, leaves, and any organic matter we could find. We put in two small brick maintence paths, an arbor, a little dog run, and tons of plants. Hollyhocks frame the back of the garden, and climbing roses and clematis are filling in the arbor and the fence. Columbines, poppies, daisies, asters, coreopsis, geranium, viola, dianthus, campanula, lavender, blue flax, delphinium, fox gloves, and others fill the garden with color during the summer. The primary colors are blue and purple, with splashes of yellow, white, and red. BACKYARD FLOWERS The stone wall in the back yard was our first perennial flower effort. Because it is shaded by many maple trees, the flowers are not as profuse as in other areas of the yard. A strip of flowers in front of the vegetable garden, which gets full sun, is especially beautiful in the summer.