Happy Monday GPODers—hope you all had a fabulous weekend and, for those of us facing heat waves, are staying cool!!

When starting a restoration, renovation, or upgrade project it can be difficult to remember to take “before” photos, for me at least. I get too excited to get started that I jump right into things with no thought to slow down and document the process. When the project is all done, I always regret it.

Nothing tells a garden’s story quite like before and after photos. Seeing the journey of blank backyard to gorgeous garden full of plants and carefully planned hardscaping adds an extra level of appreciation and understanding of how a space was crafted. It can also be a living document of where you were, how far you’ve come, and the possibilities for the future.

Today’s submission from Claire Haskell is a perfect example of this. She shared the transformation of her Minneapolis garden from barren slope to lush oasis with perfectly placed paths and beds that allow for great growing and easy meandering through the different areas. Just seeing the “after” photos of this garden would have been a treat, but getting a glimpse of what existed “before” is that much more impressive and inspiring! But I’ll stop rambling and let Claire take it away:

When my husband and I moved into our house in Minneapolis, MN almost 10 years ago, the outside space was boring and unwelcoming.

Before: The yard at the front entrance was steeply sloped and had drainage issues that turned it into a big mud pit when it rained, leading us to nickname it “The Pit of Despair”.

Christopher (an engineer) was able to design and build a series of corten steel retaining walls to make the space useable.

The new “sipping terrace” includes a raised vegetable bed and a pollinator garden, with a narrow brick path that leads to a small table set at the end—perfect for sipping your morning tea or evening wine.

We planted up the front into a bright and welcoming garden with green, chartreuse and purple as its main colors.

The crabapple tree is underplanted with Garden Glow™ dogwood shrubs (Cornus hesseyii ‘Garden Glow’, Zones 4–8) that add bright chartreuse color to the shady spot. Underneath the dogwoods are maidenhair ferns and Japanese painted ferns (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum, Zones 5–8) and a trio of ‘Rainbow End’ hosta (Hosta ‘Rainbow End’, Zones 3–9).

A flagstone path leads from the sidewalk to the “sipping terrace”. The statue is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s garden sprites. A ‘Sun Power’ hosta (Hosta ‘Sun Power’, Zones 3–9) anchors the left side of the path, underplanted with variegated hakenachloa (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, Zones 5–9) and purple Dolce® ‘Wildberry’ heuchera (Heuchera x ‘Wildberry’, Zones 4–9). In the distance, you can see the Tiger Eyes Sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’, Zones 3–8) and purple smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, Zones 4–10). On the right, a DeGroot’s Spire arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Degroot’s Spire’, Zones 4–10) lends height.

Purple columbine and alliums pop against the background of Garden Glow™ dogwood and maidenhair ferns. In the lower right corner, you can spot a small hosta (maybe ‘Curly Fries’ (Hosta ‘Curly Fries’, Zones 3–9)).

More alliums mixed in with foliage of Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum humile, Zones 5–8) and Lady in Red fern (Athyrium filix-femina ‘Lady in Red’, Zones 2–8).

Masterwort (Astrantia major ‘Venice’, Zones 5–7) is one of the few that flowers in this shady garden. In the background, you can see the ‘Sun Power’ hosta, along with heuchera, hakenachloa and ‘Red Umbrella’ meadowsweet (Filipendula x ‘Red Umbrella’, Zones 4–9).

We focus on variations in form and foliage to make this shady garden more interesting. Here you can see ‘Sun King’ aralia (Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’, Zones 3–8), Solomon’s seal, martagon lillies (Lilium martagon, Zones 3–9) (not yet flowering), shredded umbrellla (Syneilesis aconitifolia, Zones 3–8), jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum, Zones 4–9), maidenhair fern and hakenachloa.

Thank you for sharing your incredible garden renovation with us, Claire! It was an absolute treat to see the transformation and reminded me how important it is to snap just a couple of “before” photos.

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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