[email protected]'s profile

Hi Lark, I appreciate your Thumbs Up note! It's my first feedback on YardShare. We do have lots of wildflowers and flowering bushes and trees that grow naturally in our forest. In looking at your yards I see you have planted some wildflower varieties. Did I see Joe Pye Weed? Since we've been clearing debris and cutting down some trees to let in more light, I'm seen new things pop up each Spring. My biggest thrill was having native Trillium appear a couple years ago. Thanks for posting you Hoop House photos. Veggie gardening is my husband's passion so I e-mailed him a link so he could see what you did. What USDA zone are you? We are charted as zone 7 but the last two winters I've lost a few plants supposedly hearty in this zone. I'm now trying stick to planting the zone 5 and 6 foundation plants. May rain fall gently upon your gardens, Janet

Hi Janet, I am in Wisconsin zone 4/5. We also had to do ALOT of clearing out in the woods. Then as the light came in we also got wildflowers. Dutchman's Breeches, Marsh Marigolds, Trilliums, Violets, Geramiums, Jack in the Pulpit, Turtlehead, Genticia and Ferns. I always wished I was in zone 7...you can grow so many things. But I know the weather has been weird. Thanks for the chat. I am off to the garden to do some transplanting. Smiles, Lark

I'm sure enjoying the Inspire Me Contest! It gave me a good excuse to Brag a little by sending My Yard to ALL my friends and because of that I've been in touch with folks I seldom hear from personally online. Congrats on a win-win contest...... your site gets all the attention it deserves and your members have all the fun.

Hi Lark, I've added some photos of wildflowers growing in our forest. I've asked for help with the names of the ones I don't know. Would you take a look at the last few photos added to my Forest Gardening Yard and let me know the names of any you might know? Thanks and Happy SPRING, jANET

Thanks Fastforward! I love how excited everyone has been about the contest and am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the summer brings. Good luck to you and your Forest Gardening yard!

Sorry Janet but I do not know the names of your pretty wildflowers. I so enjoy strolling through your photos. ALOT of hard work...but oh soooooo worth it. BEAUTIFUL

Hi Sue, Your gardens are beautiful and I love Your Passing the Torch album. Congratulations on your surge in votes in the "Inspire Us" contest. I'm thoroughly enjoying the competition and had to smile when I read your comment about the neighbors not wanting to let their dogs pee on your lawn. You inspired me to comment with tongue-in-cheek in an effort to get some more votes. Happy Gardening! Janet Drake

Hi Cusoli, THANKS FOR YOUR VOTE.... and I love what you are doing in your yard. Our last home was in Fresno, CA and quite similar in style to your home. I previously used tropical and sub-tropical plants to create a our own oasis. I'll keep checking to see what you are doing as you continue to embellish your yard. Janet

Hi Stacey, You don't need a bulldozer but a heavy duty rototiller would probably be a good thing to rent for a few hours. My husband was transferred often before he retired. We moved nine times during our first 25 years of marriage and I had landscaping challenges in each of our homes. Here's what I did. Make a list of the things you want incorporated into your yard space then prioritize your dreams. Work on a small section of your yard to fulfill one important goal and do not work in any other area until you are totally satisfied with the completed project. I call this pocket gardening. The first pocket could be a seating area, a water feature, or a raised bed. By focusing on the exposure in that one area, amending the soil and choosing plants that all have similar water needs, you can choose a combination of pleasing color, fragrance, and/or texture variation, etc. With regard to budget, design and time management for the project, it's much less of a burden to be re-landscaping a corner or small strip of your yard than taking on the whole thing at once. You could buy 1 section of pre-fab fencing to delineate the back of a pocket garden just beyond the patio by your back door shown in your photo #4. The gardening area could be as big or small as you would like. Hope this gives you some ideas and some motivation to get started! Please visit my Forest Gardening yard and vote for me if you like what we are doing..... one project at a time. Janet Drake

Did you build your SUMMER HOME from scratch or was it a kit? If you built it yourself, do you have plans or any pointers you would be willing to share? We have been talking about putting a teepee in our forest. By the way, your stone work is beautiful. Janet Drake

Hi Kristie, I enjoyed hearing from you and am glad you like what we are doing in our forest. You have inspired me to post a few more photos this week as we have completed a couple more projects. Will you end me a heads up as soon as you get some photos posted of your property. Where do you live? Janet

Sure, Janet. Right now we are battling significant drainage issues and fighting incredible amounts of rain which is hindering any progress. There is no landscaping around the house yet which I need to focus on as soon as the drainage trenches are finished. We are doing all of the work ourselves. We want to develop the entire property and our talking about our plans for it. After all, what is the point of having that much land if it isn't used and enjoyed?We too are city folk that have bought our dream property. It has been an incredible amount of work. We consider it a labor of love though and something that will continue to keep us young in body and spirit. We have a two-year old grand daughter with a second on the way, so I liked what you had done for the little ones too. We live just outside of Yosemite National Park in California. How did you handle the landscaping immediately around your house? I am still putting ideas together for that. We have a lot of large granite stones on the property and am trying to incorporate some of that into the design. We also have a hill in the backyard that we want to terrace with retaining walls. I can't wait to see more photos of what you have done! Cheers,Kristie

hi Barbara, I'm so happy to have inspired you to do more fun projects in your forest. Crickollow Cottage is charming. I can't wait to see more photos of your gardens and forest. Signed, Fastforward (AKA Janet Drake)

Hey Kristie, in what town do you live? We moved to WA in 2006 from Fresno where we had lived about 5 years and loved it because of it's close proximity to Yosemite and Kings Canyon. We did a lot of great hiking while we lived there. What kind of soil do you have on your property? On our small lot in Fresno we had hardpan and my husband had to put in a complete French drain system so our back yard didn't look like a lake all winter. Hope you are holding your own with your drainage issues. This week we are having a violent rainstorm and the river in our little town is expected to be 5' above the the banks by tomorrow morning. Luckily our home is high and dry although spots in our forest do flood. The retired couple we bought from did the landscaping around the house. She was a Master Gardener and put in lots of nice stuff although I have transplanted a lot of stuff according to my sense of design. Something they put in which I am so grateful for.... is one continuous sidewalk around our house. It's 5ft.+ away from the house in most places and creates very nicely defined garden beds. A couple years before we moved we bought PLANET GRANITE tshirts in Yosemite. I simply love granite in all shapes & sizes and envy that it is native to your land! Regarding terracing your hill.. my husband constructed a retaining wall on the East side of our yard out of our own fir trees. Of course, it won't last forever but neither will we. :) I still haven't made time to posting more photos. I think I'd better start that project right now before it falls off the To Do List. A gardener loves the rain for the resting time it brings! Janet

What does the document you posted mean? What is UGLY?

Dear E Magniez.... are you related to the late Leon Magniez of Turlock? I believe you and I might be cousins.

Hi Mattemma, my husband found the iron kitchen stuff at sportsmansguide.com and it\'s called.... Guide Gear® Campfire Cook Equipment! I will think positive thoughts regarding your poison ivy eradication. Clearing our forest of overgrown salal is an on-going project on our property.

Hi Deb, thanks for your praise of my Forest Gardening efforts! I'm anxious to see photos of your gardens. Are you just getting started or do you have an established yard?

Hi Pocahontas! Glad you enjoyed the photos of my FOREST GARDENING - PART I yard. After clearing out most of the salal wild plants started to pop up. Shafts of light or patches of sun seemed to encourage more of the blooming varieties but lots of pretty ground covers with less stunning little, an/or short-lived flowers came up even in the densest of shade. I'm slowly discovering the names of some of these natives but I'm finding it to be very difficult. A few of the plants that came up and I do know the names of are Trillium, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Mountain-Owl Clover, Miner's Lettuce, wild yellow violets, yellow, & white wood sorrel and bunchberry. I also discovered native bushes that had been camouflaged by the underbrush. These included lots of wild rose bushes, Hardhack Spiraea, evergreen huckleberry, flowering red currant and more. Right now I'm concentrating planting in one section of our forest. I can't wait to view your Riverdance Yard so I'll sign off for now. Janet Drake

I'm sure enjoying the Inspire Me Contest! It gave me a good excuse to Brag a little by sending My Yard to ALL my friends and because of that I've been in touch with folks I seldom hear from personally online. Congrats on a win-win contest...... your site gets all the attention it deserves and your members have all the fun.

Thanks Fastforward! I love how excited everyone has been about the contest and am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the summer brings. Good luck to you and your Forest Gardening yard!

Just changed my title from CEO to CYS (Chief Yard Sharer). Much more appropriate.

Hi Lark, I appreciate your Thumbs Up note! It's my first feedback on YardShare. We do have lots of wildflowers and flowering bushes and trees that grow naturally in our forest. In looking at your yards I see you have planted some wildflower varieties. Did I see Joe Pye Weed? Since we've been clearing debris and cutting down some trees to let in more light, I'm seen new things pop up each Spring. My biggest thrill was having native Trillium appear a couple years ago. Thanks for posting you Hoop House photos. Veggie gardening is my husband's passion so I e-mailed him a link so he could see what you did. What USDA zone are you? We are charted as zone 7 but the last two winters I've lost a few plants supposedly hearty in this zone. I'm now trying stick to planting the zone 5 and 6 foundation plants. May rain fall gently upon your gardens, Janet

Hi Janet, I am in Wisconsin zone 4/5. We also had to do ALOT of clearing out in the woods. Then as the light came in we also got wildflowers. Dutchman's Breeches, Marsh Marigolds, Trilliums, Violets, Geramiums, Jack in the Pulpit, Turtlehead, Genticia and Ferns. I always wished I was in zone 7...you can grow so many things. But I know the weather has been weird. Thanks for the chat. I am off to the garden to do some transplanting. Smiles, Lark

Hi Lark, I've added some photos of wildflowers growing in our forest. I've asked for help with the names of the ones I don't know. Would you take a look at the last few photos added to my Forest Gardening Yard and let me know the names of any you might know? Thanks and Happy SPRING, jANET

Sorry Janet but I do not know the names of your pretty wildflowers. I so enjoy strolling through your photos. ALOT of hard work...but oh soooooo worth it. BEAUTIFUL

Hi Kristie, I enjoyed hearing from you and am glad you like what we are doing in our forest. You have inspired me to post a few more photos this week as we have completed a couple more projects. Will you end me a heads up as soon as you get some photos posted of your property. Where do you live? Janet

Sure, Janet. Right now we are battling significant drainage issues and fighting incredible amounts of rain which is hindering any progress. There is no landscaping around the house yet which I need to focus on as soon as the drainage trenches are finished. We are doing all of the work ourselves. We want to develop the entire property and our talking about our plans for it. After all, what is the point of having that much land if it isn't used and enjoyed?We too are city folk that have bought our dream property. It has been an incredible amount of work. We consider it a labor of love though and something that will continue to keep us young in body and spirit. We have a two-year old grand daughter with a second on the way, so I liked what you had done for the little ones too. We live just outside of Yosemite National Park in California. How did you handle the landscaping immediately around your house? I am still putting ideas together for that. We have a lot of large granite stones on the property and am trying to incorporate some of that into the design. We also have a hill in the backyard that we want to terrace with retaining walls. I can't wait to see more photos of what you have done! Cheers,Kristie

Hey Kristie, in what town do you live? We moved to WA in 2006 from Fresno where we had lived about 5 years and loved it because of it's close proximity to Yosemite and Kings Canyon. We did a lot of great hiking while we lived there. What kind of soil do you have on your property? On our small lot in Fresno we had hardpan and my husband had to put in a complete French drain system so our back yard didn't look like a lake all winter. Hope you are holding your own with your drainage issues. This week we are having a violent rainstorm and the river in our little town is expected to be 5' above the the banks by tomorrow morning. Luckily our home is high and dry although spots in our forest do flood. The retired couple we bought from did the landscaping around the house. She was a Master Gardener and put in lots of nice stuff although I have transplanted a lot of stuff according to my sense of design. Something they put in which I am so grateful for.... is one continuous sidewalk around our house. It's 5ft.+ away from the house in most places and creates very nicely defined garden beds. A couple years before we moved we bought PLANET GRANITE tshirts in Yosemite. I simply love granite in all shapes & sizes and envy that it is native to your land! Regarding terracing your hill.. my husband constructed a retaining wall on the East side of our yard out of our own fir trees. Of course, it won't last forever but neither will we. :) I still haven't made time to posting more photos. I think I'd better start that project right now before it falls off the To Do List. A gardener loves the rain for the resting time it brings! Janet

Did you build your SUMMER HOME from scratch or was it a kit? If you built it yourself, do you have plans or any pointers you would be willing to share? We have been talking about putting a teepee in our forest. By the way, your stone work is beautiful. Janet Drake

Hi Sue, Your gardens are beautiful and I love Your Passing the Torch album. Congratulations on your surge in votes in the "Inspire Us" contest. I'm thoroughly enjoying the competition and had to smile when I read your comment about the neighbors not wanting to let their dogs pee on your lawn. You inspired me to comment with tongue-in-cheek in an effort to get some more votes. Happy Gardening! Janet Drake

Hi Cusoli, THANKS FOR YOUR VOTE.... and I love what you are doing in your yard. Our last home was in Fresno, CA and quite similar in style to your home. I previously used tropical and sub-tropical plants to create a our own oasis. I'll keep checking to see what you are doing as you continue to embellish your yard. Janet

Hi Stacey, You don't need a bulldozer but a heavy duty rototiller would probably be a good thing to rent for a few hours. My husband was transferred often before he retired. We moved nine times during our first 25 years of marriage and I had landscaping challenges in each of our homes. Here's what I did. Make a list of the things you want incorporated into your yard space then prioritize your dreams. Work on a small section of your yard to fulfill one important goal and do not work in any other area until you are totally satisfied with the completed project. I call this pocket gardening. The first pocket could be a seating area, a water feature, or a raised bed. By focusing on the exposure in that one area, amending the soil and choosing plants that all have similar water needs, you can choose a combination of pleasing color, fragrance, and/or texture variation, etc. With regard to budget, design and time management for the project, it's much less of a burden to be re-landscaping a corner or small strip of your yard than taking on the whole thing at once. You could buy 1 section of pre-fab fencing to delineate the back of a pocket garden just beyond the patio by your back door shown in your photo #4. The gardening area could be as big or small as you would like. Hope this gives you some ideas and some motivation to get started! Please visit my Forest Gardening yard and vote for me if you like what we are doing..... one project at a time. Janet Drake

Hi Pocahontas! Glad you enjoyed the photos of my FOREST GARDENING - PART I yard. After clearing out most of the salal wild plants started to pop up. Shafts of light or patches of sun seemed to encourage more of the blooming varieties but lots of pretty ground covers with less stunning little, an/or short-lived flowers came up even in the densest of shade. I'm slowly discovering the names of some of these natives but I'm finding it to be very difficult. A few of the plants that came up and I do know the names of are Trillium, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Mountain-Owl Clover, Miner's Lettuce, wild yellow violets, yellow, & white wood sorrel and bunchberry. I also discovered native bushes that had been camouflaged by the underbrush. These included lots of wild rose bushes, Hardhack Spiraea, evergreen huckleberry, flowering red currant and more. Right now I'm concentrating planting in one section of our forest. I can't wait to view your Riverdance Yard so I'll sign off for now. Janet Drake

What does the document you posted mean? What is UGLY?

hi Barbara, I'm so happy to have inspired you to do more fun projects in your forest. Crickollow Cottage is charming. I can't wait to see more photos of your gardens and forest. Signed, Fastforward (AKA Janet Drake)

Dear E Magniez.... are you related to the late Leon Magniez of Turlock? I believe you and I might be cousins.

Hi Deb, thanks for your praise of my Forest Gardening efforts! I'm anxious to see photos of your gardens. Are you just getting started or do you have an established yard?

Hi Mattemma, my husband found the iron kitchen stuff at sportsmansguide.com and it\'s called.... Guide Gear® Campfire Cook Equipment! I will think positive thoughts regarding your poison ivy eradication. Clearing our forest of overgrown salal is an on-going project on our property.