marr meadow

Concept

The garden has several goals.  To grow showy flowering plants around the house for the pleasure of people.  To increase the diversity of  plants native to coastal Maine for the benefit of wildlife - and to hope that those plants will do well with a minimum of watering or other care.    I have also thrown in some herb plants that could have been used for medicinal or dyeing purposes by the Marr family.

The plants below are all native to Maine, and can tolerate, or even thrive, in sunny, dry conditions.   (Though notably the blueberries will need to be wet the first year. )

Garden areas

Near the deck

The daylilies next to the deck never bloom and the rasberries never produce fruit.  I suggest replacing them with wild roses with perhaps some wild strawberries at their edge.

Heading up from the dock

The area to the left of the path near the cellar hole had become overgrown with bittersweet.  I think it is pretty much gone, or at least under control.   A flat of "pussy toes" have planted around the edge of the area that has been tarped.   (This felt a little weird because there are already pussy toes growing naturally around the lawn.  Thats a good sign that they will do well.) I'm suggesting planting a sod of lowbush blueberries between the stone wall and the path for about 40 feet from the path.  Beyond that would be little bluestem grasses and shorter perennials.

Old Cellar hole

My current thought, is to plant the cellar hole with taller perennials so that the tops of the plants in late summer and fall are about the same height as the plants around the hole.    Within the area we might put a place to sit if we think the mosquitoes are not to bad there.   On the western slope I would plant more little bluestem and shorter flowering plants.   The area still needs some moving of dirt and adding of composted leaves to build up the soil before planting is done - maybe in the fall.

Plants planted or purchased

Plants under consideration - mostly for the old cellar

Meadow grasses help support the stems of flowering plants, provide cover and seeds for birds and can be quite pretty in the fall and winter.   These grasses are arranged according to height, with the shorter plants first.