Before & After: Dramatic Garden Transformation

Hey friends welcome to Gardening with Creekside  today we're going to have fun we are on location  to a really big extensive transformative uh  landscape job that Creekside Nursery has been  working on this project in some shape or fashion  for quite a while now we are at um sweet customer  house here in Gastonia Jerry has been working with  Miss Sandra for oh gosh well over a year kind of  honing in exactly what she wants in her backyard  and then Andrew has been implementing it in the  last gosh month or so big big project really  going to see a big huge transformation in this  really wellestablished Garden but mandra wanted a  complete refresh and came to us for some help so  I thought we would come today and take a look at  the nearly completed project there is hopes that  they will get it finished today in it's Jackson  has been helping Andrew and he is right over here  over my shoulder uh loading up some Mulch and he  said we're getting it finished today so there you   go you heard it from the man himself Mr Jackson  so he has been a great help to Andrew um coming  and being kind of his right hand where we are we  are um on the driveway side of the home so this is  the side of the house okay the front will be here  um they let in a really nice kind of established  neighborhood here in Gastonia main road down here  you can see they have quite a steep driveway down  so where we are obviously driveway side of the  house I'm trying to give you a little bit of a  reference point here and then the whole backyard  um really has been transformed like I said this  was a very wellestablished home um and the garden  honestly was just it was overgrown and um they  needed some help coming in here because they  are in their later years and wanted to really  transform this space came to us and that is  what the creek side team has done everything  that you're looking at is has been touched and  is brand new we will go through all of this I'm  trying to stay out of the way cuz obviously they  are working uh quite hard today you can see Miss  Sandra up there she was pulling out some of her  zenas because the freeze got them nice really  well enclosed very private Garden um like I said  being in the established neighborhood area um has  given them lots of good um privacy in here and is  nice and snug which is great as far as the garden  uh however it can be a bit of a challenge as far  as the um construction zone goes so what we're  going to do is I'm just going to kind of walk you  through this is actually my first time visiting  uh this garden and I've heard tons about it we've  talked about it I've seen it in pictures but first  time seeing my eyes with my own eyes and man it is  looking great uh okay reference point here for you  they just had the sun room installed so they had  the sun room built along with this patio um kind  of working at the same time that Andrew was here  working so we did not do the sun room and we did  not do this pad this lovely little patio right  here what we did do um is all of the stonework  the retaining wall because as you can see this is  yard is quite on a slope right so the house sits  down and the gens are quote elevated behind it so  we had to address that in some fashion originally  they were using um some railroad Timbers so where  we have the stone the railroad Timbers were and it  was a little bit of a teered garden so there were  different levels um and so of course obviously we  took those out because they were starting to rot  they were had been here for a long time there were  some um Timber steps kind of coming this way  and just looks so nice Andrew has done just  an excellent job um doing all of the stonework and  then you can see that the retaining wall continues  around here behind this giant fig tree right here  and then they actually ran out of block they have  got to go grab another palette and I believe  they have one or two more courses right here  that they need to go up so that is why this area  is still unfinished and why you still see um good  old good old red clay soil right here because  what they're going to do is come in you can see   where they need to add some more block right  here and then this too will be mulched they  did leave obviously they did not come in here  and take everything out they've got a nice pit   of sporm right here you can see it's got that  that flag on it you know hey leave me alone um  as with this I'm not sure what this is um this  established shrub as well now when Andrew came  in here um a lot of the time originally was  taking out some of the older more um mature  plants that just needed to be cleaned cleaned out  um it was overgrown just some maintenance had not   been done on it as well throughout the years  so miss Andre wanted a nice clean look fresh  look and by taking out some of those big overgrown  like there was a crepe myrtle back here that was  just overgrown just things that were had kind of  expired their their life here in the garden and by  taking those plants out she got a lot more sun in  her garden so um if you have gardened uh a lot in  the shade you know it seems like we always want  what we don't have right and there are a lot of  plants that thrive really well in the Sun so it  really opened up the possibilities by giving her  um some more sun in here but she um obviously the  whole beds are going to be this whole back area is  no grass this will all be mulch um even all the  way up here to the fence but we've got in here  A whole collection this is going to be a little  bit more shady as we come back to the fence and  it is keep in um November so in November you will  see that um the leaves are falling and that these  Hardwoods are leaving losing their leaves and  so they're going to um be in a lot more shade  In the Heat of the summer so the up up against  the back we have got some uh Florida sunshines  let's see if I can go up there so we have got  some beautiful Florida sunshines that will be  nice and big um bright pop of color with your  low pedms we have got um then aelas because as  we move forward we're going to get some more  sun so we've got some Perfecto Mundos it looks  like the uh double purple I want to say either  that or the double pink not sure I don't have  the tag with me um but these great little aelas  from Proven Winners they will max out in that  3ot range but you'll see um have a nice little  ribbon of those all all the way around so they  start here and then work their way back here to  these ginormous Chamas I am very very envious  for these two Chamas clearly these are really  mature Chamas uh they both are the same mandre  believes um but just magnificent right I mean  just classic beautiful Chamas covered in buds  I cannot imagine this thing when it is in all of  its Glory so kind of you know working with the  homeowner as to what it is that they want and then  finding uh the balance of what they want versus uh  what is practical and what works the best because  sometimes we have to talk to people and go well I  know that you really want to leave this and but  it is at the end of its life cycle and it's not  healthy and it needs to go or in this case of  these Chamas are absolutely gorgeous and yes  let's leave them and we will work the landscape  out all the way around them um and be really  successful in doing that all right let me pop  down here and I'm going to we're going to come   up the steps and we're talk about the plants  that are around the landscape of the of thesteps coming up the steps here we've got just  keeping it simple right so on each side very very  symmetrical we've got Sprinter boxwoods the fire  chief arbores and then another uh boxwood right  there keep in mind that the boxwoods are going to  be 2 to 4 feet tall like you can maintain them at  2 to 4 feet tall and wide and then the fire chief  will be in that 3ish foot tall and wide Mark so  right here uh very quickly these are both fast  Growers they will fill in quite nicely here and  just really bring some great Evergreen color to  this space of course mandre like most of us good  uh lovely gardeners do enjoy a good uh hydranges  so here we have um a group of three and these are  all incred balls and the incred balls will work  really really nicely here because they're going  to get enough Sun but they're not going to be out  in full full sun 24/7 right so they're going to  get a break during the day from the hot summer  afternoon sun and it will they will just give  them a break and do really well I will say that  this Garden is not on irrigation so that is why  we waited one reason specifically coming in later  on in the season and putting this Garden in uh  because we thought oh well it will be raining you  know and they won't have to maintain it as much   when the first installation little did we know  of course that we were going to be in a drought  so there's that um but getting them in obviously  we have watered them in really really well and  trying to maintain them while we are still here  and then of course the mulch helps a lot but   these three incrediballs man they are going to be  beautiful this summer this coming summer and just  be great uh coming down on the front side of each  of the walls right here you will see that we have  got some um dayes right here they are all the  same this is Blood Sweat and Tears from Proven  Winners so it's a little bit of that kind of  that reddish rose color um and it will just  be gorgeous of course it will compliment the aelas  up there they'll probably be blooming at different  times but still that same kind of color scheme  and color palette for sure and then coming on  around this side that's what Jerry was working on  when we came in is that Andrew brought the steps  up here and then stopped Jerry was kind of digging  out a little bit right in here because there was a  hump so let's just go ahead and get that hump out  and then you can see putting the um the Stepping  Stones pavers through here um that they can walk  in through the garden I'll have to double check   with them but I want to say maybe this is going  to be mulch up to this point where you can see the  white line and then that's going to be grass again  so that way we're just going to kind of keep this   flow of the bed with the mulch up through here um  so this will all be tied in together but then give  them um some nice sturdy steps right here to walk  in and then next let's move on here to the back  corner back here in this back corner um I think  this is the area that was really um overgrown  and really needed a lot of love so they came in  here and completely had to clean everything out  because you will notice that um there is some iy  uh whether it is in this yard or the next yard you  know a lot of times right in these established  neighborhoods one neighbor planted Ivy you know   30 years ago and now the whole neighborhood  has iy so that's going to be a little bit of  a challenge to kind of keep that under control  because it will just spread and kind of take   over a lot of things but this area is really fun  this is where there was a massive crpe Myrtle in  here um by taking that out it has opened it up a  lot but you still have these beautiful there are  Oaks there are like a beach tree there are Maples  in here and you know of course living in a mature  neighborhood like this is you know they're not  all your trees right those are not mandre trees  they're her neighbors but she reaps the benefit of  the shade because of how of course the sun moves  around so this is going to be um it is going to be  a sunny area but yet on the same time this whole  backyard is going to get breaks throughout the  day from um lots and lots of Sun so let's talk  about what is in this space so we basically gave  you a nice uh 360 of this space um let's start  forwards and we'll work our way um start in the  front and we'll work our way to the back um as we  go around all right throughout this area we have  got some father gilas this is Legend of the smallsomebody's being very noisy while I'm  trying to film it's a good thing he's[Applause] cute so yes um father Gillis Proven  Winners this is Legend of the small so these  are going to be small ones there there's three  we've got some ukas or Bells here in the middle  so that's why we put them in the front so they  are nice and petite this time next year they're   going to give her a beautiful fall color and  of course in the springtime early late winter  early spring really fun little white flowers  on them got distills this is a Cinnamon Girl  and cinnamon girl is going to be um a beautiful  Evergreen right so dellums are evergreen this  is going to be let me come back over here I  looked at the the tag but I need to look at   that yet again this is going to be only um 2 to  three tall but 3 to four wide disum are great if  you've got deer pressure because they are deer  resistant now that mandre has that here um we  love distills because they are very very adaptable  they take up a lot of room so they can cover some  good acreage in your garden um because they are so  nice and wi but just a beautiful whole ribbon goes  all all the way back so when you're looking  at the whole garden um you're going to have  that beautiful Evergreen of those Dums all the  way from her she shed and then it comes around  and it's a little bit of a um relaxed vshape  that it comes in and just ties this whole bed  together up against the fence we've got some  Brandy Wine viburnums these are going to be  deciduous viburnums they do beautiful uh berries  well first they start with white flowers so this  is where the old flowers were and then in the  fall typically this time of year those flowers  will have turned into some berries and they  will be blue and red great for your Wildlife  but brandy wines will get to be a nice height  so not that they're going to be taller than thefence but they're going to get some good height  to them and and then again have those running um  through the back here there's a total of four  of them on this fence and then the hydranges  in front are the Beloved limelights so you can  notice that the brandy wines and the Lim lights  really are kind of window pained through here so  when the Lim lights are blooming you're going to  have beautiful ever like green structure behind  it um with some white flowers as well so bring  it in give her those gorgeous hydranges nice good  height on that um and clearly this is going to be  a sunnier area over here and then coming on down  we're going to transition a little bit more to  some shade because looking at and knowing this has  been the good thing about being in this Garden um  for quite a while as far as being able to study it  is knowing how the Sun hits because of the trees  and where does the afternoon like where's the  morning sun where's the afternoon shade those  kinds of things so you might be saying well Jenny  you've got a limelight hyrangea you know and then  20 ft away you've got hostas yes because of how  these trees act it does change the Sun so just  knowing those areas what gets the hot afternoon  sun and what's in shade so that's where you really  have to be a student of your garden and study  it and understand how your sun works because  as a general rule I would never say you plant a  limelight hydrangea and a hosta in the same flower  bed in North Carolina like where we live that is  not going to work here because of the trees and   how the Sun hits through those trees it will work  um and so what we've got is that same uh hosta all  the way through this is I believe this is stained  glass which will be a really nice limey chartreuse  let's go through here I think obviously we had  you know that 20 de night so that really kind of  Zapped them just a little bit but we still have  a couple of leaves in here that you can kind of  get the idea of the nice bright color to them and  then we've got more hydranges because like I said  mandra loves her hydranges rightly so back here  we have a collection of five again they're going  more stick is because of we've already had  multiple nights of freezes this is the Let's  Dance blue jingles and let's dance blue Jangles  is one of my favorites as far as the let dance  series beautiful it is pH dependent here because  we have more aesthetic soil they will be in that  blue family but just that typical traditional  macarella hydrangea nice big hydrangea blooms  on it and the L dance blue Jingles will transition  from like different shades of blues and even have  some like deep purples in there so it will just  be stunning especially with the H the hostas in  front of remember also with your hostas if you're  have a sunnier area the brighter the hosta the  more sun tolerant it is going to be the darker  your hosta the deep deep greens and those kind  of what we call Blue hostas then they need more  shade so this will get some sun obviously because  we've got some different hydranges and because of  the trees it's going to get a little bit more Sun   than say a traditional shade garden um then you  want to go with those brighter colors because it's  going to be it's not going to Scorch In the Heat  of the summer as we work our way back you're going  to get some more uh a little bit more of the shade  brought in again the Florida sunshines they're all  right through there will be in that three-ish 4ish  foot range bright chartreuse color and then on the  back fence right here we have chendo viburnums  chendos of course are going to be fast Growers  so it is not going to take long and they're going  to get some good height to them roughly in that  4ft range and they are evergreen so we love that  and then no Southern Garden would be complete  without a tea Olive or a sweet o mantis and we  have one back here in the back because this is  the back corner it will be probably the tallest  thing here trying to find you a flower a cluster  this one already has quite a few on it right here  the tea olives sweet o mantis sweet off Olive  depends on where you live as to what you call it  it's a great Evergreen more cmer shrub small tree  that in the fall winter early spring puts on those  little clusters of white flowers that has just the  most intoxicating delicious fragrance very like  a orange honeysuckle Jasmine fragrance love love  love love this plant so it is a great addition to  her garden and I just saw that her neighbors have  a fantastic Japanese maple right here so again  because you know and she's got got chamelia back  there just because it's not on your property right  doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it so really  nice uh lace Leaf Japanese maple right here looks  great and here in the garden Jerry is bringing in  the mulch Jackson and Andrew are in here slinging  some Mulch and then as we come here in front of  her Sheed Andrew went ahead and we've got some  more of the let's dance hydranges in here but  these are going to be different these are the  canos right here candos of course are going to  be in that same type of macril hydrangea family  and we've got fi or sticks right in here really  going to be nice and they the great thing too  about the Let's Dance hydranges is they are more  petite they're not going to be um like she has  right here which clearly is a very happy plant  because it's covered in Old blooms have no clue as  to which hydrange of this is but my point is you  see how tall it is we're every bit of five feet on  this Sky um and like I to prove my point you can  see the blue in this hydrangea and so that's what  her gonna be in that bluish family because we have  so much um acidic soil but man can you imagine  cutting those and using them in an arrangement  this time of year oh stunning but my point in  saying that is that the let dances are going to  be more petite shorter and wider so they're not  going to cover her Sheed they're not going to  block a view or anything like that it'll be really  a nice nice nice size on that as well all right so  let me confer with the fellas see if I've missed  anything to tell you and then I'll meet you back   here in just a second one last bed that I want to  show you that we haven't touched on yet uh we kind  of breeed by it so we're back here on to the right  of the steps going up into the garden here we go  now you'll notice here and we had to create um a  bed right here because there is a bed on the other  side but this has their fig tree and Miss sra's  husband had started this viig Tre from a Seedling  I think from a a cutting that someone had given  him so he's very attached to this so that's why   we left the Fig Tree you miss Andre's husband  wanted to keep this so we left that there and  it does produce fig so that is the difference and  of course we'll get that Mulch and everything and  make it nice look nice and neat but here repeating  that same of the Sprinter box woods and then the  Fire Chiefs and then of course the um ukuras down  here these are the lemon love lemon love with that  nice brighter color can take more sun so they all  of this right here will be a nice semi ever green  as far as with the ukas and then the Fire Chiefs  and the sprinters of course will stay Evergreen  back up here on the next level of the garden more  of the Blood Sweat and Tears dayes right here that  will repeat and balance out what is on the left  side of the steps as well hydrangeas hydranges  hydranges hydranges we've got two puffer fishes  right here one has already she has completely  defoliated um I am not worried about this hyd  HDR to know if your hydrangea is you know still  alive you may look at that and go well my gosh  Jenny y'all just planted a bunch of sticks and   it's a dead hydrangea nope it's not because it  is still nice and green and very bendy so we are  not worried about this guy at all so a puffer fish  here and then there is the other puffer fish right  here coming up the bank you've got three bowos  again trying to repeat those and doing them in  groups multiples so three bobos right here and  then Chinese the snowball viburnums there's four  of those now in long term they are going to get  some good height to them but that will kind of  section off and give a little bit of privacy and  secrecy to the Garden in the back this is where  they are going to you can see they've already  filled in the mulch all the way around it and   then they're going to throw down some grass seed  for this area but those Chinese Snowball viburnums  um gorgeous early spring and that will have that  same kind of that hydrangea feel obviously it is  a viburnum it is not a hydrangea snowball bush  so a lot of people will call them snowball bushes  very common name because it looks like a macro  hydrangea as far as the bloom color specific will  be white and it's just a great um plant to put  in here again we'll give it the height so we work  from low to high give it the height right here  and create a bit of a screen over here so I think  Jerry said that was the uh last scoop of mulch so  I have a feeling they're going to be going back to  the nursery and getting some more mulch because  obviously there are still some areas that need  to have mulch in here as well Jerry's going to try  to scrape up rough up excuse me this area so that  you can put down gra SE one last area we're going  to talk about is this section right here uh close  to the driveway this is going to be the V very  last area that is done because it still needs  have the retaining wall finished over there so I'm  just going to kind of show you the plants show you  the space and know that that's what's going to  happen in this area all of this right here so we  talked about it before right where Andrew is he  was saying that this area that needs to be done  will probably be two courses because it's going  to be higher obviously with the ground elevation  right there it needs to um the wall needs to be a  little bit taller so that it will hold that soil  back and then they're going to once the retaining  wall is done and then the mulches up there on the   top to to cover up that soil then they'll come  in here and begin planting and we have a whole  assortment of plants that will go in you can  see Jerry there is putting kind of starting to  space out the Sprinter box woods and we have the  dianthus this is the paint the town fuchsia so  paint the town fuchsia dianthus is going to go  along the edge of the wall right here uh bring  some because these are semi- evergreens for us and  so bring in a little bit of bluish color to the   garden nice and low fill in right here and will  be quite lovely and in fact I just realized this  tree right here is a Sweet Olive it's another tea  Olive right there because it is blooming so that  gives her um a whole another tea Olive so you can  see exactly U the mature size of that and how she  has trained it into be more like a tree instead  of um a like a shrub like it could be Evergreen  all the way down and they decided to to limit up  so if you have tea olives there is an option for   you that you could certainly do that uh Sprinter  box Woods obviously they're starting to put those  out they're not going to drill those quite yet  those are going to go down so got Sprinter box   Woods you've got some Mahonia over here you've  got double PL candy corn spia more ukas more  hostas over there more hydrangeas Fire Chiefs a  whole assortment of things and then Jackson has  the power planter augur that would be the uh the  9 in heavy duty tip because that is what they are  using to plant these in the landscape because  they're using of course the little Bobcat has  the bucket on it so that is what they're doing  with that they have got to go get more mulch cuz  they ran out of mulch and then they have to go  pick up the rest of the stone for the wall over  there I am going to go make a lunch run because  uh these fellas need these fellas need sustenance  they need food so I going to go make a lunch run  for them so we can feed them and they can finish  out uh today's project in this massive landscape  project nice and strong and nobody gets hangry  and nobody passes out from low blood sugar so we  do not want that all right uh I will try my best  uh to ask Jerry to do some Final Shots when  everything is said and done um I'm sure miss  sandre would love for us to come back uh in the  spring when things are blooming and and full so  we will hopefully be able to give you kind of  a finished detail on this but just also keep   in mind this is a working job site and these  fellas are very uh task oriented and want to  get this done and uh the final video uh Escape may  not come through we're going to keep our fingers  crossed on that as well so as always we hope you  have found this fun informative and inspirational  and just know that uh no matter what the age of  your garden whether you it is a brand new conr  construction house or a house that has been here  for 40 something years uh gardening is always fun  and exciting and changing and you can always  at any point change something up if it's not  working change it up appreciate you for gring with  Creek Side we'll see you on the next video bye friends