Because we had virtually no backyard, planning our garden required a lot of thought, some start up funds, and some professional expertise.
First, we consulted Sherry, a landscape designer at Forget-Me-Not Gardening and Landscape Artistry from Traverse City, Mich., who is related to Josh. After reviewing the space constraints and meeting with us to understand our ideas and priorities, she designed a plan that she thought would work. We would have hired her to do the entire project, but because she lives in Traverse City, it seemed like to great a distance for her to monitor activties in Chicago.
Second, once we had a plan in place, it was time to move forward with the hardscaping of the space. We chose some beautiful New York blue stone from Schwake Stone in Des Plaines, but neither of us was confident in our abilities to lay the stone ourselves. Also, the material was expensive, so we wanted to be sure it was done right. That required working with another company called "Hardscape by Erik." They did a wonderful job in a short amount of time. There was a little haggling about the price, but in the end I think we were fair.
Third, once the stone was laid, it was time to start picking out plants. We had some ideas of what we liked and needed from Sherry's design, but we needed a little help with the initial planting, so we contacted Christian, a member of our church who knows everything there is to know about plants. He and Josh visited a number of local greenhouses, nurseries, and Home Depots to find just the right mixture of plants and flowers. He also helped us plant them and gave us instructions for how best to water and fertilize what we had planted. We still call him up if we have a question about something that has mysteriously sprouted that we can't identify. He is a great resource.
Lastly, even after the first planting, we still were not done with the hardscaping! We have a long sideyard that was okay the first year, but seemed a little boring the second year. So we decided to build a three tiered set of planters out of the same material we used to create the patio. It was hard work to lay all of that stone, but the result was well worth the aching muscles.
