Hadden Landscaping Archives

The New Front Garden

Posted on April 9, 2012No Comments

Larger planting beds and less grass means less maintenance. With the exception of three Turk’s Cap shrubs, the front garden is now complete. Because of the newly extended beds, the removal of the not-so-hot-looking plants, the transplanting of some of the original perennials, and the addition of shade tolerant perennials, I’m hoping that I won’t need to be putting in the insane amount of maintenance hours that have been required over the last few summers. Looking at the above and following photos, you may think that things look a bit tiny and insignificant. Just you wait. In July or August, I’ll be taking new photos, and you will definitely see a big difference.

Landscape & Gardening

And So It Began…

Posted on March 27, 2012No Comments

During last week’s deluge, the front garden makeover finally commenced. The conditions were far from ideal, but the forecast had predicted sunny skies, and the work had already been postponed for too long. Michael Parkey had marked all existing plants with colored tape — the orange tape indicated complete removal, the white tape designated transplanting, and the blue meant that the plant was to remain untouched. The Hadden Landscaping crew made fast work of the demo despite the bog-like conditions, and the irrigation crew was able to come the next day to install the new drip lines and sprinkler heads.

Since this makeover is not as extensive as the backyard garden, I’ve decided that I will combine all the front transformation phases into a future single blog post. So expect another post with a lot more photos sometime towards the end of next week.

Contemporary Art

And in the Meantime…

Posted on March 19, 2012No Comments

Let’s maintain loose posture. Today was suppose to have been my first blog post about the front garden’s makeover. With torrential rainfall predicted over the next three days, Hadden Landscaping decided to postpone the first phase, which is to pull out the unwanted plants and dig up additional bed space. Starting today would have been equivalent to creating a giant mud pie to wallow in when they return to resume work on Wednesday or Thursday. But in the meantime, I’m just getting older.

The image above is a wonderful little piece created by Andy Coolquitt that I picked up at the annual Five x Seven back in 2002. Five x Seven is an annual fundraiser, art sale and exhibition benefitting AMOA-Arthouse exhibitions and educational programs.

Landscape & Gardening

The Big Reveal!

Posted on October 13, 201113 Comments

This view is looking southwest towards the alley.

A longtime dream has finally come true. Thank you Michael Parkey and Hadden Landscaping for the best looking backyard ever! Today the copper path lights are being installed, so you will not see them in this post’s photos. Don’t worry, I will be doing a photoshoot of them sometime in the near future. Except for the front gates, everything has been completed and is now ready for drive by viewings, and don’t be surprised if you spy me on my back screen porch sipping a cocktail and enjoying the view.

Note: You can click on each photo for a much larger version.

Landscape & Gardening

The Continuing Saga

Posted on August 11, 20112 Comments

I didn't get the "wear your blue shirt" memo. (from left to right) fencing contractor, Mark Abington with Hadden Landscaping, and Michael Parkey, the landscape architect — I didn’t get the “wear your blue shirt” memo. (from left to right) fencing contractor, Mark Abington with Hadden Landscaping, and Michael Parkey, the landscape architect

The continuing saga of the lace fence. After arriving last week, the package was too long and heavy for one man and a dolly to maneuver from the truck, through the gates and into my garage. So it’s just been lying on my driveway ever since. From looking at the package, it appeared that they had shipped the fabric in separate panels and not in the continuous roll that I expected. This worried me, but after opening it up, we discovered that it was indeed one continuous piece of fabric. Yes! Yes! Yes! On closer inspection we realized that the woven lace designs were small and tight and would have never been able to conform to a compact rolling technique.

Landscape & Gardening

The Handmade Holdup

Posted on August 3, 20112 Comments

Handmade clay brick pavers don’t seem to be popular anymore, and until a close match can be found, the backyard job is on hold. For at least a week anyway. The pavers on my front steps that you see in the above photo were installed seven years ago, and I failed to make a note of their name and color at that time. Ideally, the pavers for the new back steps and extended paths should match what I already have. Since they aren’t stocking many paver choices, the dealer has been kind enough to offer to walk their Denton yard to see if he can come up with enough pavers to match from the overage pallets left over from previous years.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the lace fence fabric will be delivered sometime between one and five, and once it’s physically here, I will ask Hadden Landscaping to schedule the fence’s installation. I don’t expect this to happen this week. Knowing my luck, the fence and pavers will be installed at the same time on the same day causing mass confusion.

Landscape & Gardening

Backyard Progress (day 5)

Posted on July 18, 2011No Comments

Click on the photo for a larger version.

New irrigation has been installed. Well at least, most of it. I have no idea what the vertical white pipes are for or what the colored flags indicate. Since I have never attempted to learn Spanish, I couldn’t exactly ask the crew to explain it to me.

Tomorrow the Hadden Landscape crew will be ripping out my old deck and steps, and then on Wednesday and Thursday the forms will be built for the new back steps and the entrance pad to the garage. Friday is concrete day.

Landscape & Gardening

Take One Last Look

Posted on July 10, 20111 Comment

And say goodbye. Tomorrow morning the crew, Hadden Landscaping, will start the process of converting my backyard into a sun garden. Tomorrow’s agenda includes busting up the old concrete driveway, removing the small shed, and then spraying something on the St. Augustine to kill it. Killing the grass makes me unhappy, because this is the only location on my property where it has thrived. Michael Parkey, my landscape architect who is very environmentally conscious, tells me this is a necessary evil. If we don’t do it, the grass will grow back and become a nuisance in my perennial beds. I find this hard to believe because I can’t get the grass to grow very well in my front shade garden.

I plan to blog all the phases of my backyard’s transformation. The first phase will be the demolition, second phase will be the hardscape installation, and then the final phase will be the landscaping. Stay tuned.