Many years ago, when our children were young, my husband built an in-ground pool. It provided many hours of fun and relaxation for my family.
The swimming pool provided many hours of fun and relaxation for my family.
Barbara H. Smith, ©1995
About 20 years ago after our children left, I was cleaning the pool, which I called “the primordial soup,” to prepare it for closing for the winter. My husband was helping me and asked, “Are you tired of this pool?” I said I definitely was. He told me to start the pump to drain the pool, and he’d be right back with his track hoe. In just a few hours, the pool was a memory.
In just a few hours, the pool was demolished.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2004
Since the pool was removed, the area has been just a rectangle of grass with mature plantings of trees, shrubs, and perennials bordering it.
For the last 20 years, the old pool area was just a rectangle of grass bordered by mature trees, shrubs, and perennials.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2024 HGIC, Clemson Extension
It’s been a 20-year-long dream of mine to have a Celtic Garden where the pool used to be. This spring, the process has finally begun. First, my husband laid out the design and completed the grading of the Celtic walk. After the grade was established, the walkway concrete forms were laid out, and the concrete was poured and finished. In the center, a circular area was left open for a firepit. We’re using a smelting pot from the late 1800s that belonged to my great-grandfather. On his farm, it was used to water the livestock and, at hog-killing time, to scald the pigs. Since we have no plans to scald hogs or plow with mules, it’s being used as a fire pit.
Being a certified, card-carrying plant geek, deciding what plants to use in the four quadrant beds has kept my mind busy. My landscape is natural and fluid, which would make a formal knot garden look out of place. It will become a pollinator garden with annuals, perennials, and flowering shrubs to attract a wide variety of beneficial insects and birds.
I have started collecting interesting plants for the new garden. Little Hottie® Panicle Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Little Hottie ®‘), Milk and Wine Crinum Lily (Crinum x digweedii), Album Crinum (Crinum x powellii ‘Album’), Arctic Fox Perennial Foxglove (Digitalis hybrida ‘Balroxose’), Little Lemon Goldenrod (Solidago ‘Little Lemon’), Walker’s Low Catmint (Nepeta x faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’), and Fire Star Dianthus (Dianthus ‘Devon Xera’). I have already taken cuttings from the Ryan’s Chrysanthemum series and rooted them along with a wide selection of hardy salvias.
My next step is to do a soil test to determine how to improve my native soil and the correct amendments to add. Proper soil preparation is the key to plant growth and success.
Never be afraid to make changes to suit your gardening lifestyle, even if it takes 20 years. What was then can now evolve into what is now. Stay tuned for more developments!
The next step is bed preparation for the four quadrant beds. Stay tuned for further developments.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2024 HGIC, Clemson Extension
