We had bought a wheelbarrow when we first moved into our home, and I wanted to replace all the red bark with black bark. At that time, stores like Home Depot didn’t have black bark, so we had a Rock and Nursery store pour black bark into the back of our SUV (in hindsight, this was not a good idea—cough, cough), and we used the wheelbarrow to pour black bark over the red bark in our front yard and courtyard. After that gardening project, the wheelbarrow just became a big storage nuisance in the garage.

I’ve seen many country gardens with wheelbarrows full of flowers, so I thought I’d give a wheelbarrow flower garden a try. The only people who really see the west side yard are the kids and the pest control guy. And if we ever need to use it again, we can simply take out the plants.

I replaced the Waterfall with a “Blood Good” Japanese Maple because they are supposed to tolerate more sun—so far, so good. I should have planted an older tree though. The courtyard garden is way off balance.

This is my favorite garden fountain though. I placed it here because the electrical outlet is right there. I originally had a plastic bowl buried in the ground and had placed rocks and slate to form a pondless waterfall. However, my kids were way too attracted to the pond and constantly moved the rocks and slate around and exposed the plastic bowl underneath—not too attractive. They don’t bother this new fountain other than by throwing rocks into, which is okay. I found the round ball at the Antique Trove Garden Terrace in Roseville, and I love this little fountain ball! The fountain doesn’t make too much, but it’s perfect for the courtyard. The courtyard garden is a quiet place anyway, so the little trickling sound from the fountain is so soothing.

One thing I would do differently in this area is to have planted the Japanese Blood Grass in a container. It’s taking over this area, and I only wanted it to grow in between the Gardenias. It also dies back in the winter and doesn’t look very good.

What I think works well in this area is the color. I like the beautiful green foliage of the Gardenias behind the burgundy Blood Good Japanese Maple. And I like the contrasting Blue Fescue color next to the burgundy Japanese Maple and green Gardenias. I also like the almost army green of the fountain ball mixed in with the other colors.

I first planted the “Red Pygmy” Japanese Maple and began pruning it before I knew how to prune. I continue to prune it awkwardly because it grows in front of the front door and into the other tree (pruning is a garden art that I still haven’t quite figured out). This tree would have been so beautiful if I hadn’t planted the other Japanese Maple right next to it, and if I hadn’t butchered it the first few years.

Why did I plant the other Japanese Maple so close to the Red Pygmy? Believe it or not, I even planted another Japanese Maple behind the Red Pygmy. I was trying to add more shade to the courtyard and achieve balance by planting green Japanese Maples on either side of the red Japanese Maple. I also didn’t think the Red Pygmy would grow as big. Now this area is completely off balance, and the Japanese Maples are growing into each other. At this point, I’m not going to transplant anything. Because this is the only area in our yard where I really worked on the soil before I planted, this is the healthiest and best-growing garden at our house. So, for now, I’m working to prune the Japanese Maples so that they grow nicely into each other. Maybe it will look like a creative garden designer planned it that way all along some day.

Another thing I learned from gardening in this area is to not make accessing areas too difficult for myself. Although I love the Camellia and Azaleas behind the Japanese Maples, I have to crawl under the trees to deadhead flowers, prune, and pull weeks. My body is getting too old for this!

The reason why I think this area still looks good is because of the way the Mondo Grass has filled in. I planted green Mondo Grass, black Mondo Grass, and miniature Mondo Grass. I also like the Cyclamen, which actually blooms most of the year.

For a gardening area in the future, I’d like to plant one Japanese Maple and make it the focal point. Then, I’d like to plant Camellias and Azaleas behind it—making them easily accessible though. And then I’ll plant Mondo grass and Cyclamen to fill in. Maybe some pretty rocks placed in strategic places would look nice too.