Ornamental grass

The area around One Love Farm used to be a large strawberry and pumpkin farm. Then, in the early '90s it was divided up and sold off as housing plats. This flat land with no landscaping presented a blank canvas when we bought the property in 2002. With a single tree in the front yard and grass everywhere else, we knew it would take a while to create the images in our mind.

The first thing we did was to build a brick paver patio. On the hottest August day in 2002, Karen's brother and I set brick pavers on a huge 20'x25' outdoor patio. I remember I couldn't walk for a week after that.

Karen's brother made an off the cuff remark that we should build a berm around the patio for privacy. He may have been half joking, but I thought it was a great idea. So, I had 120 yards of fill trucked in and Karen and I started working on putting plants on the mound.

We first added some pine trees and mountain laurel. Later, we would plant a weeping cherry, rose of sharon, russian sage, roses, lupine, lavender and countless other plants to fill in the huge space. But, one of our best ideas was planting ornamental grasses on the berm. The verigated leaves provide a nice contrast in the summer and in September they send up the plumes that you see in this picture. They also provide shade for us to grow hosta and privacy for when Karen and I want to enjoy a meal or a bottle of wine on the patio.