How to Create a Secret Garden

Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada cleans up an overgrown garden and redesigns it as a secret garden. Click here to SUBSCRIBE to the official This Old House YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=thisoldhouse Time: 6-8 hours Cost: $3000 Skill Level: Moderate Tools List for a Secret Garden: Pruners Shovel Tarp Steps: 1. As with any overgrown garden, start by removing all the weeds and pruning back plants you intend to save. 2. Loosely define a general path with multiple entry and exit points throughout the garden. 3. Pick a few different places in the garden to act as “destinations” for people to experience as they walk along the path. Some examples of destinations include benches, large shrubs, and small ponds. 4. Use plants to lead from the paths to those destination spots to highlight them in the garden. 5. Pick plants of varying heights, colors, and textures to give the garden a nice visual impact. Resources: In Jenn’s opinion, a “secret garden” landscape design requires elements that allow a person to experience and participate in the garden. Elements like walkways, entrance/exit points, and destinations within the garden are all key elements to a good secret garden design. Like with many of Jenn’s landscape designs, she relied heavily on elements of the garden that were already in place, though most of the things she reused can also be found at garden centers and nurseries. Throughout the garden, Jenn used a variety of plants, including sedum, Cherokee brave dogwood, sempervivum, stonecrop, hen & chicks, lavender, provence, Hakone grass, blue jean baby Russian sage, and witch hazel. In Destination 2, Jenn planted some thornless dwarf blackberry bushes and some Indian summer raspberry bushes. In Destination 3 by the pond, Jenn planted a Tamukeyama Threadleaf Japanese Maple. All of these plants can be found at nurseries. Expert assistance with this segment was provided by Yard Works, Inc. (http://yardworksri.com/) and Nawada Landscape Design (http://bit.ly/28YHZAi). Ask This Old House TV Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we're ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O'Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook. This Old House releases new segments every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Keywords: This Old House, How-to, home improvement, DIY, ask this old house, jenn nawada, garden, landscaping, secret garden, landscape design Watch the full episode: [link to full ep on YT if avail, or on .com if unavail on YT] Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House: Facebook: http://bit.ly/1psm4fC Twitter: https://twitter.com/thisoldhouse https://twitter.com/asktoh Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1psm4fE G+: http://bit.ly/1CtsNjJ Instagram: http://bit.ly/1psm1QZ Tumblr: http://bit.ly/1CtsLbH