Today’s photos are from Harriet Robinson in Otisfield, Maine. Harriet says, “Our filled-in swimming pool is now a colorful backyard garden. Here it is during daylily season. Daylilies have become so popular because they are so showy and colorful. To look their best, especially with the newer hybrids, they really must be deadheaded on a daily basis. I have seen too many gardens that lack on this important detail. It is easy and relaxing to snap off the spent heads, and it’s a great chance to look at the open flowers on each variety up close and personal. I compost the spent flowers so they continue to work for my garden. Once all the flowers are finished, the scapes should be cut down as well.”
Wow, what a beautiful setting and a stunning garden, Harriet. I’ll bet it’s less work than a swimming pool, too! Thanks for sharing your pool garden with us.
—>>>> SPEAKING OF SHARING… Send me some pics of your gardens, GPODers! I know there is some seriously cool stuff going on out there–it’s full-on SPRING! Heck, the pics don’t even have to be from this year. Come on, show us what ya got. Email me at [email protected] with GPOD in the subject line. Here are all the details you need to know. <<<<—
Comments
I love the pool's reuse as an unbelievably beautiful garden. The addition of the walk draws your eye into the garden and away from the concrete encircling the pool. I really like that feature -it is a clever disguise, and, the daylilies are amazing!!
Harriet, I love your boldness in chucking the pool and turning the space into a colorful island of flowers. I, too, share your addiction to daylilies. The breeders are doing some amazing things in their hybridizing efforts. Sometimes when I look at the pictures of the latest (and most expensive), I almost can't believe they are even daylilies. I know some people would argue against messing around with Mother Nature like that but I find it fascinating that such cultivars are able to be created with human 'assistance'. Anyway, congrats to you on not slave to a swimming pool anymore and instead letting your daylilies call the shots!
Wow! That takes guts to fill in a swimming pool...but I love it. :)
APPLAUSE ! ! !
Who needs an in ground pool in Maine. I have a few neighbors here in NY who have pools, with fridgid winter temperatures and rainy summer weekends they are lucky to get ten days of use a year... and the cost of maintenence is astronomical in cold climes, winters wreak havoc on in ground pools. Fill it in and make a garden, very wise! I only hope there were lots of drainage holes made before filling... I would have had an excavator remove the pool entirely.
Beautiful and picturesque! I am so envious of your garden setting. My garden setting is an alley, power lines and poles, garbage cans and neighbors' garages! Looks like a professional design instead of a filled in pool.
Love it! Can't imagine how much dirt it took to fill that in tho. I love the pathway as well - very very nice!!
Wonderful job! I love it.
What a wonderful ideal. How many truck loads of soil did it take to fill it?
Daylilies are a wonderful hardy plant and with all the varieties you can get a long season of bloom and lots of different colors. How do you manage to keep the deer out? In the last 5 or 6 years they have become so prevalent around here (in the middle of town even) that I am in the process of digging out a large bed of daylilies that have been multiplying for about 15 years. For a few years the deer just ate the flowers, now they start munching when the leaves are just a few inches out of the ground! I refuse to feed those freeloaders any longer.
A stunning garden with wonderful heaps of color! The walkway all around works perfectly for tending and viewing, and loses its pool reference amongst all the flowers. Congratulations on a fabulous job.
Thank you, everyone. Yes, it took a lot of fill. Most is sand, so with holes punched in the bottom of the pool liner I have perfect drainage. The top 2 feet are loam and compost. As for a deer issue, there is a fence around it. It is low enough that deer could jump over it but I think they don't come into small enclosed spaces. However, they never touch the daylilies by the road that are unprotected. Maybe this is because we are rural: there is a lot of feed out there in the woods and fields. My deer issue is on woody plants like lilacs, and that damage is in the winter and early spring. I now cage them in the fall, removing the cages in the spring.
Absolutely beautiful!!! Stunning setting - I feel you, Vojt; I have a postage-stamp size yard in "suburban hell" - my view from the raised deck is one decrepit metal swing set, and FOUR, yes FOUR trampolines in as many adjacent yards. Trampolines (and those lovely net cages) are the scourge of the decade, in my opinion! Wittyone, I have the same problem with deer - had to pull out all my beautiful daylilies from the front yard. Luckily, my backyard is fenced so most were re-sited. Harriet, you have beautified an already awesome setting!
It's a beautiful setting for pool or garden. I'd choose garden also--especially with all the surrouunding foliage. It must have been difficult to keep the pool clean. I love the pavers you 've used in the pathway. Thanks for sharing your pictures.
What a great way to get a garden with built in paths!! It is just outstanding!! Wish it was in my yard!!
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