Gallery Garden Project

In the spring of this year, we embarked on a big project to modify our driveway and reclaim additional yard space for raised beds in a pea stone garden. As a one-car household, we decided to turn what was once parking for two vehicles into a more usable, flower-filled setting anchored by the gallery.

We had the driveway dug up, replaced the top section with pea stone, and paved the rest in asphalt. The new layout required a fresh fence configuration from Burns Fencing, and our new fenced-in yard feels so much more expansive. Our dog, Thatcher, is quite pleased!

Since we spent so much of our spring and summer working on this project, we wanted to document each stage and be able to look back on the process as the yard continues to grow and evolve over the years. Scroll down for more details in the captions.

*A before + after of the driveway that was in dire need of replacement. We are so happy with how it came together!*

On a dreary day in May, the paving company came to excavate our old driveway, level the site, add pea stone to the site of our old parking spaces, and pave the remainder. To think all of that happened in one day is still mind-blowing.

*Michael constructed the raised beds for the garden in a single evening after work — another surprisingly speedy part of the project!*

*… so began our weekly trips up to* *Estabrook’s* *in Yarmouth! Aside from the Redpointe Maple that Estabrook’s planted for us through* *MJ Storey*, we spent much of our summer selecting and planting new plants. The raised beds were filled with herbs and both annual and perennial flowers. We chose three Seven-Son (Heptacodium) shrubs to line the fence between our yard and our neighbor’s garage, rose bushes & clematis to climb along the exterior of the fence, and created an additional planting bed to soften a corner of the fence.

*Selecting our blue stone stepping stones and cobblestone pavers from* *Swenson Stone Works* was a fantastic memory from the summer. We landed on the above stepping stones from Pennsylvania to create a path to the gallery space. Michael laid this section above and an additional section leading to the house in one evening while I was on a post-dinner dog walk. Another task that I thought would take days!

The asphalt driveway wasn’t quite as wide as we’d planned, so Michael laid a three-sided cobblestone apron at the top. Each of the three sections took one weekend of work, so it was a great project that could be spaced out as time and weather permitted.

We enjoy and use this space more than I think we’d ever imagined. Plus, the flowers are such a welcoming sight for visitors to the gallery and always spark a conversation before we head indoors to look at art.

I used the term “we” a lot in detailing our process, but most of this project was completed by Michael during his weekends and evenings after work. I am so grateful for his patience and incredible attention to detail. This project has added so much to The Willard Gallery and our visitors’ experience, and none of it would have come to fruition without him.