September is a beautiful time to work outdoors in Northern Michigan. The lakes quiet down after Labor Day. Most days it's just a lone Pillywiggin tending the flowers, lost in his thoughts, listening to the sound of nature, enjoying the spectacular views.

September gardens can be equally spectacular. While one Pillywiggin was enjoying his view of Torch Lake, another was visiting a girlfriend, enjoying the views in her gardens - Pillywiggins Petoskey project from a few years back. I shared photos of her summer landscape in our June 9th blog post "How Do Our Gardens Grow?" Now, the transformation to fall. Wow!

To revisit this project under construction click the links to our blog posts below.

• Rocking & Rolling Boulders
• Rock On!
• Block Party!
• Petoskey Project Complete!
• Petoskey Patio Project #2​

Yes, we know exactly what you mean! Our latest project located along US-31 fits that description to a tee. ​Our task, install a new front lawn with additional landscaping to help block the noise & dust from the road that's relatively maintenance free, visually stunning with year-round interest. Topsoil was trucked in and the Pillywiggins went to work contouring a berm & seeding the lawn by hand.

Uh-oh! Somebody drove through our newly seeded lawn - 2 days in a row! Bad driver or bad manners? It's hard to say. There are plenty of both in this world. Either way, it was only a minor inconvenience. ​​Jason is persnickety about his grass seed. He was onsite every morning before heading off to work tending to the new lawn until it was well established. He was able to make repairs before any real damage was done. The new lawn filled in nicely without any trace of the tire tracks.

​We ran the main irrigation line throughout the berm but we were still working with the homeowners to select the perfect plants for their project. So, we applied mulch before planting to prohibit weed growth & add visual appeal until our plants arrived. Let's face it. Without plants or mulch, a berm is nothing more than a big ol' pile of dirt. There's not much appealing about that.

Nursery stock began arriving by the truckload late Friday afternoon. The largest load (perennials, shrubs & trees) arrived bright & early Saturday morning. We were so excited to see our purchases we had the truck unloaded in record time, by 8:00 a.m. It was all beautiful nursery stock. What a great way to start a Pillywiggin's day!

​We chose drought tolerant plants hardy enough to withstand their close proximity to the road. (Many perennials are unable to tolerate the salt & snow from the plow trucks.) We also looked for deer & rabbit resistant plants. We wouldn't want to attract our furry friends to the roadside.

​Watching our gardens grow is one of the many perks of our job. Last week, we revisited the Chain O' Lakes project to plant annuals, mow, weed & mulch. The bed installed last summer is filling in nicely. We can't wait to see it bloom.

This summer we will be installing (3) new wildflower beds - two beds lakeside & one in the side yard. Last year we covered these areas with black plastic to kill the grass & weeds. All that's left to do is till the soil & sow the seeds. ​​

​​We'll be using Midwest Mix from Vermont Wildflower Farm. This mix contains 26 different wildflowers native to our region. It includes 13 annuals for 1st year color, 4 bi-annuals & 8 perennials with early, mid & late bloom times. ​Also on our to-do list, create a new lakeside perennial bed inside of an old row boat. How fun!