Transformations: Drycreek Valley

The Drycreek Valley is situated between Bali and the back end of the lot in the woods. The drycreek runs off the low point of the driveway, down a channel I dug, and runs all the way to the split-rail fence by the access road off Inverness that my neighbors use to get to their driveways. As the low point in the woods, it is part of a watershed that drains much of the woods eventually; the terracing in Bali has reduced much runoff from the Inverness side. The drycreek also runs off water from the house roof, which has downspouts connected both to drainage pits and to the drycreek. This valley includes a ridge that provides the Scenic Overlook.

The drycreek was a necessity given that a tremendous amount of water floods the driveway from the street during storms and heads downhill on this sloped property. When I moved here in 2006, the water would wash heavily downward from the street and cut rivulets into anything standing in its way, and then disperse unevenly into the woods. Early on I recognized the need for a drycreek to channel the water so that the landscape would not be washed away every time it rained. Even in our drought-prone times, this flooding would occur often enough to be a problem.

Woods Drycreek (View Slideshow)
The major drycreek flows from the U-shape of the driveway all the way to the Drycreek Terminus at the edge of the woods, although it initially ran downhill only about 50 feet. Before the drycreek was installed, the water would hit the low point of the driveway, and then flow downhill wherever it could cut a path through the grass and from there into the woods, where it soaked in or meandered its way toward an uncovered culvert that ran it off under a road (now the Drycreek Terminus).

The first installation of the drycreek ran from the driveway down to where Harvey put in a flat rock that crosses over the drycreek bed. The next section went from there to where the Japanese Lantern was eventually placed. From there the bed just meandered into a delta of sorts and filtered out into the ground, producing heavy and uneaven soil erosion. Harvey put in a set of large stones that would help channel the water, and I dug a new bed that connected the end of the drycreek with the large flat stones. By August 2009 I'd filled that new section with stones so that the drycreek now extended to the fringe of the woods. By December I'd dug the bed all the way to the culvert that served as the terminus at what became the Drycreek Terminus, covered it with a large grate, and had Harvey fill it with large river rocks to complete the installation. Water now runs from the road down the driveway to the drycreek source and all the way to the Drycreek Terminus, then into pipes that run it off into a stream bed that takes it down to the Oconee River.

Drycreek Terminus ( View Slideshow)
This area was initially a fringe plot of little interest. I wasn't even sure I owned it till I got the property surveyed. It's where the drycreek that meanders through the woods drops into a sewar via a large catchbasin, which originally was completely open until I got a grill to cover it and make the area safer. After the drycreek was extended all the way down to this terminus, I moved all the irises I'd collected over time to surround it. Eventually, I used the Thyme After Thyme out-of-business sale to diversify the iris collection and add thickness to the plantings, which are now quite extensive, and which have provided divisions for sections of Bali.

I saw an opportunity to install a walkway along the drycreek, all the way to the neighbor's driveway, which created a small area that I've developed into a patio with seating area, the Drycreek Terminus Patio. Finally, I put in 5 clump river birches, which look organic in light of the creekbed appearance of the drycreek and iris colony. This area had some crape myrtles before I moved in, and I limbed them up to give them a more fountain-like appearance. Art in this area includes a beautiful arbor that I won in a Thyme After Thyme out-of-business raffle, and other smaller pieces from their firesale, including some metal flower pieces and a couple of pink flamingo outlines. My renovation of this area helped to encourage our neighbor to install a split rail fence, which looks fabulous.

Office View Terrace (View Slideshow)
The Office Overlook Terrace gets its name from its placement outside my office in the walkout basement on the low end of the house's location on the property. Rather than using water barrels to harvest rain water, I have dug a series of pits designed to drain water slowly into the yard. I used the clay from the pits to fill terraces, which are designed to slow and contain drainage water and host plants. I also began to dig the hole that eventually became the 4-foot-deep pit , which I filled with tree trunks and gravel and topped off with chipped wood. It now holds all runoff from the roof on that side of the house, plus all dehumidifier water produced by the AC units during the summer. After some basement floods, I had it redesigned to drain into the drycreek rather than overflowing at the foundation. The terraces have thrived in this area, given that the soil downhill from the pit is moist except during severe droughts.

The series of terraces on the side of the house was initially a lawn that was level, then dropped off steeply into the woods. After I killed off the grass, I began to construct the terraces, building them with tree trunks from the woods and other fill including phone books, old academic journals, tree limbs, cardboard boxes, clay cat box litter, and whatever else was available. The terraces on the low side of the house were constructed at three levels. Later in the process, I had a stone wall constructed for all three levels, built from stones from an old farmhouse wall somewhere in the area.

Top level (includes the flagstone path): The main task here was to disguise the air conditioning units, which were large and loud, and were replaced in 2018 by larger, louder units. The low-level evergreen anchors are provided by three sets of three Carissa hollies, spread across the span of the walkway on the house side, with one serving as the border between the terrace and the Front Slope Bed. There are also ornamental trees, including a button bush, a coral bark Japanese maple, a Kousa dogwood, and a Golden Glory dogwood. At ground level is bugleweed and Jerusalem sage. This level also includes a set of sasanqua camellias that over time will be espaliered up the side of the house. Art includes a dragonfly sitting in the dogwood branches.

Middle level: The middle level has a set of trees and shrubs, including a dogwood, a Golden Glory dogwood, a two-leafed silverbell, a mock orange shrub, lantana, gobs of black-and-blue sages, butterfly weed, and “Princess” Pennisetum ornamental grass.

Low level: The low level includes a Japanese maple and Alexander magnolia, along with Miss Huff lantana.

Japanese Garden (View Slideshow)
The Japanese Garden comprises the area surrounding the drycreek that runs through the Drycreek Terminus, the Scenic Overlook, and the Office View Terrace. It was originally an amorphous area where the side yard gave way to the woods. With the drycreek installed to provide definition, I put in walkways that Harvey helped to grade with his tractor. Harvey also installed a patio from which to enjoy the scenery. Typical of Japanese gardens, it includes stones, greenery, a waterway (the drycreek), a bridge, an artifact (the lantern), a path, and borrowed scenery. I then planted the various plots within the Japanese Garden with a variety of flora:

In the island containing the patio, I've included American Strawberry bush (native, not planted), a Japanese maple, a one coral bells azalea, mondo grass, and a gardenia.

In the strip along the drycreek there are daffodils, leatherleaf mahonia, Japanese maples, red buckeyes, Leucothoe, a groundcover of dwarf crested iris at the feet of the red buckeyes, a groundcover of Sweet Flag grass covering the "neck" of this area, and a rhododendron. Art in this area includes one Asian panel and a Japanese lantern.

In the bed just uphill from the island patio, at the base of the big terrace, I've installed lamb's ear and yarrow, and a lot of things that have since died. Art in this area includes a trio of smaller Asian "lollipop" sculptures (e.g., designs atop a slender pole).

In the area across the drycreek from the island patio, there are several Japanese maples and a bed of various kinds of euphorbia. Art in this area includes an obelisk.

The area also includes native dogwoods, a native beech tree, winged elm trees, and other trees.

Dugout Bowl (View Slideshow)
The Dugout Bowl sits in a natural bowl in the original landscape, just off the drycreek. It was among the last areas developed in this part of the yard. In June 2020 I dug out the walls and evened the floor, and laid a concrete square patio. The plant installation consists of transplants from other parts of Bali, with shrubs that either had outgrown their original locations, or shrubs that weren't doing great where I had put them several years before. These include a variety of viburnums, an anise shrub, a pair of banana shrubs, nandinas, and other fillers easily divided and moved from other locations.

Scenic Overlook (View Slideshow)
The Scenic Overlook patio and surrounding area occupy the high ground just beyond the lower back fence. It was installed initially in 2008 and overlooks the neighbor's driveway and other neighbor's house. It includes two primary areas: the crescent where the patio is set, and the overlook across the path from the patio.

In the crescent containing the patio, I've put a sweep of nandinas around the seating area, and a dwarf nandina border. I planted the remainder with a distributed assortment of white, purple, and pink American beauty berry shrubs. I also planted conifer trees whose name has escaped my records.

In the overlook there is a great variety of Japanese maples, a stand of edgeworthia, and various native dogwoods, maple trees, cherry trees, and tulip poplars.

Art in this area includes an Asian panel in the overlook, and a smaller set of pieces providing definition to the pathway from the overlook to the Japanese Garden.