Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette photos Detail of the garden on the northern side of Susan Banks' house. The shade garden includes containers with herbs, pulmonaria, strobilanthes and ferns. Click photo for larger image. Editor's note: This is the second in an occasional series on garden editor Susan Banks' new garden in Brighton Heights. Buying a house presents the opportunity to lay out a lively landscape

It's August and my garden has undergone a big transformation since early spring. I'm tanned, bug-bitten, bruised and broke. Truckloads of shrubs and debris have been removed, a patio has been poured, pavers have been installed, dirt has been brought in -- wheelbarrow by miserable wheelbarrow -- and plants have been placed.

Along the way, I went way over budget at the nurseries, changed my mind on several design points and have already killed a few plants. (Yes, even garden editors have failures.)

As for the design changes, they were mostly brought about by lack of funds. I originally had meant to take up all the grass in the upper back yard, but after running out of money, I left a square of grass, well, weeds, in the middle and put a bird bath in the center. And the front foundation planting is not to my liking, so that will be reworked in the spring.

These days, the plot looks new and bare -- a point painfully brought home to me every time I walked into the lush gardens of the finalists for the Great Gardens Contest, which I recently judged.

The season got off to a cold, rainy start. Venturing out as soon as possible, I began executing vast amounts of English ivy, rose of Sharon seedlings and pernicious weeds, not to mention two gigantic and horrid yuccas.

Susan's latest garden companion, Ottie, prepares to dive into a new bed. Click photo for larger image.

The arborvitae that was growing smack through the canvas awnings in the front of the house was hacked to bits and removed. The hydrangea was humanely executed. I spruced up a small semi-shady bed in front with 'Sky Pencil' holly, carex, ajuga and ferns, removing an overgrown euonymus and pruning an existing creeping juniper.

Along the north side of the house, shade plants like heuchera, hosta and pulmonaria have been planted.

Moving to the back, the existing dry stone wall has been reworked, and a nearby bed has been cleaned out. Belgian blocks, which had been scattered throughout the yard, have been relaid. Some of the blocks have also been used to line the front bed where the forlorn arborvitae formerly languished. A compost heap has been started.

A large mountain laurel, which will remain in the garden, has been divested of a mature Virginia creeper vine that was smothering the top of it. Yes, even though I'm almost 50, I still can crawl underneath a low-growing shrub with a saw. A large old lilac (Syringa vulgaris) in the lower yard has been de-suckered and shaped up.

The area in the lower yard underneath the large, mature white pine has been cleared of debris, Virginia creeper and poison ivy. Belgian blocks have been used to delineate a border, pea gravel has been added, interspersed with large stones, and my large Buddha and a birdbath now preside over an area that would be impossible to plant due to the tree's shallow root system.

	View of the back yard with new exposed aggregate patio and flower beds. The existing wall bed was completely renovated and replanted as was the vast majority of the yard. Click photo for larger image.

When it comes to plants, I haven't been slacking, either. Two roses, 'New Dawn' and 'Don Juan,' were purchased from the Heirloom Roses catalog, and a bevy of Siberian iris cultivars from Joe Pye Weed Nursery. Both roses are surviving nicely; 'Don Juan' even blessed me with blossoms. But we've had one fatality among the Siberian irises -- the most expensive one, wouldn't you know.

I bought about 20 daylilies from Oakes Daylilies, and they are springing up. A small collection of newly planted German irises looks generally pathetic, until they put on some growth. I've resigned myself to spraying them for borers in the early spring.

And yes, I've purchased plants at local nurseries -- lots of plants: Two Japanese maples and a full-moon maple are in, as is a collection of conifers from Gala Rhododendron.

I got loads of perennials from Friday's Perennials after the sales began, such as goatsbeard (Aruncus doicus), hepatica, hostas, persicaria, sedum, asarum, 'David' phlox and rudbeckia. Coneflowers, campanula and caryopteris were purchased during the summer markdown at Brenckles.

Containers take center stage this season because plantings in the flower beds are immature. Pots include tulip geraniums, zonal geraniums, verbena and heliotrope. Click photo for larger image.

As for shrubs, so far I've put in a couple of Yak hybrid rhododendrons, 'Ruby Spice' clethra, Hydrangea quercifolia 'Pee Wee' and Hydrangea macrophylla 'Endless Summer.' A couple of viburnums are also in the ground.

And I must admit to purchasing a few things from the big box stores. Early on, I managed to snag a couple of very nice columbines that had just been off-loaded from a truck at the local Kmart. At Wal-Mart, I snagged a few cheapie shrubs -- 'China Girl' and 'China Boy' hollies and some euonymus -- knowing that they might have to be axed a few years down the road after things start to fill in.

From my old duplex I brought over a dwarf aruncus, some monarda, ajuga, rudbeckia, campanula and sempervivums.

And the loads of garden ornaments I've collected over the years have found new spots. We have Pan, we have Buddha, we have a foo dog, we have a birdbath, we have two saints (Francis and Fiacre), we have gnomes, we have a lawn ball. Actually, I have two lawn balls, but I restrained myself and put only one out. (I never said I was tasteful.)

	Garden gargoyle overlooks rudbeckia and purple sweet potato vines. Click photo for larger image.

I also have a new garden companion, Ottie the rambunctious pug, who keeps me jumping while weeding.

What's coming? Well, lots. The grass is a disaster and must be attended. The troughs still need to be hauled in and placed. A large mangy rose of Sharon needs to go, as does a white mulberry tree.

I hope a new bed will be excavated up the north side of the house, now that the heavy construction is finished. That's where I plan to expand the shade garden. I'd also like to put another flower bed in the front yard and additional seating area in the lower garden. I need to purchase bulbs. To be honest, every time I go outside I can think up something else to do.

As gardeners know, no garden is ever finished. And this one has hardly begun.