Building a pergola and more

The first thing I did today was to add some store bought cat-o-nine tails to the pond. I wanted to make the ones I made look fuller. These were smaller, and I'm not sure they really added much to the pond, but they are okay I guess.

Next, I painted the edges of the "slate" level next to the ryokan grey, and added some hedges I bought on Saturday to edge that level. I'm not crazy about them. They look too small and formal, so I am going to add foliage materials to them to make them taller and look more natural. You can just see the edge of them in this photo. I really was having a hard time figuring out what to do with that level.

This is the start of a pergola. It will have two more posts in the middle, and will have wisteria growing over it.

This is an overview of what the ryokan looks like now. Sorry the photo is so bad, but I am back to my old phone again, and I didn't realize just how bad that camera was compared to the newer ones! (I had a Note 7, but had to send that back. T-Mobile sent a Galaxy S7 Edge as a loaner, but I really didn't like the phone, so when I found out the Note 7 was discontinued, I sent the S7 Edge back and decided to choose a different phone, rather than keep one I wasn't happy with).

Anyway, this photo shows where the pergola will be, as well as that ugly hedge I added to the front. I guess the hedge will make a good base for whatever I decide to add to it.

I also stuck two bushes I had laying around on either side of the steps. The left one has yellow "blossoms" and the right one has red, although they don't really show up in this photo. Those aren't stuck down, they are basically only there to get an idea of what to put between the hedge and the steps. I think a couple of rhododendrons would look good there! I added stones under the hand washing basin as well, because the Japanese usually put stones under them so the water won't splash mud all over.

I also did more on the stone retaining walls and pond. I wish I had made the pond a little bit further from the edges of the base, because there isn't quite room enough to add the stones in certain places.

At any rate, I am quite happy with the landscaping so far, and it will be easy to change things like the hedge, that I don't like, into something that looks better. It's not perfectly to scale with the house, but that wouldn't have been possible without making a huge base for it.