I always love looking at pictures of other peoples gardens. It's better than looking through the pages of a fancy magazine because folks here are hobbyists or tinkerers like me, and it's inspiring to see what other real people have done.
So it's my turn to take you on a stroll through my garden. (I hope you don't mind a lot of pictures!)
Here's the set-up . . . my hubby and I go for a little walk around the yard each evening before supper. I used to have to force him to do it and I had to point out all the changes in gardens, now he looks forward to the walks and noticing how much things have grown and changed each day. So you are joining us on our walk around the yard, and our cat Butch always comes along, too.
First is the front porch. From L to R we have Sagae, Flower Power and Guacamole hostas with small globe arborvitae between them.
This is the front of the house from the street. An additional building, my DH's shop, is to the right, out of the picture. The grass in the center of the picture makes a beautiful big mound by mid-summer.
Walking around the garage side of the house is this little row, between the house and the shop. Dwarf spruce, clematis in the middle, from L to R the hostas are Dawns Early Light, Peace, Minuteman, 4th of July, and American Dream.
Turning around and looking toward the back yard, you see this bald cypress tree with a ring of hostas around the base. These Lancifolia are from Deb118. I visited her several years ago and she sent me home with several clumps in plastic bags. Originally I got about 20 plants from it. Now there is a huge patch of them at my old house, and two other big patches here, besides this ring. Thanks Deb!
Last edited by JaneG on May 25, 2009 12:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
Maple Tree Bed - this is the first bed I did here at this house, it's been several years now, I did it for DH, way back before we were married. The bench was a wedding present from dear friends of mine. See next post . . .
This rock is in the bed above because GRRRRR nothing really thrives here because of the dry shade, all the moisture being take up by the maple tree and surrounding poplars, and the poplar roots are constantly shooting up new trees in this bed. It makes me cranky to be constantly tending this trouble spot!!
Looking at the back yard, I put these beds around the spruce trees last fall. The sun is on this side and on the other side of the spruces is my shady hosta area. You can see more pics of it in my other thread in this forum.
When Butch the cat gets tired of our walk or wants some attention, he will lay down in the cool mulch in hopes of getting a head scratch or belly rub. Here he's in line with a red-petioled hosta (not sure which one), then behind him is Salute, Holy Moly, and Guacamole.
Looking to the other corner of the back yard, on the far left is where the veggie garden is. When this picture was taken it hadn't been tilled yet. But now it has squash, corn, tomatoes, beans, peppers and carrots planted. The bench is in front of a shady area that started out as a holding bed for hosta, but it seems to be turning into a permanent bed under an osage orange and catalpa tree. Unfortunately both of these trees are messy and drop their fruit on the plants under them!
This view is looking towards the house from the back. When I first met DH it was just a house on a patch of grass with no arbor, no plants, no trees. The Bald Cypress on the left went in first, then two honey locust on the far right (just a little bit in the picture), and the limber pine was planted just last year, and out of the picture on the right is a third honey locust.
This is looking down at the bed under the bald cypress from up on the deck. (See my pot that cracked over winter?) The bald cypress are late to leaf out, so it's hard on the hostas until the tree starts providing some shade in mid-June.
On the north side of the deck these few hostas find a little shade. Unfortunately, other than Wide Brim on the left, I don't know any of their names.
Back around to the front, this view is from the street, on the left is the back of DH's shop, straight ahead is my garden shed, and on the left is our closest and least-favorite neighbor. We can't see this area from the house or from the rest of the yard because it's behind the shop. I have hostas and hydrangeas on the left. Since we don't see this bed, it's less cared-for than others and holds duplicate hostas or ones I'm waiting to plant elsewhere. On the right against the neighbors fence in the sun are some dwarf spruce and small spirea, with daylilies mixed in all along the fence. It looks good in the summer when daylilies are blooming all along the fence.
Thanks for accompanying me on my stroll this evening. Now take me on a walk through your gardens!!
