My fleurs

I decided it'd be a good idea to document my flower boxes and back yard over the seasons. When we first moved in, the back yard was a repository for garbage. It was a divine mixture of gravel, discarded windows, broken fences, weeds and junk. We have lived here now almost 10 years and I'm happy to say, it is now a lovely little secret garden! No one knows it even exists since we have a large fence around it and it cannot be seen at all from the street!

Over time it has been transformed mostly into a butterfly garden! Best part? The huge butterfly bushes that are out there were a $10 buy from the grocery store about 6 years ago! Deal of the century! One of them now towers about 15 feet high and has just hundreds and hundreds of blooms which coincide with the Monarch butterfly migration. In the fall, it is incredible to go out there in the morning and find a dozen or more Monarchs and other gorgeous butterflies flitting about, feeding on the blooms!

These are some photos from a few years back. The yard has evolved much more now - plants are all bigger - particularly the hydrangeas and butterfly bushes.






Here is what it looks like now. Hold on to your socks! It ain't pretty! Welcome to December in Massachusetts. Not that I love snow, but at least when it's white back there it doesn't look so dreary and color-less.






I actually have one lonely hydrangea bloom that is trying to flower for me! Thank you, hydrangea! : )



And here are the flower boxes right now. I haven't switched them out to evergreens and berries because I think they still look pretty good!




The plants that you see hanging downward and then curving up? Those are mini-licorice plants. Amazing little plants. They start at about 4-6 inches tall and about as wide, and then the do this! I planted these about mid-April this year, and started with the ponytail grasses, the zebra grass, some nemesia, nasturtium and lantana. The latter three have been taken out after they were past their prime. I added some mums for the fall which are still in there.

So that's it for today. Lots of photos for you to peruse.

Have a good weekend!