Garden, part deux

Here are the rest of the pics from the pretty garden I've been working on for the past few years.
This is the back garden - not too exciting yet, but the wisteria, hydrangeas and daylilies will be filling it in over the next couple of years.

Here is the wisteria in his new home. I hope he does well there...He was flourishing on my back stoop!

The gorgeous rose of sharon tree that I cut back:

I couldn't stand throwing out the flowers, so I made this for my client's patio table!So pretty!

The pretty planter by her front door:

And a parting shot of the whole garden:Mucho pretty-o!

That's all I gots for today...Going on the boat!

Ciao!

Garden, part one

This is a garden that I have been working in for the last 3 years. The first year I moved things, divided things, transplanted things and added some things. There was no rhyme or reason to this garden when I started. And, it is a mostly shade garden, so this was a test of my gardening mettle. I was not at ALL familiar with shade gardens. I've learned a lot in the last 5 years!

This is a shot from the sidewalk...The dominant features of this garden are the climbing hydrangeas along the fence on the right, the rose of sharon tree in the back on the left and then the contrasting shades of greens, silvers, yellows, purple and white that are found in the hostas, ivy, pachysandra, stonecrop and the annuals I added.

It's an entirely different garden from spring to summer to fall. Springtime, this garden is dominated by pink when the phlox blooms toward the back, along with the peonies and coral bells, followed by pink fairy roses that flower along the walkway in late spring/early summer. As summer progresses, the climbing hydrangeas bloom, as do the rose of sharon trees in the back, as well as the hostas that are peppered throughout the garden, and the annuals become more prominent. In fall, the stonecrop comes in along the front walkway.

This year, I also added a shasta daisy in the front on the right, another peony by the stone bench to balance that out, two solomon's seal along the walkway, a white wisteria on the trellis there in the back, four more pink day lilies in the back and a couple pink tall phlox. Sitting in my driveway are 6 european ginger and two more coral bells that I will add next time I'm there.

I have spent a serious amount of time on this project to get the effect I wanted, which was an old-fashioned cottage garden, so over-crowded with perennials, that weeds just don't have a chance! It's worked pretty well, I'd say! Every time I'm over there working at least 3 or more people stop to say how much they love the garden and how pretty it is! Very satisfying to hear!

It's always interesting to me to see the way plantings working out - particularly the annuals I put in. I do the same thing in each planter, and yet, they each turn out different! In one, the lamium took off, and in another, the tourenia is huge, and then the next one, the begonia is enormous! It's amazing! So here are the four hanging planters I installed:


Isn't it crazy that they each look so different even though they contain the exact same number and type of plants?

And here is the planter I did for the stone bench out front, flagged by two owls!


Part deux to follow tomorrow!

The forget-me-nots and a rescue story

A couple of weeks ago I was in Michigan for the burial/memorial service for my beloved grandparents. They were such wonderful people and it was a huge loss for our small family.

We all received cards that had cute paper butterflies glued on them. On the inside was a sweet poem and then information on the fact that the butterflies actually have forget-me-not seeds pressed into them and then instructions on how to plant them!

So I planted my forget-me-nots today in the same pot where I grew some lettuce this spring:

For most people forget-me-nots are weeds and they invade your garden and take over. I wish they would do this for me! They don't like me and I have NEVER had one come back or re-seed itself. I've tried. MANY times. Probably 40 times over the years.

Same thing with azaleas and campanula. They do NOT like me. They ALWAYS die.

I say, FINE! BE that way! I'll find better fleurs to play with! hee!

Also, I took the wisteria out of the cute watering can today to plant in my client's garden, so now it has a prominent spot again by my back door! Seriously? This wins top prize in the cute-watering-can competition!

I picked a few more tomatoes to have in my salad tonight:

Oh, and after I was done toiling for 3 long hours the heat and humidity today (what happened to 82 and dry like they said?), I needed to run over to a local garden center place to get lawn and leaf bags. I recycle all of my clippings and weeds from all the jobs I do. Annnnnyway, guess what? They had a brand new shipment of lovely perennials just sitting right there in front of my face. They were calling out to me: "Take us hoooooommmme! We want to live with yooooooouuuuuu! Pleeeeeeaaaase?"

Man, those perennials. You know how they can be. Insistent little buggers. I tried to walk away, but the pleading got louder and louder! It was awful, I tell ya! Terrible! I had to do something to help, right?!!

So here are the refugees from that terrible place! Four little balloon flowers:

And three of these guys that I have never heard of before but they are SOOOO adorable, called boltonia:What terrible name for such CUTE little plants!

You all can thank me later for rescuing these poor plants. It was the least I could do!

Hee hee! (Please don't tell my husband. He already thinks I'm totally ridiculous with all of our plants!)

Next in line are photos of the amazing garden I've been working in for 3 years now! A gardener's dream!

Happy Thursday!

Shearing the Shrubbery

Shrubbery is a funny word to say. It just sounds so British, doesn't it?

Yesterday, it clouded over and was only the 80s - icy cold compared to what we've been having! So, I took advantage of the cold weather (ha!) and decided to do some work on the side yard. It was an utter jungle out there. Everything was overgrown and crowding out the littler pretties that I have tucked in here and there, so went to town with my shearing tool and loppers.

Loppers is also another funny word!

Anyway, as I was out there working and sweating and shearing and lopping, a neighbor walked by and said "I think you're losing!" Nice. I'm out there busting my hump and then some smart-aleck has to point out that my garden was a bit, well, out-of-hand! In any case, I, for one, think it looks MUCH better now!

And, of course, what did I do? I found homes for two of the three evening primrose plants that I had originally bought for my client. I seriously have issues. I'm uncontrollable around pretty plants. I MUST have them. And take care of them and love them and keep them forever. I am a plant coveter. Is that one of the seven deadly sins?

So, here is one of them:Doesn't he look happy there? He's next to a couple of annuals and then some of the pretty tall phlox:

And, don't ask me why? But all plants are "he" to me. They are boys. I have no idea why. Maybe I'm getting delusional in my old age? Maybe it's the heat?

Speaking of the heat, the stonecrop that planted itself in a completely different flower bed than the one I put it in, is already starting to show color. This generally doesn't start until late August here.I'm so afraid that by the time September rolls around everything will be dead dead dead.

So here are the two areas of the side garden that I trimmed yesterday; this is the right side:I hacked back the junipers, a bit of the rhododendron and the yew.

Here is the left side:On this side, I had to cut back the lilacs and the holly bushes. The holly has gone bonkers this year!

Today I have to do two big garden maintenance jobs and then I have to plant all of the pretties that have been in my driveway - I have to get them out of here before I find homes for them in my OWN garden! Man. What an addict I am!

Here is one of the pretty day lilies in bloom:It's a really pretty salmon-y pink and will be really pretty with the other perennials in this garden I'm doing.

Ok. Gots to run. Happy Wednesday to you!

Odds and ends

Today's weather is strange. It sort of looks like rain, but the weather forecast has no rain in it for today. To paint or not to paint? That is the question. I have to paint the trim around the windows on our boat. They were all cracking and peeling, so last year I sanded them all down, filled them in with different fillers and then primed them. I have been meaning to paint them for forever, but the weather doesn't cooperate on the days I plan on doing it! I think I'll just go ahead and chance it today since it's not blazing hot sun out there.

For a complete and utter, non-segue, the tomatoes are coming in nicely! Lookit how many there are!Aren't they cute?

Also, in the pot where I grew arugula this spring? It has started growing again! Is it supposed to do that? I thought it was a spring thing and then it was over? Huh.See all those little sprouts?

Next to that pot on the bench is the birdbath I was talking about the other day:Isn't that so nice? The woman who made this birdbath makes lovely mosaic tables, platters and birdbaths, and is also an excellent artist with oils. I have three of her paintings, two on wood block and one on canvas:


You might notice that "EXIT" sign there on the right? Our house used to be a restaurant, so we kept some of the funky elements like the "Ladies" sign on our bathroom near the bar and we have exit signs and function room names posted in certain places! It's a fun place to live, what can I say?

I have these three painting hanging together on a post that we found when we renovated the kitchen 6 years ago.

We found lots of cool things like beams, posts and strapping that are from the original part of our house which was built in 1800. VERY cool! Until the renovation, I had an industrial kitchen with a huge vented hood, three pizza ovens, a vulcan stove and even a salamander and commercial dishwasher! It was funky, but totally nonfunctional - no counter space and NO storage. We kept our dishes and glassware in the pizza ovens, for instance!

Ok. That's all I've got for today. Sadie is INSISTENT that she needs a walk IMMEDIATELY! Have a fine Tuesday!

DEEEE-lish and other goodies!

The first tomato off the grape tomato plant in my back yard, you ask? It was SOOOO delicious! Here it is before I plopped it in my mouth!It was warm from the sun and didn't even need a speck of salt. It was MIGHTY fine, thank you for asking! Many others are ripening as we speak, so I'm looking forward to some more deliciousness soon!

So, if you read yesterday's post, you saw that I had to attend a retirement party for a good friend of mine. I adore this woman. She's 67 and just SO vivacious and funny and witty! Of course, for her retirement gift, I did up a pretty planter! Which, of course, means that I had to go to my most favorite place, Marblehead Garden Center! Yipppppeeeeeeeee!

Even though it was in the 90s, I had myself a good time! Not only did I buy a pretty planter and 10 lovely plants to go in it, I also did some shopping for perennials for a client of mine! Oh, I had a good time amongst all the pretty plants in bloom! And, of course, I bought myself a few things. Hello? Have you met me? I simply am unable to go anywhere near plants for sale without buying at LEAST one. Or three. Or six, in this case. Oy. I'm hopeless! I know!

Here are the fruits of my toils from yesterday...Said planter and plants:This photo doesn't do it justice. It was very pretty. I used one purple angelonia, two variegated corkscrew grasses, two white verbena, one white petunia, two purple million bells, and two cream-colored lantana.

And here are the plants I got for my client; an evening primrose:


Pinkish day lilies, a pink hydrangea, solomon's seal and tall phlox:

And last, but not least, a white wisteria that is growing like a weed!I had to special order this and have been taking care of it for over a month now! I keep telling him about his new home, but he doesn't believe me. You know how wisterias can be. They're very skeptical! hee hee!

And, of course, I had to buy me a few goodies, as I mentioned. I got 6 balloon flower plants. Do you know these?
They come in purple and white. I got all purple. They are happy little things!

You may ask, but why do they call them balloon flowers? Looky!How cute is that puffiness before they bloom?! Love them!

OK. That's all for today. You're dismissed. Bye!

Soupy Sunday

Hello. I suddenly live in the tropics. Someone uprooted our town here in Massachusetts and plunked us right there on the equator.

HOLY SEARING HEAT! It's ridiculous over here!

It's 93 degrees. And humid.

Even some of my tropical plants, like the papyrus are saying "Would someone PLEASE turn the heat off? For a few minutes? PLEASE?!!!" They have been getting wilty with this heat. It's not lack of water, it's because it's BLAZINGLY hot hot hot.

Man. Have I mentioned the warmness?

The only thing saving us from mimicking hell-on-earth is the breeze. Thank you, breeze, for showing up today!

Ok. Enough complaining. Onto the pretties!

The tropical hibiscus that I inherited from my husband's step-mom is QUITE happy:
It's actually sitting on the air compressor that runs our air conditioning unit in the house. You'd think it'd be sort of unhappy with all the heat from the exhaust fan, but this hibiscus is HAPPY!!

Gigantor the butterfly bush continues to grow ever upward. Here it is from the front of the house:That fence is over 6 feet tall to give you an idea...

The flower boxes are still plugging along. Luckily the pony-tail grasses love this weather, so they have really become the main focus of them:

The phlox/tomato/yarrow garden bed is just going crazy right now! The phloxes are blooming their faces off:That is a cute mosaic bird bath there on the left. I'll take a picture of it sometime - it's a lovely mosaic of a crane. A friend of my mother-in-law is a VERY talented artist and she makes these mosaics among other types of artwork.

And, of course, on the right is Sadie. My eternal shadow!

That's all I gots for today. I now have to go try to look presentable for a retirement party for a good friend of mine...I sure hope sweat is fashionable! : )