Garden Walkabout . . .



 

a bit of an overload
of photos for you this morning
but i wanted to show you
what i have been busy with
for the past few weeks.



we live in a fairly small
cape cod cottage style two story home
neighbors nearby although
each of our parcels provides approximately an acre of living
we have large wooded areas at the rear of our properties 
early on i began bordering areas with brick
and creating brick pathways

i bought this new home twenty plus years ago
many of the shrubs and plantings were chosen and planted by me
although some of the large trees were planted by a service
the white pine trees were saplings i dug
from the woods behind me and planted around the property

i have been keeping jack very busy
since we married in nineteen ninety seven
he has to fight me though to drive the lawn tractor
i solve all the problems of the world while i mow

i tend to favor ground covers such as
ivy, pachysandra. ajuga, snow on the mountain and others
friends have shared plantings with me
and i enjoy sharing with them

 

the first photos above are north of the house
the photo above is a view i have into the backyard
the vine is bittersweet, one of my earliest plantings
my dads favorite so it was a must for me to have

this aged vine winds way up the oak tree
there are several oaks on the property
majestic indeed, i love them until late fall
when the leaves don't stop falling



the farmers in the area clear boulders from the fields
and throw them at the edge of the road for people like me
jack and i have gathered many boulders to use in the gardens

several beds of hosta varieties
can be found in the rear and front gardens

jack has made several garden benches for me
using cement septic covers
he recently moved this bench
from one area to this spot in the back yard
creating something new is such fun

last year i started a new cutting garden
located off the north edge of our screened porch
it is very young and will need more tweaking

i used cocoa bean hulls for bark covering 
as the sprinklers hit the cocoa hulls
the fragrance is of chocolate 
very nice

 

the lettuce garden is in the black pot on the right
enjoying fresh greens is a great treat



south edge of the house/gardens
large burning bush covers this side of the house



garden house
jack had the frame built
a friend and i laid the stone
we also have a few stones from ireland
placed here and there

the white pine you see are some i moved from the woods

the rhododendrons were gorgeous this year

this is toward the south edge/front

 

large front garden
annabelle hydrangea is in the area where you see the hummingbird feeder
one of my prides and joys
several other annabelles are planted around the yard



purple plum trees look beautiful with green plantings

 

 

 have you ever taken pictures of your
flowers and gardens in the rain
makes everything look such a luscious green

 

 red twig dogwood in the background
brings some color and contrast



huge space of spirea and pachysandra
i cut back the spirea very low so when it blooms
it looks like a pink blush inside the green ground cover

this entire area
was at one time just black dirt
one flat of pachysandra and look how it multiplies



my one lone poppy
we have very few sunny areas
 i need to move the poppies because
the pine and burning bush are shading them out
white pine needles i saved were used for ground covering

cead mile failte

one thousand welcomes
a bit of the irish welcome
lives in our home and gardens

 

 

there you have it

the big chores are behind me
i find that i can tend to the daily weeding as i
 walk around the yard with snickers
she gets her sniffing every blade of grass thing
and i get some bend over exercise

thank you for joining me on my garden tour
welcome to my new followers
thank you for visiting me

Happy Summer Days

Flag Day
2013