Vicarious gardening
Here are the garden pictures I promised Melanieathene. Some didn't come out as clearly or detailed as I wished, but here it goes. I hope you enjoy, Melanieathene!
Here is the front garden of my house, looking from our front porch, sometime in late April. On the right you can see the flowering cherry tree that S. planted for me last spring as a suprise when I was away one evening. :)
Here are the mid- and late-blooming tulips at the very front of the house. We planted many different kinds of tulips in the fall and were delighted that they all came up! S. did a very good job with the layout.
Here is the front garden in early-mid June. Those are two lions statues on the porch--S. and I are both Leos (roar)! A fitting gift from a dear friend. In the front garden grows cornflower, coneflower, butterfly blue scabiosa, black-eyed Susans, dianthus, a butterfly bush, verbena, and other stuff (not that you can see it in this picture!)
Back of our house in early-mid June. On the dark brown trellis we have orange honeysuckle and pink clematis growing. To the right of it below the porch railing are tomatoes and squash, which are quite tall and lush now! Under the red crate grows catnip (we have to protect it from the neighborhood strays who roll in it!) Next to that you can see the lush lavender--it did so well this year. Basil, marjoram, and oregano are also growing in this garden. On the driveway you see my car (I came home from work at noon for lunch and took pictures) and a pile of mulch. There is still a pile of mulch in the driveway today, albeit a different pile. So far, we have shoveled in and out of S.'s truck 6 truckloads of *free* mulch this year. Tiring, but we have a lot of garden space!
S.'s two squarefoot gardens, planted with tomatoes, pole beans, bush beans, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, eggplant, squash, nasturtiums and marigolds. We have already enjoyed the lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and some beans. In the background you can see my neighbor's beautiful gardens. We are very lucky to live next to this beautiful yard!
A closer view from a different angle. My neighbor also has a pile of mulch!
A view of our backyard from the porch. In the back you can make out the rock wall S. and I built last fall to contain our "woodland garden." This used to be all grass, which didn't grow well in the shade of the Japanese maple or the neighbor's oak tree. We have various vinca minor planted here, as well as hosta, fern, daffodils, snowdrops, Siberian iris, daylilies, and the state flower of New Jersey, violets. We still have lots of room. Before I took this picture we covered all the remaining grass that I didn't have the patience to pull out with mulch. You can also see more of my neighbor's gardens.
A closer look at our woodland garden! Our property line is right in front of the oak on the left--if you look really hard you can see a wire fence with daylilies and iris growing in front of it. To the right of the picture you can see faintly some red roses along the other fence.
S. and I are so fortunate to have such lovely property. It is very healing for me.
And yesterday after hearing about what happened in London, I found some solace in my garden. Rooting out riotous weeds helped me to feel I had at least some control over life....
*hugs and love*
Here is the front garden of my house, looking from our front porch, sometime in late April. On the right you can see the flowering cherry tree that S. planted for me last spring as a suprise when I was away one evening. :)
Here are the mid- and late-blooming tulips at the very front of the house. We planted many different kinds of tulips in the fall and were delighted that they all came up! S. did a very good job with the layout.
Here is the front garden in early-mid June. Those are two lions statues on the porch--S. and I are both Leos (roar)! A fitting gift from a dear friend. In the front garden grows cornflower, coneflower, butterfly blue scabiosa, black-eyed Susans, dianthus, a butterfly bush, verbena, and other stuff (not that you can see it in this picture!)
Back of our house in early-mid June. On the dark brown trellis we have orange honeysuckle and pink clematis growing. To the right of it below the porch railing are tomatoes and squash, which are quite tall and lush now! Under the red crate grows catnip (we have to protect it from the neighborhood strays who roll in it!) Next to that you can see the lush lavender--it did so well this year. Basil, marjoram, and oregano are also growing in this garden. On the driveway you see my car (I came home from work at noon for lunch and took pictures) and a pile of mulch. There is still a pile of mulch in the driveway today, albeit a different pile. So far, we have shoveled in and out of S.'s truck 6 truckloads of *free* mulch this year. Tiring, but we have a lot of garden space!
S.'s two squarefoot gardens, planted with tomatoes, pole beans, bush beans, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, eggplant, squash, nasturtiums and marigolds. We have already enjoyed the lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and some beans. In the background you can see my neighbor's beautiful gardens. We are very lucky to live next to this beautiful yard!
A closer view from a different angle. My neighbor also has a pile of mulch!
A view of our backyard from the porch. In the back you can make out the rock wall S. and I built last fall to contain our "woodland garden." This used to be all grass, which didn't grow well in the shade of the Japanese maple or the neighbor's oak tree. We have various vinca minor planted here, as well as hosta, fern, daffodils, snowdrops, Siberian iris, daylilies, and the state flower of New Jersey, violets. We still have lots of room. Before I took this picture we covered all the remaining grass that I didn't have the patience to pull out with mulch. You can also see more of my neighbor's gardens.
A closer look at our woodland garden! Our property line is right in front of the oak on the left--if you look really hard you can see a wire fence with daylilies and iris growing in front of it. To the right of the picture you can see faintly some red roses along the other fence.
S. and I are so fortunate to have such lovely property. It is very healing for me.
And yesterday after hearing about what happened in London, I found some solace in my garden. Rooting out riotous weeds helped me to feel I had at least some control over life....
*hugs and love*