Spring in the Garden

I thought I would share a few pictures of our yard and flower gardens. Everything looks so beautiful right now with all the rains we've been having. My perennials are doing great and I recently was given a few more from a lovely lady who lives close by! What a wonderful gift! Plants are a great thing to share with friends.
Our kids gave us these rockers when we moved into our house, we spent lots of time sitting and rocking watching the birds and the beautiful sunsets.

Two pots on each side of the steps. They have growing to do. The purple flower is the center is called Angelonia--my new favorite annual. They come in purples and pinks and are so great, tolerating the extreme heat and drought we sometimes have in the summer.

My pretty pansies are about to fade away. I wish they would last longer.

The boxwoods need a little trimming. I have vining lavender geraniums in the baskets- anxious for them to fill out.

The roses on the arbor are only a year old, so they are coming along. The baptistia ( the plant on the right) just finished blooming. It was so pretty this year.

Carpet roses on the berm. They do so well and I love the first flush of blooms.

My "Secret Garden" in the middle of a group of trees in the front yard. I'm trying to get a ground cover to grow and do well in the shade. So far, not much luck. The creeping Jenny seems to be doing pretty well, I just need a lot more! The stones are actually broken up pieces of concrete from a patio that had to be done over. My DH painstakingly buried each one, a labor of love, but we didn't have to haul off the concrete! Just planted Jasmine vine on the black arbor. Hope it will take hold. I want to make this little area all in green and white -- a Moonlight Garden. It's a cool place to sit on a hot summer day.

This bed is in the back. I finally got a start of wild phlox, I love it! It grows from seed, so hopefully I'll have some again next year, if I don't mistake it for a weed and pull it out! ha. I have cone flowers and black-eyed susan in this area, also this is where I plant my herbs.

More of my secret garden. We haven't gotten power run out to this area yet so I can run the fountain. It's on the list. You know what I mean?

The side bed by the garage. Everything does very well in this area. It gets lots of sun. Have to keep pulling out coreopsis. it wants to take over! The tall thing is a white standard crepe myrtle. It's just starting to leaf out. They are slow.

I was told this little cast iron thing was made to hold coal in a fireplace. Not sure if that's correct, but it is a neat little thing.

My "Flower Bed" The peonies are doing great and I have planted hydrangeas in the center. Hope they do well here. So far I have not had much luck with them, Hope this time it works.

A picket planter my husband made for me. I planted white Angelonia and a new kind of vining petunia. (Supertunia) Raspberry something or other. They are really taking hold and I love the varigated color. They are planted under the bay window in the kitchen area. Hope you enjoyed seeing my garden pictures. We owned our lot almost 5 years before we started our home. We called it "The Promised Land". We would drive out and sit in the trees, dreaming and praying about a yellow house in the middle of the trees. At times, it didn't look like it would ever happen, but God is so gracious and granted us our dream. Isn't our God such a wonderful creator of dreams? Blessings,

Linda

The Glory of Flowers

Hi Friends, Sorry I have been missing a few weeks, just had a lot going on. I have missed you!!. It is finally getting warm here and time for planting flowers has come. YIPEE!! I have been out digging in beds and cleaning off the winter dead stuff. Got a little sunburn and found out my back isn't as young as it used to be. Ha. These flowers are the faux botanical type, and I love them too, so I thought I'd share a few of my arrangements with you.

This arrangement used those stems that have that dried look. They are getting harder to find, so before they were all gone, I thought I should have one for ME. I really like the way this one turned out. It sets on my bedtable.

This one is all whites, creams and greens.

Our new berm in the back yard is coming along. I have snowball bushes blooming now , with spirea, and a few lilacs. Later will be carpet roses, cone flowers, lythrum, buddlea, salvia and coreopsis. We had to dig out a bunch of dirt on our walk-out side for better drainage, so this is what we did with the dirt from there. My DH worked long and hard smoothing and putting down landscape cloth before planting. It think it will really be nice as it matures and fills in and makes a little delineation between our yard and the neighbors.

Here are some pictures of my screened-in porch. It's not real big, but we sure do enjoy it. The wicker settee is old, the twisted paper type. I covered the existing cushions with new fabric. DH made the shelf above for all my stuff. It's been fun to decorate. Still have to get new pots ready to put out there, and I probably will get a fern, the Kimberly Queen type, they do so well for me.

We really enjoy having lunch and evening meals out here. If its too warm, we can turn on the ceiling fan.

I bought the old stove years ago from my brother. Isn't it cool? I can't imagine actually cooking on it though. We are so blessed these days, aren't we?

Hope to post more garden pictures soon, I and my neighbor were given some wonderful plants this morning from a sweet lady a few blocks from us. She graciously shared what she had so she could plant more and clean out her beds. What a blessing !! If we all share what we have, it's a beautiful thing and that applies to more than just flowers, don't you think? Hope you are enjoying your flowers too. They are a gift from the creator, and make life sweeter. Have a great day, Linda