Are you ready to stroll? Join me as I show you the fruits of my labor, the source of my pain… and one of my most uncontrollable passions. Gardening.
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| How appropriate is this? Thunder and Zoey on a stroll |
Remember the Huechera I was telling you about? Here she is in all her glory… Georgia Peach!
White columbine… so pretty. But wait, there’s more… much more.
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| couldn’t you just eat these?! |
Pansies with their pretty little faces. Good thing I covered up the cat shit with the mulch, you’re welcome ;o)
Geum… the beautiful Mrs. Bradshaw
Joseph’s Coat, I believe
Wine and Roses Weigela (in the wind)
Oh! If you could only smell these fragrant white flags (iris)
Sedums, one of my favorite plant species
An enormous Silver Maple in our front yard. See the metal rod holding the twins together? Hopefully, it stays intact or it will smash our living room :/ I cannot bring myself to cut down any trees… they speak to my soul.
My sweet girl, Zoey
Clematis, the exquisite Miss Bateman
Now for some proof pictures of said hard work that is breaking my back… My husband saw me weeding the edges just like I do every year and him having a slight case of ocd mentioned that I might like having some edging. I was against the idea whole heartedly at first. I’m not an in the borders kinda girl. I like it wild. I’m a terrible housekeeper and I know it. The same kinda goes for my garden beds, they tend to get out of control but I like it. No fences, no borders to keep me in. If I wanna break out and make the garden go this way or that, I grab my shovel and do it.
Well this all kinda makes him cringe. Since I have some body aches that are tending to get worse, I gave it some thought and began to think that maybe with the edges it might look a little more complete and perhaps easier to maintain and my mulch wouldn’t get mowed away. It only took the words well maybe… and we were off to the big box store to buy edging. 2 skids of it in 2 days. He saw his chance and ran with it. Before I knew it, I was unloading tons of this shit. He didn’t complain any, but wow it really wears you out. I have bursitis in my hips and they’ve been screaming ever since.
When we got the first section done, he had a look of such satisfaction on his face. I on the other hand wasn’t as happy. I thought it looked like Disney World. Too perfect and neat. I’m not a neat and tidy girl, like I said I like it wild. Thunder the cat loves it, he thinks it’s his own personal balance beam. But… it has grown on me and I did gain about 2 feet out on all my beds to plant more flowers! So here are some before and after pictures of Disney World:
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| Before being caged in… |
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| and after |
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| Before, wild and free! |
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| after… ok I kinda like it. this bed needs a little work, it’s kinda wonky |
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| Side view before |
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| side view after |
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| kitchen window chaos, ok it is a little crazy but I hadn’t weeded yet |
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| all neat and tidy, even the sunshine likes it… meh. |
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| shade bed before |
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| shade bed after |
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| one of my favorite little areas before |
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| yeah yeah… I know |
Ok, after seeing these before and after shots like this I’m starting to see it really wasn’t that great before. At least not as much as I thought it had been in my super star gardening head. Score one for the hubby. It has grown on me. I only wish we could have used a natural stone, but it was too costly. Oh well, I’ll soon have the plants flowing over 🙂 I’m going plant shopping Wednesday… yippee! I’ll share those pictures soon 😉
Still lots of work to do and boy do I have some new ideas brewing that are awesome and if they happen, I can’t wait to share them with you. BIG ideas.
p.s. see my greenhouse goings on here
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Jaime, this is a passion I definitely share with you, I could ‘talk plants ‘ forever, and many of your plants I have , too, like Heuchera, I just love them and have different species with different colors . They are about to flower now and they are gorgeous!
I must admit that even if I like it pretty wild too, I also like it somehow ‘controlled’ and the borders just look fabulous, and as you say, it wont be long before they are covered with plants. Hope to see more photos of your garden !
beautiful, Jaime! I like have tons of plants and flowers in the yard, but I don’t really like the work. I used to avoid planting because I thought I had to do all kinds of careful research and planning and I find it daunting. A few years ago I just shrugged and said what the heck, and just starting plunking things in the ground. I call myself the Willy-Nilly Gardener. I buy things from our garden clubs annual sale, I ask friends to give me bits of things. I squeeze them in somewhere and most of them survive. I don’t know what any of my plants are called and I’ll win no gardening prizes, but the riot of color makes me SOOOO happy. (and I don’t think your new edging looks like disney world at all. you still look lovely and wild and loose) -Karen
I LOVE your garden; both before AND after! After drooling over yours, I think I NEED a white columbine, and a yellow one and a pink one….my blue ones are longing for some “family” to hang out with them! And that rose- WOW, gorgeous! And Heuchera is one of my favorites; always!
One thing I like to use for my “wilder” borders is tree branches…but of course they don’t do as good a job of containing the weeds! My weeds are a little more contained with edging; but in my garden, it seems to be a never ending battle no matter what kind of edging I use!
I love being able to visit your garden; it’s almost as good as a real life visit!
xx
Stephanie
Your flowers are beautiful. You surely have a green thumb. My thumb is several shades off. I can grow irises though, and mine are about to bloom in a myriad of colors. 🙂
I am an edging-myself kind of gal but I have to say – these look great! Amazing garden! (Did you also weed as you added the edging? What incredible hard work.)
What a great yard you have Jaime! It is so much fun in the yard,
. We do the same every year. I will be posting pics on the garden soon too. Thanks for sharing your beattiful before and afters. Take care.
Wow, that looks like it was a ton of work, it looks great. I like a mix of wild and tamed, I like borders, but I also like stuff climbing over the borders.
You have a gorgeous space there.
It’s looking good! The after shots of your “Disney” transformation look great. I believe you can maintain an orderly chaos that will keep your spirit wild and free yet still enjoy a bit of neatness! It’s also good for the plants to get some air. I love the Georgia Peach heuchera. I should add it to our garden one day!