A Happy Home
May. 17, 2007
9:40 PM
A Tour of My Garden
The man who worries morning and night about the dandelions in the lawn will find great relief in loving the dandelions.
L.H. Bailey
I have recently come to grips that I happen to like weeds. I mean, there is a vast abundance of dandelions, buttercups and chickweed, along with scotchbroom, foxglove and that incredibly tenacious blackberry vine that pops up in the middle of "nowhere", and yet, everywhere. And given the fact that we have a couple of acres cleared and nowhere near the pockets as deep as landscape divas to plant something else in all its entire place, I've decided that I may as well cultivate a love for what I don't plant. That being the case in the majority of my space, I have also begun to get into the groove and started planting seeds of flowers that I like in pockets here and there.
So I find my cultivated manicured botanical garden mind (ha!) hijacked by scenes of waving meadows, with flowers such as poppies, comfrey and speedwell, sweet rocket, borage and meadow rue. And as I read information regarding these flower habits, I learn quite quickly that these flowers are "self-seeding", "invasive", and "perennial". In other words, they are WEEDS. I guess one woman's flower is another woman's weed. The story goes that the yellow scotchbroom all over our region was originally brought over from Scotland. I imagine some housewife brought a little start with her on the boat, imagining a cute little shrub to remind her of the rolling hills she left behind. Well, I guess we are cut from the same cloth, but don't tell my neighbors. Two years ago I seeded golden poppies on three beds out front. This year I find poppies spouting up here and there and everywhere in between. So I learn to love 'em, scotchbroom and poppy alike, because life's too short to keep pulling them out where I don't want them. Besides, there's something sweet about a poppy showing up in the middle of my spinach bed.
In any case, taking a walk around the property (oh, I love to say that, "property", being that I was in a condo sandwiched between two floors in our last living quarters), I get a little discouraged at the amount of work that still needs to be done. We're talking at least a decade until we can reign in the outside chaos, and mark boundaries with things such as a pond, goat pasture, and small apple orchard (in my mind's eye they live). I watch my childrenblowing dandelion seeds reweeding the garden, and then grab my camera to take a tour of all the good stuff growing in my yard. I purposely left out the dead rosemary, the scrawny pea plants (all two of them), and the slug's slimeprints of chewed up and spit out leaflets.
So, if you're in the mood, and have the time, come take a look at what's growing:
my garden as it is now, roped off, planning for the raised beds.......
....that my man is building for me (isn't he cool?)
yea! beet sprouts! Too bad I'm the only one in my family that likes beets, but hey: sprouts!
lilac blooms from a tree a friend gave me...there are a grand total of seven blooms on the tree; it was pretty mad at me for thepruninghack job I gave it last year.
climbing rose from same friend's yard....I think the blooms are purple, but nothing's popped open yet. Maybe the aphids will leave them alone this year.
yea, spinach!
I like this bed of lavender and lamb's ears together. I keep finding lamb's ears popping up in other odd places......from same friend.....does she know something about these that I don't???
ohh! first year of clematis blooms! I've killed three other clematis, so this is a miracle.
my garden bed right now with pipes for irrigation. Each pipe will go to a different raised bed. I told you my man was cool.....
some sort of daisy plant. I ordered three from some plant mail order. Two are the same and one is different. Guess they weren't cheap for nothing!
this is ajuca (sp?); it's some ground cover I bought for $3 at the community gardener's sale last year. Aren't they pretty? Behind them I seeded some sunflowers. Hopefully the birds will leave the seeds alone this year with the flashing tape fluttering in the breeze.
limey colored spirea, one of my favorites.
I like the furry edged leaves of my tri-colored beech (or is it birch?)
limey ground cover with a geranium. Guess I like lime!
another spirea mixed with catmint (or is it catnip?) In either case, I'm sure I'm commiting some great gardening sin by allowing the noxious weed to grow by my door. But I like them. I can't remember what's growing up the trellis, but it only gave me like 5 small purple flowers earlier. So much for "fragrance".
yellow climbing roses on a trellis (that same cool hubby made); I have to fight aphids every year on this plant. Yesterday I noticed some powdery looking mildew. *sigh*
look at this one! It's columbine. Pretty, huh?
my apricot rhodies are about finished blooming and making way for.....
....the fuschia popping up!
now, this smells heavenly! It's sweet woodruff, grows in the shade, and whafts up its fragrance up to my porch swing. Too bad it covers up everything else!
cool ground cover I got from the market; aren't the rock steps neat?
can't remember the name of this guy, but I like his little blue flowers. It's also a shade plant.
just one of a zillion poppies. Good thing I love poppies. And I plan to seed more, especially a very neat grapey purple variety. Hope my neighbor won't mind.....
raspberries from a friend. The little guys look good (from last year); the bigger ones look a little ill. Maybe we'll see a raspberry or two.....like next year???
look! a little cluster of blueberry flowers! We might get half a dozen blueberries this year! (no, I mean that, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 berries!)
forget-me-nots. Yes, I know they're weeds. I like them anyway. They came back from last year.
more columbine
I got a bunch of amazing irises by accident. Turns out when my lilac friend's hubby pulled up the lilac tree, a bunch of iris bulbs came with it. So I threw them into the ground lining up my driveway. They came up!
see? And can you see the "Narnia" lamppost my hubby made?
more rock steps with ground covers from the market.
I like these guys. I got them from Home Depot; they are orange and the centers are purple. Too fun! Too bad they're annuals.
another lamppost hubby made (isn't he impressive?)
lupines that survived my "weeding the garden bed" last year. I pulled up a BUNCH of them last year before I realized, "Hey! Those are my lupines I planted from seed!" Whoops!
That's it! Hope you enjoyed the tour!
L.H. Bailey
I have recently come to grips that I happen to like weeds. I mean, there is a vast abundance of dandelions, buttercups and chickweed, along with scotchbroom, foxglove and that incredibly tenacious blackberry vine that pops up in the middle of "nowhere", and yet, everywhere. And given the fact that we have a couple of acres cleared and nowhere near the pockets as deep as landscape divas to plant something else in all its entire place, I've decided that I may as well cultivate a love for what I don't plant. That being the case in the majority of my space, I have also begun to get into the groove and started planting seeds of flowers that I like in pockets here and there.
So I find my cultivated manicured botanical garden mind (ha!) hijacked by scenes of waving meadows, with flowers such as poppies, comfrey and speedwell, sweet rocket, borage and meadow rue. And as I read information regarding these flower habits, I learn quite quickly that these flowers are "self-seeding", "invasive", and "perennial". In other words, they are WEEDS. I guess one woman's flower is another woman's weed. The story goes that the yellow scotchbroom all over our region was originally brought over from Scotland. I imagine some housewife brought a little start with her on the boat, imagining a cute little shrub to remind her of the rolling hills she left behind. Well, I guess we are cut from the same cloth, but don't tell my neighbors. Two years ago I seeded golden poppies on three beds out front. This year I find poppies spouting up here and there and everywhere in between. So I learn to love 'em, scotchbroom and poppy alike, because life's too short to keep pulling them out where I don't want them. Besides, there's something sweet about a poppy showing up in the middle of my spinach bed.
In any case, taking a walk around the property (oh, I love to say that, "property", being that I was in a condo sandwiched between two floors in our last living quarters), I get a little discouraged at the amount of work that still needs to be done. We're talking at least a decade until we can reign in the outside chaos, and mark boundaries with things such as a pond, goat pasture, and small apple orchard (in my mind's eye they live). I watch my children
So, if you're in the mood, and have the time, come take a look at what's growing:
my garden as it is now, roped off, planning for the raised beds.......
....that my man is building for me (isn't he cool?)
yea! beet sprouts! Too bad I'm the only one in my family that likes beets, but hey: sprouts!
lilac blooms from a tree a friend gave me...there are a grand total of seven blooms on the tree; it was pretty mad at me for the
climbing rose from same friend's yard....I think the blooms are purple, but nothing's popped open yet. Maybe the aphids will leave them alone this year.
yea, spinach!
I like this bed of lavender and lamb's ears together. I keep finding lamb's ears popping up in other odd places......from same friend.....does she know something about these that I don't???
ohh! first year of clematis blooms! I've killed three other clematis, so this is a miracle.
my garden bed right now with pipes for irrigation. Each pipe will go to a different raised bed. I told you my man was cool.....
some sort of daisy plant. I ordered three from some plant mail order. Two are the same and one is different. Guess they weren't cheap for nothing!
this is ajuca (sp?); it's some ground cover I bought for $3 at the community gardener's sale last year. Aren't they pretty? Behind them I seeded some sunflowers. Hopefully the birds will leave the seeds alone this year with the flashing tape fluttering in the breeze.
limey colored spirea, one of my favorites.
I like the furry edged leaves of my tri-colored beech (or is it birch?)
limey ground cover with a geranium. Guess I like lime!
another spirea mixed with catmint (or is it catnip?) In either case, I'm sure I'm commiting some great gardening sin by allowing the noxious weed to grow by my door. But I like them. I can't remember what's growing up the trellis, but it only gave me like 5 small purple flowers earlier. So much for "fragrance".
yellow climbing roses on a trellis (that same cool hubby made); I have to fight aphids every year on this plant. Yesterday I noticed some powdery looking mildew. *sigh*
look at this one! It's columbine. Pretty, huh?
my apricot rhodies are about finished blooming and making way for.....
....the fuschia popping up!
now, this smells heavenly! It's sweet woodruff, grows in the shade, and whafts up its fragrance up to my porch swing. Too bad it covers up everything else!
cool ground cover I got from the market; aren't the rock steps neat?
can't remember the name of this guy, but I like his little blue flowers. It's also a shade plant.
just one of a zillion poppies. Good thing I love poppies. And I plan to seed more, especially a very neat grapey purple variety. Hope my neighbor won't mind.....
raspberries from a friend. The little guys look good (from last year); the bigger ones look a little ill. Maybe we'll see a raspberry or two.....like next year???
look! a little cluster of blueberry flowers! We might get half a dozen blueberries this year! (no, I mean that, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 berries!)
forget-me-nots. Yes, I know they're weeds. I like them anyway. They came back from last year.
more columbine
I got a bunch of amazing irises by accident. Turns out when my lilac friend's hubby pulled up the lilac tree, a bunch of iris bulbs came with it. So I threw them into the ground lining up my driveway. They came up!
see? And can you see the "Narnia" lamppost my hubby made?
more rock steps with ground covers from the market.
I like these guys. I got them from Home Depot; they are orange and the centers are purple. Too fun! Too bad they're annuals.
another lamppost hubby made (isn't he impressive?)
lupines that survived my "weeding the garden bed" last year. I pulled up a BUNCH of them last year before I realized, "Hey! Those are my lupines I planted from seed!" Whoops!
That's it! Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Blessings,
Keri Mae
Keri Mae
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