Reclaiming my little cottage garden....

Due to a rather serious illness, my poor little Cottage Garden went to rack and ruin over the past 5 years, but we started to rework it this past fall... by burning it off... and letting it start again from bare dirt..... sooty, but dirt nonetheless...

I am now weeding out many invasing plants and composting them... and some of the iris have multiplied quite a lot the point that they really need to be divided.... We are incorporating some new plants into the garden... and in some cases we have had to dig out large clumps of darned grass.... accchh...but little by little we are gaining the upper hand..... I have some Brugs that still need to be planted.... and then we shall let nature take it's course... I have found some really cool plants in there that I had totally forgotten.... my veronica for one... and a couple of Crinum lillies too...

Thought I was show off a bit... lol

Blessings,
C

Another photo

Okay, this is the last one... I promise..... lol

Carolyn

Very nice..what is the name of your rose in the last photo?
Glad to hear you are able to garden again.

I have no idea whatsoever,,,, but the blooms are extremely fragrant and the flowers are about 3" - 4" across... The bush grows in a fountain arched shape and is quite vigorous... I got a root division that I dug up from an old abandoned homestead here in Tennessee. The lady whos kinfolk had lived there said she didn't know what kind it was but that she knew it just always was there...

I love old timey plants like that... Many of the plants in my Cottage Garden are from a dear friends grandmothers old homestead in Massachusetts.... so I pretty much call it "Emma's Garden."

Perhaps tomorrow or the next day, I shall bore you all with photos of my shade garden...

Blessings,
Carolyn

Carolyn,
I think your garden is absolutely gorgeous!! More pics..... please?? LOL!

Very attractive garden. It looks in much better shape than mine and we've been tending to it.

nIce! Glad your back in the swing again!! :)

Susan

Carolyn, you have a beautiful garden! Can I ask you to post a picture of that pretty kitty in # 2?

Ursula

Hi Ursula, Here is another photo of that bad boy... lol He is a precious kitty,. His name is Mugzy and he is a rescued kitty.... My hubby and I have 11 kitties that we have rescued... most of which are now getting on in years... Mugzy is one of the younger fellow a 8 years old.

Do you have kitties? Hows about sharing some photos of your gardens and kitties if you have any.. I would love to see what gardens are like where you live..

Blessings,
Carolyn

Oooh, I love pudgy kitties! They are so cuddly and smooshable. Mugzy is a very handsome boy!

Carolyn,

I knew Mugzy is a pretty kitty! Thanks for the picture.

Sorry, but I live in an apartment (sigh...). However, I have posted many pictures (shot by my friend Ricardo Martini and by myself) of mainly our native flora. You can see the list if you go to my page and check the threads I started. Watch the ones listed in the Plant Files forum http://davesgarden.com/forums/threads.php?user=Ursula

I have only one kitty with me, my Muschito-boy. He does not accept another kitty in the household.

Well, if I could just catch him up on all fours, then you could see he really is not pudgy at all... I think it was just the way he was laying... He is such a babe...I have a kitty that looks very much like Muschito Boy...His name is Tiger-Bax. My hubby wanted to call him Baxter, and I wanted to name him after my Mothers beloved Tiger... so we combined the name....He is the youngest of all our kitties.. at about 4 years old... He is a real lover boy... just can't get enough loving... and that's okay with us. lol

Carolyn

Carolyn, I'm afraid after showing us now this handsom Tiger-Bax boy, you will have to show us ALL of your fur babies!

I am just one among many, many cat lovers at DG that enjoy the pictures of other DGardeners' fur babies.

Hugs,

Ursula

Carolyn, your cottage garden seems to be doing wonderful.. It will be fun to see photos of it as it changes over the summer. I love all the cats. I have 3 of my own, plus 4 more neighborhood cats that also spend a lot of time in my garden jungle. This is Samson.

Susan

Here is a part of my cottage garden. Just getting started for the year.

Susan

Okay, I will share photos of my other furkids.. lol... Samson is very handsome... I could just hug him.... Cats are my first love for a critter... always has been ... but I do like dogs too..just prefer kitties...

Susan, your cottage garden is so much better layed out than mine.... and I adore the trellis... I would love to get my hubby to make me a nice trellis like that... maybe I shall drop a few hints...

I have huge clumps of some sort of grass that actually has to be dug out... and the roots go very deep.. so for the moment, I am weed wacking it down... I have already dug out several clumps of the stuff, but have a long way to go. My hubby says to leave it and use it as you would stepping stones... So, do you think he does not wish to dig?? haha.. He loves the garden to look at and enjoy, but he really is not much interested in working in it. He does not know a week from a lily, as I sadly found out last week. I grew a tiger lily from seed and it finally was going to bloom for me, and he just grabbed it pulled it out and said "Hon, what kind of weed is this?" AAAARRRRGGG

Here is another of my furbabies... This is Molly. I was driving down the road near to a large cave and she ran across the road in front of me. There were no houses within several miles, so I stopped and pulled over and just called "Kitty, Kitty," and she ran right up to me and hopped into the car and licked all over my face... I thought she was attacking me, and it scared the bejeebers outta me.. but she was purring her little head off... so home we went... That was 14 years ago... She does not like other cats at all, and will not socialize with them... not even for a second... but she loves me and my hubby... Molly always looks like she is ticked off, and she growls when you pet her and hold her, but that is just her way of "talking"... Takes a bit of getting used to and I have a close friend that is scared to death of her because she growls... and she knows it and will play it to the hilt... what fun... lol..

carolyn, how beautiful! my cottage garden has a loooooong way to go. it's just a dream at the moment. working a sqaure foot at a time.

susan, how lovely, too!

thanks for sharing your gardens and photos.

annapet

Carolyn, when do we get your shade garden photos?

Carolyn,

and where are the other kitties? Please, more kitty pictures.

Hugs,

Ursula

Anastatia ~ I have a thread started over in the Shade Garden Forum with a few photos....

Ursula ~ I will be putting some kitty photos up in the pet forum too.

I sort of like showing them off ..... as long as they look nice...lol

Blessings,
Carolyn

Our wait is over. Terry announced we have our own Cottage Garden Forum now. :-)
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/cottage/all/

YAHOOOOOOOOOOO

I think kitties are almost a requirement in a cottage garden. Just seems to fit. thanks for the cute kitty pics. and the pretty garden too.

now we'll all be together in the cottage garden. get to know each other. yes!!!

gram ~a girl~

Cottage gardens also need at least one dog.

of course, one dog, too. I should have said that :0) especially one as cute as that!

lincolitess, maybe your pooch would like a new more wild haircut next time to fit into the garden more. After all, cottage gardens are supposed to look like they just happened, right?

I had three teacup poodles for many years and lost the last one a little over 5 years ago. I still have the cats but no dogs anymore. As each one passed, my heart just couldn't take it. Now I've lost one of the kitties after 18 years and the remainig two are aging right along. I don't know what I'll do when I lose the last, but for now I just enjoy those that remain, I'll try to post pics of my beloved brood.

I cut Pedro's hair myself with a little pair of barber shears, so sometimes he does get some wild looks. He was abused as a puppy, then given to an elderly lady who had alzehimers who forgot to always feed him. He only weighed 2 pounds 13 when I got him at age 3 and a half. Now he is up to over 4 and just the sweetest little thing. Never thought I'd like a poodle, but he is very well loved now. I'm sorry to hear about your cat. I have two elderly ones too at 16 and 18 years and then Samson above who is maybe 10 years. It's hard to see them get old, but I think I will always have to have at least one cat.

I don't have a kitty, nor a doggie, we do have a birdie,but sadly the pumpkins and I killed off the fishies. However does a neighbor kitty who likes to visit my garden count? He loves my chocolate eupatorium, sitting on it and breaking them before they bloomed. Perhaps, he's helping me in the garden, making sure it doesn't become invasive! LOL ;0)

Of the cats, Bartoli (lovingly called Fat) was abused by a man who took him to my vet asking for help (saying the kitten was hit by a car) his right front leg had to be amputated and when I met him 3 days later it was as if he had been born with only 3 legs. We spent the next 18 years together. When he was about a year old, I got a companion just for him, a girl who was born with deformed front legs. She is still with me and missed him nearly as much as I do. She is interesting because she is built like a bowling pin and will walk on just her hind legs or when using all four, she pitches forward kangaroo style. The other remaining cat is a large female who was found wandering aroung. I think she must be about 2-3 years and is just huge. It was amusing to see the cats and dogs curled up all together when Iwould come home, huge cats, tiny dogs. Everyone got along great and they made my life much fuller than it could possibly have been without them.

I too did my poodles haircuts and always left their mustaches rather than shave their little faces.

It's amazing how animals adapt to whatever handicaps they have. They seem to do it better than humans somehow.

Jude, I was thinking about your AZ garden when I saw this photo tonight. It is from an English garden show, so not really what you could grow, but I like the look of the raised beds.
Somehow it feels desert cottagey to me. LOL! What ever that means!

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1191438056025917094vFAPhR

hey_jude, that's so sad about your pets and they sound so sweet. I have a goldfish in my pond that only has one eye. I knew no one would want him so I bought him. I don't think critters know they are handicapped or they are just too above whining about it, you have to admire that.

fly)girl,
I'm in awe of my critters. They get along in life no matter what, unlike us 'superior' beings. I know I can take lessons from them daily.

lincolnitess,
that link sure does look deserty. I have desert out front and hate it. What's going on in back may cause those who are concerned about the water level of the Colorado to get ulcers but it will be green and blooming no matter what. It may shoot my water bill to the moon for a few seasons until everything is well established and I have some eco other than just desert. That's ok, as long as it blooms, is fragrant and appealing. I love the 'overgrown' look in cottage gardens and don't care one hoot for the standard suburban US form where nearly each plant is seperate ( with tulip or iris or whatever little care bulbs forming masses).

I don't think that's too much to ask for, as long as I have David to dig and I'm willing to foot the bill.... is it?

nuttz, I had a little kitty named Belle who looks amazingly like your Molly. She was schizo and antisocial as well -- from my experience all brindles are. A friend of a neighbor brought her over in a bucket, nearly starved to death. You could see her entire skeleton. Poor little thing. Somehow she got into some antifreeze and died pretty horribly, but at least she was in my arms when she left for that big litterbox in the sky, and she had a few very good years. I miss her dreadfully. She never got over three pounds.

My four rescued cottagers are Miss Louisa May Alcatt (abandoned in a dumpster), Miss Magnolia (humane society), Angus (abandoned at two days old), and Her Royal Majesty Brigid the Magnificent, Empress of Everything (a pekingese from a puppy mill who I said I'd keep until they found a home for her -- that was about 4 years ago). And they are a MUST for a cottage garden!

At least we don't have to pick between roses and cats!