Flowerbed photos 5 a continuation...............

I forgot to mention the delightful dogs some of you have shown - I don't have a dog, but have three cats who think they are canine.

Cicada, would you tell me about the Crinium? I'm not familiar with it and think it's gorgeous.

Murmur, Very nice. Heuchera?

I mentioned the dog fence. I may have posted this already but I really like it.
My Clematis vines along the dog fence, last month.
Andy P

M, You answered my question, Astilbe.
Andy P

This is nice. I love seeing all the beautiful blooms, but if you just line up the flowers and grow them in a row, you don't have a beautiful garden. I like seeing the vignettes.

Tabasco, the work you have put into your walkway has paid off...very, very nice (had to look up bellamcanda...never knew the blackberry lily's real name).

Murmur, I have a similar situation...can't plant any tall trees in my back yard. we are in a development on a small manmade lake and can't block any of neighbor's lake views. I'm experimenting with dwarf conifers. your frogs sound like fun :-)

here's my front entrance. there's spiraea and astilbe on the left of the daylilies (I leave the spent blooms on for texture), and behind them there are several hollies, and lamium, lily-of-the-valley, daffodils & hyacinth for early spring. needs some annuals (but I don't do annuals)

Andy, love the clematis vines along the dog fence - what a great idea!!!

Gram, your front entrance is gorgeous! Our community has a little lake as well - we don't live right on it, but can't block the neighbor above us view. There's a huge evergreen that has grown (in fullness) to completely block the little view we had (of the bay, not the lake), but we can't do anything about that. Different rules for evergreens.

Here's a few of my frogs - and you can see where I am in the process of expanding the Frog Garden on down the slope. I've put down layers and layers of newspapers, covered it with weedscreen, and have a bunch of pots sitting on top. They don't show in this photo, but are hostas from my parents yard that I divided into about a dozen little plants earlier this year . . . my grandmother planted them about 35 years ago so they are quite a treasure. I'll be sharing them eventually with family members who want one. In the meantime, it's a perfect place to let them recover from the nasty digging up process!!

This is another garden in my back yard - if you look closely, you can see some of my fairies . . . yup . . . you guessed it, it's my Fairy Garden.

In between this garden and the Frog Garden is Mike's Garden - formerly a sandbox which my stepson, Mike, helped me transform into a garden. Mike has some developmental disabilities and was extremely proud of this and loves that I named it after him!

And this is Mike's Garden. Somewhere I've got a picture of him when we first did this garden three years ago. If I can find it, I'll share it - it shows his utter pride and joy. He is such a special guy.

thanks, murmur. still looks a little too 'surburban' for my taste. needs more of a cottagy look. i've been concentrating on plantings in the back so there is something to look at across the lake. our rules are the same for evergreens. I've planted 2 blue spruce in the back, tho. I figure by the time they get big enough to really bother anyone they will have forgotten about the rules ;-)

really like your 'tall' frogs...cute. how wonderful to have your grandmother's hosta! and lucky for your family that you have a green thumb and can nurture them for everyone to share.

And one last one which sort of shows the layout of the backyard - Fairy Garden to the left (there's more to it than what I showed . . . backing up it's my H Garden - for Hydrangea, Hosta, Heuchera, Hellebores and Heliotrope), Mike's Garden in the middle, and the Frog Garden to the right.

The lovely yellow lily at the entrance is through blooming - it's in a container dh made for me with three sections at different levels.

Gram, that will be delightful!!

how funny, murmur, we were typing over each other. the pic I just posted is my 'fairy' garden. just put it in last year and it has a long ways to go. love yours. it looks so inviting. and Mike's garden must be very special to you. I'll bet he was proud! it's very pretty.

Your fairies are wonderful - unique and precious! And the fairy crossing stone is delightful!! Are all those flowers in your fairy garden? And it looks like a copper trellis, is it? My husband made me a small one a number of years ago that I need to move to a more obvious place. It's hidden at the moment against the garage by hollyhocks.

murmur, everything in the collage is from the Fairy Garden. I don't have a good pic of the whole garden in bloom because it's full of bermuda grass. I should do a new collage. Anita introduced me to this software and I did buy it, but I made this one before the purchase so it has their notation on the images. It is a copper trellis, with an 'Arctic Queen' clematis. I had a 'Dr Ruppel', too, but it didn't make it thru the winter. My intent was to have all copper 'accessories' and let them patina naturally (can 'patina' be a verb?). I bought a copper solar birdbath, which is lovely, but it goes dry in about 2 hours so isn't too practical and I haven't moved it out there. as I said, it's a work in progress. it's real purpose is to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and it is also supposed to be dominated by pinks & purples, but the whites/yellows I put in for accents are doing much better

what all do you have growing in yours? any close-ups you can share?
edit to add: love to see some of your fairies...there's only glimpses. we have other fairy lovers on this forum as well

here's one of mine that show the progress from the beginning, the last one includes the bermuda grass ;-)

This message was edited Jul 30, 2006 7:34 AM

gram, you have a great sense of balance in your gardens. I think in a year or 2 they will look more cottage-y.

tabasco, What a lovely pathway! Nothing attracts me more than that garden-taking-a-bend look. (Of course, I don't have that in my yard- -but I have a plan.)

Murmur, Very nice! Your astilbe are huge & beautiful.

I guess I better take some pics.

Love all the pics, and thanks for your comments.

If you have grandchildren, I be they especially love the 'fairy gardens'. What a fun idea.

I need to add a little 'romance' and imagination to my garden schemes...what a great idea!

My Fairy Garden is rather wild - lots of self-sown daisies, rose campion and variegated grass. I planted Tiarella, phlox, lilies, gaillardia, and a few other things I can't even think of at the moment. Someone directed me to a website that had free collage creating software, but I haven't even tried it yet. So I'll just send a few separately.

Yes, Dave, please show us some pics!

My sleepy little fairy.

My intellectual fairy - she's always reading.

And my watchful fairy - I hadn't intended to leave her on the bench, but decided she looked pretty cute there. I have several others, but they are so covered with plants right now that they can barely be seen. Time to do a little cleanup work! I also have two in the hospital (garage) waiting for surgery to attach wings or limbs.

very, very sweet, murmur. your fairies seem to have found the perfect spots. I need more of that 'wild' look in mine. so pretty.

I fell in love with Cecily Mary Barker's Flower Fairies when I was buying books for my granddaughters. Then I made them both quilts with fabric that had Barker's fairies on it and I was hooked. so those are genuine 'Flower Fairies' in my garden.

So Dave, thanks much for the encouragement (and make with pics already)

gram

This is out my back door

Wow!!! Beautiful, and your background of evertreens is awesome!

Other side

Beautiful, Dave, lovely combination of colors and textures.

cardinal flower around my pond.(I wish I knew more about photography)

This is one of my front gardens

By my front door

Dave, don't you worry about the photography...these are just fine. everything is beautiful, just as I knew it would be (and THAT is what I mean when I say 'cottagy'). when you get a chance, I'd love to see/hear more about the pond

and the swing set must be for Dave47.1, Dave47.2 ,etc ;-)

mmm, I had to go back and look at the pics again...lovin' the lilies

gram

I was typin' while you were postin' Dave. the hosta over the rock wall are great! we have so little shade because there are no existing trees from before we built. don't get me wrong, the sun is great and there are lots of things I can grow, but it would be nice to have a cool spot to draw your eye.

what is the purple/fuschia at the left?

Dave, your photography is just fine - not to worry!! Lovely setting, too - you make delightful choices.

I forget the name of the fuschia. Its the standard red & purple one. I get it every year.

Fishies

Gram, here is a shot of the pond before things started growing.

Darn nice landscaping, Dave (not Dave).
Everything looks grand.
Andy P

Thanks everyone.

What's the blue flower on the bottom right corner on the post you made at 7:47 titled
"other side". Campanula of some sort or a clematis?

Tam

Tammy, Its campanula Canterbury bells. Its a new plant for me. This is its 2nd bloom and both blooms lasted pretty long. I really like it.
Dave

the canturbury bells look really nice with the black-eyed susans, too. I need some new campanula...mine didn't make the winter (maybe my legion of voles got it). that's a really pretty blue.

Dave, I bet I have the same fuschia. I got it to try and lure some hummers to my feeders (it worked!) ...besides I just love it. thanks for the shot of the pond :-) love water. I live on a lake and have a pool and a fountain and still want a pond

Benjamin Britten (AUS) rose and Agastache

murmur, in case you haven't come across it yet, you have to check out this thread. I was going to post this earlier when you shared your gardens with us, but I forgot

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/619921/

fairy/pixie lovers and lots of other pretty garden folk

gram

Gram, many thanks for the link - I just visited and adore it!! I'll add some of my photos to it later.

In the meantime, what a treat to see these lovely gardens!