Wednesday 9 September 2009

All New Flower Beds

As most of my family know I love flower gardens, if I had my way the whole yard would be nothing but flowerbeds. That being said this is what I managed to accomplish this spring and early summer. Even though our spring was very late or non-existent on the nice days you could find me outside digging flower beds. In case you have forgotten what the back of the house looked like when we purchased it I've added a picture.

The back of the house faces South with the back of the shed facing East.

These beds are on the east and north side of the shed. We had to raise the east bed, while digging out the driveway, to make room for the motor home, we moved topsoil to areas that needed to be raised, the east side of the shed was one of those areas. Some of the plants have finished blooming, they are all new most are transplanted from parishioners gardens, divided perennials do not have many flowers the first year. The delphiniums are finished as are the tiger lilies, most of the colour comes from the few annuals that I purchased or members of the congregation gave me.


A closer view of the north side of the shed, the ornamental grass will probably be moved as I am thinking of adding a small water feature on that corner. I love adding rocks to the garden to give interest.
This is a small bed that I made by the steps, the bed is east of the deck and south of the house. You will notice I brought my old runners that were in the garden at Nipigon and Gram ma Emma's purse, my frog garden ornament is also there. The tall delphiniums are just about finished. I have lots of hens and chicks in both the shoes and the purse and the ground with a few other plants to fill in and a couple of annuals to add colour. My only flower box is on the deck to appear part of this garden.
On the east side of the house I found peonies, lots of peonies, which I dug up and once all the weeds were clear I replanted many of the roots, they never bloom the first year after transplanting. I plan to mainly have interesting greenery in this bed with hostas, elephant ears, Bergenia's, for flowers: columbines. Next spring I shall take advantage of the early sales on hostas to add here and I might just dig up most of the peonies as there are just too many.


The concrete patio has a small flowerbed against the south side of the house but the few plants I put here will be moved and will be replaced with planters to cut down on the amount of water that is sprayed against the house. As you see we love to encourage the birds to the garden, our cats TV. I find it hard always winding and unwinding the hose so it usually sits on the concrete as you see it in this picture, it doesn't look very tidy we will have to try something else to make watering easier for me.

This flower bed is on the west side of the house against the chainlink fence of the school playing field. I had two big cauliflowers in this small space which have been cut and eaten. The tall plants at the back, I have no idea what they are called, but they are a late blooming flower to add interest in the fall. I have various types of day lilies, a white veronica and a purple veronica (which isn't in the picture), the other flowers are annuals with of course my rabbit garden ornament.

I just had to take a picture of a cauliflower that is in the garden. This is the third one that was big enough to harvest, as you can see from the leaves this is truly organic no powder was used to keep the cabbage butterflies away so the heads have to be cleaned really really well to get rid of all the green caterpillars.

So there you are, my gardens that I worked on this year. Hopefully next year I can work on the front of the home to add colour and interest. Of course that will all depend on if we get the porch repaired or replaced. I hope you enjoyed walking with me through my garden.

1 comment:

Laura said...

I did enjoy the stroll. Very nice assortment and how nice to get plantings from parishioners!