Music in the Gardens

Many of you have asked for photos of my garden.

With all the rain we've had lately,

everything seems to be happily bursting forth with color and fragrance!

Most plants are budding, pushing their color slowly into the garden ~

while others are dancing and swirling freely in their early summer attire.
There's music in the gardens!

So, grab that cup of coffee, 

slip on your flip flops,

and dance with me through the gardens

here at Heaven's Walk.

♥

The rose bush in my whiskey barrel next to the door

snuggles next to frilly ballerina pink verbena.

A look into the east gardens from the brick path next to the back porch.

Standing in the middle of the east gardens, 

the deep purple lilacs are finished performing

while the white lilacs are quickly fading.
The French lilacs on the right are still blooming beautifully ~
bowing their rain heavy heads toward the earth.

The shady north side gardens are filling in nicely.

My new-last-year arbor will eventually be covered with a cape of soft pink 'New Dawn' roses.

This is the second season in their new home.

The birdbath at the corner of the porch
is a popular pit-stop for a variety of feathered friends.
We've even watched squirrels jump up there for a slurp,
and many times during the winter it will be drained almost dry from the deer sipping from it.

French "Josie" lilacs ~

petite little blossoms that are so full and fragrant.

'Josphine' clematis ~ a large double bloomer that is winding her way up the small arch on the steps of the porch.
The long petals will eventually fall to the ground leaving the zinnia-like centers.

'Nelly Moser' loves her home on the old trellis in the north garden.
She is always a steadfast, happy bloomer towering above the elegant bleeding heart
and dainty sweet woodruff.

Standing in the north gardens.

The plants in my new north garden bed are growing by leaps and bounds.

Hydrangea, roses, hosta, bleeding heart, catmint, 

and a new fir tree.

A female bluebird visits her favorite bath
in the center of the east garden.
I brought the little pale pink cement birdbath home from the antique market a couple months ago
and set it in the middle of the large one.
It created additional space for birds to bath together.

Kind of like a community spa.  :)

Happy hostas pirouette with partying peonies.

Looking toward our barn.
We have plans of renovating it sometime this year before the wood ages too much more.
We don't want to lose this beautiful piece of history which was built long before our farmhouse was.

Sweet, stately foxglove
sprinkled with raindrops.

Crowds of peonies reach toward the sky.

Little Kermit waits for his buddies.
There are 20 of them who join him in the nightly waterfront chorus.

Standing on the outside perimeter of the east garden,

'Zephirine Drouhin' climbs happily over the arbor.
The first bloom made her appearance today.

Her deep pink flowers will soon blanket the arbor and send sweet fragrance throughout the gardens.

'Sarah Bernhardt' peonies tango with 'Walker's Low' catmint.

Dichondra and bacopa spill from a vintage wooden box

next to an old watering can on a wooden bench my husband built for me years ago.

Every time I walk through the gardens, I hear a whisper...

"Abide in Me".

A loving reminder from above
that blesses my soul.




Now....I'm off to prepare Heaven's Walk for a photo shoot with a beloved, nationally known editor.
I'll fill you in on the details later!  :)

Have a joyful week!

~  Be Blessed ~

Linking to the linky parties on the lower right of my sidebar!

The Old Garden Gate

Well, we knocked another task off the "honey-do" list this week.

[If the Husband is trying to impress me or something, 
he's doing a good job.]

When we moved out of our lake house, we took the vintage cow stanchion gate with us.

It was rescued from a barn that was being torn down and we installed it at the entrance to our garden lot.

We couldn't leave it behind.

It had so much character and history.

I loved the weathered wood,

the spot where cows chewed on it,

and the rusty strap hinges.

The screws were so old, they still had small squares of leather instead of washers.

For the last 6 years, the poor old gate sat behind the outhouse here at Heaven's Walk,

leaning against an old mulberry tree ~

waiting patiently for us to find a place to plant her.

I expanded the north garden bed last week.

[Which meant digging more sod ~ 

which of course is at the top of my "love to do" list. 

Not.]

The new bed is from the crab apple tree back to where I'm standing beneath the arbor.

A whole lot of sod was dug.
Square by square.
Wheel barrel by wheel barrel.

As I stood there leaning my tired, sweaty body on my shovel and gazing at the work I had yet to do,

I suddenly realized where that sweet old gate was going to find a home.

I couldn't wait to approach the Husband with my grand idea.

He was very receptive and willing to make another one of my visions happen.

[Ok...what's going on with him lately, anyway...?
Is he finally developing a shabby prairie chic heart....?]

Sunday afternoon,

under a warm sun filling an azure sky,

we lovingly nestled The Old Garden Gate between the lilacs and a dwarf crab apple tree

creating a sweet side entrance to the north garden.

We gave her a little face lift, too.

We moved one of her rusty strap hinges to a more solid spot, 

and added a couple of new ones to help hold her together.

She was then washed with some Behr's clear protective stain

to help her last another decade.

It brought out the rich color of the worn, vintage wood.

We stood back and grinned.

We practiced walking back and forth between her strong posts,

unlatching and latching the ancient, rusty hook;

hearing it click into place.

We could almost see her smiling...

There....

among the lavender 'Princess de Monaco" and pink Double 'Knock-Out' roses,
 the blush pink 'Sarah Bernhardt' peonies,
 the old fashioned purple and white lilacs
and the deep green pines;

standing proud and stately once again.

This is only a small portion of the 12 yards of mulch I've been shoveling over the past two weeks...  :)

Someday, this cool, shady area will be embraced by tall firs,
lush, fragrant peonies,

and colorful roses ~
creating a cozy, secret garden...

complete with a
sweet Old Garden Gate.

~  Blessings  ~

Linking to the linky parties on the lower right of my sidebar!

A New Garden Arbor

God bless you for your kind words and the love you sent me last week.
I held them close and found comfort in each and every one.
You are all amazing.

♥
 


When we had to take down this mammoth maple tree on a frigid day last December, 

(read the whole story here)

it opened up the landscape in the front yard so much,
we could almost hear Heaven's Walk breathe a deep sigh of relief.

[You'll never hear me admit this....but doesn't that snow look a wee bit inviting.....?]

But, if you know me like I think you know me,

you know that the gears in my mind started whirling

the second that old tree hit the ground.

I knew what was going to be needed on that north side of the house.

Another garden room.

With an arbor.

A BIG arbor.

But big arbors are expensive.

Being on a limited budget, and not knowing when I would be able to buy one,

I started planning

and digging

and weeding

and staking out the new room

anyway.

We plan on grinding out the remaining huge stump this autumn.

I put driveway stakes where I pictured the placement of the arbor would eventually be.

I'm considering curving this new bed around to include the dwarf crab apple tree - thus creating an outdoor 'room'. (Standing at the NW corner of the house.)

The plants along the north side of the house include a variety of hostas,
bleeding heart, sweet woodruff, foxglove, hydrangea, and a clematis.

Standing at the northeast corner of the house and looking toward the road.

My husband recently surprised me by asking a carpenter friend to build an arbor for me that matched the smaller one in the back yard. I'm sure it had nothing to do with my constant whining.

Yep...he's a keeper.
My husband...not the carpenter.
Well....maybe the carpenter, too.

I spent two days painting it,

and the next day we pieced it together 

and set it in place with the help of our beloved neighbor.

Isn't she beautiful?
She's a glorious eight feet tall and four feet wide!

You can see my smaller arbor in the back yard.

Looking toward the road.

You can tell where I've been watering the grass every day

and where I haven't.

We didn't have any rain for four weeks,
but have since received a slight reprieve from this month's drought.

I think placing the arbor there extended the visual aesthetics of our tall house
by extending the landscaping out into the yard,
which is exactly what I did with the curved beds and arbor in the back yard.

I know there's probably some mathematical equation that tells you how far your landscape should extend out into your yard in conjunction with how tall your house is,
but I haven't a clue what it is - and I am no mathematician.

[My inspiration for creating garden rooms throughout the landscaping comes from Carolyn's breathtaking gardens.  If you haven't visited Aiken House & Gardens on Prince Edward Island, prepare to spend the rest of your day swooning over them here. You'll agree that you've never seen a more beautiful place to live - nor a more elegant lady. I've got a lonnnng way to go before my gardens look anything like hers, but she keeps my head filled with all sorts of ideas (much to The Husband's chagrin).  :) ]

'Sarah Bernhardt' peonies, pink 'Knock-Out' roses, miniature roses in 'Sorbet',

'Blushing Bride' hydrangea, miniature purple butterfly bushes, and hostas found their way into the new bed.

I spread two yards of rich, dark brown mulch,

lugged in some large rocks...

and planted my new favorite climbing rose bushes ~

'Eden' and 'New Dawn'

which will eventually clamber up the sides and cover the top of the arbor like a fragrant, pink canopy.

The only thing left to do is to place some New York Blue stepping stones from the front of the arbor into the grass behind it, connecting the two areas...

and I'm sure I have room for some more roses.

I'm also visualizing some type of small, flowering tree or large, flowering bush on the right side between the house and the arbor.

Any suggestions...?

The baby spruce trees you see on this side of the house

will eventually hug this garden area

creating a cool, cozy room in the landscape.

Creating "rooms" in your garden truly adds atmosphere and charm to your landscaping by
introducing a little mystery by forcing you to peak around fragrant, colorful corners,
as well as mixing in a variety of flowering plants, greenery, bushes, and trees.

I'm looking forward to watching my new room grow and bloom - and will keep you updated on the progress!

~ Blessings ~

Linking to the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.
Just click on the buttons for some summertime inspiration!