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Thursday, April 24, 2014

Front Garden - Enjoying Now and Planning for Future

Good morning,

These are the images I took of the front garden to document progress and to help me locate where things are planted when I want to add bulbs in the Fall.

The image above is of a very old section of the garden, located just in front of the stone wall around the porch on the left side.  As I have in the back, there are day lilies coming up in front of the tulips and daffodils to cover the latter as they fade. 
This is what we call the Red Bud Tree section of our garden.  There was originally a Red Bud Tree at the far end of the section you see here, but it got so big and parts of it damaged from storms that we took it down.  We suddenly got two volunteer Red Bud Trees that grew from the roots of the tree we removed.  The volunteers placed themselves beautifully in the strip of flowers we had along the stepping stones to the side of the house so we didn't argue with them and continued to garden around them.  There is a bird feeder in the spot of the original Red Bud Tree, lights along the stepping stones, and I have to turn over and clean out that bird bath that is mounted low to the ground so the other critters won't tip it over when they come to drink.
These tulips were planted many, many years ago.  They still thrill us every year with their vivid pink color.
The violets are all volunteers, of course, but I have seen them for sale in magazines.  Did you make chains with these flowers when you were a child?  Did you take bouquets of them to your Mom?  I remember doing both.  What great memories.  You'll also see clover in the grass.  We don't use any chemicals on the lawn for a number of reasons, but mostly because of the dogs.  Instead of trying to kill what we don't want, we encourage what we do want and it all works out just fine.  Violets are also edible and make pretty embellishments to Spring canapes. 
 This is the newer garden around the flag pole.  The daffodils are fading at the moment and the red tulips just coming into their own.  The pink pedals on the left have fallen from the magnolia tree nearby.
 And, finally, here is another older part of the garden.  I just love that so many of the flowers come back stronger and stronger every year.

We are still benefiting from gardening and planting we did 35 years ago when we moved into this home.  Love it!

Do you take pictures of your garden to document where things are planted to help you to plant months later for the next season?  Or, am I one of the few who does this?

All the best,
Lois

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13 comments:

from Madrid said...

All these plants have beautiful flowers.

Tomás.

Pamela Gordon said...

I love your spring blooms in these beds. The stone wall is a very nice feature too. I also take photos of my plants and any containers I plant each year as a record. It helps me decide what changes I need to make or what plants don't work. Have a great day! Pam

EG CameraGirl said...

So lovely, Lois!

MarkD60 said...

Pretty flowers! Time to mow the yard though!

TexWisGirl said...

your place is beautiful! and i love those violets most of all. :)

Montanagirl said...

So many pretty blooms -very cheerful!

Agni said...

Pretty flowers!

Karen said...

A lovely flower border and a great idea.

Lois said...

You have been in your house only one year longer than I have been in mine! The gardens are lovely.

Unknown said...

Lovely! I love spring.

FAB said...

Great to see the fruits of your toils over the years. Glorious colours.

Susan said...

Beautiful bed of flowers

Susan said...

Beautiful bed of flowers.