Friday, May 22, 2009

My Mid-Spring Garden

Today's post is all about my mid-spring garden, so if flowers aren't your thing, you might want to skip it, but if your madly in love with flowers and gardens like I am, you don't want to miss it! I promised my readers that I would post pictures of garden as it changes throughout the growing season. I've already posted a few pictures of my Early Spring Garden when all the daffodils were in bloom. This post is all about my Mid-Spring Garden. There isn't much in bloom now, yet its still so beautiful since everything is starting to burst forth into life and looks so fresh and new. The bugs and the heat of the sun have yet to cause any damage.

The first picture is a view of my Western Garden. This 'hill' is actually my septic mound and is mostly covered with creeping phlox and other ground covers. My husband had a hard time mowing this steep mound, so we removed the grass and covered the slope with ground covers and the top of the mound with perennials.
The second picture is of my Southern Hillside. Another steep hillside that is covered with iris, cat mint (the blue flower), phlox, and rudebekias, among other flowers not mentioned.


The third picture is of some Cat mint and Cushion Spurge.

The fourth picture is the top of the septic mound. The fifth picture is a faraway shot of the Southern Hillside Garden and the main garden below. The glass building with all the windows is my sun room that my husband built for me.










This is another view of our septic mound garden, and below is a close-up of Leopards Bane.











I use to know the names of every single plant in my garden, but unfortunately my memory is starting to fade and I can't even remember the name of this beautiful little yellow flower. Does anyone else know what it could be?





Here is a picture with the creeping phlox on the septic mound in the background, and a tree ring of hostas just beginning to poke out of the ground. Later in the summer when I show you pictures of my garden the hosta will be so big and thick you won't be able to see the ground.








Here is a close-up of a White Bleeding Heart.










Here is a close-up of more cat mint and a purple allium.








Here's that little unknown yellow flower again: is it Allsym? I think that's it. Maybe my memory is coming back to me after all. LOL! The other plant is a Sedum.












And another picture of the Purple Allium For my non-flower gardeners, this flower is actually in the onion family. Its a wonderful flower to grow if you have pesky deer, rabbits, and voles....they stay away! They don't like the taste or the smell!














This is a view of my lower, main garden and garden shed as seen from my back porch.














This is the view from my back porch looking East.













Here is a close-up of my Honey Locust tree...one of favorite trees!















This view is seen from my front porch. That's the entire septic mound below.

















Here is a close-up of my favorite tree in my yard. The very first crab apple tree we planted. It has visual interest all year round. In the spring I have these gorgeous blooms, in the summer the leaves are a beautiful burgundy, and in the fall and throughout the winter its covered with huge, beautiful, red berries. Then early in Spring when the robins arrive they eat every single berry off the tree. I've seen as many as twenty robins in the tree at once. Its so funny because one minute the tree is covered in berries, and the next minute, they are all gone!

















This is another close-up of the crab apple tree and the final picture of my mid-spring garden.
I hope you enjoyed my little garden tour. All summer long I get 'drive-bys'. Somehow word spreads, and complete strangers drive miles, and miles, into the country to just see my garden. Some day's it can be annoying, especially if I'm very busy and not in a friendly mood. But most of the time I enjoy sharing my Garden of Eden with others and giving a quick tour. Have a great day! Amy
















12 comments:

  1. Simply GORGEOUS!!! Your gardens are amazing and so are you for being able to tend to it all ... and now work a job too! Wow ... you must be Wonder Woman!!
    Thanks so much for sharing all these lovely views ... I truly enjoyed the tour!

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  2. This is certainly beautiful! How do you do it all? Thanks for sharing it with us!

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  3. Amy, your garden is stunning. Each picture took my breath away. You certainly have the green thumb and a wonderful sense of design.

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  4. Ohhhhhhh....myyyy....GOODNESS!!! Your gardens and landscaping is JUST INCREDIBLE! Oh my word, what a haven!

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  5. Wow...what a beautifully landscaped paradise~~

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  6. OMGosh! What a spectacular spread you have! Absolutely gorgeous! I am sooo inpressed...you certainly have a very green thumb with great vision. The meandering pathway past your garden shed is wonderful. A cup of java and that view...doesn't get any more mind-clearing and relaxing than that!

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  7. Wow Amy. I must admit I am not a keen gardener but your garden is just so beautiful that I just had to look at the pics. No wonder you have people driving miles to see it, it's gorgeous!!
    Hugs Lora x

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  8. I think that I too would drive miles out of my way to see your garden. What an amazing job you have done! And how clever to cover your mound with flowers. Looks like it was done that way intentionally. Your landscape is exactly the way I would love to have my yard. Ours is still a very new work in progress. But I doubt I will ever be able to get to the level you have. Fabulous. And thanks so much for not only sharing the pictures but the info about each one. I really enjoyed reading it.

    Per your comment about your bird. I'm really sorry to hear that she is not well. That's doubly sad that you don't have a vet who can tell you what's going on.

    I once had a guinea pig. I never intended on having a rodent as a pet, and it's too long a story as to how I ended up with him, but like all my other pets, he was going to be "sent to heaven" so I decided to take him in and give him a good life. His name was Einstein, and yes, he was very intelligent! Anyway... when he was about 3, he started getting very lethargic and started have digestion problems. I took him to a vet who had never seen a guinea pig before. He had to pull out a "how to care for your guines pig" book. The vet kind of examined Einstein and his response was "you realize that guinea pigs usually only live to be 2 or 3 years old". That's it! No suggestions for care, no medicine. We had to watch the little guy wither away. It was very hard. So I do feel your pain about your Norma Jean.

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  9. Oh Amy, what a stunning garden! I'd love to visit you and take a stroll through it! I wish I had more land to garden in -- mine is just the area around my deck!

    Thanks so much for sharing!! :)

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  10. I wish for the great of success in all of our destiny endeavors

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  11. I'd be interested to know what variety of ground cover you used for your septic mound?!

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    1. If you're referring to plants, the ground covers are Creeping Phlox, cushion Spurge, lamium, a variety of sedums like Russian Stonecrop, and catmint. If you're referring to mulch, just the cheapest wood chips I can find.

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