Monday, June 11, 2007

Late Spring Field Day

Welcome to the Pink Victorian Late Spring Field Day! I'm glad you stopped by!

The tour begins at the front door, where you can see that our yard has a lot going on. Since this is our second year here, I know that all those plants which I was sure had died during the winter will spring to life and start to bloom. I get so excited when I see everything coming back to life. Then, the work begins! This yard takes a lot of upkeep, with three lawns to mow and a completely landscaped acre which needs constant watering, weeding, trimming, fertilizing, mulching and preening. There is a creek and a pond on the side yard, along with a large variety of trees, bushes and flowers everywhere! When we have a moment, we like to pour a nice glass of iced tea and relax on the front porch and this is what we see:
The pathway leading to the front door winds around to the driveway, and goes around the front garden and back to the porch-- a perfect little 'race track' for the Princess and her bike. She loves to ride it around and around while I water the plants.

Here is another view from the porch:
I have been wanting to do this for a long time. Finally I have a hill for a canvas! Take a cedar planter, lay it on its side, fill with a little dirt (to keep it from rolling away) and then plant flowers in a spill pattern. It really looks very cute:This bush is always buzzing with bees. I have never seen so many bees in one place, at least not in my yard!
Isn't this a beautiful color? We have just about every color of rhododendron, but this one has to be my favorite:
When you live in a Victorian, you need some topiaries. I thought it was fun to trim these little bushes. I felt almost like Edward Scissorhands. You can also see the beautiful peonies in this picture.
Here is part of the front garden, where there are lots of bushes, I have planted some tall flowers in the middle to give it a cottage look. There are lamb's ear, sweet william, carnations, columbine, bee balm, bearded tongue and delphinium:
A memorial for our little puppy, Shiloh, who was hit by a car last summer:
A quiet spot to enjoy the yard

Here is the pond in the side yard, which currently needs a little work. We will need to drain it to pull out the cattails which have taken over, and install a liner for easier maintenance. Since this picture was taken, we have started on this area. Another view of the side yard--- a weeping cedar and some juniper bushes (we call them bunny bushes because that is where they like to hide their babies)


Taken from the pond, towards the house. The big tree is a magnolia tree. If you look really closely, you will see the little door is the 'secret entrance' to Dexter's laboratory (or Busy Woodshop Hubby's workshop, as it's known around here)

And, what would late spring be without Little League practices and games?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have such a gorgeous garden!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful home! Beautiful yards! Beautiful flowers! What a great post!

Jenn said...

Your garden is gorgeous. I too love the turned up barrel with flower spilling out idea. Lovely.