How is your garden looking today?

Thanks, CI, for showing us those photos. They are outstanding.

You are welcome, Piffka. Beauty should be shared.

not very good
http://www.pbase.com/alkeme/image/6551152

my garden is looking not very good
http://www.pbase.com/alkeme/image/6551152

All of your gardens look so very nice. My fiance' and I are supposed to be closing on our house at the end of this month (hopefully. we still have a few issues that might make us lose the deal. Cross your fingers for us!). I can't wait to cover my front and back yards in gardens. Hopefully next spring I will have some pics of my own to share.

A quick question for everybody. My man is deathly allergic to bees but I still want to put in flowers and the like. Which plants would be pretty but not bring in to many of the little stingers?

Avoid blue and purple. Bees love blue and purple.

gardens of praise does excite me.

When I bought this house, the front yard held a Norway maple, one ancient overgrown bridal wreath spirea, a chainlink fence painted white, and a large patch of dirt and crab grass.

In the autumn of the first year, a friend and I dug up the crabgrass, laid out a small path in salvaged bricks, filled it with mulch and then put in about 20 spring bulbs and 10 perennials.

It's about 7 years later now

still a tiny urban front yard

~~~~~~~~

the bald patch around the base of the norway maple has been captured by an invasive violet - hooray!

Last summer I scavanged about 15 bags of landscaping marble from a neighbour, using another neighbour's luggage trolley - filled in the little path.

Another friend salvaged some marble trim pieces from her condo recycling room.

I pick up hand sized rocks when I go to the beach with the dogs

a friend's mother got some plants as part of her separation agreement with hubby # 3 (or 4 maybe)

I got one stalk of Solomon's Seal.
This year there are about 25 stalks.
Neighbours are asking for dibs when I do the division this autumn.

The original lungwort slip and one poppy came from the separation agreement (can you imagine how sparse the yard looked the first summer, til I found some shade-loving annuals)

I haven't watered the front yard in over three years now.
Xeriscaping is the name of the game.
Plants meant for this climate survive - or thrive.

The lady ferns are straightening up in amongst the poppies.



My neighbours on either side have tiny lawn patches that they agonize over each year. Reseeding, watering, fertilizing, tending, praying.

Each year I rip out handfuls of grass that love my lush little woodlot - while they have grey and brown squares in front of their houses.

I typed amongst.

The view from the porch about an hour and a half ago.

pic taken 1 week ago after 11 months after removing rock laying pavers and planting stuff;

That's great, dys.

Are you going to be doing any of that in raised beds?

I've got one small, slightly raised, bed in back - I think I'd like to put in at least a couple more - maybe stagger the heights.

yeah Beth, the last big bed (12' x 12') will be a raised bed with nothing but bulbs/ corms and stuff like that there. next to the patio is a goldfish pond and another small pond with a fountain and in the middle is a copper solar-powered fountain and the maters and such are along the 8' wall across the back.

I originally took that to mean you'd buried your mothers back there.

Looks like it's going to be a fabulous space for a morning tea or an evening adult beverage.

dys, Looks like your garden is developing very nicely. Keep feeding us pictures of your progress. I might get some ideas for my garden.