wordless Wednesday

breaking down the garden....garden room/shady stroll garden

When I garden I break down spaces into pocket gardens.  There are so many spaces that exist within the whole which in turn helps me stay focused as I work in the garden.  The shot below is an upper view of our back garden.  The dry stream bed is not in this photo but I feel this gives you an idea of the back yard and what we are working with toys and all.

Moving on to the front garden, these shots don't show my island bed or the other side of the driveway but again it gives you an overview of the main sweeping bed.

Our garden room is essentially our side yard.  Garden room sounds prettier to me and as many gardeners do, I'm in the process of naming the different pocket gardens that exist within our space.  Our garden room was once just an ally between our home and our neighbors' home.

We added a fence and and arbor to create the garden room.  Plantings are still a work in progress in this space but we do enjoy the privacy this addition gives us as our city plots are small.

I created the path out of brick and after laying garden fabric the pea gravel was added.

Along the left side of the fence we get full shade.  In time I hope that my climbing hydrangea will cover that whole fence.  Hydrangeas, hostas, solomon's seal, Japanese forest grass, ferns, lungwort, and hellebores fill the space.

As we move further into the space more of the shade garden comes into play.  Here is what it looked like when we moved in.

As soon as I added the path the beans took to it.  And the shady stroll garden was born!  They skip through this space now and ring the chimes that hang from the tree.  This bed consists of bleeding hearts, foam flowers, hostas, astilbes, lamium, annuals (impatiens and begonias)  wild ginger, ligularia, beauty berry, grasses, goat's beard, weigela, creeping jenny, knotweed, snow on the mountain, golden Japanese spikenard and coral bells.

It's fun to see how far different areas have come over time.  My goal is to make my way around our whole garden as the months go on.

source~cagedcanarynz.blogspot

See you in the garden!  

Girls' Room....DONE!

This has been a long time coming so needless to say I'm excited to finally be at the finish line!  I wanted this space to grow with my girls over time and be flexible and neutral enough for them to change things in and out as they age.

Here is where we started...

And here is the after....

 The antique highboy dresser, small china cabinet, and small dresser in the closet were all from a gal here in my town.  She finds old vintage pieces and refinishes them.  We were so excited to find her as I feel good about reusing what is already out there and her work is amazing!  

Visit her here at SOMETHING FOUND

This china cabinet is perfect for the girls to display all of their special treasures and we even found a note inside dating back to 1955 as this was once someone's wedding gift!

I'm very passionate about putting spaces together and this one was extra special for me!  Thanks for letting me share it with you!   

Happy Creating Friends!  

Repurposed, Thrifted, Vintage, Made

blue rug...repurposed from family room
lamps...repurposed from other rooms
tray on nightstand...thrifted
gold frames above beds ...thrifted
star catching art above beds....gift from aunt
flower art on dresser...thrifted
beds....belonged to my grandparents
chair....vintage piece from great-aunt

art in closet...made

be you art....made
flower art...made (photo taken from the garden)
art in china cabinet...made

Bought
duvet covers....West Elm
quilts,shams, baskets....Home Goods
drapes....Pottery Barn Kids
mirror...Bellacor
removable wallpaper...Amazon
book ledges...Ikea
chandelier....Restoration Hardware Baby and Child

Linking up with.....Cozy Little House...Tweak It Tuesday

Thursday gardening....

Happy Thursday everyone!  Just popping in with a few shots from the garden today....

A new container I made for part shade to shade....Penniserum Trispecific (Black Stockings), begonia hybrid (Peagasus), white begonias (Clara), and a purple sweet potato vine 

And a shot from the front garden....

Make it a good one...the garden is calling!

MAKING Mondays.....Children's Garden

Happy Mother's Day to all you out there!  We have been working on a little children's garden out back...here's what's happening....


we painted our old fence posts today...

I repurposed my old garden buckets and filled them with cement to hold the posts....

Their little space connects to our veggie plot

buried the buckets and began laying out annuals (Verbena Boniariensis and Salvia black and blue) between the posts....

added some stumps from my parents house for sitting and a pallet for a bridge entering the garden...

Things left to do....

paint the back sides of the posts

make some hooks for our watering cans

plant more annuals between our posts

add some blue stones (shiny as requested from my bean girls) to represent water in-between our bridge slats

have the beans make their pots of annuals that they will be responsible for this summer

So there you have it!  A little spot for the beans to be in the garden.  And I just wanted to say I'm a bit behind with my blog reading but will be around to check in with everyone today!!  Have a great start to your week friends!!!  And happy growing!!!  

MAY

This is the time of year when the inside of the house becomes neglected.  When you live in a region that gives you less than 6 "good" months in the garden you can't mess around.  My hands and shoulders are sore and my garden boots are muddy.  After the beans go down for the night I retreat to the work room to get to work on several garden designs I have been working on for some folks.

I've been delivering plans in metal buckets for my clients with a bag of organic Bio-Tone Starter for their new plants.

Lungwort and Dwarf Solomon's Seal

Creeping Jenny along my newly lined beds. Things popping in this bed include Lady's Mantle, Catmint, False Indigo, Anise Hyssop, Dark Towers Penstemon, Autumn Joy, Joe-Pye Weed and I sowed some Poppies in this area for a splash of red.   

I recently bought three wired lanterns to hang above the deck...they add a bit of whimsy for those summer nights to come.

Blooms that I cut from my new David Austin Rose bush.  After I planted my rose I noticed that it was floppy perhaps from shock so I cut it back in hopes that it would lighten the load as it settled in. 

And some more blooms from my bleeding heart.

other blooms around the garden include.....

Foam Flowers

Geums

Lungwort

Hellebores

Anemone Sylvestris 

May is also the wind down of school.  We are really looking forward to some slower days ahead like this one we had a few days ago when we released our painted lady butterflies that the beans raised.

With the wind down I also hope to get kicking with my posts to show you all some projects that I've been plugging away at!  Until then......Happy MAY!!!!