It all looks so nice ... just wish the pics were larger. :(

What do you have planted in the bed? And what is hummingbird honeysuckle? Never heard of that.

I have 2 Pee Wees. I don't think they've grown in the 2 years I've had them. I planted my last oakleaf last fall. If it doesn't make it that's it.

It all looks so beautiful, colorful and inviting.

love the bed-bed!

natal, if you go to the album you can look at each pic separately and they are much larger. Hope that helps. I may have the name wrong on the hummingbird...I know it was something like that...and it reseeds like crazy...I love love it. My pee sees are doing great. They bloomed right away after I planted them. In the iron bed I have a bunch of kinds of sedums and a large rose campion and 2 guara and 3 thrift plants and 3 evening primrose. There are 2 plants that I dug up and can't remember what they are :(. Will know when they bloom !

Joann, thank you !! I wish I had half the green thumb that you and Cliff have ! c

So beautiful! I love your azaleas. I miss being able to grow them like we could in East Texas.

You have done such a wonderful job and I love all the secret places. I can't believe you have a Revolutionary hospital bed, that is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing. It made my heart feel gentle.

Very pretty. I enjoyed the slideshow. Thank you.

texanjana: I love the azaleas also but...we get blossom wilt the past few years. it is so irritating. They look great and then it rains and they turn to mush on the plant and never fall off. The only treatment is a spray that has to be repeated and soak the ground and pull off all the blossoms and remove and replace all the mulch...ha...not gonna happen. I have pulled off blossoms and replaced mulch and really thought I had it beat this year....alas no. I won't ever plant more of them because of it. Would love to see your gardens ! Can you post them ?

Enduring...the bed was at a local salvage place and she couldn't get rid of it...I saw it on Veteran's Day last year...and it just grabbed me and I had to bring it home. As a retired RN I could see and hear and feel those soldiers. I had to pay tribute to them all. My DB was in Vietnam and my boyfriend was killed there in 1967 and my son was a US Marine...it just seemed fitting. I think that is why I am planning on birthing new plants there and moving them elsewhere in the garden...help them to grow and survive and get stronger and move on...hope that isn't TMI :)

Fun I am so glad you enjoyed it. We have the house open again tonight...it is just such a gorgeous Spring here. I love to hear the fountain and listen to the birds and peepers ! c

Trail, thanks so much for sharing the photos! We have a large property and it is very overwhelming to me. We are far from bloom here in Massachusetts and your photos were really inspiring. I'm trying to look at one area at a time and just do the best I can. I have a big, strong 25 year-old coming to help me dig holes and split up the giant hostas that I have.

You're an inspiration to me! Thank you,

Beth P.

Ahh, it's so beautiful. Thanks for posting!

Beth,,,can he come visit when he finishes at your place LOL ?? ! Please...I sure hope you will post pics when your blooms start. I remember how beautiful MASS was last year on my bike trip. Would love to see your large property.

Mtnrd..thank you !! I love your place too. We stopped at a farm and camped by a pond in Maryland last year. if I hadn't known better i would have sworn it was your new home. Everything about it was so similar...and the lady was also a financial person. Small world. Thank you for looking. c

How beautiful! I remember when you first posted the bed-bed -- very evocative... Thank you for the glimpse into your gardens.

Trailrunner.....just lovely! I can't say "lovely" enough! Where do you live?
We have a large backyard, motley grass, mostly weeds.... and with two large Boxers, no point in trying to sod. I would love to put in some garden paths and beds like yours. Last year I mulched around the perimeter of the yard, leaving a oval of grass/weed. Still, it was huge expanses of brown mulch and not so pretty. I have just this weekend had the idea to put some pots out there, to break up the mulched areas. So much brown!! Now to talk DH into the paths...........thank you for sharing. I know that I will go back to look
again and again~~

Jenna

very relaxing!

javachik, what a nice thing to say ! Evocative...I like that. The bed has been sitting here with me staring at it for a year !! I am not a fast mover :) I am so pleased with the way everything looks this AM. I did remember the name of the one plant that I moved...it is on the back left...penstemon ! I hope natal sees this...it is a more or less rarer kind , the pink flowers are less common. It rapidly reseeds.

WOW Jenna, thank you . It is only this year that I finally feel like a gardener. I am in Opelika AL. Where are you ? Depending on the zone I can sure tell you what things have proven to be strong enough to withstand even my care !

I have found that working on one area really helps. Just set aside that one spot and fix it. When it is done move on...I have been impetuous in the past and been sorry for it. Dogs do make a difference, I don't have any but I am sure that is a challenge. Shade/sun...dry/wet...type of soil, all play a big part, as well as the zone you are in. Pots are a great idea. I will tell you that I have used the cheap plastic ones and spray painted them and they last a couple seasons ! Also this gives you an idea of whether a plant will do well in a certain place and you can move a pot more easily than a plant. Another thing to think of is to try and use perennials for almost everything. Annuals are OK to fill in but you need the returning plants so that you have multiples of them and don't have to spend so much each year. Also the variety is greater. Wish you were close...I would give you lots of cuttings. Let me know and we can chat...you can email me through GW also.

Freedom...thank you ! It is very relaxing.. it is where I have my coffee every morning. c

Trailrunner.......Thank you for your reply. We have been out discussing the mess we have out there.......and what to do that is economical and easy. Cheap since we are retired and easy because I have five herniated disks in my back.

I live in central Virginia, south of Richmond, I think it is Zone 7. I don't have a camera other than my cell phone, to post pics, so bear with me while I describe my pitiful yard. ( I honestly would be so embarrassed even if i did have a camera)
My backyard is very large.By counting the sections of privacy fencing, it is around 120 feet wide, by 60 feet deep. The "green" area is sort of an oval, with mulch and plantings around the green. Lots of mulch, as i said before, lots of brown........... But before I mulched a few years ago, it was nothing but weeds and bare spots. No shrubbery other than the three weird evergreens.

We have golden Eunomyous along the deck (here when we moved in), DH Loves it, so it will stay.

I have a bed of Guacomole Hosta between two trees. The voles got a couple in the center, so now they are in a circle. I am thinking of putting a fountain or birdbath in the center.
Then I have one of those metal swings out across from the deck, in front of the privacy fence. Someone gave me ten Nandina shrubs that they dug out. So I planted three in a triangle between the swing and the big tree/hosta bed. I am thinking about putting three pots in the center of the triangle of smallish Nandina. Will put some colorful perennials in the pots. I have lots of plastic pots. I think I am going to spray paint them to look like the old fashioned clay pots.

ON the other side of the swing I have a bed of Knockout Roses and Forsythia. Also have pots on each side of the swing.

On the other side of the rose and forsythia bed, which surrounds a big tree, is the corner of the privacy fence. I have more forysthia in there and some big spreading evergreens. They are not tall at all, maybe 3 feet, , but maybe six feet across. I do not know what they are, they were here already. I have planted the rest of the Nandina shrubs around there too.

Then on the area at the side of the deck, I have a little cement bench with Rabbits as legs, and pavers making a walkway to the bench. I have lilriope along the pavers. I thing I will hang something decorative on the dull boring fence behind the rabbit bench.

Where the steps come down from the deck to the sidewalk, I have lined the little walk with liriope and monkey grass. There is a little L-shaped picket fence which divides the yard from the driveway. I have Carolina jasmine along that fence. At the back of the driveway, behind the picket fence is just an empty area, with a few trees. I crawled around last summer and dug all the weeds out, i wanted to have that area be just 'natural' but the weeds came back. I have actually divided that area from the rest with mulch.

Because the dogs have made a path, and trod the grass down, I put some flat pavers from the sidewalk curving across the mulch to the grass. There is another large area a few feet from where the pavers stop, and I cannot get any grass to grow. Gave up trying. I think I will extend the pavers by several rows and just be done with it. I wonder if it will look odd, to have the pavers just stop in the middle of the yard?

I am sorry this is so long, I am totally frustrated with the yard. We cannot afford to dig up the weeds and put sod down, or seed, and I do agree with DH that there is not need, with these big dogs.

I do not want to go from huge expanses of brown 'nothing' to overkill or tacky. But what I want is to have so many interesting areas to look at that no one notices the weeds. Is that possible? On a budget?

Thank you again for listening. :) I showed DH your slideshow, we both love, and covet, your beautiful house. I think it is amazing what you have done with the back. And those azaleas out front are to die for!

LOVE those roses, TR, and there is nothing so lovely as white clapboard with leafy green growing things, is there? Your gardens look cool and pretty!

Caroline, I took a look at Penstemon online. I'm afraid I'd have the same luck I had with agastache since it likes dry feet.

The lone surviving agastache ...

natal...agastache is a hard one unless you know one important detail. Never cut it back until it is starting new growth in the Spring. In other words leave the dried stems in place. Otherwise they are hollow tubes and the rain goes down those tubes and the plant dies. I had great luck for a couple years with it coming back and now it is all gone.

I tell you that you couldn't kill Penstemon if you used Roundup on it LOL ! It is amazing. I don't like the husker red but I LOVE the pink.

kswl: glad you like it all. It is actually a rich cream color...not white but I know what you mean. Thank you !!! I hope you will stop by when you and your DH are in town.

Oh Jenna you are so lucky to be living in VA. I know my son is in Lexington and the plants are just so rich and gorgeous everywhere in VA. I would really have to see pics...I am no good at all visualizing the set up. I will say that Nandina is considered a thug now and no one plants it anymore. It spreads so much and you never get rid of it. So be careful adding more.

The area where the weeds came up you could use landscape cloth. I know some folks don't like it but they have new kinds that are really nice and work for 10 yrs ! Cover it with a med layer of mulch and you are done. That is what we did behind the little house and the side to make a path .

You will probably be able to get perennials on sale soon at garden centers so keep that in mind. You can divide them every year and plant them out other places. Anything in the sedum family is indestructible !! So go for it. It is easy to propagate too...break off a stem and stick it in the dirt. It grows. Never ever fails. Penstemon also is very hardy. You might look at the garden centers for ideas and also check into a local garden club and get cuttings from folks. Also drive around and when you see a yard you like ...leave a note or knock on the door !! That is what I do . Gardeners love to talk and share.

Hope this helps you . Please get a camera or post pics from your phone. Also check the Cottage Garden Forum..they are very very nice over there on GW. And the forum for your zone too. And your local extension agency and see if they have handouts and classes. c

Thank you TR for the advice, and for wading through my ramblings.............. Where your son lives in Lexington is such a beautiful part of the state. Central VA, not so much. I do love the Roanoke Valley area too. DH looked up Opelika on the map, he said we were not far from there when we made out trips to see DD1 in Pensacola, driving down I-85.

Nandina is a thug? Well, no wonder I got them free. We have some in the front yard, and they have not spread. We do not trim ours to look like basketballs, we like them just natural growth,. Will definitely not get any more.

Will take your advice on the landscape cloth, and I will try to take some decent pix with cell phone. Thank you again for your help.

Oh wow...we are 5 minutes off of Exit 60 of I 85. Next time you are by this way let me know !! I always love to meet GW folks.

Nandina is so much prettier when it is left alone...if you do prune it always cut it at ground level. That way you can thin it w/o ruining the shape.

Try to do some looking. One place I get ideas for pots/planters is at the shopping malls ! Outdoor malls hire local nurseries to make up those pots. All you have to do is copy them. Also an arrangement of pots laid on their sides so the plants look like they are cascading out is very charming. I saw one at our local plant store the other day. They used 3 large pots...each a slightly different size and put them on their sides with geraniums and some other things all grouped . It was very pretty and colorful.

Can hardly wait to see your place. c

Thanks for your nice response, I don't think anyone's story is TMI. We all have them and that, is that. Stories "inform" our work whether on the job as an RN (still at it myself) or at home creating beauty. I've shared in the most amazing stories in life while working in hospitals. I am so honored to take care of others. You have shown great love and compassion by using that bed for new life.

Thank you for expressing your thoughts in such an eloquent way. Your patients are truly lucky to have you as their care giver. I too have been so blessed to have the many homes I visited welcome me and let me serve in the best way I knew how. It is a gift to be able to care for those that can't care for themselves. I will remember your words as I plant in my bed "bed", c

Trailrunner.... will let you know next trip to Pensacola!
And last year, I did some urns for the front porch with idea I got from Better Homes & Gardens, with tall spiky, then trailing perennials. Looked really pretty.

BY the way.... you are a trail biker right? My 48 year old nephew did the Leadville CO 100 MTB last year. He said it was amazing. He has only been into it for a couple years, but is REALLY into it. Goes all over for rides.

Just gorgeous Trailrunner, what lovely spaces. I envy your spaces. The bed bed is fabulous! I so love gardens. Clematis are my favourite, I planted a few new ones last year, we'll see how they do this spring.

jenna..I am a trailrunner :) I always dreamed of running the Leadville 100 but wasn't THAT good LOL ! I did 24 Ultra-marathons in 4 years. Travelled all over the US and Canada to compete. Now I just run for fun. I have done a lot of mountain biking too. Can't imagine riding the Leadville. Your nephew is AWESOME !! Would love to see pics of him doing his thing..action shots :) I leave here June 2 and will be back sometime in early September so let me know if you are going to P'cola and we will meet up .

Sochi...you are so nice !! Thank you . I added some herbs today so it is going to be very full. I couldn't find any clemmies that I liked at the nursery so I will probably mail order them next year. Too warm here now...80's some days. It is pouring rain now. We are getting the storms the mid west got. We aren't going to get the tornadoes etc though..at least they say we aren't. The thunder woke me :(

I hope you will all take pics of your gardens and post. I love to see what others are doing and get ideas. c

How kind of you to share the pix... it's all just delightful! I especially love how you labeled everything and the bed-bed!

LOL, Trailrunner, I guess if people have doppelgangers, houses might too!

There are garden forums here, they would appreciate your pics. there, you know?

Lookin' good!!! As always! :-)

Thank you cat!! It just grows and grows ! c