Diana,

I love to see your garden pictures. Gorgeous! Where did you find your birdbath/fountain? It's really cute.

Jackie

Diana,
Your gardens are absolutely wonderful!
We don't have any particular style, just a combination of flowers, shrubs that we like, with a few vegetables thrown in for fun....
Just a couple of photos -

Front courtyard where Lady Godiva and Icarus keep an eye on the neighbourhood.

{{gwi:520987}}Â Â

Back patio (covered) that is great for entertaining and we use from April to November - even in this climate!

Lilies & bee balm

Clematis on trellis - hoped it would reach over the garage door, but doesn't look like it will make it.

...a bit of this and a bit of that!

Margaret

Oh, yes.....love gardening, just not all the hard work...lol. I believe I've mentioned that we're in mid-project of renovating the backyard....we started on the east side of the backyard and put in a flagstone path and a new garden running along the side of it. We're finishing up a flagstone fountian and will move on to the back yard proper when it's done. Here's a couple of pictures...

side yard before:

after:
{{gwi:658718}}

Fountain:

I've only been seriously gardening for the past year or so, since we only had limited room to do so. With the renovations comes more room to play. We plan on redoing the front yard in a couple years.....we still have the master bathroom and the garage to redo. I've been admiring your garden pictures since I discovered this forum....they're beautiful!

I have a few gardening passions: Tropical Plants, Butterfly/Hummingbird gardening and container gardening. I also loving anything that looks unusual or exotic. Here are some pics of my fav flowers!

Hibiscus Flower
{{!gwi}}

Gaillardia Fanfare
{{!gwi}}

Disco Belle Hibiscus
{{!gwi}}

African Daisey
{{!gwi}}

Gardening addict here! I'll just leave a link, too many pics to post them all here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening Site

I love a cottage garden! I HAVE to like cosmos because they come back whether I want them to or not...lol. But this year I pulled a few and I have more control over them. I'm also doing pretty well in the veggie area.
I love a Potager garden but my space is limited on the side of the veggie boxes so I have my cosmos in front of them so that you can't see the 'ugly' boxes my DH wrapped with propanel, from the street. The pine tree helps block the view, too, but I still don't like the propanel around the boxes. I also need a new birdbath very soon. Mine is so old and just falling apart.
I have quite a few sunflowers this year and I love having them as the Scrub Jays come in around the middle of Sept. and start eating.
Our entire yard is lined with Virginia Creeper and I'm so glad. We have neighbors that just don't take very good care of their places so it blocks them out. The house on the garden side is owned and occupied by an 85 year old man all alone so we share our veggies with him. He's such an old sweety.
We have one Peach tree that is a great producer. It's on the South side of my house in a very small lawn area by our driveway and we get the biggest, juiciest Freestone peaches ALMOST every year. This year it froze but I still have quite a few on there that won't be ready until late Sept.

Diana, I LOVE your pics. You have the most beautiful roses. I only have a few wild roses now and one rose that I wouldn't have a clue what it's called. It grows in the middle of a large clump of Coreopsis (spelling?) and DH has mowed it over so many times in the Fall and it comes back prettier every year.

Lori, I love the waterfall! And I definitely love the flagstone sidewalk/patio area. Looks so nice.

the_adams, I couldn't see any of your pictures....would love to, though.
pianolady, your gardens are beautiful.
Everyone's yards and gardens are just gorgeous. Keep up the good work.

Here is a link that might be useful: My yard & garden 2006

Hi Diana ~ Great thread going here. Your gardens are always a delight to see. What beautiful flowers and breathtaking views.

We have cottage style gardens. It's what I've had for years and years but didn't know what it was called until a few years ago. The style suits me and our cottage. Of course, we also have tropicals since we live in s.e. FL, and we can't grow a lot of what most of you grow in cooler climates.

Margaret ~ Love your clematis. It sure is trying to grow up over the garage. Maybe next year it will. Love your birds too. They are really cool. Are they made of iron?

Lorin ~ You've done a fantastic job for only gardening seriously about a year. I bet your fountain's trickling water sounds very soothing.

The Adams ~ Couldn't see your pictures either, but sure would love to.

PianoLady ~ Your gardens are always a lovely inspiration. I need more color to mix in with all the greenery we have here.

Bzyathome ~ You certainly are your namesake. What wonderful gardens and all those veggies too. Makes my mouth water.

All of your gardeners inspire me to get out and work in mine more, but with this heat and humidity it's just about unbearable. Aug and Sept are horrible months here. Hopefully it starts to cool down in Oct. We just came home from a week in the NC mntns. and it didn't rain a lick here while we were gone so some of my potted plants fried. : -( This morning I got out early and worked for a couple of hours, trimming and raking and weeding. By 9:30 I was back indoors. When it gets cooler I want to plant some of my potted roses into the main garden, and look forward to doing that. I've got some seeds to sew for a fall/winter garden, and look forward to getting those started too.

Here's a link to our gardens.

FlowerLady

Plum Cottage Gardens in July

We just started a new vegetable garden this year...

our front herb bed...

and here's one of our feathered friends...

Wonderful thread! Everyone's gardens are really beautiful, with so much thought, care, imagination, and love in every one. They all have unique personalities and styles, and one thing is for sure...good things come in small packages ;o)

Huh, I'm not sure why no one can see my pics? They are showing on my computer!

Below is a link to my slideshow. I am a very novice gardener and have been doing this for less then year. With that said, I don't know how I lived without it! I am at the nursery every weekend, just looking for that special and unique find. Even in our 115 degree weather! My garden is in very beginning stages, so be gentle on me!

I live in AZ so it has been tricky trying to landscape my full sun backyard in Tucson. A lot of trial and error! I am always open to suggestions...

Sarah

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden Slideshow

Ah, some of my dear cottage garden forum friends are on this forum too. So you all know I'm also a cottage gardener! And a garden a holic!!

GGG

Love, love, LOVE gardening! Cottage garden for me. I love the soft romantic look - pastels, pinks, whites, lavenders, peaches, airy flowers, large flowers, old fashioned flowers, roses. We've just started fixing up our yard - when we moved in to this house it had been neglected for a long time - lawn that hadn't been mowed in years, overgrown shrubs, driveway that had more weeds than crushed rock. Our whole house in fact has been a labor of love on a badly neglected home, but the key word is love. I have a passion for "makeovers", both in the home and the yard. Although we have a long, long way to go with our gardens, we have also come a long way. Here are some pics:

New bed going in this year - DH and I built and installed the trellis this past weekend, and I just planted Ice Blue clematis to climb it. At the base of the birdhouse is Apple Blossom carpet rose. The remainder of the bed will be filled with lavender, cone flower, and aster.

{{!gwi}}

Coreopsis always make me smile

{{!gwi}}

Apple Blossom carpet rose

{{!gwi}}

Love the butterflies!

{{!gwi}}

Love the color of chives and they're a butterfly magnet

{{!gwi}}

Dainty looking, but tough as nails, creeping baby's breath

{{!gwi}}

Hosta

{{!gwi}}

Lilacs

{{!gwi}}

I love double tulips

{{!gwi}}

Valzone.....just gorgeous!

Margaret, I just had to ask if that is Virginia Creeper on your patio? I have my yard covered on almost 3 sides with Virginia Creeper. Here in NW New Mexico, we call it River Vine! I'm sure that came from someone local because it grows freely around the 2 rivers that run through and along side our town.

Sarah, my sister lived in Chandler for about 18 months and had very few pretty flowers. They had a house built with pool, of course and landscaped with palms and a few hibiscus but nothing as pretty as your flowers. Thanks for sharing with us.

And Valzone5 your flowers are awesome, too. I've got white lilacs and purple lilacs but since the neighbor is now having sewer problems it was recommended that we take them all out. We've gotten rid of a few because of the dreaded cut worms/grubs (and they're huge) and the damage was too severe but now his plumber insists that the lilacs on our property line is causing all his woes....I hope not because that's the one of my favorite flowering bush. Yours look great.

Mrsmarv, I love your home & gardens. Our vegetables are doing great and I picked a half dozen tomatoes about an hour ago for dinner. Love the fresh veggies.

We had a major downpour last night around 6pm. It rained so hard that the water formed a small lake at the street and our driveway. It ran on across the street into the big ditch (no across the street neighbors for us just a ditch). This morning it smelled heavenly and everything was bright green. I love these mountain rains.

Marilyn in NM

Hi everyone,

GREAT discussion Diana (and thanks for pointing me to this forum). I just moved in to a very small (did I say very?) little cottage here in Seattle. I love it but it is very small, heh heh. It's only two blocks from the rocky shores of Puget Sound, and has small peak a boo views of the water and the ferries from the deck, so I'm really excited to see all of your gardening pics around your smaller homes. So many great pics! Thanks for taking the time to share them.

I'm slowly starting to make changes in the garden (after having a dozen weed trees ripped out), so seeing your great pics has me really ready to make an impression. Cottage style is what I generally like, and it seems to fit with this new house.

Thanks for the great pics everyone.
Take care,
Grant

Thanks for the compliments :OD

Marilyn - I sure hope it's not the lilacs causing the drain problems - my lilac is right over the waste drain from our house, LOL!

Grant ~ Welcome to the forum ;o)...I've never been to Seattle, but a friend of ours moved there and absolutely loves it. It sounds like your location and views are perfect. Cottages are wonderful spaces, filled with nooks, crannies, little surprises, and lots of love. Hopefully you'll post some pics when you get a chance.
Nora

Flowerlady - thanks. The birds are made of a lighter material - possibly aluminium. We had to come up with a method of fastening them to the patio as they are quite light. First light wind sent them flying...(pun intended)!

Bzyathome - yes, that is a Virginia Creeper. Provides wonderful shade and privacy. That is a western exposure so gets quite hot in the late afternoon/evening. It has taken about three years to cover the structure. When we bought the house (3 years ago), it had been neglected and was in a heap on one side. Noticed last night that it's starting to change colour (already) - turns a wonderful colour in the fall, but unfortuantely the leaves don't last long.

Love everyone's photos and ideas. Valzone, love the Carpet Rose - very delicate, pretty look.

Margaret

Margaret, I'm already getting the berries eaten off of our VC by the birds. I do love the RED leaves in the Fall. I've also made lots of wreaths with my VC. We've been in our house for 25 1/2 years and it's been the best "privacy" fence I've ever had. About 4 summers ago we had a severe drought and even our irrigation was shut off most of the summer. We were on a very strict watering schedule by the City and I was shocked to find my VC didn't take much water at all. It made us feel like there wasn't a drought and my yards looked lush unless you looked closely at the lawn which was brownish in spots but the VC is such a resiliant plant. I love it!!!
And now this summer we've had alot more rain and again, it looks great!
This is a shot where I had just cleaned out about half of it a few days ago. I need to go pull that "dead" piece out of there...LOL.
{{!gwi}}

Here's the north end of the yard.

{{!gwi}}

Like I said, it gives us lots of privacy.

Marilyn in NM

Everyones Gardens look and sound wonderful.

Diana- WOW I saved a couple of your pics to my inspiration file would love to turn them into paintings.

Lori soo great to see the finished product of all of yours and Scotts hard work this year.

Sarah my dh would be envious of your yard- that's his dream to have it mostly stone lol. I love all your plants it must be hard gardening in that climate.
I had to giggle I have a gnome in my lr also and a the same buddah incense burner

I am a first year gardner and am going for a cottage look and have had to battle more than 30 100+degree days so far this summer-- ugh I also learned alot this summer and need to move a bunch of stuff around next year.

the pics are before and after and I need a better camera

the day we found our house
{{gwi:1537800}}

the day we planted
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

End of July 06
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: my photobucket

Oh, my goodness! Hello to all my friends from Cottage Gardening! And hello to all my new friends with little houses in progress like mine!

My garden is a mess this year from way too much rain and way too little time. Have to concentrate on doing something to the INSIDE of my house this year! But here is a link to some photos from last year. Even some shots of my own little house. This year, almost all the grass in front is gone, just things haven't filled in yet (and desperately need weeding...)

Dayle Ann

Here is a link that might be useful: My house & garden 2005

Wow, Ranae.....your bed has really filled out....it looks great!

Thanks Lori - miracle grow will do it every time lol.
RaNae

Marilyn - Thanks for the compliments. I'v found it's all about picking the right flowers. It's especially tough because my backyard faces west. Yuck!

Ranaeluvstexas - Your DH can have my gravel and rock if I can have your grass! My homeowners association doesn't even allow grass in the front yard! Your Flower Bed looks stunning!

Serendipity_ont - I looove the vine covering your patio! I am hoping to have a passion vine cover the front of my front porch...

Lorinscott_1 - Your before and afters are an inspiration!

Valzone5 - Your flowers are gorgeous!

Sarah

I love seeing all of the never-ending variety of gardens.

This area is to the left of the front door of our little Cape Cod and was just grass last year so I "lasagna" prepped it and planted this spring. Last weekend I spent a whole day bringing in a few more plants, putting down compost/manure mixture, newspapers and black mulch. Now I have to concentrate on the right side of the door; about the same area, but where I just stuck all my gifted plants 2 years ago. They've gone bonkers, so I need to re-do that area.