my passion...

I got my love of flowers from my mother. We were a family of twelve children but in spite of all the necessary work that had to be done, my mother still found time to plant flowers. For many years I planted flowers without rhyme or reason, until I attended a perennial class taught by a friend. This class changed my flower world forever and it became a passion. I.L.O.V.E.G.A.R.D.E.N.I.N.G!

This blog is a place to share with you the things I've learned the past fifteen years. When I took the class, I didn't know what 'dead-heading' was or 'the bones' of a garden or 'hardscaping and structure.' I began looking at magazines, magazines, magazines! I saved things I liked and put them in a file until I had so many pictures I used plastic sleeves and created my own 'book.' I still like to look through it in the winter months.

Some of the things I want to share with you are how to start plants, build simple 'bones' that takes little time but adds lots of  'oomph.' I want to save you the mistakes I made in building a lily/fish pond, the simplicity of having a compost bin where all you need to do is throw the kitchen garbage and grass clippings in and a year later you'll have 'black gold.' I hope you'll join me in this pleasurable, rewarding, stress-relieving hobby!

Our gardens are six years old this month - we started with a clean slate, other than the large trees/shrubs you'll be seeing on the pictures. These pictures are a few from our back yard...

There's been a lot of changes in these six years. We've lost trees and everything has grown so much that it was/is necessary to eliminate certain favorites. Then the age factor comes into the picture as well. I hope to garden for many years yet and so I plan accordingly.

'All through the long winter,I dream of my garden.

On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth.

I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar.'

-Helen Hayes

...happy gardening!

ox