"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings."

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Side yard and driveway gardens.

Two parts of the garden that I realized I rarely take pictures of are the raised beds in the side yard and what I call our driveway garden. Both of these areas are on the same side of our house which is separated by our backyard fence. I tend to focus most of my energy on the rest of the yard, but this year I'm trying to pay more attention to these places as well.
The side yard is by far the hottest part of our yard. I've put up a thermometer and have found on sunny days it's usually 5 degrees or more warmer there. The kids tend to play a lot here as you can see by the buckets and other toys. After being inspired by one of the displays at the Northwest Flower and Garden show I'm planning to brighten up this area and make it even more kid friendly. We may paint the stepping stones bright colors as well as repaint the raised beds something a little more colorful.

Looking towards the front gate the Littlest Gardener's rainbow garden is in the whiskey barrel. She's chosen quite an assortment of flowers for it. I've let her pick what she wants to plant in here and she does a surprisingly good job of digging little holes to plant in for a 3 year old. The closest raised bed to that is Sweet Pea's garden. She has Sugar Snap Peas, lettuce, carrots, potatoes and chives in there so far.

Growing in one of the beds is some Broccoli. So far the slugs have left this plant alone.

Here are the blue potatoes we're growing after seeing them on Gloria's blog Dakota Garden. We shared the left over potato starts with another little friend of the Littlest Gardener so she could grow some too.

"George" the garden snake. Thankfully these are the only types of snakes you see in our garden.

Just over the little fence at the entry to the side yard is the big purple Rhododendron in full bloom.

Now out on the other side of the fence is the driveway garden. This has been an area that has been fairly neglected. It's full hot sun here and until we moved our faucet (the pipes froze over the winter and we rerouted the plumbing) it was really difficult to water this part of the yard. There are a couple of roses, lavender, Lamb's Ear and daylilies in front of the raised bed. In the raised bed is a very small Magnolia tree with mostly annuals under it right now including Poppies, Larkspur and Cosmos. Towards the front are Coneflowers, Oriental Poppies and hopefully the Dahilas. Behind this bed is Lilac 'Miss Canada', which are the pink flowers you can see, and behind it is a huge Lacecap Hydrangea that was here when we bought the house.

The unknown Pink rose is beginning to bloom.

And 'Tamora' is flowering too. The fragrance of 'Tamora' is very nice, not as strong as 'Gertrude Jekyll' or 'Abraham Darby', but still very good.

Hopefully the weather will improve once school is out and the girls and I will have some fun projects to work on in these two areas in our free time.
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41 comments:

  1. Good gracious , everything is so tidy all around your garden areas, everywhere ! I want to take a bite out of that beautiful peach rose again, thanks so much for this post, Gina

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  2. Even the area you consider the most overlooked looks pretty darned creative to me. I LOVE what you're doing with your children. Good girl.

    Lace cap Hydrangeas, you gotta love them. They are so wonderfully old fashioned.

    Sending sunshine,

    Sharon

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  3. Your roses are so pretty. Look at all of the buds on the pink rose bush. I like the shape of that rose bloom.
    I think that is a fun idea about painting the Stepping stones in the side garden. Your potatoes look good.
    My dahlias have not came up yet either. I planted them in pots and then we had a cold spell so maybe it slowed them down.With the warm weather I am hoping to start seeing some green. If I ruined the bulbs you sent I will cry.

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  4. Dang your hide Catherine! I slid my chair back about 6 inches with a gasp when I saw George!! He's rubber right? geez...
    Your Rhoddy is just gorgeous and I agree your garden is so tidy. Everything looks like it gets plenty attention, don't see neglect at all. Kudos to you Mom for getting your girls involved..I too will be so glad when school is out 6 more days here..

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  5. What a wonderful environment for your girls to play in. There is SO much to do/learn just being around growing things!

    Beautiful roses, too! I'll watch with interest as you add color to these spots. Should be interesting!

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  6. Broccoli already? You are good, Catherine!

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  7. Wonderful post, the stepping stones will be so whimsical in various colours, great idea! :)

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  8. Those roses are gorgeous.
    And, I agree with Sharon. Even you're 'neglected' areas look good.

    ~~Linda...

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  9. I dropped my jaw on the play snake. He looks so real. Gorgeous roses. I love the rainbow gardena and Sweetpea's garden. They are the best with little hands tending the plants.

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  10. It's great the kids have their own gardens. The big purple rhododendron is a beauty, as is the unknown pink rose and Tamora!

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  11. George caught me by surprise too. Whoa!
    Your raised beds are great. Looks like good eats growing in there and I think your driveway garden is great. A lot of variety.

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  12. I think you posted on this area before. I remember because I so loved those raised beds!

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  13. Wow Catherine ~ I love your neglected gardens. Your daughters flower and veggie beds look great too. I think it is so wonderful the way you are all working/playing together in the gardens. Ol' George made me gasp at first, until I saw his face and realized he was not real. Your roses are beautiful!

    Enjoy ~ FlowerLady

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  14. Your growing season is just slightly ahead of mine even though we probably aren't that far apart. My roses aren't fully open yet. Speaking of roses, yours are beautiful.
    Enjoyed seeing the little gardens and the working gardens.

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  15. Don't you look forward to the girls being able to help in these areas? You will have to share pictures of the projects when completed. Seeing their little watering cans etc. reminds me of all the help my nieces/nephews used to give me when they were small. Your roses are so delightful.

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  16. I love your ideas of making your side gardens more colorful for the kids. I need to brainstorm on ways to make our little gardens more inviting to our little turkeys :)

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  17. Good luck with the kid-friendly projects! My kids' favorite new addition to our yard has been the boulders. They love to climb on them, even though they sometimes step on some of my plants in the process. I'm not sure if it's really safe, but big rocks sure are fun!

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  18. I like what you've done with your side garden...the gravel makes it all look so pretty and organized. I can see why your kids like to play there...its all very pretty and cozy...did I just see Peter cottontail???lol

    Sylvia

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  19. I remember the first post I read/saw of your garden was of this side one with the raised beds.

    Everything is looking so tidy Catherine I am struggling again playing constant catch up in my garden I must make time to just enjoy the flowers.

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  20. What a wonderful garden for children (and veggies). The roses are gorgeous!

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  21. I think your driveway garden is lovely. It boggles my mind that this is what you think neglected looks like! LOL -Jean

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  22. Love those roses. I did a double take with George the snake -They scare me :) Do you have the snake to keep birds away or is the little gardener very brave?

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  23. The roses are making me swoon! Does anyone even say that word anymore? Not even sure how I know it...
    Anyway, they're gorgeous.
    If anyone can make showplaces out of these beds (that you say are neglected ~ but that still look pretty darn good) it's you.
    I love the way you've incorporated your children in your gardening (and that they seem to like it as well). I hated gardening when I was a kid so I think all kids must. Glad to know that's not true.

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  24. Your chives blossoms do look wonderful, they brighten up a vegetable garden so well. 'George' almost had me there for a moment, but we get quite an array of snakes here, so I'm often on the lookout. Your broccoli looks fabulous. We have some here that's very almost ready, and I'm getting impatient to try it...hopefully soon!

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  25. Oh my, those rhodies and roses are gorgeous! Looks like your little ones are budding gardeners. Love Littlest Gardener's whiskey barrel garden and Sweet Pea's raised veggie beds. I'm afraid to admit it, but I think they are better gardeners than I am. Hmmmm....

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  26. Thanks for sharing these pictures and your driveway garden is lovely. Your flowers collection is very pretty and i mostly like the roses, they look gorgeous.

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  27. I love the garden snakes! As a part-time foster parent who only does weekends and emergencies it is really hard to figure out how to get a child to be a bit engaged in the garden before they go home again—wherever that might be. Luckily, they send the kids who like plants to my house.

    So far, taking photos has been a favorite activity for many of the kids so I can see now that I must insert some garden snakes into my landscape.

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  28. Catherine,
    Your roses are just beautiful. And, I love the pink lilac. It's wonderful that your girls are enjoying gardening, and they certainly seem to have inherited your green thumb! I hope you are enjoying this lovely spring. (Watch out for those snakes!)

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  29. How nice to have a special garden for the children! The LittlestOne's garden is so pretty!

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  30. At last I've seen your side garden - I always wondered if you had one or not Catherine. There's so much potential in that side bit and I'm sure you'll have great fun in the summer months there. Its really nice that the girls have their own little area each to grow things in.

    The bit at the side of the driveway is always the challenging bit - it took me nearly 9 years to get inspiration to do it properly. Your bed is going to be a terrific mass of colour soon. Tamara looks delicious. I would love to get my nose up to that bloom and inhale. Don't blame you taking ages to get that bit sorted - it must have been so hard only being able to water with a watering can.

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  31. Hi Catherine,
    I always enjoy seeing different parts of your property. Your veggies and blooms are looking awesome! Does that snake scare critters away? ;o)

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  32. Beautiful pictures!I'd love to see you paint those stepstones, that would look really cool. I love colour!

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  33. Your garden is a little piece of heaven here on earth. The tamora is so perfect and the rhododendrons are gorgeous. I cannot stay away from those. I have to say though that garden snake startled me a bit :D

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  34. Wow..beautiful post..as always! Love George..and that broccoli closeup is magnificent!! Love it Catherine..fabulous!
    Kiki~

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  35. I enjoy seeing all of your yard. You can tell love has gone into every project. Except for George the snake. I can't say I care for snakes.
    Brenda

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  36. Stunning as always. Love the plastic snake in the bucket. You got me that's for sure. I had to grab my glasses and look closely, but not too closely.

    Stop by if you have a second and let me know if my posting today is going to be OK, for tomorrow's Fertilizer Friday. Lot's of Poppies.

    Dig On,
    Toodles,
    Kate

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  37. You and my niece and nephews will make great friends. They have a pet snake.

    I like you and your broccoli. The photos are beautiful.

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  38. Hi again Catherine, this post truly did make me smile :-D

    Although now 19 and 17 my daughters may seem a lifetime away from yours but I can click my turquoise blue short wellie boots together (don’t have sparkly red shoes) and could back looking at a tiny potager beside a Wendy house with window boxes. I do remember these summers and all the different ways I helped my girls enjoy our garden too. Wishing you a wonderful summer with your girls especially in your garden!

    Oops sorry… should say my jaw dropped at your wonderful raised beds. I love them! What a brilliant use of space too. Having a hose there is great for your girls I would imagine. I also loved the snake. What fun. I enjoyed seeing the other end of this strip too. I’ve got areas on either side of a fence that have a complete contrast in conditions and therefore style too. Makes for more interest for the gardener don't you think? This area is looking well too with lovely colours which will just get better! Very nice. Enjoy being able to water it :-D

    Wishing you and your girls a great weekend. Delighted you both enjoyed Bird TV :-D

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  39. What a beautiful garden you have. I can see that you are successful in taking care of those plants. Keep it up.
    -shan

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  40. I absolutely luv your idea of painting the stepping stones bright colors. Do it!

    George the garden snake gave me a good laugh.

    I like that you have a bright yellow Tonka truck -- at least that's what it looks like.

    Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

    donna

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