Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Front Garden Pictures in July of Tiger Gardens


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It's time for a frontyard garden tour. With all of the recent rains I am not afraid to show the gardens now so here goes. The grass is now green and the plants are doing fine but I must admit it is time for more rains already.

It is rather odd to have a pumpkin growing in my frontyard since the potager is in the backyard but that is just what I have. This pumpkin plant was a volunteer from the birds and it has some cute little pumpkins on it.
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The pots and foundation gardens have loved the rains.
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I recently lined this front foundation bed with rocks picked up in Louisville from my daughter's neighborhood. I am a big fan of trenching garden beds as I feel these kinds of edges are easier to maintain than a rock edge, but I had done such a good job of trenching this particular garden that I had a big ditch edging this bed; which really needed some rocks to fill it in. The pond is to our left and you'll see it in this post.
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A 'Limelight' moved from another location to behind the new waterfall area is looking like it is happy. We are looking toward the road when we look in this direction.
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The northern end of one of the foundation gardens.
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The pond. The water is crystal clear even with all of the rains we have had recently. I do have to rinse out the filter pad in the skimmer box every other day or so. I rinse the pads in the waterfall box about once every two weeks or so.
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I used to have 'Knockout' roses in this location but found the area was too shady for them to grow well. My house faces east but the rising sun is blocked by mature trees so this location really does not get a lot of sun. The newly planted mophead hydrangeas are liking the spot. Before I know it they will be big and will fill up this area of the foundation bed.
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This small garden was made along with the new pond. It is loaded with some nice plants and is a focal point from the front of the house. The patio and pond are to the left of this view.
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The pot ghetto likes the rain and is looking rather nice this time of the year. I place plants that are tender or that need a lot of sun in this location as it is the area of my property that receives the most sun.
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When needed I water the pots from the nearby two rainbarrels. I will soon be hooking up some  more rainbarrels on the other side of the house. Rainbarrels complete but I must now install the diverter in the new location on the backside of the house. The rainfall diverter I used in this front location is a crappy diverter. I would never recommend it to anyone. I purchased another one for the other side of the house. At some point I will rate the rainfall diverters I have tried out.
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The sunny perennial border is no longer sunny but some plants do well here. I show you this picture to demonstrate how ratty looking bearded irises get by mid summer. Their saving grace is their spikey foliage and drought tolerance and of course lovely bloom in the spring. Sedum is a fine plant for all gardens all the time.
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The long silverberry hedge to the right blocks the road. We are looking to the end of our property to our wooden privacy fence. This view shows one of my window flags adorning the fence. I don't think I've shared those flags but might at some point. Blogging sometimes gets overwhelming to me because there is so much I'd like to post but I just can't find the time or energy to do it anymore. I like paths that have a destination and it sure looks like there is a destination at the end of this path. Looks can be deceiving though.
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A front shady bed I call the St. Francis garden is visible from the roadside. My dear Uncle gave me the eagle last fall when he came to visit. I think of him whenever I see this eagle; which is daily since it is the first thing I see in the frontyard. You will see the back side of this bed in a picture further down in this post. The glass in the background is my red window mosaic. To see it in all of its glory check this post here.
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The driveway garden is a challenging garden for me due to its shade and extreme dryness because of root competition from a nearby oak. Two years ago I converted this entire garden from hydrangeas and other water loving plants to drought tolerant plants. Unfortunately I did not completely eliminate hydrangeas as these three oakleafs still grow here. I do have to water them in times of drought. If they die or fail to thrive within the next two years they will be removed and replaced with something else like a holly or cleyera.
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Here is a longer shot of the driveway garden. Drought tolerant plants growing here include: 'Adagio' miscanthus, buddleia, hollies, asters, irises, verbena bonariensis, 'The Fairy' rose, St. John's wort, 'Autumn Joy' and 'Autumn Flame' sedum (they look the same), threadleaf amsonia, 'Blue Ice' amsonia, hellebores, catmint, prickly pears, yuccas, and spiraea.
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Another shot of the driveway garden. Sedum really does well here but I have to fight off the voles each winter in order to keep the sedum alive.
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My friend Geri gave me an arbor when she moved away. You'll hear about that soon and see her lovely garden as well. I did not know where to put the arbor but another one of my friends said to put it here. I placed the arbor here temporarily and have found I like the location. I never wanted an arbor in this location but it is actually quite perfect. I am propagating a thornless rose to grow over the arbor. I also recently made a new garden on the right to accommodate the rose and a few perennials and bulbs. I am steering away from annuals because they tend to crowd out the perennials by the end of the summer. So there is no room for annuals here. 
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Here is the new small garden. It is a funky garden in that I edged some of the edge with bricks on end and other areas I did not edge because there are large concrete patio blocks here on the ground. They are the edge for my garden. This way water can flow into the garden from the grassy area. I had to keep this new garden area small because the grassy area on the right contains a lot of bulbs and is also a pathway for us.
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Here is the Front Sidewalk garden and grassy area with patio blocks and bulbs.
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The back side of the St. Francis lets us see why I call this garden what I call it. I placed the pots of caladiums here because under them grows a mass of hyacinth bulbs. I did not want to plant anything on top of the hyacinths. The caladiums were a gift from my friend Geri. I will winter over these tender bulbs in my greenhouse.
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Finally, a side view of our pond. I can honestly get lost in this pond when I have a down moment. I sit on the nearby glider (also a gift from Geri) and watch the koi and dragonflies in the pond. Hours can pass by rather quickly and I tell you it is a pleasure being in the front yard....


in the garden....

If you are doing a fall veggie garden or even a mid summer veggie garden now is a good time to plant beans, peas, and carrots. I planted mine yesterday and am looking for some good things in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

18 comments:

  1. It was a real pleasure for me to tour your front garden this morning. What a treat to be able to walk around your gardens 'for real' must be. So much to see and enjoy. I love your style and all of your views and nooks and crannies.

    Happy gardening ~ FlowerLady

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  2. When I click on your pics, it goes to Yahoo ID. I don't have a Yahoo account so I can't enlarge your pics.

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    1. Sally's Mom, When I upload my photos I upload them to Flickr; which is a Yahoo product. I am sure it is a marketing ploy to get you to sign up with them in order for you to enlarge these pics. Has this ever happened before on here? So sorry about it but that is the way they are set up I am guessing. Honestly though, I have all of my photos set to private-viewed only by me so I am not sure if anyone could even see my albums (I hope not) and I like it like that preferring to keep what photos I wish to make public only on the blog or FB. That being said I would think you would at least be able to enlarge them. Weird.

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  3. Your garden is just beautiful...my mom said she could spend hours in there just walking around looking in every nook and cranny....you have lots of different types of plants....have a great day...just me..stella rose

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  4. Your garden is looking so lush and lovely, sadly mine has been only maintained this year and no annuals planted, so there is not much color.

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  5. Oh my goodness, what a lovely garden. I could spend the day just looking at all this lushness. It sure looks great with not having enough rain. My sedum is not doing so good here. It was a gift from brother in N.Ga.

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  6. THAT is a lot of garden to care for! I am love, love loving the pond!

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  7. That's just the front garden? Wow. It looks good. The arbor works there. I like the plant ghetto. I have a spot like that by the air conditioner some times. The pond is really doing well for you. Glad to hear your got more rain barrels set up. Mine finally got some drops in one this morning. It is amazing how fast they can fill.

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  8. Tina what a great tour and everything is so green...more brown than green stil here. Can't wait to see the arbor garden. I am growing more veggies for a later harvest...posting about it tomorrow...

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  9. You have shared so much with this post, hard to know where to begin. I am VERY taken with your pond. You should pat yourself on the back for the hard work paying off!! I have a lot of dry shade too. Have been battling the elements. Hard to know what to plant. So far I have a lot of Oakleaf Hydrangeas, Pieris, azaleas and a couple mountain laurels.... one can be doing great, move five feet and another is barely hanging on!

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  10. Good to see you got the rain you needed! We got some rain to but could do with more. I'm sure that new arbor will be an integral part of your garden.

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  11. I meant to say that I also had a volunteer plant come up & it turned out to be a Butternut Squash. It's not as big as in the store but it's edible. I also love the arbor. Such nice gifts from a friend.

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  12. I love your garden. I would grow grapes up that arbor! I noticed on of your beds has pine leave in the mulch or as the mulch? Are the plants there tolerant of the acidity? Or don't they really effect the pants?
    http://www.flowersforums.com/ruth/blog/

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  13. Thanks for sharing so much of your garden in this post. It really gives a full picture with all the wide and long views. The pond is really pretty that way you landscaped it. I like the look of rock borders, and have done them myself, but they are always a lot of work to keep grass and weeds out.

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  14. So green and colourful! Lovely gift of pumpkin from bird that likes your garden.

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  15. I loved seeing your garden. I really think the arbor is in the perfect spot. But my favorite place would be the pond area. How beautiful, and yes - it looks so relaxing! That's where I would love to hang out!

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  16. Thanks for the tour of your gardens! You sure are lucky to have so much room. I think my favorite is the pond. Maybe someday I'll have one myself. You finally got some rain? We have too, but still not even close to enough to green things up. I've lost a lot of plants this year, and the veggie garden is a mess. Maybe next year will be better. You asked how I took such a close up shot of a fly. I'm pretty good at slowly sneaking up on butterflies and such. Just quiet and slow with my macro all ready to snap!

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