Friday, November 14, 2014

Irene's Garden Part III


DSCN1878
We start with whimsy the first thing in this post and I know a lot of you all love whimsy! This bowling ball 'caterpillar' is a lot of fun. The bowling balls for this garden caterpillar actually came from my garden. Irene posted on Freecycle.org that she desired some bowling balls and since I am cleaning my garden up I told her she could have mine. Have you ever participated in a Yahoo email group? That is what Freecycle does. Freecyle is actually a email group of local people who are interested in keeping things out of the dump while sharing with others. So, for instance you happen to have a lot of extra bowling balls or irises and someone needs some you can send an email to the group and offer your extras and the person who may need them will respond. It is then up to you to set a place and time to transfer the items. This needs to be done with common sense as meeting strangers can be a not so good experience. Fortunately, I've been very lucky in many of my dealings with Freecycle members. This is actually how I initially met Irene and her husband. They responded to an email I sent giving away irises. I am betting those irises are still growing well in Irene's garden. You just never know who you might meet on Freecycle as I've met a lot of people who have the same interests as me. Oftentimes we become good friends as in the case of Irene and I.
DSCN1890
Here is the other side of Irene's foundation garden. Don't you love the curved sidewalk? We had curved sidewalks poured at our new house too. I don't know why more people don't do the curved sidewalks as they make getting to the front door easier than walking along all those right angles. As a bonus, your garden will be less formal with curves versus straight angles.
DSCN1889
More of the foundation beds.
DSCN1888
Here we have evergreens mixed with deciduous plants. Even when the 'Red Rooster' is bare of leaves the spent seedpods provide winter interest. I love the variety here and am a stern believer that foundation gardens need not be all evergreen boxwoods. I will soon be posting some pictures of my new foundation beds at Tiger Way Gardens. 
DSCN1885
This butterfly garden out in the field was really lovely. Irene had taken old tires and painted them bright colors with her grandson, and then filled the tires with soil and planted plants. Mainly drought tolerant plants and plants that need good drainage or need to be contained. This garden was a hot, hot garden; which is good for butterflies.
DSCN1883
Now here is the big greenhouses a thing of beauty and what most of us would love to have in our gardens-me included!
DSCN1881
An ornamental garden looking toward the raised vegetable beds.
DSCN1880
'Henry Eiler' coneflowers were stunning on this hot August day.
DSCN1875
Lastly, I leave you with a long shot from the driveway. This is indeed a country garden with lots of great vistas and nice diverse plant material....

in the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

9 comments:

  1. A very nice place. Lucky you to get to see it. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolutely beautiful post. Thanks.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello, greetings.

    Lovely photos and interesting information. The size of the words are nice and big and easy to read without straining the eyes. Very few use such easy to read size. Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
  4. Now I know where those Bowling Balls went... You are lucky with your Freecycle Group. The one in our area is a total bummer. I pass along something such as an extra blender, house décor, etc but don't find much for my gardens. Although, I did get a lot of free bricks once.... That was an awesome find... Irene has a beautiful garden and love the whimsy within.....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for sharing Irene's garden, Tina--I love all her island beds. Living out in the country, too, I don't have the usual square lot that others might have, and I appreciate getting ideas for ways of designing new garden beds. I like her foundation gardens, too. Re-doing my sidewalk garden is tops on my to-do list for next year, so I'm looking forward to seeing your ideas as well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. nice pictures have been collected and thanks sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This post is just a thing of beauty indeed. Thanks.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love color of coneflowers, stunning images.

    ReplyDelete

ALL SPAM WILL BE PROMPTLY FRIED. PLEASE DO NOT LIFT PHOTOS OR WORDS. THANKS!