Garden Tour Finale

This is the final garden on the garden tour.

If you missed the first two gardens you can see them here.

You can see the third garden here.

And the fourth garden here.

Actually, this garden wasn't part of the official garden tour

but I thought it definately should have been.

This garden belongs to my parents.

All of the flowers in the pots my dad grew himself in his greenhouse.

The chokecherry trees are full of berries

and I am dreaming of chokecherry syrup on my pancakes.

I can't wait until they are ripe!

I don't know the name of this plant

but it thrives in the hot sun and blooms forever.

The roses are beautiful.

The bachelor buttons are in full bloom.

Now I wonder why they are called bachelor buttons?

There is a whole row of these gorgeous pansies

along the north wall of the greenhouse.

These beautiful ruffled poppies grow along the end of their garden area.

They are absolutely stunning.

And you can't have a farm without a few kittens.

They posed so nicely for me!

~Finding the amazing in the simple~

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Garden Tour - Part 3

Today I am showing you the fourth garden on our garden tour.

If you missed the first two gardens you can see them here

and you can see the third garden here.

This was another yard that had no grass but was filled with

trees, shrubs and over 100 perennials.

The owners of this home moved in in the year 2000

and there was nothing in the yard.

They have created a beautiful oasis from scratch.

This was one of the neatest things I saw -

a mushroom water feature!

There were beautiful lilies blooming everywhere.

I loved what they did with this old piece of wood.

And the aroma from these climbing roses filled the yard with fragrance.

There was also a lovely water feature by the gazebo.

The cattails in the back are solar lights -

how cool is that :)

My daughter fell in love with all the color variations of lilies.

The mushrooms hiding in the barrel were a delightful surprise.

This natural looking birdhouse was wonderful.

We have a lot of wood in our yard so I think I will try making one.

And I loved the little accents in the pots by the front door.

Hope you enjoyed this fourth garden as much as we did!

~Finding the amazing in the simple~

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I am joining...

Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Garden Party

Garden Tour - Part 2

Today I am going to share with you some of the photos

I took from the third garden we toured on our garden tour.

If you missed the first two gardens you can go here to visit them.

This third garden was again completely different from the first two.

It was in an area of the city that has a lot of brand new construction.

The owners of this property took possession in 2009

and did all the landscaping and backyard construction themselves.

My favorite part of this whole garden was the greenhouse.

I would really, really like a new greenhouse

and this one was superb.

It had lots of shelves and the roof had opening vents.

I think I spent more time looking at the greenhouse

than I did at the actual gardens - lol.

One unique thing about this garden,

which I didn't take a picture of,

was the heavily mulched wide pathways.

This was also the only garden on the tour

that had a small garden area.

There were a lot of cleamtis' and they looked so pretty on this trellis.

There was also a bench by this trellis

making it a perfect spot for posing for pictures.

In their shady area they had wonderful hostas

that were blooming.

The front yard was beautiful, full of flowers with no grass in sight.

The front yard has full sun exposure

and contained many hardy perennials.

It also contained many native plants.

Aren't these hen & chicks unique?

The front garden also had a beautiful stone pathway

so you could walk through the garden.

Hope you enjoyed this third garden on our garden tour!

~Finding the amazing in the simple~

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I am joining...

Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Garden Party

Garden Tour - Part 1

My mom, my daughter and myself

went on the Horticultural Societies Annual Garden Tour.

We toured four gardens and then lunch was provided

followed by a special presentation

by a horticulturalist on growing a cutting garden.

Since I have been fascinated with the concept of a cutting garden for years

and finally have some semblence of one this year

I found the presentation so interesting and informative.

I took lots of pictures so I have divided it up into four separate posts.

This first garden was out in the country

and was all about the view.

Can you just imagine sitting on this back deck

and having this gorgeous view every single morning.

This garden was established in the 1970s

and was a bare hill prior to the planting of hundreds of trees,

shrubs and perennial plants.

We normally have hot, sunny, windy weather

but this garden was so sheltered there was a lot of shade

and it was very protected from the wind.

It was so quiet and peaceful.

I loved the details on this bird bath.

And as you walked around the property

there were lots of secret garden areas.

This one led to an enclosed play area

with swings and a large grassy area.

And wherever you turned there were little surprises

that were such a delight.

The second garden we went to was the complete opposite of the first

as it was a xeriscape project.

This garden used native and drought tolerant plants

along with organic and rock mulch

which minizes the water use and time required

for maintenance of the landscape.

I loved the bright bunches of purple

that stood out so vividly against the rockscape.

They also had some cacti growing

and were just finishing blooming.

I hope you enjoyed these first two gardens.

I love how each garden is as unique as the gardener

who lovingly tends it.

~Finding the amazing in the simple~

Thanks so much for stopping by!