How Does Your Garden Grow?

We have been working out in the backyard these past 2 months. Whew! We had a lot of this and that to clear out, aka leaves, limbs, broken pots, and just a good general cleaning. 

Petunias, my favorite.

Our goldfish pond. I am going to try and hide the "waterfall", I just have to put on my thinking cap and figure out how. See the comet next to the "waterfall". We have two, actually three but one is in a aquarium in the house. Gigantor was very mean last year when the two comets were small and kept on bullying them. They are now as big as he is.

This area of the yard was a big problem. Runoff from the neighbor's house made this area swampy. Grass didn't grow and neither did weeds. Made the dogs paws so muddy. We decided to turn this area into a Japanese style garden. Hubby stained the walkway and we added the rocks this year. Please ignore the tires, the neighbors use them to keep their two dogs from digging under the fence.

I planted three clumps of grasses and they are doing well. We plan on adding some seating to the deck area (upper left hand corner) in the Fall.

Pansies are still beautiful.

You can see the vegetable garden at the top of this picture. Butterfly bush and rudbeckia (black eyed susan) are planted right behind the concrete birdbath. By the end of summer they will both be filled out.

Garden gate.

Hydrangea is planted against the house in the side yard. 

Clump of daisies. Perennial from last year.

Purslane-type of succulent. 

Caladiums. I plan on planting the pot of irises (on the rocks) right where they are. Just as you walk into the Japanese garden they will be there to greet you.

Daylilies and lamb's ear.

Our garden bridge. The "ditch" gets so swampy, not to mention gross. The runoff from all the neighbors comes right down this little area and all the neighbors have dogs so you know what that means :( But I love my bridge :)))

Lilypads. 

Hostas to the right of the pond.

Fountain on the deck.

Fuchsia flower.

Garden cherub found at an estate sale for about .75.

My peony bush is so pretty this year. It is blooming two different flowers. One like this and one like this:

The flowers are bigger than my hand!

Deutzia bush with tiny white flowers. My father in law brought this to us a few years ago. I had it in a pot and planted it last year. It is still small 2'x2', but it will get big. It is from a cutting that he started from the mother plant. He was given his cutting from a sweet lady, Mrs. S from my hometown. You can see a few pictures from my hometown here.

Salsa garden: roma tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and blackberries. We picked about 4 gallons of blackberries last year.

Bottom left corner is a peek of garden #2. I planted tomatoes, beans, squash, zucchini, sunflowers, peas, onions, asparagus, raspberries, radishes,  & carrots. This is the view from the bridge.

Hope you enjoyed the garden tour,

Holly

ps. I will show you what I have been working on for the last month. Between this project and working in the yard, I have just been so slack on blogging. So sorry!