My Inspiration...

It has been a very active and cold mid-west winter!  I am longing for the greening of my lawn and the little first signs of new life.  Until then, I am going to entertain myself (and you) with some links to garden planning ideas and pictures of some amazing gardens!

For the last few years I have been ordering seeds for my flower and vegetable gardens from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and they never disappoint with their beautifully illustrated and descriptive catalogs.  I never dreamed there were so many varieties of melons or pink tomatoes one could grow.

Their website also includes a gardening forum with many wonderful gardeners who happily share their gardening knowledge of planning to planting.  Whenever I get a bad case of cabin fever I just thumb through their catalog or visit their website.  The best cure for my winter blues is to start planning my gardens.  My first step is to find gardens for inspiration!

A nearby city park:

 The elements I love about this garden:

The flagstone path and the flush of purple pansies against the backdrop of white tulips.

   

 
At first sight it was just breathtaking in the early afternoon sun.
I wanted to sit there all day!

A farmstead nearby:

My past and present gardens:

 

 The Rosa Rugosa; very hardy, very fragrant,
constant bloomer with bountiful rose hips.

All the lovely tulips.

Front: organic veggie square foot garden bed

Back: pumpkin plants and sunflowers

When I am stuck inside for the winter I visit gardening websites.  Of course, my favorite sites are those of gardener's just like me!  I have become addicted to Google Images for looking at pictures for better conceptualization of my gardens.  Just plug in your key words, for instance, "rose gardens" and you will have millions of photos for perusing and ideas!  The folks at Better Homes and Gardens have an abundance of beautiful garden pictures.  If you are like me you want a good view of your garden from inside your home.  Fine Gardening has a beautiful article on garden views, as well as, many wonderful pictures and resources for all things gardening. 

I enjoy going to the garden forums like GardenWeb and Dave's Garden for all kinds information on plants I am interested in and rated vendors to buy them from.  At times these resources have been invaluable to me as a novice gardener. 

Until next time, enjoy all the wonderful pictures and start planning those gardens!!!

It's a start!

We closed on our little yellow cape cod cottage in the middle of April 2009. With 3 small children and a border collie, my husband and I knew we would have to get to work making the space super efficient. A house with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, of maybe 1,275 sq ft, is small house living for us. We really like the neighborhood where everyone is friendly and someone is always walking their dog. We saw a lot of potential in this little house!

Before moving into our new home we had made a list of projects. The first of many would be our kitchen landscaping.


Those blah shrubs had to go. Having all sorts of cottage gardening ambition but little money or time I decided those great pink hydrangeas I got for Mother's Day would be great planted in front of my little yellow house! (Please excuse the crooked picture!)

Maybe I should call our little house The Pink Lemonade Cottage!

They lasted quite a while through the summer. I really wish I would have done a better job drying the heads. They were really quite beautiful! These plants now reside in the back flower bed next to the house along with all the great Forever Pink hydrangeas. There was just too much sunshine for them to survive. I got several Forever Pink at an end-of-season sale at one of the box stores for a fraction of their normal price! (More on those later this coming spring!)

Here are pictures of our house and backyard after one of the many snows we have had this winter:

A winter wonderland.