Share your garden pictures 2012!

Cafe Society
1

I can’t believe I missed the first wave of flowers. The sea of tulips, crocuses and daffodils have come and gone. I took these in something of a rush, so combined with that and my general lack of expertise in photography, they don’t quite capture the rage of colours that has erupted. For example, the former deadzone at the end of the driveway is now a pointillist paradise of yellow and blue faces, but they seem somewhat lost in these shots. They also lack much of the deeper greens of the foliage plants and, of course, the rather heady air that hangs in the garden (right now it’s from the lilacs, soon the lavenders will take over, with perhaps a catmint interlude). Ach, it’s still fun to share.

It’s still relatively early in the season, with much of the garden still developing. Every couple of weeks tends to bring a different plants’ new blooms. The forest is just about to burst—it looks like it’s going to be an excellent year for mountain laurels. I’ll hopefully get a chance to capture them as the summer creeps on.

Garden, late spring 2012

Have pics? Share share!

2

Great pics - what’s the round purple one? A neighbor has some of those, and I think they’re awesome. But she’s never out when I’m walking the dogs for me to ask her.

Edit: Also, love the patio. Did you do it yourself? I’m considering that either this summer or next.

3

There are two round purples–both in the onion family. The smallerones around Sideshow Bob(the massive catnip plant in the small stone planter) are regular chives. The larger, more Seussianones near the back are Alliums.

The patio was there already, but we’re thinking of taking estimates this year to extend it along the walkway from the gate to the porch. The stone is nice, but it can be murder on guests’ heels.

4

Ah, alliums. I’ll need to look into those.

5

The Marvelous Garden.

6

My flowers. and my veggies.

Crossing my fingers for a good year. So far, it’s the longest growing season I can remember as evidenced by these pictures of everything that bloomed this winter.

7

Are you growing impatiens in an apron?

8

No, they are bags designed for hanging flowers.

9

Biggirl, your pictures are amazing.

10

Thanks!

11

Well, it’s interesting you say that…

Our house was subdivided into 5 apartments over the years. We bought it in 2007 and took it back to its original single family configuration. We moved in late December of 2008, with the barest minimum required for habitation. (ie. We had a functioning sink, toilet and bathtub. They weren’t on the same floors, mind you - that came later.) It’s been a long, slow, satisfying process…

I’ve started a PhotoBucket album called ‘Gardens 2012’.

Most of the interior is finished. The exterior was -

In the Back Yard, a parking lot, fire escape and small patio of interlock brick. We took out the asphalt and the concrete last year, but what was underneath was clay fit only for the growing of weeds.

In the Front Yard, the landlord had laid down crushed brick gravel. Unfortunately, he neglected to lay down a layer of plastic or cloth to prevent weeds. The result was something too dense to get a trowel or a shovel through that admirably protected the roots of thistles, Manitoba Maple and other annoying plants.

This is finally the year when, after rocking the Haunted House look for years, we are tackling the front and back yards. We’re taking out the scraggly trees in the back, fixing the drainage front and back, taking out the crappy soil and putting in some manure/topsoil mix. We’ll take out the wrought iron railings on the front porch, keep the structure of the metal posts but cladding them with something pretty. We’ll then do the same railings as we have on the back deck, 2nd floor deck and 3rd floor deck.

2nd and 3rd floor decks will have container gardens. The third floor gets full sunlight, ours being the tallest house for a ways, so it’s the logical place to grow herbs and lettuce. We will string fishing line from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor and plant Morning Glory and Moon Vine, in the hope that it will climb and offer shade on the 2nd floor.

12

Sorry, the last line got cut off and I missed the edit window…

I fondly hope that over the next couple of months, I’ll have something remotely worth sharing with the pictures of Dopers’ lovely gardens…

13

What are you going to put in that beautiful blue glazed pot? I suggest a tall thing and a hangy thing.

14

Ministre, you have crushed rock problem. All of our paths are riverstone. They look nice–when they’re maintained–but can be a bitch to walk on. Not so much in the day-to-day, but any garden parties are accompanied with a bit of consternation. People with $500 heels do not want to walk on crushed stone. So much so that they never attend our soirees. Ours is compacted earth, then heavy-duty landscaping fabric, then the stone. But within a few years, enough dirt falls on top of the fabric to start things rooting downwards and enough things poke their heads upwards that patches need replacing. And if you’ve any sort of hill you’ll be spending time and effort every few years bringing in new stone. I’d love to collect it all and put down sod or some other (relatively) easy to maintain grass. Of course, that won’t make heels any easier, and I’m sure it’s inviting a whole other host of problems. Any plans or ideas?

Our ninebark and flowering dogwood just popped, and the laurel explosion has begun. Unfortunately, it’s looking overcast for the next week or so–pictures won’t be as nice this year.

Just Googled “hanging flower bag.” What a great idea–can they do veggies too?

15

Longer term, I was hoping to use the pretty blue glazed pot inside the house. That was before the Dining Room bay window got taken over by the desk where the kids do much of their homework…

My solution front and back - we have to put in French drains to take the rainwater away from the house. (By city bylaws, we are no longer allowed to send it into the rest of the sewage system as it was causing severe pollution in the lake. I’ll spare you the details; bottom line - all houses now have to deal with their own rainwater.) I would like to scrape down at least 12 - 18 inches and then build things back up with good topsoil and a drainage plan. I’d also like to make sure that we have enough plants that much of the rainwater gets used.

In the back yard, I want 18" flower beds along the fences. We’ll need a pair of interlock brick pads - one for the garbage/compost/recycling bins, and one with space to lock up 4 bikes. The rest will be lawn, fenced in so that we can turn the dog out in the back from time to time.

In the front, we will replace the existing walkways with interlock brick, and create at least a pad 32" X 32" where the basement steps come up. The rest will be a modest flower garden. I’m hoping to get a Briar rose for the space between the AC and the basement steps - it will be trained to climb straight up to the porch, where it will be trained to spread out. Then a clematis in front of the rose, and a stonecrop in front of the clematis. The rest of the front garden will be much shorter (18" and under) plants…

For the decks, I want to put long (12" X ~36") containers on the far side of the railing, on blocks of styrofoam insulation so they don’t affect the roofing. Then another set of containers attached to the top rail, maximizing the greenery (and privacy) up there.

It has been too long since I’ve had a garden, and it’s been driving me batty. My big challenge will be to be patient and only add a few plants a year. Does that sound familiar to any of you? :smiley:

16

Up here in Canada, they were originally called ‘strawberry bags’. I’m sure leafy greens would do very well in them (though I’ve never tried) and they would eliminate the problem of your lettuce leaves landing in the dirt and going all spoogly.

17

Yeah, it’s pretty sturdy plastic. You can grow pretty much anything in them. Well, maybe not watermelons!

18

Not really a garden, but this is the entrance to our house - taken last month.

19

That’s pretty awesome. Are those steps behind the flowers–do you get to stoop in through some sort of colourful cave?

20

More or less - it’s a short walk under the Bougainvillea to the front door. I try to keep it trimmed so that I don’t have to duck, but I’m not very tall - 5’7”. My wife is quite petite, so she doesn’t have any issues. Everyone else - duck! The Bougainvillea is beautiful, but it’s messy, and thorny (like pretty much everything out here), so I need to keep an eye on it lest people get scratched.