Garden Pictures

I finally got around to taking some pictures of our flower beds and our veggie garden. I'll do the veggie garden first......

The garden, or as DH calls it, the truck patch...so far, everything seems to be doing well. We don't have tomatoes yet, but we seem to have lots of flowers on the plants. The plants on the outside of our fence is our horseradish....I dug some up this past spring and grated the roots...boy, is that stuff strong while I'm working with it! But it's so delicious!





Our cherry peppers; they won't get real big, but they're supposed to taste wonderful. And I just love peppers of all kinds.



Green peppers.



Zucchini amongst the corn plants



Zucchini and yellow summer squash, broccoli and bush green beans. We didn't cultivate well next to the squash plants, because the red beets hadn't come up yet. We do now have red beet plants poking through the soil.

And here are some plants from our flower bed in the back yard.....

Most of the bed can be seen here.



The daylilies are starting to bloom.



The pink daylilies.



The lavender is starting to bloom now, too. I was worried about it as it didn't seem to be doing well. Next to the lavender is penstemon....I love this plant because it is very drought-resistant and loves full sun. The little white flowers are rather ordinanary, I guess, but I love the foliage.

Right in front of the lavender is a black walnut tree start. Darn squirrels steal our walnuts, then bury the seeds....we have little walnut trees everywhere!

And here is the flower bed in front of the house. We just started this bed last spring, so it's still in a young stage.

Look in the window.....there's our Mollipop!





I love blanket flowers! This is burgundy. We also have lemon-lime, but it's not blooming yet. Very drought resistant and it blooms all summer with deadheading. Our plants at the other side of the house bloomed until almost December last year! They're close to the house, so they received the heat from the brick.



Moonbeam coreopsis. We bought two more plants this spring, so hopefully that area will really be pretty next year. This picture does not show that deep yellow color! They are gorgeous!



Our lilies and Purple Palace Coralbells. You can see the white stone edging holding down the rain spouting. We ordered dragon rainspouts from Toscano Design, but they haven't come in yet. I think the dragons will look so much better than edging!



And, of course, Rupert, my favorite gargoyle!



Thanks for looking! I just love summer!

Oh wow, your garden looks great and what a good fence you have too. Cherry peppers....that's a new one. Very nice.

The flowers are gorgeous. I love the pink lillies .

Mollypop just has to get in the action!!

Very nice place you have there!

If l didn't know any different i'd say l was looking at pictures of an English country garden!!!. It's beautiful

That shrub you asked me about in my garden?. It's a Barberry

http://www.naturehills.com/product/r..._barberry.aspx

Very pretty!

Thank you! We've been working on the beds and in the veggie garden....there are so many plants we'd like to add. I try to work with flowers and plants that are drought-resistant because our summers are usually quite dry. So we tend go with a lot of blanket flowers, penstemon, coneflowers, and black-eyed Susans. I just love daylilies and we're slowly getting a nice variety of them. I love poppies in the spring, but they don't last very long. We tend to stay away from annuals simply because they only last one year. We'll buy more perennials, and then we can use a few annuals here and there for spot color, particularly during the summer months.

After we get the front bed on its way, we're going to go right around to the end of the house and start working on a bed there. And once we're finished tearing apart and redoing the planting areas by the pool, I'll take some pictures of that area, too. The pool is going to need another liner installed within the next few years, so that's on our list of things to do.

The moon garden is coming along nicely, although I still haven't found the old wooden screen doors that I want to use as a backdrop for the white wisteria tree, which will be the focal point for that garden.

Susan, I just love your barberry....what a gorgeous shrub! I checked and it is good in our planting zone and does best in full sun. And it's deer resistant. We'll have to see if we can find some barberry around here.....it would make a beautiful hedge at a property line. We tend to see a lot of forsythia bushes and, while they're really pretty and we even have a few shrubs in our back yard, I like the idea of a barberry hedge. Thank you for telling me and thank you for showing your pictures.

If you're looking for barberry, try Home Depot (if there's one in your area). I have them all along one side of my house where the windows are low; the stickers are a great burglar deterrent, and the colors are so pretty.

I love your Rupert!

There is a Home Depot close to us and we're thinking of going there this coming Saturday. There is a Lowe's, too. Thanks for the tip!

(I love Rupert, too! When I see him, he still makes me smile.)

Its looking lovely, you have been working hard. Bet you are looking forward to eating all those veggies

Beautiful gardens!! Everything is so lush and green and alive. Thanks for sharing!!

I'm very much an amateur gardener, though I am also very passionate about it too. Luckily when we bought the house last summer, we inherited a really nice yard and garden with many established plants, which we've been adding to and tweaking a bit here and there to make our own.

WOW!!! Just gorgeous gardens. Very, very lovely and you have done a fabulous job. . I see a cat peeking out of that second floor window in that one photo .

I've got a shrub that's dying off so i might get another Barberry to put in it's place because their quite hardy

Wow, talk about a vibrant yard! Pop, pop, pop! Very nice.

Oh wow it all looks great!! Question for ya; how big are bush beans supposed to get? I planted some and they are partially burried (or mostly) by my zucchini but I saw flowers on them this morning! They are really pretty! LOL (Oh and my summer squash and zucchini are bigger....make them stop!!)

I am drooling just thinking of the horseradish! Horseradish over roast beef.... aahhhhhhh.... drooling like... my daughter when she's teething... Good thing I have dinner in the oven...

I really like the blanket flowers! Next year I want to plant some flowers in the yard. I need to see if they grow here. The yellow ones under those look pretty too!

Thanks for your replies! We like our gardens and you can usually find us outside working somewhere in the yard. That back garden was really pretty during the spring with all the poppies and the irises....there's something about purple and orange that's really gorgeous. I should have taken pictures then.

Mooch, our bush beans are only about 8-10 inches tall and I'm not sure how tall they'll grow, maybe two feet or so? Not anything like pole beans, which can get five feet or taller. That's why we go with bush plants.....because they're small and compact (don't take up a lot of garden space) and they're good producers. DH loves his green beans.

You're so funny with your squash leaves! They can get huge! And those plants will sprawl everywhere. Just keep thinking about how good your squash will be! Yum! (And I really do think it's so neat that you have those plants!)

We like blanket flowers simply because, as long as they're dead-headed, they'll continue to bloom all summer long. Very drought resistant, which is great for our area as we don't get a lot of rain in the northeast some summers. And now they're coming out with all these different colors. Look for "gaillardia" at your nursery. You won't be sorry.

I dearly love horseradish! You're right about roast beef with horseradish ....nothing is as delicious. I also use it in my baked beans, about a good tablespoon or so. In sandwich fillings and in dips. And in a lot of casseroles, just for a little extra zip. I could have used a gas mask when I was grating the stuff, though.....whew, is that stuff strong. Even the cats were sniffing the air and probably wondering what the heck was going on in the kitchen.

What a lovely garden. I love the photo of the most perfect green pepper, all shiny and firm. I can imagine what joy you must have when tending to those vegetables and flowers.

Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

Oh wow it all looks great!! Question for ya; how big are bush beans supposed to get? I planted some and they are partially burried (or mostly) by my zucchini but I saw flowers on them this morning! They are really pretty! LOL (Oh and my summer squash and zucchini are bigger....make them stop!!)

I am drooling just thinking of the horseradish! Horseradish over roast beef.... aahhhhhhh.... drooling like... my daughter when she's teething... Good thing I have dinner in the oven...

I really like the blanket flowers! Next year I want to plant some flowers in the yard. I need to see if they grow here. The yellow ones under those look pretty too!

Click to expand...

I believe bush bean plants grow up to 18". I did grow them a few years back, and they don't very tall, but I can't remember the height. 18" sounds about right, though. I LOVE fresh green beans, so I now only grow pole beans--they pump put more beans, and do that for a much longer period. Also, due to having to save space (I have what I call a "strip" garden--no space for the standard veggie garden), I need to grow as much as I can vertically.

Did you ever grow purple beans? Royal Burgundy is one variety. They are so pretty! The color also makes it much easier to pick them while on the vines. They do turn green when cooked, however.

Originally Posted by MargeCat

I believe bush bean plants grow up to 18". I did grow them a few years back, and they don't very tall, but I can't remember the height. 18" sounds about right, though. I LOVE fresh green beans, so I now only grow pole beans--they pump put more beans, and do that for a much longer period. Also, due to having to save space (I have what I call a "strip" garden--no space for the standard veggie garden), I need to grow as much as I can vertically.

Did you ever grow purple beans? Royal Burgundy is one variety. They are so pretty! The color also makes it much easier to pick them while on the vines. They do turn green when cooked, however.

Click to expand...

Ah ok. I'm just concerned for mine because the zucchini is trying to bury them. But they are in there and flowering...it's just hard to see! My Grandpa does pole beans and they are sooo yummy! I love them sauteed with fresh garlic and olive oil! I've never tried purple ones though.

Originally Posted by Winchester

I dearly love horseradish! You're right about roast beef with horseradish ....nothing is as delicious. I also use it in my baked beans, about a good tablespoon or so. In sandwich fillings and in dips. And in a lot of casseroles, just for a little extra zip. I could have used a gas mask when I was grating the stuff, though.....whew, is that stuff strong. Even the cats were sniffing the air and probably wondering what the heck was going on in the kitchen.

Click to expand...

I put some horseradish in my split pea and ham soup for lunch! Oh that was gooood! You got me thinking about it!

Oooh, purple beans! We'll have to look for them next year. We did pole beans last year by mistake....thought we had bush beans. We ended up having to train them to the garden fence. They do grow beans, lots of beans.

Mooch, horseradish is a perennial....we've had ours now for well over 20 years. My aunt gave me a root to plant and it's been doing well, although it doesn't spread out that much. That might be a good thing for you, too, that it doesn't spread. It is pungent, though. Whew!