Karen ~ It does take a while for roses to really do their thing, especially if you buy them small. Yours are stunning and you have so many beauties. I have around 30 or so these days, have lost some. What do you feed yours?

Mindy ~ I would say your gardens are waking up nicely. Love your patio, deck and different beds. It does look like you have some tulips blooming. Post again later when more is in bloom.

Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady

FlowerLady, I feed them RoseTone. I need to be out there giving them their second feeding now, in fact.

All of your pics are beautiful!

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lavendrfem ~ Love that picture with the butterfly. Love your green irownwork also, is that a gate?

Karen ~ thanks for the name of feed for roses.

FlowerLady

This is my whimsical cottage style...pink flamingos and all!
Jen

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-Jen, glad to see your garden, pink flamingoes too, again.

-trailrunner, I can't see your pic anymore!!!
CMK

Flowerlady - that's a green wrought iron trellis that's at the end of the walkway in front. I bought it at Big Lots end of season for $18! Last year I planted climbing blaze and I'm hoping to get a first bloom this year. if I do I'll send a picture to the gardenweb.

Jen - I absolutely LOVE your flamingoes! they are so cute! I've been wanting them myself!

Estelle

Hi all,
Been gone awhile.This TX heat got me last year. Lost alot of plants because of my ammended clay soil. I have lasagna beds built up about 12" then the clay starts. Even with my water meter I still watered because the meter showed the ammended soil to be dry,dry.The plants were actually getting moisture from the wet,wet clay. So needless to say I overwatered. This pix is from July '07. I call it my hobbit house. Great thread btw! Kim
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I thought for a bit about what picture to post then I decided to just stick my camera outside the back door and show what the garden looks like this very day. As you can see May is a very GREEN month here. We have been having heavy showers all day and it's like living in slightly chilly jungle at present. I have to say that I think green is a very important colour in the garden and that I am not too keen on lots of blobs of random colour. But maybe that's because I live in a green muted palette climate and that's what I'm used to.
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What is that tree, Flora? The one with the contorted limbs and trunks? Just gorgeous!

I want one too!

Janie

It's a medlar. You can just about see a couple of the blossoms. Like large white apple blossoms.

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here is a little shot from my front garden. I love those yellow lillies.. my new favorite flower. :)

It's been awfully difficult choosing only one photograph to illustrate my garden! I can't say that this one is really a favorite - it leaves out too much, too many details are lost because of the distance, etc., etc. Maybe I'm taking it all too seriously.

But this photo does show my effort to blend my flowerbeds with a backdrop of thick woods and to balance "control" (neat edges, weeding and such) with "natural" (mixtures and juxtapositions that appear - and given reseeding, often ARE - unplanned). It also shows how I've tried to break through the barrier of the woods a little. See the sandy path that heads back into the woods at either side of this bed? That shadier area allows me to grow things like ferns, solomon's seal, winter daphne, columbine, hydrangea, impatiens, hosta and such in cooler conditions.

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Oh my goodness, more wonderful pictures! I thought this thread had finished. I am glad it hasn't!

-Flora, I love the green jungle look; it is so peaceful and lush!
CMK

Oh I can't believe you made this so hard! One picture to sum up all my my hard work? Well I had to settle on this week's favorite picture. I cheated a bit though and included a link for some of my other "favorite" photos. Please stop by for a visit, I'll make you a latte'. ;-)

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Here is a link that might be useful: My garden

sorry. I had to move it to a new album as I was making a new slideshow for someone. Here is the same pic...I didn't know it broke the connection when you changed to a new album. c

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My gardens are just getting going so I don't have a pic yet, but I wanted to just say I can't count the number of times I've come back to this thread to view the pics. Such inspiration! Thank you for sharing, everyone!!

Renee in NY

This thread is better than a good gardening magazine. I see lots of ideas to copy.

I really enjoyed all of your gardens! I'm going to take my first stab at posting a photo.

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Wonderful, wonderful pictures!

Iris time in Tennessee: {{gwi:678772}}

Wow. That's about all I can say. So many different styles, so many beautiful photos. Thank you for this thread, everyone!

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Everyones gardens are just so beautiful. Here's a picture of my front garden bed taken a few days ago. If only I could remove my neighbors truck and garbage cans!! oh well just pretend you don't see them. I just love my Lupine!

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Ghoghunter, I love your lupines too! Maybe it's time to put up some lattice panels between your neighbor's driveway and your garden, then grow something pretty and flowery up it!

What a fantastic thread this is!

I've been wondering for a while on what photo to post. One of the garden in Spring, with all the roses and stuff, would be obvious, but then I realized nobody seemed to have posted a pic of the garden in Fall. I absolutely love my garden in the Fall and Winter and I'm forever tweaking it to add more interest to the usually "forgotten" times of the year. So here it is, a picture that sums up the lovely Fall colors as seen from the comfort of the house.

Eduarda

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Here I go

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Just finished covering up Bermuda grass, and will be planting groundcovers (steppables) to be able to walk around.
There are 6 red and white climbing roses planted at the base of a white arbor, and eventually will cover it up with blooms.

bluesunflower, thanks for including the link to all those wonderful photos of your garden. It was a real treat to see.
Thank you to everyone for creating this beautiful, inspiring thread!

I'm going to go with this one...while I felt it was a little 'over the top' last year, it certainly defines my "if you can see dirt, you need MORE FLOWERS!" approach:

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Eduarda, that is a wonderful choice. I love that you chose autumn. It is my favorite season. That's a really great picuture too!

floral_euphoria, thank you so much for looking at my garden and for your wonderful compliment. :-)

I love seeing all of your beautiful gardens! I keep coming back to this thread to see them again and again.

LeSan

I'm usually a lurker here but I couldn't resist joining in on this.

Everyone's gardens are just beautiful! Some photos give a calm and serene feeling while others are a delightful riot of color. I love them all.

Since my gardens are just starting to wake up I've included a photo that was taken last year. I have 5 different gardens. I'm not sure what my style is but I do try to pack in as many flowers into them as possible.

This is the front of my rose garden. Since this photo was taken, the retaining wall has been completed and the climbing red rose is well over the top of the arbor. Once you walk through the arbor, there is a stone path that wonders through the rose garden. The garden has a sitting area with a bubbling bird bath and lots of lavender and other perennials to compliment the roses.

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cherrie, don't lurk any longer! Your garden is BEAUTIFUL!

This has turned out to be a wonderful thread full of lovely gardens, big and small, colorful or subdued, winter, summer, spring and fall, fantastic one and all.

FlowerLady

Cherriej,
your garden is abundant with beauty and life - I would definitely call it a cottage garden! You belong here girl! :)
Welcome, and show us more - we love pictures!!

GGG, by the way, I LOVE the idea of that bike wheel on top of the (is it a vine pole?) Gives them a nice place to go once they reach the top, instead of flopping over with nowhere to go (like mine).
Thanks for the idea! (Now to convince DH to put them up there on my 3 poles...)

just have to come back into this thread and say thank you to everyone who has posted pictures, links, ect to their gardens. This is one of the very first things I do every morning - check and see who has posted something new and also go back and look at a lot of them again. It is just a joy and the ideas are endless - thanks again ....

Lynne

I don't have many pictures from my garden, but I took a small set of them about three weeks ago. I can't believe how much things have grown since then. We are still working to fill it in as it is only two years old. I love bold color and try to work in as many colors and textures as possible from any one viewpoint.

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This is a picture from one of our gardens. (Excuse the weeds). My mom planted the azalea and placed the statue there a long time ago. She got me hooked on gardening.

I like to work with different colors and textures. I guess you could say I'm a frugal gardener---I love looking for "freebies", rescuing half-dead perennials for $1.00 at farm markets, and just bargain-hunting in general!

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I realize this doesn't look terribly "cottagey" - the cottage garden I started at this house never really took off. But, this photo shows my favorite garden spot - the patio and shadey end of the border. This area looked a little different each year, and required a LOT of maintenance due to "dirty trees" like walnut and wild sumac (and a @#$ trumpet vine just out of frame). But in early June, it always looked wonderful. I could frequently be found out here as late as 11 p.m. puttering around, fussing with things. We've moved now, and I have a wonderful blank canvas at the new house to start with. I hope to have some photos soon to share of the new place!

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Great topic, and I think we need to do another one in mid July when things are really growing!

Mine pales in comparison, but you have to realize that this garden is only a month old. We built a new addition to the house which meant a new garden from scratch. It looks better in person than the pictures.

Once our humongus crepe myrtle are in bloom, along with the other wild flowers, it will look so much better!

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Today I happily discovered this Cottage Garden Forum and this particular post, and I don't think I will ever be the same. What great fun and sharing.
Pat

Marynj - I love your photo! My Mom is the inspiration behind my gardening as well. Thank you for sharing.

Pat, welcome! I have been around the GW forums for several years, but lately have not been here at all. I just returned from a long hiatus, and have been hanging out here in the Cottage Garden forum. It's a wonderful group and the photos in this particular thread are AMAZING!!

I can't seem to post just one picture. So I'll
post a link if anyone is interested.

Happy Saturday
It's a hot sunny day here.

Brenda
NOLA

Here is a link that might be useful: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/572860753WXzBbi

Thanks for the glimpse into these wonderful gardens!Once springtime comes, I can't bear to be inside.I'm forever outside playing in the dirt and moving things around.It's still early in the season so not much is in bloom yet.It is hard to pick just one photo, but I like this simple combination of texture and color.

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Here's part of my backyard garden.Love all the pictures posted.You have all been a busy bunch,and that's fine with me.LOL I love seeing what you all grow,so i can oooohhhhhhh and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh all over them
Thanks for sharing.
Kathi

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This is a terrific idea christinmk. Everyone's pictures are gorgeous.
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Thank you, blondiesc!

This is one of my favorite areas in my garden. This photo was taken May 28th, 2009:

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~Annie
sweetannie4u