Wow! That is magnificent! Your own little Eden, hey_j.

Can you tell me what that beautiful hosta is in the right center of the third pic, wonderfully veriegated, to the right of what might be August Moon?

Hi 'evermore' and thank you for liking my view, too!

I have so often referred to my garden as my 'Garden of Eden'! I even found a snake in it the other day--one,
I welcomed--till it snatiched a baby bird! It's a Garter Snake, but we'll have to learn to get along, if it can keep
it's *snacking* on the ground--after the voles, and no chippies, either!!! Think it can follow 'my' rules??LOL

The hosta you are wanting to know about is another of my latest favorites---'Jewel of the Nile'!
Most agree--it is a very vigorous grower and performer and so far, for me, it just looks so wonderful
the whole season!!!!!!

Wow, that is a beautful, serene view. The little splashes of color are just perfect, done the way the Japanese do it.
Just fabulous.

Lainey

Really beautiful. I'd never get out of bed if I could gaze out at that view!

Wow! Beautiful, Janice! Mine does not look half as nice! lol I better get to work!

Yes,I have seen this view from the other side of your windows,and I think your garden should be called "Janice's Jungle"! Lol! You have more plants per square inch,than my whole garden has! It is like a garden of eden,though,and mine is more like a jungle! Phil

what am i to do .. if my windows dont face the garden???

ken

Oh, thank you everyone for your comments--and Phil, Steve often calls our yard 'a jungle'!
I thought he was being uncomplimentary, since he's definitely not 'into' the gardening
and often says I am cluttering up the yard, too much, but when I finally asked him
if he didn't really like all the garden beds, he confessed that he really does think
it's pretty awesome how hosta are such an outstanding plant to have!

Meeting the 'guys' of the forum, as he has, has helped and I think he's finally not afraid
to admit that!!LOL

I have dreamed of looking into the backyard from my bed for so many, many years
and we added on to the end of our home about 4 years ago, and that enabled us to
put our bed on the opposite wall it had been relegated to all those years before,
with the closet having been where the headboard is now. We removed the closet, and flipped
that arrangement, with walk-in closets at the end of the 12-foot addition. I've realized
my dream now, but 'hubby/Steve' HAS to maintain his sleeping rights to the left side
of our king-sized bed (never had a *king* before the expansion), and unfortunately,
he wakes up to the better view--and he never even glances out the window before his coffee!!! LOL

Not fair, but it's okay--I stand there, myself, and gaze often and I am so thankful for
the 'view' and how well things have developed in a relatively short time--about 4 summers,
actually!!!

Ken...the solution is : turn your house around!!.....lol

Janice...fabulous, cosy....simply wonderful and pleasant...and relaxing!
Congratulations!

Papou

Wonderful, inviting, restful, all of the above and more!

So much shade, I love it. I don't wake up to anything as lovely as that. I do have a view of my shared hosta bed out my south bedroom window but I need to look out my diningroon window to see most of my back yard, then I can't really view my hostas.

You do the best you can do with your own little plot of land, but to see what others have done makes you wish for more,or at least I did when I saw your pictures. LOL I can dream can't I!!!!

Connie

ken, do what we did or knock out a huge hole in your wall, and put a picture window
in the appropriate spot, or in your and E.O.'s case (I suspect--most hosta being planted
far from your houses) set up a video surveillance in your area, with a HUGE MONITOR SCREEN
in a wall--say at the foot of your bed!! "Piece a cake"--really!! :o)

We MUST see our hosta--at all cost!!!

Connie--your place, (as I have seen in past photos) is worth the walk to get to!!!
I'd be out there, bleary-eyed, coffee in hand, real early to see your lovely areas!!!
It's *worth the trip*!!!

Hey j

Wow!You really are blessed.All your hard work along with a great lay out of your garden is just beyond words,you have a talent for design,i know when you look out your window you are so thank full for such beauty.How long have you had your garden?I am simply speechless,you have done a great job,should be in a mag.for all the world to see,thank you for sharing this with us.
So many times as i walk my garden, i am so thankful to our wonderful creator for giving us all so much beauty,so many different shades of green,how very lucky we all are that the world in not just black and white eh?We do not own any thing,we are all care givers,you have done good!
Oh, have you ever taken photos of your garden in black and white?What do you do during the winter? :0)
Again,thank you.

Carol

Oh my word, Carol!!!! You have BLESSED my heart today!!! I'm overwhelmed--you know EXACTLY how I see
what I feel I have been allowed to have!

I've never thought about black and white--hmmm--easy to do, I may have to try that!!!

In the winter----I frequent another forum--that is comprised of so many who see things as you and I do,
apparently!!:o)

Oh, and I love to work with old photos, to restore their quality and appearance and play with learning more
about 'graphics', another annoying hobby of mine!! :o)

Thank you, so much, Carol--you don't know, how special your comments have been to me!

That is really wonderful. What a great idea to see what veiws we have from our windows. I think you were inviting pictures? I hope others will post their views too. I have taken a couple but have company until next week so I won't get to it right away.

hey_j we think very much alike - when I moved here 12 years ago, the first project was to hack a huge hole in the wall for my new bedroom window - it's the whole wall, now.

In winter when I fling open the curtains, it takes my breath away - evergreens dressed in snow, the urn holding its own. In summer - still waiting....

Now that my main gardens are in order and my new shade garden up and running, I am planning a circular lawn outside the bedroom window, with hydrangea, red-twig dogwood, and plenty of hosta on the perimeter.

It will be Miss Molly's memorial garden for my beloved 19-year old cat who left me this week.

So I'll be sure to take plenty of befores, so the afters will make sense.

hey_j, besides your view being beautiful almost beyond expression (such welcoming and soothing peace), I am so pleased to see the other common bond many of us share. It seems like a lot of gardeners do have hearts full of gratitude for what they have been given by our creator and look at themselves as incredibly fortunate custodians over the gift. As I have pondered this over the years (hoping my ponderings won't bore anyone), it has even occurred to me that the very appreciation of such beauty is yet another gift bestowed upon us. Truly, some have this gift, while others look at the same thing and think it's nice but no big deal. So, in a way, it's a gift wrapped in another gift. This whole conversation has blessed me today as well as your beautiful garden. :-) Thank you. Kathy

Ooh, just simply beautiful!! My bedroom faces the garden too. Hard to sleep late when the garden is calling to you.
Janice you must have lots of birds in your garden, it is so inviting!

Oh yeah....I'm planning a visit! Whoo hoooo!

that's it! i'm moving in. can you make room for 3 dogs, 2 cats and dh?
oh so lovely,
andi

Janice,I'd post a pic of the view from my bedroom windows,but you'd get really BORED,because it's just a view of woods with trees and underbrush! My real garden is over a hundred feet from the house,and down the hill,so it isn't even visible if you were OUTSIDE the house! I think I'll keep it there,though! It's like a hidden garden. Phil

Janice,

You have created a beautiful slice of paradise.

Thank you for inviting us to *walk through your garden*. You are very inspiring to a hosta-newbie like myself. I look at my huge, ugly lawn and get overwhelmed at the idea of how long it is going to take to conquer it. One shovel full at a time!

Wow, Janice, wow. Is that a teahouse behind the tree? What cultivar on those daylilies, do you know?

I am stuck in bed a lot of the time so I've worked hard on the side yard and will post pictures soon (this week?) in another thread. It has taken years and years, but we've finished the terracing and most of the planting, and now what's missing is a deck (or sunroom? ka-CHING!) coming from a door to replace my bedroom window.

As I get more disabled, I want more access to outside - even through glass - and a sunporch or deck right there off of the master bedroom would, we think, be a heckuva selling point someday too.

Anyway, long story short, I feel as you do about planning gardens with an eye to window views as well as outdoor-strolling views. You must be so proud of what you've done!

McT--you are so right--I'm hoping others with post pics. of a favorite hosta-view
from your windows!!!

inlimbo--I am so sorry for the loss of your 'Molly'! We had a cat live 19 yrs.
as well, and I know of a lady who owns a gift shop in Gatlinburg, who had a 29 yr.
old cat, and a 22 yr. old one! It's so hard to lose a 'member of the family,'
around that long, especially!! Do take the pics. to show us your progresses,
as you mentioned doing--okay?

billykathy--I am so glad you took the time to post on this thread the beautiful
thoughts you have shared!! Your thoughts (not boring me at all) remind me of this:

"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down
from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." :o)

And 'Shade', yes, lots of birds--and I do want to jump up and look at my view
which then draws me further out with my cup of coffee to thoroughly enjoy!
And--where are your pics. Shade???

Lisa and andi--you just come on--what is 3 more dogs and 2 more cats added to
2 dogs and two cats---a ZOO!!! lol And, this household could handle another
dh--especially if he likes to cook like mine seems to these days--better
yet--if he likes to clean up after my dh cooks---perfection!!!LOL

Phil--I love hidden gardens and from your pics., yours is worth looking to find!!!!

smorz--you would not believe the beginnings of our place. This home was only 6yrs. old
and the original owners rented it out for two of those years and NOTHING was done
to the outside beyond the obligatory two baby 'Silver Maples' out front, along with
some Taxus shrubs along the front porch and some Juniper shrubs along the front where
the bedrooms are. There was a very sorry lawn in place in front and about 20 feet out
the back with the rest nothing but weeds and rocks. I spent the first summer, pregnant,
so not much was done but the following summer I spent whatever time I could get, with
bucket, fork and spoon in hand combing down that remaining back of rocks and weed, pulling
up the surface rocks. Eventually we attempted to seed a lawn. The lawn has never been
robust, due to the lack of topsoil. I wish I had known more about such things then.
We would have invested in bringing in some topsoil, several years worth, as we could
have afforded it before trying to develop a lawn.

The very next thing we did was plant two small Ash trees in the back, and another Silver Maple,
because we knew it would grow faster. In about 8 years the Maple had grown so fast (because
we had dug out an 48 ft. square hole, and backfilled it with good stuff before planting it)
that the two main trunks split down the middle and the leaves were just HUGE for a S.M.!
Sadly, we had to remove it, because it was just too damaged with the split, and we
then replaced it with the Ash that is in alot of the pics. I have posted with a blue bird-bath
beside it!!

I did plant a few things around the back--some Forsythia here and there--and eventually
other trees, raised beds across the middle of the top back, Peonies, etc. but (big BUT)
it wasn't till about 8 years ago that we really began concentrating on landscaping,
and the last 4 years, with hosta!

There--the 39 yr. history of our outdoor development!!! Hangeth thou in there--it will
be worth it!!!!

Oh lisasmall---I had no idea you have an illness that is disabling you! I am SO
very sorry to hear that!!! I am often discouraged as I feel I am getting to a place
where it is just so VERY HARD for me to do the work--that it takes to fulfill my dreams,
which are ever new--no big plan--ever! I feel I really am very near the end of any further
'BIG' projects. I have to take a couple of medications, which have added a lot of weight to
my poor body (I hate that) and it just has really slowed me down. I often wonder how
much worse it would be to do without the prescripts--but--hubby won't let me try going
without them!! :o(

I do hope you get your sunporch, lisa--I really, really do!! Oh---no teahouse--it's a playset
for the grandkids, so they won't be in danger of falling into a hosta or someday--in
danger of getting eaten up by one such as 'Komodo Dragon' when it matures! LOL

Oh--I remember a question about the daylillies, but, unfortunately I'm not as obsessive
about them or their names as I am about the hosta--but I do know that one is 'Happy Returns'
a common yellow and a couple others are the 'Ever Bloomins' (?) or something like that!
The one I love the most, I have no idea what it is called!!! LOL

Thank you, EVERYONE for your kind thoughts and comments about my favorite 'inside-out'
view of the hosta garden we have today! I really do feel very thankful for the way it
has come along and despite some struggles here and there with nems. and now Southern Blight,
I do love what I have and am very, very thankful for the views I have everyday!!!

Definitely WORTH the effort, I feel!!!

Hey j I would set up a hammock and never leave or better yet during hot days just lay in bed and look at the view.
Your pictures are so pretty I thought I was looking at a book cover at 1st.
Jill B

BEAUTIFUL !